How To Generate More Ideas

How
to Generate more
Ideas
Agustín Medina Fernández
AGUSTIN MEDINA
HOW TO GENERATE
MORE IDEAS
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How to Generate more Ideas
1st edition
© 2020 Agustin Medina & bookboon.com
ISBN 978-87-403-3553-8
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HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS Contents
CONTENTS
The power of imagination 5
1 The world of ideas 12

1.1 A matter of technique 13
2 Creation phases 15
2.1 Some key phases on the way to the idea 15
3 Recipes for Creativity 18

3.1 Logical Idea Association 18
3.2 Creation Stimuli 19
3.3 Parallel Worlds 24
3.4 Brainstorming 25
3.5 Creativity in the world of objects 26
3.6 What do people spend their money on? 27
3.7 What things bother me and others? 27
3.8 Creativity in the business world 34
3.9 Creativity to express ideas 39
3.10 Creativity in the world of images 41
4 Some key ideas to sell ideas 44

4.1 Creativity to live 46
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HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS The power of imagination
THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

“Imagination is more important than knowledge.”
– Albert Einstein
Nowadays practically nobody doubts that the imagination, i.e. creativity, is the driving force
of progress in the world. Creativity, either individual or collective, is the secret to evolving
and developing in every area, from personal growth to the propulsion of companies and
institutions. The power of ideas is endless and without them, it is impossible to have any
kind of growth strategy.
Everyone talks about creativity, but very few are able to really answer these questions: What
is creativity? Who is creative and why? Is the creative individual born creative or does he or
she become creative? How does one become creative? Why are the great creative individuals
called geniuses? I believe that a creative mind is nothing more than an open, flexible mind.
It is one which is capable of seeking solutions to any problem by always using new paths,
avoiding scientific rigidity, rational thinking, old standards, and always striving to see things
from a new perspective.
Alfred Korzybski, a Polish scientist who invented General Semantics and cultivated non-
Aristotelian thought, once said:
“If a person sees something as white and another person sees the same thing as black, you
don’t necessarily have to deduce that one of the two is mistaken, but that their references
can be different.”
The different perspectives from which each person sees any situation can make us perceive
it differently. What is white for some may be black or gray for others, and most of the time
we are all right, because there are many different ways to solve the same problem because it
all depends on our creativity when contemplating it. Thinking outside the box is essential
in order to find new, more original solutions.
In such a context, experience is the greatest handicap we face when developing our creativity.
Experience makes us follow the same paths, i.e. the well-trodden paths of our expert
knowledge. However, creative spirit is about always navigating new paths, to accept all
possibilities, no matter where they come from, even if they have nothing to do with what
our experience tells us. Creativity bases its beliefs on the unlimited use of imagination and
emotion, extremely far from our most rational thoughts.
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In a 1990s interview, the great artist Eduardo Chiltida said something similar to his interviewer:
“Today I know that one cannot do what one already knows because one only creates when
one is at the knowledge limit”.
Curiosity, emotion, openness, flexibility, risk, and imagination are the authentic keys to
creative thinking. This has nothing to do with complicated intellectual processes or spectacular
intelligence quotients. Nor does it have anything to do with inborn genius.
“Creativity is learned and exercised daily, when we embrace a creative attitude towards
every problem we face, whether it be in our working life, our love life, our family life, or
our social life,”
It’s just about stimulating our imagination to the fullest, allowing us to constantly use it, both
experimentally and practically, in all the events of our daily lives; to establish connections
between all our brain areas, both conscious and unconscious. When we are born, we already
have the neurons we need for thinking, but it is only possible to do so when connections
are established between them, a process which is called synapse.
We cannot regenerate the dead neurons in our brain, but we can increase the ability to
establish connections between them. And the more connections we are capable of establishing,
the richer and more creative our thinking will be. In other words, we have all the capabilities
to create, but we can only do it when we are capable of establishing the right connections.
When we think of a creative person, we always think of someone who is out of the ordinary.
Writers, painters, musicians, mathematicians, or actors are usually eccentric characters for
us, or anyone who has a different appearance from the average person. And this is almost
always true. These people’s creativity manifests itself in all their attitudes. They are different
not only in their clothing or physical appearance but also in their social behavior.
Their manner of manifesting themselves, of differing from others, is their external creativity
banner. Their difference is obvious, and that is why we think it is the reflection of some
kind of mental capability inaccessible to ordinary people, to those who are “normal”, to
people who have not been lucky enough to have been born creative. However, despite what
is believed, all human beings have the creativity seed, and all we need to do is stimulate
it a little in order to make it ignite in our brain and thus completely transform our lives.
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A leap over logic

Everything that is creative, original, or unusual, is always outside the logic which the normal
application of knowledge implies. That is why imagination is a leap over logic, a dodge of
our most primal common sense, a complicity wink to our intuition.
Much has been written about intuition, that instant hit that allows us to make decisions
on the spot, without elaborating rationally, without reflecting, following only our first
instinct. That intuition which, according to the Royal Academy Dictionary, “is the faculty
of understanding things instantaneously, without the need for reasoning”, has much to do
with creativity and the imaginative thinking process, which is born and develops in our
unconscious.
“We human beings have a kind of storehouse in our brain, where all our knowledge and
all our memories are kept for life”.
All the words, images, smells, and feelings that once entered the brain through our senses
remain there. Every day we voluntarily and consciously rescue everything from that storehouse
needed to apply logic to any problem we face. But thousands of ideas, apparently unconnected,
also come out every day from that storehouse, in an involuntary and unconscious way,
which can bring us creative solutions. However, we usually despise these inputs because we
do not know how to use them.
Managing all the information we store in our brain is an impossible task for an exclusively
logical mind. Theoretically, through logic, we could reach the limit of our knowledge, but
in practice, this is not possible. Not even the most advanced computer -the maximum
exponent of a logical thinking structure- which would have stored all the knowledge, the
conscious and the unconscious, of a medium cultured adult human being, could shuffle in
a reasonable time the infinite series of possible combinations, and give us a creative answer
to a given problem. The computer, like the logical man, works through very limited areas
of association, in which the emergence of the creative act is almost impossible.
Somehow, Buddha left a written account of this when he stated that “intuition and not
reason holds the key to the fundamental truths”.
If we cannot access, within a logical process, all the opportunities that our unconscious
knowledge offers us, we will be wasting most of our capacity to solve the problem; because
in the combination of our global knowledge, the conscious and the unconscious is the secret
of our creativity. This has been expressed by all the great creators of history who have ever
spoken on the subject. What we know as inspiration is nothing more than a spontaneous
manifestation of the unconscious, which sends messages to the conscious after an incubation
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period. Salvador Dalí said that the ideal moment to paint, to express oneself, is that “in
which the delirium of the spontaneous is produced, through a systematic and wise active
attitude towards irrational phenomenon”.
When we face a problem we first elaborate immediate responses, almost always rational,
produced by our experience in the subject. But after a kind of dead time, in which it seems
that we distance ourselves from the problem, ideas suddenly appear, “inspirations”, from
our unconscious, which leads us to the resolution of the problem. In that dead time, our
unconscious has continued working, by relating the rational data that we had applied to
the problem, with all the baggage of our unconscious knowledge; allowing our imagination
to go beyond the limits of logic and to break all the barriers that prevent us from freeing
our creative thinking.
The value of intelligence

