Think Creative

OK, I am starting this blog with one of my favourite DeBono puzzles. What you have to do is to divide the shape into four equal size and equal shaped pieces, and fit them into the 'L' shape exactly. They have to be the same volume and the the same shape. OK. I give this puzzle to my students and many of them cannot achieve it. This is mainly because of the structure of most peoples thinking processes. Through education you are taught to see simple shapes; square, rectangle, triangle, etc. This can be useful and efficient for the brain, but when 'creativity' is brought into play, then the aspects of a streamline brain are detrimental to the puzzle solving aims of the task at hand. This is also a reason why the process of design is becoming more and more simplistic and less clever, because a great deal of designers are not being challenged to think during their educational process. Try the puzzle an think more in future postings.

Thinking is a natural part of life. The development of a human being is in all intense a purposes like that of an animal. The only real fundamental difference in the mind of an animal and a human animal is the process of reason. (*mention something about problem solving) By this function we have the ability to take information and to process it and to use it for a purpose. Thinking basically is this method. The inability not to think is a simple value attributed to the fact that your brain doesn’t have enough stimulus in order for it to clearly determine a correct course of action for the necessary and correct outcome. In other more simple words, if you see the process of problem solving and thinking as a journey across a river then the opposite bank of the river is the answer. Now, firstly, depending on the creativity of your mind the river bank can either have many places to land after crossing or be limited to one spot. This is the conclusion although, so to get there we must find...

I wanted to sit here this morning and drink my coffee and discuss the idea of answers. There is a statement I tend to point out to people who seem unwilling to participate in the process of putting effort into anything. That statement being: For every problem there is a solution! This can obviously apply to any given situation and to any degree of complexity on both sides of the mark, regarding the problem and the solution. What I mean there is that there could be a very difficult problem with a simple solution or a seemingly simple problem that generates a complex and intricate solution. Either way, there is a path. Now that path is created by using the process. A process that can determine a very important factor in the end result. Whether or not you end up with the correct answer or the wrong answer. Now, you may ask yourself something here. How do you know that there is a correct answer? Especially when we are considering creative aspects of the thought process. Creativity is ...

This is a pretty strong image! It portrays images of very strong negative connotations. One of the things I teach my students is the way that certain aspects of living, life, understand of the two can cause what is known as blocks. In this case it is an 'associational block'. What is meant by this? If you look at the image as an image and not as a nuclear explosion then you will see quite a good image. The colours are vivid, the proportions are correct and it has a depth and strength to it. The whole point of this is the aim to express the need to detach from one piece of information that may trigger adverse reaction simply because you have this information in your head. This affect works on many levels. The book I am reading at the moment; "Blink" expresses these concerns as it tells an anecdote of an experiment carried out in a college with predominantly black students. The students were asked to do an evaluation test, but before were asked 'did they think tha...

For this puzzle, the object is to take away six matches and leave two squares. OK, the answer. The issue is never with the problem, but with the way you think about it. In time this is possible. What happens at the start is that you look at the issue of two squares as if they have to be the same size. You will probably rack your brain trying to find a clever, easy or even cheating solution. What you don't do is look at the squares as two different sizes. So here is the answer.

So, I was reading up about the process of thinking. A key part of the creative process. Benjamin Bloom, in 1956 determined that there were several levels to which the human brain worked or thought. Listed here are those 6 levels. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, human thinking skills can be broken down into the following six categories. Knowledge: remembering or recalling appropriate, previously learned information to draw out factual (usually right or wrong) answers. Use words and phrases such as: how many, when, where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., to draw out factual answers, testing students' recall and recognition. Comprehension: grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials. Use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, differentiate, etc., to encourage students to translate, interpret, and extrapolate. Application: applying previously learned information (or knowledge) to new and unfamiliar situations. Use words such as...

