breaking through the barriers - creative thinking tools
DESCRIPTION
Slides from the Reed Learning seminar "Breaking through the barriers - creative thinking tools" presented by David White at the office* 2013 exhibition.TRANSCRIPT
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Breaking through the barriers:creative thinking tools
David White, Reed Learning
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A taster of Reed Learning
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“Imagination is more important than knowledge”Albert Einstein
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But on the other hand...
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We need to be creative!• The world’s most successful modern organisations are proof that creative
ideas are more important than physical resources– Apple, Google, Twitter, Netflix, Samsung...
• Whatever we do for a living– We need to creative too
• Breaking through the barriers: creative thinking tools– Only have 1 hour
• Objectives– Know three key tools– Try them out in some exercises– Believe in your abilities
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• 10,000,000,000 neurons
• It would take a CRAY supercomputer 100 years to accomplish what your brain can do in…
• 1 minute
• If you lost 10,000 cells per day by the age of 80 you would still have…
• 97%
Your brain - is it up to it?
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Left and Right BrainLEFT• Speech• Calculation• Reading & Writing• Naming• Ordering• Analysis &
Evaluation• Logic• Fact-based• Hierarchy• Serious• Adult• Masculine• Detail
RIGHT• Art & Music• Emotion• Recognition• Comprehension• Facial expression• Imagery• Creativity• Intuition• Unstructured• Sense of humour• Child• Feminine• The Whole
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Let’s have a quick brain test...
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Topic One:The Power of the Positive
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Born creative, born lucky?• Recent research on luck invited two groups of people to take part
– Those who thought themselves lucky - and those who did not
• Both were given the same exercise to do– Sorting cards
• Some of the cards had messages on them, such as ‘hand in this card for an immediate prize’
– Guess what?!
• Only the lucky group spotted and/or acted on the messages– So luck is just about being awake...
• Maybe creativity is the same!
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If you tell a child:
“Don’t touch the wet paint”
What do they hear?
“Touch the wet paint”
Attitude is everything
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The power of the positive“10 million children are starving to death: please help”
“£1 saves a starving child: please save a life today”
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Were we more creative as children?
Children have:
• Fewer rules• Fewer maps• More energy• More curiosity
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Goal focused thinking
‘Focus on the gap, not the obstacle’
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Turn problem into a + goal
• Let’s pick a problem or two that we all know...– Getting home late– Excessive reliance on email
• How can we make them into positive goals?– Being home by six at least one night per
week and taking the kids swimming...– A conversation with each team member by
phone, or directly, at least once per day
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Putting it another way
“I never look at the consequences of missing a big shot . . . when you think about the consequences you always think of a negative result.”
Michael Jordan
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Topic Two:Creating a better map of the world
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How accurately do we perceive reality?How accurately do we perceive reality?
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Analogue vs Digital
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WMarketing Comms Advertising
Range Digital
Products
Quality£
Style
DistributionStores
Digital
Location
Layout
Service
s
Customers
Age£
Sex
Educatio
n
Com
petit
ion
S’marke
ts£ shops
WWW
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Topic Three:Reversing the Rules
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Rule Reversal• Rules are the patterns that stifle
creativity• Lock us into old solutions that may
have been outmoded by changes in technology, wealth, social custom….
• Trick is to identify the pattern of rules, conventions, assumptions, traditions…
• Seek ways to contradict them• Explore uses and non-uses
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Rule ReversalRule Reversal
Rule: we can’t say you won’t like our product
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Rule ReversalRule Reversal
Rule: we can’t say you can’t buy our product
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Breaking rules to make life interesting
Breaking rules to make life interesting
Seen on the doors in a design agency’s offices
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Rule Reversal – a formula for jokes
“I want to go to heaven but if Jeffrey Archer’s there I’d rather go to Lewisham.”Spike Milligan
1918-2002
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Rule reversalRule reversal
• Colour • Country lanes • Pretty people • Perfection….
What are the rules of car advertising?
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Rule Reversal• How do you make people think again about
clothes made from animals?• Start point: how are leather clothes advertised?
The rules:• No pictures of the animal, or how it is processed, • Lovely colours, flattering the wearer
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Rule Reversal applied
• ‘vacuum cleaners must have bags’
• ‘glues must set’
• ‘queues are no fun’
• ‘you can’t jump a red light’
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Rule reversal exercise• You own a nightclub in a residential area
• Your patrons are keeping the neighbours awake when they leave in the early hours of the morning
• Apply rule reversal to this problem to generate ways of keeping your customers and your licence
• Identify rules & think of ways to break them
• Some ideas will be useful
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Left or Right Brain?• Imagine a tennis tournament with 111 players
• What is the minimum number of matches that need to be played to find the winner?
• Singles, no tricks
• Work in pairs or small groups
• Everyone must have an answer!
• Imagine a tennis tournament with 111 players
• What is the minimum number of matches that need to be played to find the winner?
• Singles, no tricks
• Work in pairs or small groups
• Everyone must have an answer!
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So how we can we improve our creativity?
• The Power of the Positive• Creating a map of the world• Reversing the Rules