Imagination is a creative way of using thought, but it is not in itself an act of creation. For
this to happen, it is necessary that our intelligence also comes into play, that we are able to
accept the suggestions of our unconscious, to use them in relation to the problem at hand,
adding images to our reflections. Intelligence also allows us to value the different options
that the imagination will have given us and to choose the most suitable ones among them
for the specific circumstances.
“In order to create something interesting, we must dare to shuffle all the hypotheses: those
that we have arrived at through rational means, that of our conscious experience, and those
that come to us through the imagination as a result of our unconscious hidden work.”
All human beings are born with the ability to successfully carry out this process, so we
can all be creative. But not all of us evolve correctly on the path of creativity because our
intellectual and social development often diminishes our creative capacity. There is no one
in the world more creative than a newborn baby.
The genius myth

Each human being is an innovation, a creation in itself, different from all others, not only
physically but in the deepest intimacy of its essence and in the potentiality of its future
behavior. When we face life for the first time from our individual psychophysical position,
we do it in a different way from others. Each of the forms of our behavior, each reaction
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to situations -new to us- that the environment presents us with, provokes a response on our
part which is original, genuine, and different from all other responses of our fellow human
beings. A response which, from our first signs of intelligence, reveals our creative capacity,
our creative attitude to life, our enormous and innate creative potential.
When we are born we are all creative, because we face each problem from a new angle, i.e.
our own angle. And our new way of dealing with each problem is in itself a creative fact.
However, as we integrate into society, as contact with others makes us similar to them, and
as we learn to behave within the established social order, we stop being creative and gradually
reduce our creative potential. Instead of stimulating our differences with others, our parents
and educators force us to become like them. They “teach” us what is right and wrong, what
is beautiful or ugly, what we should and should not do or think. They force us to adopt
common patterns of behavior and put us on the path of imitation and lack of originality.
In a word, they restrict our creative capacity, thus numbing our creative individualism. The
more similar we become to our fellow human beings, the more similar our actions are to
those of others, the fewer possibilities we have of performing creative or innovative acts in
any of the different areas of concepts, forms, objects, or behavior.
Society mutilates man’s innate creativity; and yet the world needs creators to evolve because,
without innovation, progress is not possible.
This tremendous contradiction has forced society to elaborate on the myth of genius. When
society attacks the creative capacity of human beings, it is to some extent closing off the
path of its own evolution; that is to say, it is also attacking itself, because it reduces the
paths to the future demanded by its own need for survival. In spite of this, society has
no other alternative but to destroy the creative potential of its members or, what is the
same, their unique, unheard of, and unrepeatable personality (their innate individualism),
because if it did not do so there could be no society. The concept of society is antagonistic
to the concept of individualism and, if individualism is in some way the breeding ground
of creativity, and this is what can give rise to creation, we could almost dare to say that
society and creation are two incompatible concepts.
Or, to put it delicately, that the individual totally integrated into society is a creatively
emasculated being.
However, creativity, creatives, and creation are phenomena that occur, to a greater or lesser
extent, among the individuals that make up a society.
But it is significant that most of these individuals, who are capable of creating in any art,
profession, or scientific field, almost always coincide in being introverted, skeptical, eccentric,
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marginal, and more or less maladjusted; in a word, antisocial. And when someone with
these attributes, which seem to be individualism generators, manages to culminate with a
transcendental creation for society, the latter, which cannot admit individualism as a synonym
of creativity, invents the myth of the genius and sublimates the individual creator by placing
him above other men, turning him almost into a god, when in reality:
The genius is neither more nor less than a good creative person.
Albert Einstein himself, in a brilliant article published on December 8, 1933, in Liberty

magazine, manifested himself in this way about the individual creator:
“Whether accumulating or growing through countless generations, all civilization and all
cultures have emerged from the roots of creative individualism. It was not society, but an
individual, who first knew how to use fire. Some individuals also first conceived the idea of
getting food by growing plants. Similarly, other individuals invented the steam engine and
the filament that brings us light. Only the individual can think and, by thinking, create
new values for leadership. Only the individual can devise new moral standards that point
the way forward for generations. Without decisive personalities who think and believe
independently, human progress is unthinkable”.
We can all be creative

In fact, it is enough just to change the tuning in our brain to develop a creative mind.
There are only three basic rules to keep in mind:
1. Do not trust exclusively in the rational automatisms of our nervous system

(experience).
2. Do not admit anything as unique and definitive.
3. Develop the imagination through the constant production of associations.
Almost all the production of creative ideas, which characterizes people we consider to be
brilliant, is based on these three principles. The ideas come to them because they are open
to any possibility and do not discard any hypothesis, however absurd it may seem.
Einstein spoke of “the childlike curiosity of genius” to explain that capacity of the creative
man to see everything with new eyes every time. We must forget everything we know,
silence the expert within us who always guides us along the same paths of our experience.
We must dare to handle all the possibilities, being aware that the same problem can have
infinite solutions. And, above all, we must develop our imagination by learning to associate
ideas which, apparently, have nothing in common.
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Characteristics of creative individuals

Although creativity is an activity which can be developed by anyone, it is obvious that
there are individuals who are born with certain characteristics that make them more likely
to be creative.
These are individuals who defy social norms, with introverted, maladjusted, solitary and
eccentric characters. They tend to be rebellious and transgressive in the face of society’s
conventions. They also have an open mind and their own thinking. They are idealists and
dreamers. And they are practically always ahead of their time.
On the other hand, there are circumstances that limit or amplify the possibility of being
creative. In the family environment, the position of the child is of great importance. If you
are the first or only child you have too much parental attention, which limits the possibilities
of developing your own thinking.
However, being the youngest in a large family allows more freedom of thought by having
less attention from parents and siblings, and at the same time provides more stimuli, since
you have a much greater variety of creativity possible.
In the social environment, political plurality and cultural diversity undoubtedly encourage
creativity. Living in a dictatorship with an absolute lack of information is not the same as
being in a free democratic society where everyone can fearlessly express their own thoughts,
however extreme they may be.
Finally, in the work environment, having the possibility of avoiding routine work and
being able to perform a range of different tasks promotes flexible thinking. It is clear that
routine kills creativity. On the other hand, working without proper rest or in a problematic
environment prevents the development of new ideas.
Einstein stated, “If you are looking for different results, don’t always do the same thing.”
You must follow that advice closely in order to stay creative. You have to go out and
experience all kinds of sensations. Read books, listen to music, connect with people, visit art
exhibitions, go to the movies, see a play at the theater, play sports, discover new restaurants,
and approach life with a boundless attitude of curiosity.
Creativity is an attitude
It is one of waking up every day eager to see the world through new eyes, being aware that
everything in life is a matter of perspective. Knowing that when one person sees something
white and another person sees it as black, one should not necessarily deduce that one of
the two is wrong, but that their references may be different.
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HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS The world of ideas
1 THE WORLD OF IDEAS

