A good source of inspiration

This is a book by an award winning designer. I don't quite remember when I bought this. I do remember though it has been an excellent source of inspiration, every time I have tried.

But that is not what the book was meant to be. As the author says

"Creative Spark is a resource book for people who equate the need to create with the need to breathe and eat."

It was meant to initiate a dialogue with the intuitive and logical senses of each viewer.

I found the book useful every time I had to design a brainstorming session. People don't get new ideas just because some one asks them to produce new ideas. They need the right kind of climate. And more importantly they need triggers that egg them on to think differently. It is in that context that I found this book to be an inspiration.

I have also found this to be a great source of inspiration for myself, every time I felt stuck. Here are a few techniques I like.

Here is an example. Write. Write. Write. You have to keep writing and not put the pen down. You can't stop. You keep writing. You don't worry about whether it makes sense or not. "Let it pour" - the author says.

And it does work. When you write without worrying about whether it makes sense or not, you surprise yourself. I have tried this every time I felt stuck. Or feeling not so inspired. There was one time I wrote 10 pages of a ruled notebook.

First. It made me get out of my frustration of feeling stuck. So it was liberating in one sense.

Second. When I read what I had written, I began to see a couple of interesting ideas that had never occurred to me in the past.

Third. This exercise made me relax. It turned out to be a kind of meditation. Before I knew it I was relaxed, stress free and open to new thinking.

I tried the same technique typing my ideas on to my laptop. It didn't work as well.

Another exercise I liked is Thinking of Opposites. You look at the issue on hand from two opposite angles.

Black < > White

Silence < > Conversation

Sun < > Rain

Friends < > Strangers

Laughter < > Tears

When we look the issue from two extremes we are able to see things that were not visible to us before.

Another one I liked is called Shifting Gears

The ability to leave one task behind and move on to another is not easy. This is my biggest issue. The author says "Try putting your brain in "neutral" between tasks. Not easy.

So what do you do between two tasks, during this 'short break'. I work from home. So I walk around the house. Go to the kitchen. Check the refrigerator. Look at all the stuff in the freezer.

I look at my book shelf. Pick up books that I had not seen or read for a while. When I see the first page magic happens. If I have bought it, I can see the date and place there. If it was a gift from some one it carries a message from them. Many of my books have marginal notes that I have written. Some times I look at my old note books which I carry for client meetings. In some cases I cant read my own hand writing! But 10 minutes takes me to a different world and I come back refreshed.

The alphabetical list of topics is most useful. Here is a random list:

Audio Collage

Background sound

Checklists

Deadlines

Fork

Get out now

Human Connection

Inertia

Juxtapose

Kill your TV

Links

Make faces

Nonconformity

Old School Camera (Old photo album)

Photo field trip

Retreat

Snobbery

Tease

Upside down

Vitality

Word Play

The book does not give you any ready to use idea. It is not a fast food counter. But does help when you playing around, thinking, wondering and are in a state of flux.

Do all these work?

Yes indeed.

Provided you are relaxed and have the patience to try. All I can say is these open up new possibilities that may not have occurred to us.

That is the Creative Spark. Igniting your imagination in a manner you never thought of.