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#2
THIS IS A SERIOUS ZINE ABOUT BEING LESS SERIOUS.

A letter from the zine team

At IDEO, we have to be both
naive and aware, uninhibited and
responsible. To come up with new
ideas and solutions, we need to
balance a six-year-olds openness
with the mind and discipline of
someone twice our age.

In this zine, well explore why

play is so important and how
different people incorporate it
into their work. Our hope is that
after reading, youll find yourself
playing more and experiencing its
value firsthand.
Play on players.

Most people think

that the opposite of play is work
(especially in the corporate
world) but the opposite is
boredom or even depression.

One of the crucial processes we

use to keep our spirits optimistic
and ideas generative is play.
Play at its best creates a mental
space where we shed judgment
of ourselves and others. It helps
us reframe tricky and serious
problems so we can find a new
entry point into tackling them.

Stuart Brown said that

in his TED Talk about play.

INTRODUCTION
ISSUE No. 2

I M N O T T H E C R E AT I V E T Y P E

P L AY =is
W Oimportant.
RK

We think playfulness
But why is it
important? Playfulness helps us get to better creative
solutions. It helps us do our jobs better and helps us feel
better when we do them.

When an adult encounters a new situation we have
a tendency to want to categorize it as quickly as we can.
Theres a reason for that: we want to settle on an answer.
Lifes complicated, and we want to figure out whats going
on around us very quickly.

Kids are more engaged with open possibilities. When
they come across something new, theyll certainly ask,
What is it? But theyll also ask, What can I do with it?
Weve all heard stories about how our kids end up playing
with boxes on Christmas morning far more than they play
with the toys that are inside them. This behavior makes
complete sense because you can do a lot more with boxes
than you can do with a toy.

Another thing we tend to do as adults is self-edit as
were having ideas. The ability to just go for it and explore
lots of things, even if they dont seem that different from
each other, is something that kids do well. It is a form of play.

This might feel like its a message to just go out and play
like a kid. To a certain extent it is, but the first thing to remember
is that play is not anarchy. Play has rules, especially when its
group play. When kids play tea party, or they play cops and
robbers, theyre following a script that theyve agreed to.
And its this code negotiation that leads to productive play.

Its very easy to fall into the trap that these
states are absolute. Youre either playful or youre
serious, and you cant be both. But thats not really
true: you can be a serious professional adult and, at
times, be playful. Its not an either/or; its an and.
Tim Brown said this in his TED Talk, Tales of creativity
and play.

A nephew and a daughter of IDEO New York

designers with the forts they built.

I M N O T T H E C R E AT I V E T Y P E

T YG ERSHARK

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ISSUE No. 2

P L AY = W O R K

FROM LEGOS TO MODULAR SPACES AN INTERVIEW WITH ASMBLD. ROBOTICS

Fedor Novikov, 27, and his brother Petr2, 25, moved
from Russia to Brooklyn to start asmbld. (asmbld.
com). From their office in South Williamsburg,
theyre developing small robots that will allow us
to A/B Test the spaces we live in4. Fedor talked
with us about how their passion for building as
kids led to their work today.

Were your parents mechanical?

In Russia when I was young, a lot of country
houses were self-built. My grandfather built our
country house himself.

Whenever we had to fix anything around
that house, we just had to do it or build it. My
father worked a lot around the house, but he is
not mechanical by trade. Hes a geographer and
our mother is as well. With them, we got our
inspiration for traveling, for cities and for the
planning that goes into spaces.

T YG E R S H A R K
A Recipe for Play

ISSUE No. 2

I M N OT TH E CR E ATI V E T Y PE

P L AY = W O R K

1. Constraint: Healthy
limitations give focus.
2. Collaboration: Combine
minds and manpower.
3. Open-Mindedness: Dont
self-edit. Dream big.
4. Reframing: Attack problems
from a new angle.

Above
The ugly shack.

Right
Petr & Fedor
Novikov
playing in the
garden.2

What did you build with when you were younger?

We spent every summer at that country house.
Most of the time, Petr and I were just building
stuff, like forts or small models of houses or chairs.
There was wood all around, so we would just saw
some and use that.1

We built this structure once that was like a
treehouse or a shack. We thought it was a castle at
the time, and now I look back on it and it was just
utterly ugly, just crazy ugly, but we did it without
help from adults.3

We also had Legos at some point, of course. In
Russia, when Legos arrived it was like, Wow!it
was a big deal.