Creativity is the essence of ideas, with its ability to break with conventional patterns, and provide
a new solution to any problem.
Likewise, ideas are the essence of creativity, the concretion of the whole creative process,
the essential pieces to make everything advance. Ideas are the engine that moves the world,
the energy that drives technological, scientific, artistic, or social progress. Ideas also serve
to redefine things, because things are transformed when we observe them from a different
perspective. A hairdryer, for example, is just a small appliance useful for drying hair, but it
can become the image of a gun if we rest the air outlet on our temple. Or a tomato can
turn its pulp into blood, just by putting a Band-Aid on it that we use to heal our wounds.
All things can undergo alterations depending on how we perceive them.
I remember being taught about the importance of perspective in high school philosophy
classes, with the example of a man on top of a hill, which was accessed from a winding road.
On the slope of the hill, another man started the ascent. Halfway up the path, a tiger was
lurking, waiting for the moment to pounce on him. The man on the summit observed the
scene from his privileged place, noticing the tiger and its possible victim at the same time,
and already imagining the moment of the tiger’s assault. So that is what the future had in
store for the traveler, the high possibility of being attacked by the tiger, which was already
obvious from the observer´s standpoint.
Similarly, in “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, he explains Isaac Newton’s

complicated theory of movement in space, using the image of a moving train:
“[...] let’s suppose that someone, in a train moving at forty meters per second, makes a little
ball bounce on a table, in the same position, at one second intervals. For this person, the
positions between successive bounces would have a zero spatial separation. On the other
hand, an observer located next to the tracks would state that two successive bounces occur
forty meters away from each other, since the train would have moved this distance between
the bounces”.
It’s all about perspective.
That is why it is important to abandon the beaten path of experience, to break the rational
patterns in which we usually face problems and to let our imagination wander in search
of powerful new ideas.
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1.1 A MATTER OF TECHNIQUE

Having ideas is a matter of technique and training. The same happens in sport, with
certain people training from a very young age and sometimes going on to become Olympic
champions, while others say they are not good at sport and use that excuse to sabotage
themselves and hence avoid all physical exercise. The thing is that we can all be sportsmen
and women and it will always be beneficial for our health, even if we never turn out to be
champions in any discipline.
You don’t have to be an elite athlete to enjoy doing any sport. You just need to learn some
basic techniques and train regularly. And the same goes for creativity: we can all exercise
it and enjoy it, without having to be creative geniuses. All you need is to have the will to
develop your emotional thinking and learn some creative techniques to help you come up
with ideas.
This book is not intended to be a bible of well-known creativity techniques, which can be
found in any other book dedicated to the subject, but rather to show how these techniques
can be applied to innovation, both in the design of objects and in commercial or business
strategies. The aim is to stimulate those intellectual capacities of the human being which
are more susceptible to being applied to creative activity:
Concentration
Observation
Memory
Logic
Trial
Association
Imagination
And in particular, it is about stimulating the imagination to our ends, through four of its
more suitable manifestations:
Reproductive imagination: This allows us to relive the past, suggesting relationships between
it and the present or the future.
Speculative imagination: This enables us to find forms of representation for the unknown.
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Substitute Imagination: This makes us put ourselves in another person´s shoes and imagine
what that other (person or thing) would do if they were in our situation.
Anticipatory imagination: We can harness this to foresee what is going to happen.
If we learn to use our intellectual capacities and, more specifically, our imagination in any
of its manifestations, we will be approaching the most suitable answers to all our questions
in an extremely positive way.
Being open to all stimuli is the first step towards the production of ideas. Cinema, television,
the press, internet and all other mass media are an endless source of stimuli that can provide
us with ideas about many things. Even gossip in the tabloids can provide us with interesting
data. Celebrities are often a showcase of extravagance and perhaps even ideas. We must
let ourselves be surprised by everything new and constantly ask ourselves: how? And why?
Let’s not forget that our best ideas are asleep, deep down in the unconscious and anything can
help us awaken them.
The information we receive from the media can be the inspiration that wakes them up.
And then we will only have to adopt them, seize them through our awareness, and then
put them into practice.
In the first phase of the creative thinking process, we must put aside our rational experience
and let our imagination run free, accepting any suggestion from our unconscious. We must
overcome the shyness that sometimes prevents us from facing seemingly crazy solutions and
renounce all criticism.
It is a question of collecting as many stimuli as possible and continuously evaluate their

usefulness for now. Ideas are tremendously volatile and vanish with the greatest ease; which
is why we have to write them down without judging them, so that, at a later stage, we can
classify, order and evaluate them according to their ability to solve our specific problem.
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HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS Creation phases
2 CREATION PHASES
In every process of creation some schemes are repeated, with slight differences, and are sometimes
described in the same way by such illustrious creatives like the mathematician Henri Poincaré,
the Nobel Prize winner in Physics Ñiels Bohr or the great scientist Albert Einstein.
2.1 SOME KEY PHASES ON THE WAY TO THE IDEA
Approach to the problem

The first level of how we approach this. When we receive the data and assimilate the goals.
A first rational examination of the information presented to us.
Preparation
Sorting and classifying data. Requests for more information to fill in any gaps.
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Analysis
A careful examination of the data leads us to become aware of the true dimension of the
problem and the subproblems that arise from it. At the same time we carry out a logical
analysis of the possibilities of solving it.
Creative phase
Exploration of the problem from angles which are far from its surroundings. A synthesis of
these possible angles constitutes the core of the following pages in this book.
Incubation period
This phase is fundamental. We temporarily move away from the problem and allow the
ideas to rest, leaving the unconscious free for its automatic selection process.
Synthesis process
During this process the coupling of ideas to the problem we want to solve takes place. It
is a moment of criticism, evaluation and selection.
Final selection
We must now choose the most interesting idea from all points of view, taking into account
its feasibility and economic constraints. Perhaps many of the ideas we have handled during
the previous phases will not be suitable to solve the problem, but they can serve another
purpose.
They must be catalogued and archived because they can surely be useful to us in the future.
A good archive of ideas is a gold mine to which we can always turn.
Isabel Allende, the Chilean author of so many successful books such as La Casa de los
Espíritus, El Juego de Ripper, or La Suma de los Días (The House of Spirits, Ripper’s Game, or
The Sum of Days), defines this process in the prologue of one of her books:
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“In the journey of life I accumulate experiences that are printed in the deepest extracts of
the memory and there they ferment, are transformed and sometimes they sprout on the
surface like strange plants of other worlds”.
The great surrealist painter Salvador Dalí also wrote that “Inspiration is the delirium of the
unconscious”, thus making it very clear that the relationship between the conscious and the
unconscious is the key to producing creative ideas.
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HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS Recipes for Creativity
3 RECIPES FOR CREATIVITY

Logical ideas are not isolated in our brain, nor do they arise spontaneously. Each of these ideas
is closely linked to all the others, and this makes it impossible to access one of them without first
establishing a relationship with the others around it.
3.1 LOGICAL IDEA ASSOCIATION

