Method Tag: creative principles

  • The Insights Game

    The Insights Game

    Purpose

    When we get older our brain develops it’s ability to connect different facts and see new patterns and challenge old views with new knowledge. As grownups we can not memorise and learn new things as fast as when we where children but because we have more experiences we have a bigger spectrum of information to use to see the big picture. This method will help you to practice your ability to generating insights and see new patterns.

    The basic idea is to take a moment to reflect upon new insights you receive and see if it fits in any patterns already in your head or if it changes any of your previous views. New thoughts creates new connections in your brain and more connections makes it possible for your brain to process even more abstract problems which is a good reason for you to practice this.

    Instructions

    This method is for one person, but the process can of course also be implemented on a group as well. To encourage people to start practising seeing the big pictures and challenge their previous views you can introduce them to the reflection questions.

    You get one point for each insight. You need to have at least one new insight a day, if not it is Game Over and you have to start over with 0 points. For insights that changes your previous view on a subject you get extra points.

    The goal and the reward of this game is that you will improve your ability to see the big picture, process more complex problems and challenge your beliefs. When you reach nirvana you have completed the game!

    Do

    • Write down new insights and ideas when you have them to aloud yourself a moment to reflect upon what it means and how you can use it.
    • Aloud yourself to celebrate your victory’s in the insights game!

    Don’t

    • Neglect your moments of enlightenment. It doesn’t matter how small the insights are, all are valuable.

    Example

    For the past couple of weeks you have noticed that a growing number of people are sharing the same pictures as their friends on their Facebook wall. One day you discover a new share button below photos you post on your wall and you realize that this is the reason why so many of your friends are suddenly sharing the same photos.

    The following day you are reading a blog post on WordPress about Tumblr. The authors opinion about Tumblr users is that they are only re-blogging each others posts without coming up with any new ideas of their own and that the only reason why Tumblr has reached so many users is because it is so easy to regularly update your blog with new content.

    Now you realize that Facebook added the share button to photos to imitate the re-blog function of Tumblr. By acknowledging this new insight you not only learn why Facebook implemented the share button but you also become aware that you have to constantly questions why the sites are changing their products the way they do – in this case to make regular Tumblr users stay on Facebook.

    This process doesn’t take up a lot of your time but it will help you to learn more of what is happening around you and about how you work.

    Facilitator role

    You are the facilitator of your own learning. Use a notebook to take notes of your new insights. You can use these the below questions to get started.

    Reflection questions

    • What happened today?
    • What did I learn from this?
    • How does this fit into the big picture?
    • Does this challenge any of my previous knowledge?
    • How can I use this in other situations?
  • Say yes! And…

    Say yes! And…

    Purpose

    During brainstoming or any type of idea generation session, this is the number one rule. In fact, we feel that it’s so important it’s been given its very own method page here on Project of How.

    Instructions


    Do

    • Stay open and positive during idea generation sessions.
    • Build on others ideas by saying “Yes, and…”

    Don’t

    • Analyse or judge ideas during idea generation sessions.
    • Say the word “no” or be negative to others ideas.

    Facilitator role

    A “red card” is a useful and fun way to remind people to stay positive.

  • 120 rooms

    120 rooms

    Purpose

    When your project needs a twist or action, 120 Rooms is a perfect method. The purpose is to get the group to think about sub-targets for actions in projects or processes.

    Instructions

    Imagine you had a house with 120 rooms to fill with anything, and each room must have it’s purpose. 120 Rooms is an idea generation method using imagination and creativity to enable people to change perspectives and think crazy. But it’s not only about generating new rooms – it also deals with thinking about which actions could fill each room.

    Do:

    • Challenge your perceptions
    • Use your imagination
    • Think crazy

    Don’t:

    • Don’t leave any room empty

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator gives the instructions to the participants and make sure that they follow the rules. It is the facilitators role to make sure that the reflection will be performed.

    Reflection questions

    • Why did you think we did this?
    • What learnings do you take with you from this exercise?
    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?
  • Apples

    Apples

    Method - Apples

    Purpose

    Apples is a creative exercise used to show how important it is to see things from new perspectives as well as to create a quantity of ideas. The exercise challenges the boundaries of our already established perception and forces us to think in new ways and adopt new perspectives. This exercise could be held in groups or individually. 99% of all ideas are not unique. To find the unique 1%, new perspectives and ideas must be found.

    Use the method when you would like to start a creative session or when you are stuck in idea generation processes.

    Instructions

    This exercise could be held in groups or individually. Basically each group or individual are given the instructions to draw as many pictures of an apple as possible on the blank paper, in complete silence. They are given a time limit of 10 -15 minutes. There are several different variations of the method.

    If you want to be able to see the development of the group or the individual you could draw as many squares as possible on the paper beforehand and instruct the participants to start by drawing the first picture from the top to the bottom.

    Do:

    • Challenge your perceptions

    Don’t:

    • Don’t speak when doing the exercise

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator gives the instructions to the participants and make sure that they follow the rules. It is important that the facilitator don’t help the participants in any way.

    Follow-up questions

    • Why did you think we did this?
    • What learnings do you take with you from this exercise?
    • How was it?
    • Do you want to change something before next session?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project? In what way?