Category: Creative Thinking

What would someone ruthless do? How could you use mischief to disrupt the situation? What if we broke some stuff? How might someone evil exploit you?

Creative breakthroughs often arise from challenging conventions. What assumptions have already been made? Could they be wrong, or shifted? What if the brief is too narrow? Too wide? Pretend to be your competitor.

Looking at extremes can bring insights into sharp relief. What would happen if you amplified the problem or solution? What if it was minuscule or all-consuming; what would a global response look like?

Removing limitations means removing assumptions, which can result in novel perspectives and solutions. Imagine you have unlimited superpowers, budget, time, or technological capability to solve the problem. What would a god do?

How would you solve the problem in the future or past? What about a different cultural context? Try 5 ideas in 5 minutes to generate different perspectives then pick two or three to ideate from

By flipping the perspective you can open up new insights. What’s the opposite of the problem or solution? What would be the worst idea? Who isn’t the target audience?

Write your objective in a bubble in the middle of the page and branch out nested and associated ideas to discover new perspectives as stimuli. Try putting your mind map on the wall while brainstorming

Use random stimuli like reading out words from the dictionary to provoke a response, or try using the last letter of one word as the starting letter for another word. Free-associate words and concepts to spark connections.

Deep – Research & Define Deep dive and define the objective Wide – Creative & Divergent Think openly, play, and minimize criticism Narrow – Critical & Convergent Use objective evaluation criteria and critique Up – Synthesize & Iterate Keep playing to find a deeper synthesis

Immerse yourself in research and visual references, then let your subconscious go to work. Sleep on it and give your mind time to synthesize. Try this before you start and/or between sessions.