One way to establish this relationship is to link all aspects of the problem we are trying to
solve by analyzing everything carefully so that the reflection of each step leads to the next.
We must be able to separate the parts from the whole, just like we do when we fix our
gaze on a specific point. Normally our vision is general, and is not focused on anything
in particular.
We look at a panoramic view, covering an extension of almost 180 degrees. But when we
want to focus on something, we point our gaze there and concentrate on that special place
that draws our attention. We must do the same when facing any problem.
It is necessary to begin by establishing what the variables of the problem that we are going to
study are, without forgetting any of them. We cannot afford to dismiss even those variables
that seem unlikely to contribute absolutely anything, due to their apparent simplicity.
A practical example would be if we were trying to plant a tree in the most suitable place
in our garden. The variables to take into account in this case would be: sun, soil, shade,
water, roots, free space, etc.
The next step, once the variables are defined, would be to analyze them one by one in
relation to the central idea.
What is the best location for the tree (the central idea whose solution is sought)? This is
based on the amount of sun or shade we want it to provide in the future or the amount
of water, earth, or space we have at our disposal.
Once each of the variables has been considered separately, we must examine them again
by putting all of them in relation to each other this time. In this way we will have tied up
all the loose ends that lead to the idea solution. We will have cornered the idea with our
creative logic, and it will no longer be able to do anything but present itself in a clear and
unequivocal way before our eyes.
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This way of facing the logical chaining of our ideas may seem very obvious, but most of
the time we make wrong decisions because we do not know how to see all the angles of a
problem, by virtue of not giving free rein to our association capacity. We limit ourselves to
planting the tree in any part of the garden, without taking into account all the variables,
which will be revealed to us as very important in the future, when the tree grows and the
possible failures of foresight no longer have a remedy.
3.2 CREATION STIMULI
1. Start from an abstract premise that is not proven experimentally

Human beings can fly.
Human beings can breathe underwater.
Human beings and machines can merge.
If we consider these premises as being true, we will be closer to the possibility of making
them a reality. In fact, much of the current ongoing research at the prestigious Massachusetts
Institute of Technology, which is close to Harvard University, focuses on the fusion of man
and machine; bearing in mind that this is a process that began many years ago, with the
implantation of sophisticated prostheses such as pacemakers in the human body.
Accepting that man and machine can become a single matter will undoubtedly lead us
to conceive of today’s cell phones as a chip applied to our earlobe like an earring, or to
imagine the entire internet network on a microscopic silicon plate attached to our central
nervous system.
If we do not dare to imagine the problem already solved, without having to prove it, we
will be closing the way to many of its possible solutions.
We have to be daring and capable of dreaming with the most utopian approaches, so that they
are close and accessible to us.
2. Changing the Formulation of the Problems

Deal with problems without preconceived ideas. If we try to design a suit, for example, let’s
not think about a conventional suit. We must consider that we are looking for a solution to
hide the body, to shelter the body, to adorn the body... And if it’s a bag, let’s think about
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finding a container to keep things, to transport things, to have things at hand... Only in
this way can we escape from the rigidity of the known, from the usual colors, shapes and
materials, and from the standard solutions.
3. Thinking Positive
Addressing problems in a positive light sometimes makes things easier. For example, if it
involves finding solutions to the traffic problem, it is advisable to aim at improving the
circulation of vehicles rather than trying to prevent traffic jams.
They may seem like the same thing, but they are two very different ways of channeling
creative thinking. Thinking about improvement is already a step towards improvement itself,
a good mental predisposition towards possible solutions.
Some large hospitals have solved the problem of their internal traffic by improving the
circulation of visitors, through the use of colored lines painted on the floor of their corridors.
These lines represent, depending on their color, the different services of the hospital (rooms,
operating rooms, waiting rooms, etc.); and one only has to follow them to arrive at one´s
destination. It is a great example of a practical creative idea born from a positive thought:
“to improve circulation”. Its creators would probably never have come up with such an idea
if they had formulated the problem in terms of “preventing congestion”.
4. Questioning Everything
Ask the questions that no one dares to ask for fear of making a fool of themselves. Adopt
the childish attitude that leads children to ask about everything: why, why and why? Dare to
inquire without fear of being branded ignorant. Creativity is always found in bold questions,
more than in right answers. What happens if I wet it, if I dry it, if I enlarge it, if I cut it,
if I paint it, if I erase it, if I stretch it, if I shrink it, if I change its color? What happens
if I decide to continue, or if I decide to stop, or if I decide to invest or disinvest? Imagine
all the hypotheses with the ingenuity of a neophyte.
And flee from the experience that limits our imagination, without taking anything as being
known or experienced.
Thus our mind is opened to the most unsuspected ideas.
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5. Converting thoughts into Images

Unconscious messages are ephemeral.
They pass through our thoughts at dizzying speeds, and if we are caught off guard we can
lose them forever. But they are very important, I would even say essential, in order to feed
our creativity; that is why we must hunt them down on the fly and leave them imprinted
on a sheet of paper, so that we can examine them calmly later on, and turn them into
productive ideas.
We have actually done this exercise many times without even realizing it. When we listen to
someone who does not manage to capture our interest, we entertain ourselves by scribbling
on a blank sheet of paper; or when we think of some problem that worries us, we draw
circles, lines and squares in an almost obsessive way.
But there is a way to make better use of those lucubrations. All we need is to do it in a
premeditated way. When we are thinking about a problem, we should put down on paper
everything that passes through our minds, whether words or images, without stopping to
think about their possible usefulness in the application of the resolution of our problem.
Let us let our imagination wander and write down all the messages it dictates to us.
After a while, let’s go back to them, review everything we have written down on paper and
try to find the mysterious connections between those messages and the problem at hand.
We will surely be surprised and find unsuspected answers.
6. Create Limitless Ideas

When we start generating ideas, it is necessary to remove all barriers that may prevent them
from flowing smoothly. We must be open to any thought that comes to mind, however
absurd it may seem.
Let us write down all the ideas that come to us, without stopping to judge or criticize
them. Let us allow some ideas to lead us to others, combining them and developing them
without limitations.
Later, at another time, perhaps a couple of days later, we will focus on examining them
one by one, rationally judging their pros and cons. It will no longer be the moment of
creation, but the moment of analysis. But this analysis will be carried out on the basis of
valuable creative material, i.e. our abundant array of virgin ideas.
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7. Making Random Connections

We cannot waste any of what our thinking offers us, which is a bottomless pit of enriching
ideas and stimuli. And to take advantage of it all, to reach the confines of that great archive
that our brain is, we need to make continuous leaps over our logical reasoning.
We can do this in many ways, and one of them is to prepare a list of common names that
have nothing to do with the problem at hand. For example, if we are trying to design a
bag, we can write the words “fish tank”, “car” and “refrigerator”. And then we must relate
each one of them to the bag we are designing.
“Fish tank” will suggest “water” and “fish”, and maybe it will make us think of a bag
covered with a plastic bag with water inside where we can see some colorful synthetic fish
swimming. The “car” will provide us with an idea of a bag with wheels and, if it wasn’t
already invented, it would have allowed us to invent the shopping cart.
And finally, the “fridge” will surely give us the idea of a bag in which a light comes on when
it is opened; allowing us to see what is inside when in the darkness of a cinema or disco.
This word exercise can also be done with the photos we see in books and magazines, or
with any graphic element of the landscape we have in sight. We only have to imagine what
the characteristics of that element could bring to the topic at hand.
Putting together elements which apparently haven´t anything to do with each other and which,
in all probability, we would never have related spontaneously, will make our imagination
wander and discover a whole world of unusual perspectives.
8. Explore all Angles

