Keep the Creative Juices Flowing - Issue #8: Creativity Hack: Contradiction
Ciao! Mauro here!
This is August 2022 issue nr 8. This is the 1st of a series of issues dedicated to Creativity Hacks.
Thank you so much for following along in this Creative Journey.
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Creativity Hack #1: Contradiction
I believe this is the most generative and stimulating hack!
Working with Physical Contradiction is one of the core principles of the TRIZ Problem Solving methodology.
We can roughly describe it with this example:
Wait a minute!
If there is "enough" or "BUT" in your idea, maybe there is a contradiction too.
Here how IKEA embraced brilliantly that contradiction.
Ok, we were saying?
Armouring my bag may work, BUT...
We see the problems, those undesirable effects that come with a straightforward and hyper-logic solution.
I can reinforce my bag to meet the needs BUT
it'll look bad
it becomes heavy and bulky
it'll be ...
Now, let us try to climb on top of the needs (the needs, NOT the contradiction) and
look at them from above
project our vision beyond the contradiction
change the BUT in AND
This can be a bit tricky, follow me...
I don't know you, but I feel more inspired by the intrinsic positivity of this.
It's a very subtle difference, it's a nuance in the way you think but I do believe it changes significantly the process.
Let we give this a try:
And here we are, now try to invert the point of view and the real need is:
I want my stuff to be safe and protected AND
I want to carry them in style
In general, do you agree with how I think about contradictions?
How it works for you?
Let's talk!
Now, I want to apologise in advance if you have already seen some parts of the following sketchnote but I really would love to borrow and share a few concepts from one of my oldest workshops: Visual Problem Solving.
I still run this workshop from time to time.
August Monthly Creative Challenge
To introduce this month's challenge I need to tell you a Jewish joke.
Please, if you accept the challenge, keep me posted!
Signals&Dots
think: The Laws of Simplicity
I don't want to spoil. Such a good read. Concise, valuable and... simple. Perfect!
tool: 40 Inventive Principles
Even though I'm pretty sure you already know this, I share it anyway because it is always fun to go through the principles and imagining how apply them.
The 40 Principles is a list of generic suggestions create by Genrich Altshuller (the father of TRIZ) that can be adopted and combined to resolve a wide spectrum of problems.
If you wonder, yes, I already "transferred" and applied most of them in to Visuals and Sketchnote.
think:Search, discovery and marketing
If you are not interested in Marketing or the history of Search on the web you may skip this.
However, you my spot a good number of excellent contradictions and how people though they solved the problems.
The Catch All
The search for the perfect micro-bag
Read: an endless lifelong project.
At work
Sometimes I forgot the phone or the keys or the coffee machine token on my desk at office and of course I either miss calls, lock myself out of the office (when I go out to smoke) or can't buy a coffee.
At home
When I go out for a walk or quick coffee or grocery shopping I just want to carry only a few things.
I can use my pants’ back pockets but I don't like it because I have to take them out every time i sit or I drive.
But I need to have those things with me. Wearing a fanny pack, particularly inside the office is... c'mon... no way!
The "logical solution"
to remember to carry all the stuff I need > always keep them in the back pocket
if the back pocket is too small > enlarge the pocket
if to empty the back pocket is annoying > leave the stuff inside and just detach the whole pocket
Here is the Pocket+ idea I jotted down during luchtime (my sketchnote moment on workdays)
Looks cool?
Let us share a laugh or 2, here is the "creative" reality.
Here is the making-of.
My Stuff
I have lowered all the prices of my merch on Redbubble eshop .
Check them out!
xLontrax Shop | Redbubble — www.redbubble.com xLontrax is an independent artist creating amazing designs for great products such as t-shirts, stickers, posters, and phone cases.
That’s it!
As always, thank you so much for reading this issue! It was a honor spending time with you.
I hope you like this issue, if you don't like it you can always unsubscribe or, maybe, it's just this issue so, please, can you just reply and help me to make it better?
Of course if you have suggestions or ideas I’d LOVE to hear from you, just reply to this email or DM on Twitter, even if we don’t follow each other.
See you on September, 5th 2022 at h7.30 AM CEST.
Ciao
Mauro