getcreativeordie

I've been reading Twyla Tharp's The Creative Habit - a read I highly suggest to anyone in a creative field, or creative thinker, or creative hobbyist.

In it, she speaks about thinking outside the box. A concept we've all heard before. She uses a literal box, like a file box you get at an office superstore, to file all the ideas, collections, etc that relate to a project.

As I read, I tried to relate that use over to the graphic designer. I won't be using a literal box to collect items, but thinking outside the box is easier if the box is full.

I consider "the box" to be whatever the ordinary, boring, obvious choice is. Thinking outside of the obvious answer is what launches us into "creative mode." It isn't always so simple to get to that point. The obvious is vying for our attention, and will hang out in the forefront of our mind like a buzzing mosquito. Getting into creative mode means squashing that mosquito.

Here's an critical thinking exercise to try when you're attempting to get outside of the box, or outside the boring.

- Draw a box in the middle of a sheet of paper.
- Now list the first obvious 10 choices that come to mind inside that box.
- Now draw a bigger box around the first box.
- Inside of the outer box, list the next 5 things that come to mind.

Look at your options. The inner box contains the choices that anyone could come up with. The outer box may have some potential, but you haven't gone far enough away from the box to call it "creative."

What's left is the metaphor. Pick your favorite 2 choices in the outer box, and throw them around in your mind like a ball in space. Raise it, lower it, turn it upside down, and imagine it where it shouldn't be. Think of the opposite. Stretch it further. What else can you do with it? Turn it a different color, play with it until it no longer is related to what's inside the box. It's new. It's been created by you.