An Introduction into Creative Thinking

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How many years do you think there are between the introduction of the can and

the introduction of the can-opener?

Before we actually start!

An idea can turn to dust or magic,depending on the talent that rubs

against it.

A few cases…….

Case 1

Why? Creativity for ChangeTo find opportunities & to quickly adapt to alterations

Case 2

Case 3

Applied Creative Thinking

The process in which knowledge, thoughts

and inspiration are translated into new

insights, solutions, ideas and concepts,

which have an actual added value for the

context they're developed for.

Definition

A challenge!

How many do you see?squares

THINKINGCREATIVETHINKING

CREATIVETHINKINGCREATIVE

INKINGCREATIVETHINKING

NDIFFICULT!THINKING CREATIVE

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The creative process is almost exclusively done in our minds!

11.200.000bits/sec

5Senses

60bits/sec

Consciously

factor 200.000

Our brain is a network of neurons

100 Billion More than 3000 years!

Millions of bits of information reach our senses per second

The brain is lazy (efficient)

The brain sorts data automatically in existing patterns (archive)

Our automatic thinking system prevents creative thinking

Incoming stimuli follow the paths, proven most successful

Patterns…

Patronen !?Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at an Elingsh

unervtisy, it deosn’t mttaer in waht oredr the

ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng

is taht the frist and lsat ltteer is at the rghit

pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you

can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm.

Tihs is bcuseae we do not raed

ervey lteter by itslef

but the wrod as a wlohe.

Summer 2009, La douce

Summer 2009, La douce FranceFrance

Unfortunately....

a poor pattern breaker.

The human brain is

a talented pattern maker, and

an excellent pattern recognizer

Why is creative thinking difficult?

LeftLogical Serial processing Reasoning Analysis Abstraction Numbers Language

ImagesParallel

processingOverviewEmotion

GeometryMusic

Art

Creativity in a business-context is about the use of both brain sides:

“whole brain thinking”

Right

Cerebral hemispheres

Try it for yourself!

1-2-3

WRONG

Who is the president of the USA?

Where are we now?

What year is it?

Who was Ghandi?

What color is my car?

Thoughts in our mind always flow in a path of least resistance.

Active diversion is the key to creative thinking

Active diversion is the key to creative thinking

Logical Thinking vs. Creative Thinking





But there are some persistent myths?

Me? I’m not creative!

More ideas, better ideas!

The crazier, the better!

Person Press

How can you make a difference?

Process

Mental Locks!

The right answer

That’s not logical

Follow the rules

Be practical

Play is frivolous

That’s not my area

Don’t be foolish

Avoid ambiguity

To err is wrong

I’m not creative

Challenge

Freedom

Trust –OpennessIdea time

Playfulness -Humor

Conflict

Idea Support

Debate

Risk taking

Dynamism

Red Bull London

Disney Store Headquarters

Box Thinking!

What is the Box?

Step 1: Explore in- and outside the box

Explore

Explore

Step 2: Generate ideas through the box

A: PurgeB: Thinking Techniques

Generate

Step 3: Adjust the box

“If I’d asked my customers what they wanted, they’d said a faster horse” Henry Ford

Step 4: Fit ideas into the box

Nokia: making mobile technology accessible for the elderly

It’s like simple math: + - / *

Stap 5: Play with ideas in the box

Prototype

Step 6: Rank ideas in the box

Have the guts!

Nobody ever achieved greatness

by playing it safe!

Step 6: Rank ideas in the box

Step 7: Enhance ideas in the box

Creativity is 1 % inspiration and

99% perspiration

Step 8: Sell ideas from the box

37 grams of saturated fat

Does this stick?


Does this stick?


PreparationSpace

Time

Mindset

Challenge & Constraints

Principle 1

Springboards

If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every

problem as a nail!



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N4 TECHNIQUESTHINKING

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4 Thinking Techniques

Clever Copying

Defy Assumptions

Use the Context

Change Parameters

Technique 1 - Clever CopyingTechnique 1 - Clever Copying

NATURE

SOCIETY

INDUSTRY

CHALLENGE!

!

!

!!

