Let’s Get Out Of Our Heads
I find that one of the most surefire ways to get a little creative is to get out of my own head. All the things you’ve tried and done in the past live inside your mind. So if you’re looking for new solutions, you have to step outside of yourself.
While working on a tricky project while studying industrial design, I came up with a little game for coming up with new ideas that I still use today. I like to use this to solve a particular problem, to come up with new ideas for a particular project, or as a general creativity boost. It helps you break into new thought patterns by challenging you to come up with a lot of ideas, from starting points you haven’t tried before.
Step away from the computer, grab a coffee, pen and paper, and put your phone in another room, or at least a drawer (although, perhaps it should already be there.)
Pull 10 books from your shelf. I love to use coffee table style books for this, but you will find what you like.
Come up with 3 new ideas per book. (You can come up with your own numbers, of course.) You can sketch out your ideas, or write them out, or keep a voice memo. Whatever you like.
Don’t stop until you hit your goal number for each book, and don’t stop until you’ve worked through the whole stack.
Your ideas can come from any part of the book. Maybe the cover illustration? A line of text on a page you randomly opened up to? A photo inside? The plot?
If you come up with the perfect idea, put a big star on it, and flesh it out if you want, but still complete the exercise. Maybe your later ideas will be even better, or maybe they’ll be just right for something else. All the same, you’ll be training your creativity if you keep going.
An important note about generating creative ideas, especially if you’re new to it:
*Your ideas do not all have to be good. Or relevant. Or remotely realistic. Or “normal.” In fact, if they are, maybe you would like to challenge yourself to get a little more out of your head. Or to up the number of ideas you need to come up with, so that you use up all of the regular ideas and have no choice but to get a bit more creative.
When I created a set of holiday books for Arterra Landscape Architects, I approached a design problem using this method. I had come up with the general theme (a pretty unusual one: an alternative astrology system where each sign would be an element of the landscape like “stone” or “plaster.”) But I didn’t know how I wanted to tie it all together visually. The winning idea actually came from just the title of a book about fashion, called “Pattern.” When I saw the title, it sparked the idea of creating a symbol for each sign that could be worked into a pattern. Arterra’s brand also features a pattern, so it ended up being a perfect fit.