Sometimes, when projecting any idea, we focus on developing it only according to some
of its sensory variables, without taking into account that to fully enjoy things we must do
it with all our senses.
For example, in a restaurant the decoration is very important in order to satisfy our sight
and the food to satisfy our taste; but it is also important to satisfy our smell by preventing
unpleasant smells. Similarly, the ear must be satisfied with pleasant background music or
simply by reducing or eliminating the excessive noise of diners chatting. Last and not least,
the objects on the table are extremely important: i.e. tablecloths, napkins, cutlery, dishes,
etc. because they are also pleasant to our touch.
Today’s most creative architects take all these variables into account when designing intelligent
buildings, which brilliantly combine aesthetics and comfort.
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9. Turn Things Upside-down

This is a very creative exercise full of surprises. When we turn all our knowledge and
immovable dogmas upside-down, we sometimes really discover the other side of things, the
bright side that reveals a whole world of new ideas. Imagining what things would be like
if they were turned upside down, that is the experimental game to which we must submit
all our certainties, in order to find different answers to the questions we have always asked.
Such concepts might be: an airplane that cannot fly, a car without wheels, an office where
one does not go to work, a movie theater that does not show movies, or a business plan
that does not pursue any objective. Where does all this lead us? If an airplane is not suitable
for flying, what can it be used for? A conference room, perhaps? A bar? A computer room
with a computer behind each seat? A sculpture? And if a car does not have wheels, could
it slide on a rail? Or by means of an air cushion, as some boats do?
If our business objective is to lose money instead of earning it, we can make a plan that
contemplates filling our company with useless personnel, manufacturing products that do
not interest anyone, or delaying the shipment of orders as much as possible.
Turning things upside down suffices to make us think of unusual thoughts.
We can make an original list of actions we should take to destroy a company. Then we just
have to look at those things and try to prevent them by doing the direct opposite so as to
put our company on the right track.
Reverse the concepts to see the other side of the problems. Criticize everything by identifying
the weaknesses and then build the solutions on top of them.
10. Put Yourself in another Person´s Shoes

This analogy is one of the oldest and most interesting creative techniques. It consists of
applying the solutions that nature offers to our problems, through the behavior of many
animal or vegetable species. Examples include the intelligent organization of an anthill or
a beehive, the travelling adventures of migratory birds, the hierarchical relationships of a
group of gorillas or the efficient feeding system of a carnivorous plant. Such phenomena
can teach us many things if we are able to transfer these experiences to the planning and
elaboration of the most diverse projects and business strategies.
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The human being has created many things in his image and likeness, observing himself
and considering his own body as a perfect mechanism, from which many valid ideas can
be extracted.
Does anyone doubt, for example, that a car is similar to a human being? With its engine/
heart, its wheels/limbs and its fuel/food, it is capable of moving from one place to another
in the same way that we do.
We also know from history that aviation owes much of its development to the observation
of the flight of birds, or that some inventions such as the Morse have much to do with the
ancestral way of communication of some African tribes.
3.3 PARALLEL WORLDS

The closed circle of excessive specialization, which prevents creativity from developing, is
broken and released when we are able to learn from other activities that are alien to us,
from other worlds parallel to our own that can provide us with interesting new solutions.
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What does the world of fashion have to do with the world of oil? Or the world of advertising
with the world of computer components? These are completely unrelated activities seemingly,
with completely different game rules.
But let’s do the exercise of switching roles and apply one activity´s systems to the other.
Let’s sell fashion as if it were oil, and oil as if it were advertising, and advertising as if it
were a computer. The results of applying the production, distribution and sales techniques
used by each of these sectors to other sectors which are so different may reveal unexpected
solutions that we would never have reached without leaving our closed circle activity.
3.4 BRAINSTORMING
It is the best known creative technique, a word that became fashionable among creative
advertising people in the seventies and that gradually spread to other sectors such as marketing
or business administration. This popularity has been detrimental to its practice because as
its use has grown its liturgy has been simplified, to the point that it has become a simple
meeting where ideas are exchanged.
In reality, brainstorming is based on the premise that the group stimulates creativity. But
it must be a special group whose first condition is the mixture of experts and non experts
in the subject to be developed.
As in all creative techniques, it is necessary to go off the beaten track of experience, so it

is important that there is a representative presence of laymen in the group, consisting of a
maximum of eight people. And the second condition is that:
The opinion of these laymen is as valid as those of the most prestigious specialists.
Having laid these foundations, the next point to consider is that the subject must be faced
without any preconceived ideas. It is not a question of discussing a decision already taken,
but of fantasizing about all possible solutions. Therefore, no criticism should be made of
the ideas that arise. We just have to take note of them and try to chain one to the other in
a process of theoretically infinite imagination, even though we have previously set a time
limit for the meeting, generally one hour.
Ideas must be expressed with total freedom, without fear of ridicule or criticism from others
because, as I said before, there must be no criticism in that first phase. The technique is also
based on the idea that quantity produces quality, so the more ideas the better, no matter
how unrelated or crazy they may seem.
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For creativity and ideas to emerge, the environment must be leisurely and the atmosphere
should be free and playful. An animator is often required to warm up the atmosphere, to
relax the social relations of people who do not know each other well enough to lose the
sense of ridicule at the first sign of change. This stage of relaxation is absolutely necessary
to obtain satisfactory results.
After the first meeting of an hour, in which we have collected as many ideas as possible
about the problem we are dealing with, a second meeting is held. A few days will have
passed, enough to cool down any early enthusiasm. And only the experts on the subject
will participate in that second meeting.
They must analyze one by one all the ideas that came up in the previous meeting and apply
a rational analysis of their viability, and then choose those ideas which are more interesting
for the proposed goals.
3.5 CREATIVITY IN THE WORLD OF OBJECTS

An important part of our creativity comes to us from the unconscious, but the unconscious
is by its very definition uncontrollable; which is why we have resorted to using some
techniques that imitate its behavior.
Most of these techniques lead us to the observation of all external phenomena that provide
us with information of any kind. Everything can be used to relate it to our problems and
stimulate our creativity, and thus obtain surprising results. Vincent Grégoire, creative director
of the trend-setting agency Nelly Rody, says that he finds his ideas for fashion in the most
logical places, such as nightclubs, after-hours, contemporary art exhibitions or street markets;
but he also finds inspiration in more unusual places such as urban waste paper baskets, or
the tombs and mausoleums of large cemeteries.
Usually, the more far apart the references we associate, the better. But nor should we forget
the most direct sources of information. When we try to focus our interests on a specific
world, such as the world of objects, it is also very interesting to look at some rational
aspects closely related to the topic at hand, which can be of great help when it comes to
finding new, suggestive ideas.
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3.6 WHAT DO PEOPLE SPEND THEIR MONEY ON?