We didnt have Lego sets though, we just
had mass amounts of the standard pieces.1 I think
it was actually much better that way. A lot of
children now just do designs exactly like whats
on the box and they get bored. There are all these
custom pieces for, say, an astronaut or spacecraft.
Its almost like an IKEA job. We didnt have that.
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FROM LEGOS TO MODULAR SPACES

ISSUE No. 2

I M N O T T H E C R E AT I V E T Y P E

P L AY = W O R K
Right
Initial prototypes
of the mini robots
that can build
interior walls.

Below
Three different
configurations
of the same
apartment made
possible by asmbld.

Robot prototypes built by Petr and Fedor test their core hypothesis.

Given you grew up spending so much time

making things with your hands, what gets you
both so excited about using robots to build our
spaces?

When you look at industries with a history
of robotics like manufacturing, which has been
using robots for 30-40 years, they just took the
process humans were using on a conveyor belt and
automated that. In construction, its pretty much
the sameautomating human processes. For us,
thats not the interesting part.

Take a simple concept like brick laying for
example. In every country when the concept of a
brick first appeared, they were all about the same
size and shape. The reason for that is that bricks
are designed for one hand.1 A worker can grab a
brick with one hand, use the other to lay cement,
and then place the brick down.

When you look at a robot, it has completely
different capabilities in terms of the weight it can
lift, and of speed and precision. Automating brick
laying for a robot becomes silly. You are taking old
constraints and building around them, but when
you design around the capabilities of a robot, you
might come up with an entirely new system.4

Above
The brothers
build their robots
in a warehouse
in Brooklyn.

With asmbld, youre working to fundamentally

alter how we relate to the spaces we live in. Can
you tell us more about what youre tackling?

The average buildings lifespan is 40 years.
After that it gets demolished and only a small
portion of the materials get recycled and
repurposed. It turns out that up to 40% of landfills
in the United States are materials from
demolition waste.

Through research, we found 40% of that waste
comes from renovations. So, we asked ourselves if
we can make buildings that qualify for two things1:

1. Reusable. Nearly every element you put into
the building can be reused after its disassembled
or recycled.

2. Adaptable. Throughout the buildings
lifetime, they adapt based on your needs so you
dont have to renovate and create waste.

We believe robots are the tool that will allow
us to sustainably shape-shift our spaces. Were
focusing on indoor spaces, starting with floors. We
cant share too much about the technical details
for IP reasons, but to describe it broadly, youll be
able to say where you want something to be built,
and it will come out of the floor and disappear
back into it when youre done.3 Robots do the
assembly and disassembly layer by layer, and also
handle the movement of building elements under
your feet.
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P L AY = W O R K

T YG E R S H A R K

I M N O T T H E C R E AT I V E T Y P E

I like nonsense, it wakes up

the brain cells. Fantasy is a
necessary ingredient in living, it's
a way of looking at life through
the wrong end of a telescope.

Dr Seuss

ISSUE No. 2

Spaghetti Towers
The purpose of this exercise is to
experience three key principles of
good play: building with your hands,
collaborating, and creating within
limitations. Its also simple and makes
for a great icebreaker. Do it yourself:

1. Grab some friends / colleagues,

marshmallows and spaghetti.
2. Divide into teams.
3. Set a 10-15 minute timer.
4. Build a tower.
Highest tower wins. Go!
Built a good one? Send it to us:
creativetype@ideo.com

AN INTERVIEW

A VISCE AL FORM OF
LEARNING.
Source: An interview given to 99U

Brendan: We were recently working

on an iPhone app for Sesame Street
and were trying to think of how
Elmo should dance. So, we cut out
a giant iPhone from foam core and
filmed different people dancing
inside the window. It was a very
playful way to prototype and, more
importantly, we learned quickly
which dance moves wouldnt work.
Our goal with prototyping is to
build something quickly and learn
and then make it better on the next
round.

First off, when I say the word play

what does it mean to you?
Brendan Boyle: To me, play is what
youre passionate about doing. You
want to do it because its enjoyable
and you want to keep doing it
because it brings you joy. But play is
a ton of effort.
Joe Wilcox: Play is a state of mind.
Ive heard it described as a visceral
form of learning. It really doesnt
matter what the activity is, its the
way you approach the activity that
makes it play.

How do you handle skeptics

of play?

What common misperceptions do

organizations have around play?

Brendan: In Tom Kelleys book The

10 Faces of Innovation, he talks
about the one guy in the meeting
that anoints himself the role of
playing devils advocate. For some
reason, he then gets to shoot-down
everyones ideas. Tom makes a great
point around, What if this person
had to play a different role? What if
they had to play the experimenter
role?

