10 Steps To Boost Creativity

Wonka says on July 2nd, 2007 at 2:06 pm

I’m a graphic designer. And one trick I use when stuck on a problem is to think of the exact opposite of a current thought. White becomes black, large becomes small. It usually ends what would be creative block.

Katie Konrath :: Creativity Instructor says on July 2nd, 2007 at 2:10 pm

I just had to write in to say that choosing a random word from a dictionary is fantastic for thinking of creative new ideas when you’re stuck.

This works because the brain really works hard to make connections between the two completely different starting points.

For example, if you were charged with making improvements to a car, your brain would automatically think first of improving the handling of the car, or giving it a bigger engine, or making the interior more luxurious, or similar things. The problem is, everyone has those same ideas and unless you can think of something completely new, you won’t gain any advantage over your competitors.

Here’s an example. The Challenge: Improve a car. Random Word: Frog

Sounds completely ludicrous, right? How can thinking of a frog help you to think of ways to improve a car? Except then you start thinking of how some African frogs can change sex. What if you had a car inside that could be customized even more exactly to genders of your customers? Or maybe their lifestyles? Suddenly you have many more add-ons that you could sell for a premium, and the potential of a marketing slogan like “your car, your style”.

Or think about how frogs jump. What if the car had the ability to jump over traffic? That’s not physically possible, or legal, but what’s another way that it could be done. Perhaps the car could instead be fitted with a traffic monitor and city map that can direct you to non-busy roads. That’s now possible with Google Maps.

Also, frogs change from tadpoles to adult frogs. That gives at least two ideas. First, what if you had a car that was able to change size? Many people buy larger vehicles because they need to haul things occasionally. Yet they mostly drive around as the only passenger in their car. What if the car had a stylish attachment for when the driver needs more space–that could be taken off when it’s not needed and the driver wants to conserve gas?

Second idea, changing the car from child to adult. Many parents let their 16 year olds drive their cars. What if there was some sort of parental control (that could be enabled by parents) that didn’t allow the car to go above a certain speed and allowed the parent to monitor where their kid had been?

That’s just an example of how to use the technique, and I was able to come up with all those ideas in just 10 minutes. Try it! It’s fun, and while not all the ideas will be useful, they will at least get you thinking in a new direction.

Faisca says on July 3rd, 2007 at 2:00 pm

When I was reading Katie’s comment and she mentioned tadpoles, it made me think that a car specifically for teenagers might be a great idea. Too bad I’m not an automobile maker.

If you’re in the mood for a good read on creativity, I’d suggest reading Dan Pink’s “A Whole New Mind.” It’s about “Why right brainers will rule the future.” and it has a bunch of great creativity flexing throughout.

Katie Konrath :: Creativity Instructor says on July 3rd, 2007 at 6:54 pm

Dan Pink’s book is marvelous. I’d also recommend Edward de Bono (who just published a book of creative exercises) and Roger von Oech (who has a blog at http://www.creativethink.com as well as the excellent book A Whack on the Side of the Head).

Mark says on July 5th, 2007 at 3:06 pm

Might not work for all, but I go for a run or a surf and find I come up with tons of ideas…

Best.

Marx says on November 21st, 2007 at 4:41 am

Wow, this is very helpful. I’ve been struggling to come up with design concepts in general, this jumpstarted my brain. Kudos!