Method Tag: visual

  • Visualize it!

    Visualize it!

    Purpose

    One important step in the process of producing a theatre performance is to create a poster. Most often you make the poster long before you even know how the show will look like. To be forced to make something that concrete in such an early stage, to see it before it happens, to fantasize, to make it representative for what you want to do – is something that is very hard – but very important for the remaining process. To visualize the core of an idea early on is something that benefits all projects. It pushes you to take some decisions and give you a direction of where to go next.

    Instructions

    • Place a large paper on a big table!
    • Participants should grab equipment (such as images, texts, colors, photos, objects) that they feel represent the core of your project (30 min)
    • Put all the material on the big table. Make a collage of the material you find that describe the mood or feel of your concept. (20 min)
    • Have a look at your moodboard and pick three things that stands out. (30 min)
    • Analyze these 3 main things and combine them into 1 idea. Visualize this 1 idea in a new way. Be creative! (60 min)

    Facilitator role

    • Keep track on time! The time frames are there to push the creativity.
    • Find some theatre posters that can inspire the work!

    Whenever you might feel off track later during the process, you have a compass to pick up and guide you.

  • Idea Speed Dating

    Idea Speed Dating

    Purpose

    This is a great way for a group to quickly come up with many ideas and to have people build on other’s ideas. The end result is a beautiful mural of thoughts that can be used as inspiration throughout events now and in the future.

    Instructions

    • Find a table (or series of tables) that is big enough for everyone in the group to sit around. People should fit tightly, and be shoulder to shoulder along all sides.
    • Place a large roll of paper that covers the entire table.
    • Make sure that everyone has something to draw with. Try having lots of colours.
    • Have the facilitator start playing music. Each person must start writing down an idea about the topic at hand.
    • After about 2 minutes, the music should stop. Everyone should take a step to their left so they are in the position that their neighbour was previously in.
    • The music starts again, and people must now build off of their neighbour’s idea.
    • Repeat steps 5 & 6 until the whole roll of paper is covered in ideas!

    Do

    • Stay open and positive during idea generation sessions.
    • Be creative with how you represent your ideas. Drawings & prototypes are encouraged. The bigger the better.

    Don’t

    • Judge ideas during idea generation sessions.
    • Write negative comments, or cross things out.

    Facilitator role:

    The facilitator’s role is in starting & stopping the music, and making sure that people are properly moving in the right direction. The facilitator also decides when the session is over.

  • Empty your brain

    Empty your brain

    Quick introduction

    The Empty Brain method is about getting everything out of your head and down on paper so that you can stop thinking about it!  It’s a method you can use everyday, or when you feel it’s needed. The empty brain method can be done in a group as well as individually.

    Purpose

    This method is helpful when you need to start up an idea session, giving your brain a fresh new sheet to start from. It can also be used as a way to structure your thoughts and tasks gathered in your mind, where the output can be a to-do list or a timeline with tasks mapped to it.

    Instructions

    The empty brain method contains 2 steps.

    Step 1. You need a sheet of paper, a pen, and a moment to sit down.

    Start by writing down everything you need to get done. Continue by writing down everything you’re thinking off, i.e. not only task related thoughts. This can take a while, but can also be fairly quick, depending on how much stuff you got spinning around in your head. When you work in group, this part of the method could preferably be done all together in a discussion, sitting around with one large piece of paper. Note the input of all participants of the group on the same paper.

    When all the ideas are written down let the paper take over the responsibility for them, so that your brain no longer have to keep track of those things.

    Step 2 is about how to organize your data.

    One way of doing this is to find the 10 most important things you need to get done immediately and focus on results. Another way is to categorize and prioritize the tasks (example themes could be: business / home / friends), map them to a time schedule as a to do or you can just store them for later on.

    Now, when it’s time to work, you can use the task-prioritization and go through the tasks one by one. When finishing, write a big line through each task after completing them!  (Satisfying!)

    Depending on how you use the method – this could also be the moment to do another Empty Brain session over the new task you have ahead.

    Do

    • Make sure to write up every little thing that comes to mind, everything from “buy bread” to “book a meeting with Mrs. X”
    • Remember it’s important to let go of things once you’ve put them on paper!

    Don’t

    • Make it to complicated!
    • Hesitate!

    Facilitator role

    If driven by a facilitator, the role is to be responsible for setting up the method for how to empty the brain. E.g. choose between mind mapping/timeline/other.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for your work? In what way?
    • Could other methods for structuring the ideas once they are on paper work better for you?
  • Image brainstorming

    Image brainstorming

    Purpose

    This method encourages your imagination to create different perspectives and new angles on your idea or the problem you’re facing.

    Instructions

    Prepare with a lot of different random images. Sit together around a table and show one image for 1 minute. During that one minute, each member in the group writes whatever he or she associates with these images on post-its. The outcome should be as many crazy associations as possible. If the team gets stuck, change image. Continue this process until you feel that you have enough associations. This method could be followed up by trying to combine your associations with your already existing idea or trying to come up with new ones. Read about how to do that here.

    Do

    • Think big
    • Write the first things that come to your mind
    • Think the opposite
    • Use a lot of different random images, preferably that have nothing to do with your idea, problem or focus questions.

    Don’t

    • Stay too long at one image. If you get stuck, just change.

    Example

    A group is tasked with finding solutions to the question ‘How could citizens be encouraged to use bikes more?’ Random pictures are used to associate to the question. How could a Blueberry be related to that?

    These are examples of outcomes

    • Giving away blueberry hats together with information on health benefits from biking
    • Making blueberry lamps for bikes
    • Building a giant Blueberry-like biking dome.

    The new ideas can be related in many ways. Around shapes, memories, smells, thinking big or small, quantity. Relate both close and distant ideas.

    Facilitator role

    The facilitator is there to give the group instructions for the task. The facilitator is responsible for changing images and inspire the group members to think big and wild.

    Reflection questions

    • How was it?
    • Did you feel that this was valuable for our project?