It is worth the trouble looking whether a similar challenge has already been solved in an other field.

This is not about direct copying, but making smart use of already proven solution directions.

This thinking principle is based on abstraction of your challenge to enlarge the area in which you can find useful solution directions.

Step 1 Formulate your challenge and make sure it is clear and concreteE.g.: How can we make a new and safer American football helmet?

Step 2 What is the essence of your challenge? What problem do you actually need to solve? In other words:

what do you need to be creative about?E.g.: How can we minimize the impact from direct hits on the head and brains?

Step 3 Elevate the essence of your challenge to a higher abstraction level E.g.: How can you protect something fragile in a bumpy environment?

Step 4 In what other fields is this essential question already solved?E.g.: The packaging industry (bubble wraps, polystyrene, air cushions)The car industry (air bags, crumple zone) .Nature (bump on head of mail goats, woodpecker)

Step 5 Translate the found solution to your own challenge in a clever wayE.g.: Some construction elements of the football helmet are derived from the way the skull of a woodpecker is

constructed, like the flexible air cushions that are cleverly copied from the sponge like mass within the woodpecker’s skull to absorb the impact of a blow to the head.

Silkscreening ButterIntroducing ‘Daily Fresh Sandwiches’ in their own stores was an obvious opportunity for Marks & Spencer, but how the company drove efficiencies into the sandwich business was anything but obvious.

Listen to Martin van Zwanenberg, former division director for food technology: “At the time we entered the sandwich business I was responsible for home services technology and food technology. When I studied the sandwich business, I saw that one of the things we did was to butter the bread by hand. If we wanted to expand, this was unacceptable. We’d have to have everyone in the company buttering bread. A few days later I was visiting a supplier who makes bed sheets for Marks & Spencer. The supplier was using a silk-screen process to print patterns on the sheets. I asked the supplier whether we might borrow their equipment. A couple of weeks later, we filled up one of the ink vats with butter and screen printed butter onto cotton. Now we silk-screen butter onto bread.

Assignment 1

Generate

Solutions for

the growing

problem of

traffic jams.

Technique 2 - Defy assumptionsTechnique 2 - Defy assumptionsEverybody, creative or not, makes assumptions. Whether they are created from earlier experiences or because someone told us so, they sometimes prevent us from thinking of the most powerful, yet simple solutions.

Which assumptions are imposed by the context, someone else or yourself?

Which assumptions can you challenge to open up completely new solution directions, that were there already all the time?

Step 1 Formulate your challenge and make sure it is clear and concreteE.g.: How can we shorten the cue for counters in the supermarket?

Step 2 Try to come up with several solutions for your challenge. .E.g.: We create more pay desks in order to help more people at the same time, we help people pick the shortest

row to prevent irritation, we make sure the cashiers work faster to help more people at the same time to shorten the waiting time.

Step 3 Look at the solutions you came up with up and spot the things they have in common

E.g.: The cues are formed before a fixed counter and it’s important to pick the shortest line, we help people one after the other and people do nothing while waiting.

Step 4 What would happen if we ignore one or more of the assumptions? E.g.: People are not helped one after another at a fixed location, leads to: it doesn’t matter where you are in the

shop to pay and you don’t cue before a fixed desk, as long as you have paid before you leave the store, leads to: RFID chips track your shopping's wireless and you can pay at one of the paying machines

with your credit card.

Millennium Bridge NewcastleThe Gateshead Millennium Bridge is a pedestrian and cyclist tilt bridge spanning the River Tyne in England between Gateshead's Quays arts quarter on the south bank, and the Quayside of Newcastle upon Tyne on the north bank. The award-winning structure was conceived and designed by architects Wilkinson Eyre and structural engineers Gifford.The bridge is sometimes referred to as the 'Blinking Eye Bridge’ or the 'Winking Eye Bridge’ due to its shape and its tilting method.

The bridge’s design is due to one of the constraints in the design brief. The bridge had to open and close for a minimum amount of energy.

The architect could not solve the problem with the conventional solutions. During the design process they chose to defy one of the largest assumptions of all. A bridge should go from A to B in a straight line.

Until today it is the only bridge on earth that has this unique and innovative design and solution.

