Creativity Exercises
Or, how to give your right-brain
a kick in the pants.
Tim Stellmach,
Instructor
Game Tuning Workshop
What is a Creativity Exercise?
For our purposes, anything that changes
your way of thinking about a problem (or
opportunity)
Especially techniques to cultivate new
ideas
Applicable at any stage of the process.
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What is That Good For?
Analysis is not a very good means of
generating ideas.
Intuition is, by definition, not responsive
to systemization.
What cannot be commanded might still be
coaxed.
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Things You May Already Do
Many activities change what parts of your
brain are working, and encourage other
parts to relax.
Identifying these triggers and exploiting
them on purpose can be powerful.
Not usually a great thing for groups,
though.
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Things You May Already Do
Examples:
Exercise
Change of scenery
Driving
Showering
Toys
Sleep
Music
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Six Thinking Hats
Edward de Bono
Knowledge
possessed
or needed
Opportunities,
possibilities,
alternatives
Type of thinking
being used
Advantages,
benefits
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Risks, drawbacks,
criticism
Feelings,
intuition
Effective Brainstorming
The best way to get a good idea is to get a
lot of ideas.
Linus Pauling
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Tips for Better Brainstorming
Tom Kelley, The Art of Innovation
Sharpen the Focus
Playful Rules
Number Your Ideas
Build and Jump
The Space Remembers
Stretch your Mental Muscles
Get Physical
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The Least You Need to Know:
A Simple Brainstorming Format
Present a clear statement of the problem at
hand.
Everybody gets enough Post-It notes
for more than the obvious answers. Go!
(stretch, number counts)
Put the notes on the wall. Everybody
move them about putting like with like
(get physical, use spatial memory).
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The Least You Need to Know:
A Simple Brainstorming Format
Sift (build and jump):
Which ideas are very common, which rare
or unique?
What does that mean? Does what that
means suggest new ideas?
What are the combinations, gaps,
intermediaries, or components?
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Randomization Exercises
Select a theme, element, or piece of advice
from some random source.
Get you past a blank slate.
Encourage very unexpected thought
patterns
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Randomization Methods
Possible sources:
Dictionary
Card Draw (e.g. Creative Whack Pack,
Oblique Strategies)
I Ching (or Ouija Board)
Boggle
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Example: Oblique Strategies
Brian Eno & Peter Schmidt
Tidy Up
What would
your closest
friend do?
What
mistakes did
you make
last time?
Go outside.
Shut the
door.
Try an old
idea.
Look at the
most
embarrassing
details and
amplify them.
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Exercise: The Epigrams of
Heraclitus
Heraclitus was an Ionian philosopher of
the late 6th century B.C. This is great
because his stuff is way out of copyright.
His epigrams make a pretty good oblique
strategies type deck
Idea copped from Roger Von Oech. For
his translations, you want Expect the
Unexpected or You Wont Find It.
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Go!
Break up into groups.
If others in your Three Musketeers group
are here, you probably want them at your
table.
Start by posing questions or issues.
Pretend to trust and believe an epigram.
What does it mean?
Repeat.
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