In developed societies, when basic needs are met, we humans spend our money in accordance
with social trends and fashions. There are people who cannot live without buying the latest
model of cell phone, or without knowing every new restaurant that opens in their city.
Every person is a role model, but certain role models are common for many people. And
we must look at these models in particular when inventing objects destined for success.
What do people spend their money on? We must investigate the subjective origin of that
spending, the primary instinct behind it, and then try to satisfy that same instinct, need,
or simple desire, in a new way.
Vanity, envy or sex, among many other motivations, are universal sources of collective
behavior, which can be satisfied with a multitude of new products. Sports cars, branded
clothing, tattoos, piercings or silicone implants are good examples of creativity applied to
satisfy some of these needs.
3.7 WHAT THINGS BOTHER ME AND OTHERS?

Not only the things we like, but also the things that bother us are opportunities for creation,
and these sometimes go unnoticed because of the force of habit.
- What bothers me?

- What makes me angry, tired or upset?
- What do I usually neglect because I am so upset about it?
- What prevents me from having both hands free?
- What makes me strain my eyes?
- What do I usually put off or forget to do?
- What demands excessive effort?
- What makes me sweat?
- What occupations cause me pain or discomfort?
- Why do my clothes, my home, and my work tools deteriorate?
- What tasks force me to adopt uncomfortable positions?
- What things do I not like to touch?
- What occupations force me to get wet, cold, dirty...?
All these questions and many others like them are what give rise to such practical inventions
like cigarette holders, umbrellas, shoe-cleaners with applicators or rubber gloves for the home.
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1. Promote Exclusivity
Making each person feel that he or she is different from others and providing them with
the opportunity to feel important and special. An infinite number of marketing actions
revolve around these key points which provide enormous income to companies of all kinds.
Motor companies have long ago discovered the importance of adapting their car models
to the different tastes of their customers. The possibility of choosing metallic paint, leather
seats or alloy wheels, distinguishes them from their competitors and considerably increases
their income and market share. Also, the tailor-made offerings or the differentiated designs
offered by some real estate agencies in single-family homes are two good examples.
People love to put their name, initials or anagram on the items they buy. A lighter, a leather
briefcase or a personalized diary will delight many people. You can also give a touch of
distinction to the most common objects. Just as gold and silver have been added to watches,
glasses or fountain pens in the past, there are many other everyday objects that can be made
using the same formula.
These exclusive features, which are accessible to all the middle classes in developed countries,
are now called massdusivity; and at this time there is an elite group of people with high
purchasing power who demand superior exclusivity, which has been called Über Premium.
Über Premium means super exclusive goods and services, unaffordable for the conventional
middle, upper-middle and even upper classes. The city of Dubai, with its 6-star hotels, its
artificial palm-shaped islands and its fabulous duty-free stores, which last year generated
sales of 500 million dollars, has become the most important showcase for luxury and Über
Premium in the world.
2. Stimulating the vanity of the grey man

Referring to television, Andy Warhol predicted that one day everyone could enjoy fifteen
minutes of fame thanks to it. You only have to watch the reality shows that are flooding the
television channels all over the planet, to prove that he was right. Normal people’s desire for
prominence sometimes reaches unimaginable proportions. But without reaching the extreme
cases of making more or less a fool of themselves on a TV program, most normal people
are crazy about seeing or listening to themselves in the mass media. Being in the press or
interviewed on the radio or television is something that gives notoriety and prestige and is
therefore desirable for almost everyone.
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However, access to the media is forbidden for most; but cameras and video cameras have
always been a good substitute to satisfy the vanity of being immortalized on printed paper or
a television screen. People love to emulate the glittering stars of film, theater and television,
feeling that they are protagonists as well, if only within the small family circle.
Seeking new ideas to satisfy the vanity of ordinary people opens up a whole world of
possibilities for creation in the world of design and objects. T-shirts with the photo of
their wearer, computer portraits, or Andy Warhol-style pictures, which are made from a
photograph, are just a few small examples.
3. Making public things private

Onassis owned an island and many other millionaires after him followed his example. It
is much more common to have a private jet or a small helicopter. It is also increasingly
common to have a sauna or a gymnasium inside single-family homes. And it is beginning
to be within the reach of many people to have a home cinema, a wine cellar or a small
bar at home.
Making public things private, so that they can be enjoyed exclusively by a single individual
or family group is something that offers many opportunities for a creative imagination.
Dressmakers have been able to move military clothing into their customers’ closets, and
winemakers have invented wine clubs, where members can have their own barrel in the
cellar and bottle their wine with personalized labels. Without a doubt, in the privatization
of public goods and services, there is still a whole world of possibilities to be discovered.
4. Let the user intervene in the process

Human beings love challenges and especially small challenges, those that are affordable for
most and which, if not achieved, do not lead to major frustration. Simple child puzzles
or complicated adult puzzles, crossword puzzles, hieroglyphics and the many hobbies we
can find in the pages of newspapers help us to endure waiting and combat many hours
of boredom. Sometimes, these leisure elements become authentic mass phenomena, with
international success, like the famous Rubik’s Cube had in its day, or more recently the
mathematical game Sudoku, which is sweeping the world.
Letting the user of any activity participate in the process is a guarantee of success. It is very
important to involve people in the preparation of a prepared soup or a pre-cooked dish, so
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that they feel that they are somehow collaborating in its preparation; that it is not simply
a matter of heating and eating, but that the way of opening the container, defrosting it if
necessary, or adding some special touch, such as a sauce, a few drops of olive oil, or giving
it the necessary pinch of salt, are essential for the final result to be satisfactory.
The simpler the procedure is, the more necessary it is to give the user the opportunity to
contribute their grain of sand, their personal touch that will allow them to redeem their
bad conscience by using standardized and impersonal procedures.
5. Putting controls, lights and buttons on everything

Except for the younger generations, who are already born with an extraordinary capacity to
use the most sophisticated technological advances, all other human beings are very impressed
by the controls, lights and buttons that adorn the domestic machines we use in our daily
lives. Most of the time we are unable to know what they are for and therefore we almost
never use them.
We barely manage to press the play and stop buttons on the remote control of our video,
or the program and temperature buttons of the washing machine; but we love to know
that the functions of both appliances are complex and quite unnecessary for those who are
fortunate enough to know how to use them.
When we glimpse the cockpit of an airplane, we are comforted to think that that impressive
amount of controls, lights and buttons are the guarantee of an extremely complex mechanism,
which allows that gigantic steel monster to remain in the air. And the same goes for the
control panel of a sophisticated car or for the multiple functions that appear on the screens
of our cell phones.
There is a certain magic in everything technological, which is accentuated by their external

appearance which makes them so irresistible to us. Therefore, if we are designing any type
of device, and we want to guarantee its success, it is essential to take this into account.
6. Apply the concept of “use and throw away”