Keep that pen and paper by the bed: new research by an ANU PhD graduate suggests it may be that our most creative thoughts come when we’re lying down.  Dr Darren Lipnicki, from the School of Psychology in the Faculty of Science at ANU, found that people solved anagrams more quickly when they were lying down compared to standing up.  "Solving an anagram often produces an "A-ha!" or Eureka moment ‚Äî the answer appears suddenly, often out of the blue. These "insight" moments are similar to what people experience when achieving creative breakthroughs," Dr Lipnicki said.  "Therefore, it might be that we have our most creative thoughts while flat on our back," he said.  According to Dr Lipnicki, whose results are to be published in Cognitive Brain Research, the reason this happens may involve differences in brain chemistry between lying down and standing up.  "In theory, there may be greater release of a chemical, noradrenaline, in the brain wh...

Teaching Visual Communication yesterday and was embroiled in a discussion about culture. Basically what defines culture. Some days back I was also watching an interesting TED talk by Larry Lessig. You can see it  here ! So, both of these ingredients combined by the fact I was trying to teach the students a theory of " the medium is the message " from McLuhan's book "Understanding Media" made everything come together. What I believe the students were finding difficult to understand or conceive is the fact that in some arguments there has to be some evaluation to a metaphysical state rather than a rational real world state. By this, and as trying to be taught yesterday, was the notion of containers. These were described by McLuhan as objects that hold values in the form of a message. This message is released or broadcast and creates an effect. McLuhan nicely uses the lightbulb as a good example. Stating that the mere presence of a lightbulb creates the messag...

OK, as nobody attempted to reply to this, the answer is forthcoming. It is easy to analyse the fact the company is in fact involved with skin products. The twist on the variation of 'New' converted to 'Nu' is a common trick to manipulate words to make them into clever logo derivations. However, in my classes I have the students stumped the reasoning behind the icon above the text. One thing I try to get my students to do is to think laterally. This is the teaching of the originator De Bono, and is a good way to exercise the brain in other possible outcomes to a seemingly obvious or obscure answer. If there are additional tidbits of information added to reveal certain aspects of the logo the challenge becomes simpler and simpler. However, this really shouldn't be the process of a clever thinker, nor a creative mind. Look at the logo. What does it seem to represent? What connection can be seen between this and something to do with skin? Think abstract. Obvious...

Some months back there was a discussion on the subject of 'Associational Block'. As with this subject of blocks there can be considered other aspects of the thinking process that can also create blocks. Many of these aspects are subconscious and hard to even notice, but do exist. The process by which 'Cultural Blocks' affect us not only reside in us due to long exposure to their influential promotors, but also as a deep seated passion that is based on many aspects of the culture we have come from. It should be pointed out that these blocks are not a controlling factor in our decisions on every aspect of our choices. If fact they are rare to spot, but at the same time do exist, and can exist in such a way that you are not aware. Due to the natural process of cultural development we tend to take things for granted. Many of these things can include music, art, food, and fashion. All of which by the way can be considered forms of design. However, when the notions of cul...

It has been a long time since I wrote something for the Creative Thinking blog, and I was talking to one of my readers yesterday, and it inspired me to blog something. Some time back I wrote a post about "association blocks". As part of my teaching I actually list some seven different variations in mental blocks that can stop the free thinking process. I call it the 'free thinking' process as  ultimately the point is, is to have an open mind to allow better thinking. One of the primary blocks that we encounter in the practice of thinking is what is referred to as 'perpetual blocks'. These are all self driven block. Things about ourselves that can hinder the thinking process. Now, some of these are genetic inflictions, some are socially induced afflictions and some are just ways we convince ourselves that we are entitled to be lazy in our thinking. What I will do here is go through the possible reasonings of the blocks and try to get a point of understanding ...

I am a great believer in the simplicity of line, of idea of look. Now, many of the failings of art and design is the notion that the more you put into an image, an icon, a design the better it is going to be. This obviously isn't correct, and there are testaments to this all around. The Nike logo, above, for instance. What does it mean? There are many simple elements to the design that have sustained its purity and simplicity. Nike is a Greek word for 'Victory'. There is a belief that the icon is simply a 'tick'. This is to represent the positive. It is true. The symbol is a representation of the tick, however, there is also a combined aspect that reverts back to the origin of the word. There is a connection that the symbol also is to represent the winged heels of Hermes. The messenger god. So, in one simply image, but through a complex thought process a very clever idea has come about. There are hundreds of these examples around in the design industry. One of the...