Brendan: People tend to think a

couple things. That work is work and
play is frivolous and its only for kids.
Or when they do try and incorporate
it, they treat it separate from the
work and schedule it in almost like it
was recess. The core difference were
trying to incorporate at IDEO is that
play is part of the innovation process
not just something you do when you
roll out the ping pong tables at a
specific time.

Joe: Those skeptics are in every

walk of life. You can certainly
combat it with the experimenter
role. Show people its possible,
dont just tell them. Its always
been the seemingly improbable,
boundary-pushing ideas that have
created this world around us, and
none of that would have been
possible if theyd listened to all the
people who said it never would have
worked. Wed still be living in caves
if we relied on the skeptics.

What mindset should a creative

have when approaching play?
Joe: Try to encourage open-ended
behavior. Its not about goals, its
about pushing the boundaries and
discovering something.
For those that work with digital
tools, how do you replicate playing
and prototyping?

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ISSUE No. 2

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P L AY = W O R K

CHIN D GU
ISSUE No. 2

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C HIN D G U
A playful Japanese art form mashes up existing products and
everyday needs as a starting point for innovation.

They must have a spirit of anarchy

Chindgus challenge the need for usefulness.

Chindgu are not for sale

Chindgu cannot be sold. That
would go against the spirit of the
art form.

In the 1980s, a Japanese designer

named Kenji Kawakami developed the
art of Chindgu or unuselessness.
Chindgu inventions are eccentric
and extremely inconvenient tools that
solve everyday problems.
Chindgu cannot
be for real use
They are impractical
enough to be useless.

At the heart of Chindgu is a sense

of playfulness. The embrace of
ridiculousness removes any fear of
judgment, while the emphasis on
problem solving offers focus and
constraint.

Chindgu tools are for everyday life

They are solutions to problems
encountered every day around the world.

There are a few guiding tenets to the

art form. Read those on the pages
that follow, then well challenge you
to design your own Chindgu.

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CHIN D GU

Chindgu are without prejudice

Everyone should have an equal
chance to enjoy a Chindgu.
A Chindgu must exist
A Chindgu must be something
that you can hold in your hands.

Humor is not the sole reason

Even though Chindgu are inherently
ridiculous, they are still created to
solve a problem.

Chindgu are not propaganda

They are innocent and made with
pure intentions.

Chindgu are never taboo

Chindgu must adhere to
societys basic standards.
Chindgu cannot be patented
Chindgu cannot be copyrighted
or patented. They are meant to be
shared with the world.

Thanks to mentalfloss.com for teaching us about Chindgu. Images from the internet.
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ISSUE No. 2

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P L AY = W O R K

P L AY = W O R K

MAKE YOUR OWN

CHINDGU
Solve a problem by repurposing an existing product.

EVERYDAY NEED - Look around you. Whats frustrating people or making them uncomfortable?

EXISTING PRODUCT - Whats something you could buy at Home Depot or a gag shop?

DRAW & NAME IT

This second edition of Im not the

creative type by IDEO is limited
to five hundred copies, all of which
have been assembled by an IDEO
New York designer.
This is copy _________________

Will you send us what you came up with? Were curious:

creativetype@ideo.com
16

IDEO (pronounced eye-dee-oh) is a

global design firm that takes a humancentered, design-based approach to
helping organizations in the public and
private sectors innovate and grow.

COLOPHON

We were founded in 1991 with the faith

that everyone is creative.

Curated by Bailey Richardson & Thom Huxtable

www.ideo.com

Im not the creative type Play=Work. Zine #2

Printed & assembled at IDEO New York
Limited edition of about 500
Published on 10.14.2015

Design by IDEO NY
Typeset in Gotham, Calibre
Cover: French Paper. 100lb cover weight. Pop-tone
Blue Raspberry
Fly Sheet: Mohawk VIA Smooth Bright White,
Fibre. 24lb.
Interior: Mohawk Paper. 24lb & 28lb writing weight.
Superfine in Ultrawhite Eggshell
zine.ideo.com

THANKS TO

Fedor Novikov
Petr Novikov
Brendan Boyle
Joe Wilcox
Tim Brown
Stuart Brown
Ashlea Powell
Ben Swire
Chris Milne
T&B

Im not the creative

type is a zine to spark
imagination. Everyone
is born with an innate
creative ability, its just
a matter of shedding
fear of judgment
through inspiration,
process and craft.
Play is one of those
processes.