Assignment 2

Design a innovative table

Sharing SpaceRoof tiles are so heavy, when transported, the truck has only a pile of about 50 cm of them in the back. Stack them any higher and the maximum amount of weight is reached.

An owner of a company in the Netherlands who produced roofing tiles always found this to be an irritation, because he transported also a lot of air.

One day he drove by a company, also in the Netherlands, that produces roofs made out of Styrofoam. Thinking about how much Styrofoam weighs, he got an epiphany.

He called the owner of the roofing company and asked him if his company exported to the countries he exported his roof tiles to. After hearing that this was not the case he convinced the owner to do so and share the transporting costs. (Styrofoam does not weigh anything so the air in the trucks was filled with Styrofoam)

Technique 3 – Use the ContextTechnique 3 – Use the ContextThere are some challenges in which the context of the challenge can help us in solving our challenge by using things that are already there or actions that already taking place.

What things are already there in your context or what actions do already happen in your context.

How can we use these elements and solutions in a solution for our challenge?

Step 1 Formulate your challenge and make sure it is clear and concreteE.g.: How can I get 40 crates of beer to my apartment on the third floor for my party tonight?

Step 2 Make a list of things already there in the context.E.g.: Stairs, myself, roommates, guests, bike, neighbors, boxes, elevator etc.

Step 3 Make a list of al actions taken place in your context

E.g.: Elevator moving up and down the whole day. Guests arriving, Dancing at party, Neighbors arriving and leaving,

Roommates arriving and leaving. Phone ringing etc.

Step 4 Find a solution by using one or more things and actions from your list.E.g.: Put a sign on the elevator door that asks all arriving guests to bring up one crate of beer per person.

Crowd ControlEveryone has at least once in his live stood behind a temporary fence during a parade or a concert. These fences are found all over the world.

These fences however have one big safety issue. If the crowd behind it panics and wants to flee. The more people pushing against these safety fences, the higher the chance that it will topple over. When this happens a lot of casualties will come from falling over these metal fences. Broken and bruised legs is a common injury in these cases.

When redesigning these fences, after another tragedy, the designer came up with a very smart idea. He realized that the crowd has besides a horizontal force that topples the fences, also has a vertical force in its weight.

He designed a fence with a horizontal piece mounted to the vertical part of the fence. This way the whole system strengthens when more people are pushing against the fence.

Assignment 3

Find a solution for spraying water on the windshield, without using an electromotor.

Technique 4 - Change parametersTechnique 4 - Change parametersWhen solving a problem, in most cases, we add something new to our old situation to solve the problem.

By carefully analyzing our problem, finding the elements that make it what it is (the unique elements) and treat these elements differently by playing with functionality, we can find new solutions without adding new elements.

Step 1 Formulate your challenge and make sure it is clear and concreteE.g.: How can we shorten the time to market of Benetton clothing, and still make sure the colors

of the season match with the fashion shows?

Step 2 Break down your challenge in the unique elements of the context.

E.g.: Benetton wrote down the process steps for bringing new garments to the market and formulated what contextual elements define each step. The unique situation is that “ready to wear manufacturers” have to wait for the “prêt a porter shows” to see what colors will be in fashion and then can start the manufacturing process.

Step 3 Treat each element as if it were separate from the others and play with it. You can change the parameters (literally or metaphorical) of the element by asking yourself: What if I reduce

this element? What if I turn it upside down? What if I combine or integrate two elements? What if I split functionality of this element? What if I change this element in place or time? .

E.g.: Benetton changed the place of the process step of dying the white cotton cloth to the end of the complete process, so that before the cloth was given a certain color, the shirts and trousers were already sown. After it was clear which colors were “in fashion” the uncolored clothes first were colored and brought to the market within weeks.

Increase

Reduce

Turn upsidedown

Breaksymmetry Change

in place or time...

Combine

Assignment 4

Find a solution for shooting clay pigeons, without having to pick up the pieces.

Ideas must work through the brains and arms of the good men, or they

are no better than dreams

10 Golden Rules

And remember to…….

Never think outside the box

again

Education

An Introduction into Creative Thinking