How can I come up with better ideas more often? Other people seem to be really creative and always have good ideas. Is there a way I can jump start my imagination when a blank page is staring me in the face?
At some point in our lives, we’ve all wondered how creative geniuses do so much. They seem to have a never ending stream of good ideas. We’ve all have our shining moments, where we came up with a great joke, strung together the perfect sentence, or even painted something that was greatly admired. Since I work as a designer, there’s often a pull to have great ideas all day everyday. Creativity is the job. Here are some observations that have helped me in the past when I’ve been trying to stumbling:
Step 1: DEFINE Your Goal
Why are you trying to be more creative? What’s your objective? There are a lot of ways to answer this question. If you can ask and answer “why” at every step, the next step often becomes pretty clear. Your goal may just be to have fun or just to wander through your imagination or memories. “It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end,” Ernest Hemingway. Expanding your view of what a goal can be can help you set and keep new goals.
Step 2: QUESTION Assumptions
Write out all of your assumptions about your goal. Then question them. Is it true that this can’t be done? Challenge your notions about what the “best” way is, what you “shouldn’t” do to get there, and what you’re willing to do. Assumptions include ideas like “it’s too hard.” Is it really that hard? How do you know? And if anything is really that difficult, what are the steps that you can make it easier?
Another common assumptions are the the thoughts of others. We can’t read minds, can’t assume others think like us, don’t know others interests, future actions, or intentions. When others do share their opinions, handling criticism with a positive attitude is key for growth. Learning to actively seek criticism helps us to be open to new ideas.
“Your assumptions are your windows on the world. Scrub them off every once in a while, or the light won’t come in,” Isaac Asimov. These preconceived notions are often the blocks that prevent us from thinking in more directions.
Step 3: THINK of Stories
There are a lot of great ideas in stories. “If history were taught in the form of stories, it would never be forgotten,” Rudyard Kipling. Think about the best stories in your life, the ones that you keep coming back to. What makes it interesting to you? What’s the best part? Is there a visual twist that you can come up with?
If you’re tackling a particular project, explore your memories or even the internet and see what stories there are about the subject. These are the kinds of questions that interject your point of view, your values of importance, and your personality into your work. Tell your story. That’s part of the essence of creativity. The process of thinking doesn’t have to live in your head, of course. Write it down or draw it out. Don’t be afraid of what you’re writing. That brings us to the next step to good ideas: bad ideas.
Step 4: IMAGINE the Bad Ideas
Part of the key may be that those who are seemingly “genius” just let themselves have a lot of ideas. They create without judging the value of their creations too soon. As the romance novelist Nora Roberts said “You can fix anything but a blank page.” Get something down in some form and then edit it. Quantity can win over quality as part of the process.
If I’m working on a magazine design or a painting, the biggest trick to coming up with something that I like is to just make things. For a magazine, I like to just have a seperate InDesign document called “ideas” so I know it’s not the final draft and just make tons of bad pages that might have one idea that I can use. The point is to do it at a place so rough that it’s fun. Make shapes, place things, play with the composition. While breaks are necessary, waiting for inspiration is not.
Tweet this: As Nora Roberts said “You can fix anything but a blank page.” via @sketchee
Step 5: MAKE Fun
Too often, this process is presented as something to add to our never ending to do list. That we “must” create more thumbnails, list all of our thoughts, and keep a sketchbook. What we really need to remember is that scribbling down a sketch and brainstorming is fun! “Life is more fun if you play games,” Roald Dahl. Make a game out of how many ideas you can scribble, even if they are terrible.
Scribbling and making ugly marks until a page is full is a lot of fun and far less pressure. Then take those scribbles into a thumbnail shape to work out the composition. And blow up the thumbnail into a drawing. Translate the drawing into a painting. Each “next step” is less intimidating because the work is done in a safe fun messy no pressure place. If concentrate on just taking just one step further, executing an idea becomes far less intimidating
Tweet this: “Life is more fun if you play games,” Roald Dahl via @sketchee
Brian E. Young is a graphic designer and artist in Baltimore, MD.
Another thing I’ve found that helps me have more creative ideas is silence. Turning off the radio/podcasts in my car on the drive to/from work for a week at a time tends to get ideas flowing. I imagine that doing something similar in your home or at work would have similar effects. Be in silence, be alone with your thoughts.
Of course the exact opposite helps sometimes too. Consuming new stories (movies/TV/books) can lead to some fun bursts of ideas
That’s a really good thought, I’ve been wanting to do an episode or post that mentions meditation, focus and concentration. All about balance!