Some two and a half thousand years ago, the great philosopher Heraclitus of Ephesus said
that in this world in which we live “the only constant is change”. That phrase is a reality
today more than ever and it affects almost everything around us. We change our clothes,
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our car, our job and even our partner with a speed that has never been seen before. In the
world of objects, this fondness for change takes shape in our limited use of the things we
buy. Tissues, plastic cups, juices, milk and soft drinks in cartons; are all products designed
to be used and thrown away, and they enable us to be always using everything brand new.
The constant renewal of the wide range of objects in our daily life is not a passing fad,
but an unstoppable trend that we must keep in mind when designing them. Avoiding
preparation processes to make things more practical, easy and simple is also another parallel
concept that has led to the development of products such as soluble coffee or ready-made
dishes. Anything that makes it easier for the consumer to use a product and at the same
time offers him the possibility of getting rid of it once used, without having to store it,
recharge it and use it again, will be welcome, because making things easier to use and being
able to use new things every day is one of the greatest pleasures of the modern consumer.
7. Transplanting the characteristics of one product or service in another

Sometimes it is enough just to look at the fundamental characteristics of an activity and
try to fit them into a different activity, in order to discover surprising ideas that change
everything. If we look at trains, for example, and break down their fundamental services, we
find four important variables to consider: transportation, comfort, food service during the
journey, and entertainment. Now let’s look for parallel concepts in each of those variables.
The airplane is the most interesting means to use as a reference in the transportation variable,
since it is the most advanced, fastest and most used to take people from one place to another.
If we try to copy some of the most interesting services offered in an airplane, the hostesses
are the first that comes to mind. And this idea could easily be transferred to the train. In
fact, in the modern AVE train carriages we can already see this idea being implemented.
In the comfort variable, the bed would undoubtedly be the best paradigm. And trains have
been installing this type of service in their carriages for many years. The famous sleeper
cars have taken the concept of comfort even further, turning their space into a succession
of small apartments similar to hotel rooms.
Restaurants are the best reference for the food service, and they could provide the inspiration
not only for restaurant carriages, but also for the typical meals of the different regions where
each train departs or arrives.
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As for entertainment, there are many places that can serve as a reference. These range from
the cinema or television to computers, orchestras or casinos, which can all be useful to us
when adapting ideas to the waiting rooms of stations or to the inside of the trains themselves.
Within this same system of transplantation of ideas, we can also play at designing places
with the appearance provided by other different places. We can create a bar that looks like
the interior of a ship, and a restaurant like a forest, or like the film set of a Roman movie.
The possibilities of recreating environments in unusual places are endless, and can be the
result of dazzling creativity.
8. Add, subtract, multiply and divide

All changes can be good, because not only do things change when we change some of the
elements that make them up, but we can also sometimes make them more practical, more
economical or more desirable, without altering their essence.
Doubling or tripling the size of the container or content has been a constant creative tool
to increase sales of soft drinks or detergents. Today we have become accustomed to seeing a
lot of family size products on supermarket shelves, with the resulting lowering of production
and packaging costs.
Elimination or reduction can also be a good weapon to make products more desirable.
Perfumes are sometimes more expensive the smaller their packaging. And it has often been
the case that a product has significantly increased its sales simply by removing it from its
box and displaying it bare on the shelves. Size reduction has been a consistent strategy in
the technological advances of the 20th century, from the first transistor radios to the most
modern cell phones, including microchips and computers.
In these early years of the 21st century, nanotechnology, the science of the infinitely small,
is the star of many sectors such as electronics, medicine or the design of new materials.
Reducing the size of chips is a priority objective in the creation of so-called organic computers,
which will allow us to store and process information in the future without the intervention
of electronic elements, in a way similar to the way our brain works.
In the field of medicine, nanotechnology is working to obtain drugs that act directly on
the diseased area of the body, and to develop artificial tissues that function like the living
organs of a human being. And in terms of material design, the goals are focused on achieving
self-cleaning crystals, more flexible, resistant tennis rackets, or plastic containers that change
color when the food inside begins to spoil.
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Altering the order of things is a creative formula that can give very good results and which
is always worth trying. Increasing, reducing, eliminating or putting two things together in
one, like reversible garments, which are a coat on one side and a trench coat on the other,
or paperweight lighters, and sofa beds, are just a few of the many other examples of turning
two useful things into one even more useful one. All of them are very valid formulas to
make the imagination work in search of new answers.
9. Forming harmonious sets

The colors, shapes and materials that the objects are made of can be combined in many
different ways, but they can also serve as a common denominator for the creation of a
complete line that can make the whole thing very attractive.
The collections of the great dressmakers usually have this idea in mind when combining the
different models. The safari line, oriental fabrics, wool and leather, or even more intellectual
concepts such as the seventies or the Maoist revolution, are usually a source of inspiration
on the catwalks.
Creating accessories around an object, can also give rise to many ideas, such as shoes and
handbags, earrings, necklaces and bracelets, or the classic set of pieces that complete a
dinner service. If we apply this concept to all the objects we can think of, we will see that:
The possibilities of forming harmonious sets are practically infinite.
10. Humanize the objects

Cartoons have always been synonymous with extreme creativity. We can carry out the most
extraordinary fantasies with them, the most exaggerated situations, without anyone being
surprised by the improbability of them.
A character can fall from the top of a building, make a big hole in the asphalt and then get
up as if nothing had happened. In the same way, we can make animals and vegetables talk,
fill machines with feelings or make the most horrifying monsters seem nice and endearing.
Anything goes in the incredible world of cartoons, because when we escape from daily
reality we annul the drama and we are left with only excitement and fun.
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By humanizing objects we can also achieve the same effect as with cartoons. Just add
eyes, mouth and nose to a block of ice to give it sensitivity and sympathy. We can do this
experiment with many of the objects that exist in our everyday universe and thus endow
them with unusual interest and emotion. Anodyne objects, lacking originality and design,
can become attractive just by adding a little touch of humanity.
11. Turning things upside down

The top down, the black white, the narrow wide, the straight lines converted into curves
and the curves into straight lines; give movement to what is static, convert the opaque into
transparent and make the darkness fill with light. Mix the new with the old, the rustic
with the refined. Turning everything upside down is a very interesting way to discover new
forms, new designs, and new applications for everything.
12. Restoring old ideas

Going back to the past to rescue old successes and old failures can be very interesting. Ideas
that worked once can work again. A little modification to update them may be the secret
of your success. Other ideas that failed in the past may have been too modern for their
time and now might be the time to bring them back to life.
Old ideas that have been around for a long time can also be revised, because they can certainly
be improved. One should not wait for the future to put an end to them, but anticipate
their decline by modernizing them with slight changes. Some of the most modern activities,
such as music, fashion or cinema, are constantly nourished by old recycled ideas. Remakes
of old movies, revivals of old musical styles and up to date fashions often become successes.
3.8 CREATIVITY IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

The progress of any business activity is determined by the creative research of new products
and services, and by the success in communicating the qualities of those products and
services to their potential consumers and users.
Therefore, advertising, public relations and corporate communication are very important
pillars for any company that prides itself, and creativity is the essential element of all
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communication. Managing to connect with the target audience, impacting their brain and
leaving a mark on their memory, are tasks that require a huge amount of talent and creativity.
To stand out among the hundreds or thousands of pieces of information that reach the
consumer daily through different media, is only within reach of the most brilliant messages,
the only ones that are capable of connecting with our most intimate emotions.
Large companies can afford to hire the most important agencies to develop their communication
work, but there are also thousands of small and medium companies that have to make do
with their own resources. The following creative recipes are especially aimed at them.
1. Base messages on the most common needs

The most important thing in connecting with people’s interests is to get the right fit for
their needs. If the communication is capable of transmitting that our product or service will
help to cover a need, either rational or emotional, the consumer will always be predisposed
to verify it.
There are primary needs, such as sex or food, and other secondary needs, such as comfort
or new experiences, but they are all valid when it comes to basing our proposals on them:
Need for love: Passion, attraction, sympathy, admiration.
Need for security: Guarantee, protection, duration, conservation, economy, future.
Need for esteem: Prestige, ostentation, dominion, power, triumph, importance, fame,
greatness, and victory.
Need for self-confirmation: Progression, health, energy, improvement.
Need for knowledge and learning: Knowledge, exoticism, rarities, and curiosities.
Aesthetic needs: Beauty, style, elegance, good taste.
Other needs: Autonomy, dignity, belonging to a group, protection of the weakest, emotional
dependence on bosses and authorities.
It is important to keep in mind that these needs are not produced in an anarchic way,
but are ordered by themselves according to their relative power. Firstly, the most primary
needs, physiological needs; later, emotional needs, security needs, etc. As the first needs are
satisfied, the following needs appear in our lives.
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2. Combine different incentives

In addition to trying to meet the needs, we can also complement our message by offering
dreams and eliminating problems. Anything that makes life easier for our clients will be
to our benefit.
And, if we combine all three incentives, the power of our message will be threefold. Most
of the advertising in the last century was based on the problem/product/solution scheme.
A problem that the consumer has is defined, in relation to the coverage of a need, then the
product is presented and it is shown how this will solve the problem, producing an added
emotional benefit.
This formula, which has lost strength over time, due to the great importance that brands
have taken over from products - which forces an increasingly emotional and less pragmatic
communication -, is still, however, an excellent formula to show the qualities of a product,
when these are relevant and offer a clear difference from its competitors.
3. Offer all kinds of testimonials

The testimony of a human being is something very important for other human beings in
any circumstance, and especially when recommending products or services. In fact, although
it is one of the most used formulas in the history of marketing, even today we can see a lot
of testimonies in all the media, which tells us that it is a resource that continues to work.
And if we apply a touch of creativity to this traditional resource, we will see that the effect
achieved can be spectacular.
If we address mothers, fathers or grandparents, we can resort to putting the testimony in

the mouth of a child.
The more serious, transcendent, philosophical or mature the message is the more endearing,
tender and sympathetic it will sound when the child says it. And the younger the child,
the better. No one can resist a deep reflection by a nine-month-old baby. Even animals,
especially puppies, can be very playful when it comes to making testimonials.
Dogs, cats, hippopotamuses, lions, tigers, reptiles, turtles or fish can be astonishing if we
hear them as people. And the more exotic the people themselves, the better. Asians, Eskimos,
Hindus or native Africans. If, for example, we are talking about cutting-edge technology,
who better than a Maasai warrior to make sure that the viewer will give us his full attention?
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It is also good to make the people portrayed in the paintings speak, or sculptures and
monuments of famous people, as well as changing the voices of the different sexes, making
a man speak with a woman’s voice or vice versa. Whenever we are looking for creativity,
the game always consists of changing everything, looking to surprise people and get the
highest remembrance possible.
4. Exploiting the humor of absurdity

There is nothing better than absurd approaches to break with the traditions of a normal
person – i.e. most of the population-. Absurd situations baffle, but at the same time intrigue
and keep the receiver’s brain in expectation, while trying to understand them. This is well
known by all comedians, and many screenwriters and film directors. Playing around with
absurd concepts is a sure way to surprise, and if absurdity and humor are mixed together,
success is guaranteed, because the enormous load of creativity that the humor of the absurd
connotes unblocks all of the individual´s possible reservations regarding the irrationality of
the proposals.
Doing the most absurd, unexpected, strangest things, situations never seen before, is what
impresses most strongly in our memory. A man is dying in the middle of the snow, in the
Arctic Circle; his situation is tragic and desperate... Nevertheless, in the middle of this awful
event, all his eagerness is concentrated on leaving one last message: a recommendation of
a magnificent product that will allow us to leave our laundry as white as the snow that
surrounds it. It is something totally stupid but it will remain engraved in our memories,
without any doubt.
When the most stupid, exaggerated, and ridiculous scenarios are mixed with humor, they
leave astonishing messages and a permanent mark in our mind.
A dwarf who lifts a car or a child who, reversing all usual concepts, complains that his
parents are irresponsible and incapable of pursuing careers will always surprise us. Woody
Allen used this strategy in his film Hollywood Ending, in which he played a completely
blind film director. Exaggerating the benefits of a product to the point of absurdity or
showing its “disadvantages” humorously, like a famous American campaign for extra-long
cigarettes did, so much so that they had to be folded to fit into the space of a page of a
magazine, are also highly notorious and effective creative tricks.
37
5. Showing the story from the inside

Curiosity is something common to almost all people. We love to observe others, and if
it is possible to do so from a discreet place, where we go unnoticed, so much the better.
Listening to Members of Parliament debate from the guest’s gallery, or watching famous
actors work on a movie set, are things that awaken many people´s curiosity. If we also have
the privilege of being invited to be behind the scenes of a theater, or in the backstage of a
rock concert, being almost part of the action, we will feel much identified with everything
that happens there.
In the field of business communication, this “voyeurism” translates into showing through
the media the development of an idea, the history of the creator of a company or the
production process of a product.
Many companies have resorted to this procedure, using the format of advertising with
remarkable success. The only indispensable condition is that what is told is of great interest,
either because of the novelty of the product or service, or because of the technology used
in its manufacture.
6. Do demonstrations
If our product is different from its competitors, either because of its efficiency, its quality,
its hardness, its resistance to cold or heat, or any other demonstrable distinction, let’s
make a show of it. We can do this in many different ways, but always under the common
denominator of creativity.
There are realistic demonstrations like the Duracell bunny, which keeps walking when all
its competitors have given up; surreal ones like the fried egg that slips from a Teflon frying
pan printed on a poster on a wall; and fun and devastating demonstrations like the one
of a watch that is placed on a train track in order to prove its hardness. Naturally, the
train shatters it, but the display of the challenge remains engraved in our memory forever,
associating the brand with a watch that is so resistant that it takes the power of an entire
train to destroy it.
Demonstrations always work, but their effectiveness will be directly proportional to their
creativity. The more brilliant the idea, the more credible the demonstration will be and the
more easily it will to convince people of the product’s goodness.
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7. Learning from everyone

To develop a creative mind one must always be alert, with all senses wide open, ready to
learn anything from wherever it comes. In the business world, you have to be especially
attentive to the opinions of technicians who prepare projects and manufacture products,
to distributors who make them reach customers, to buyers and users, who are not always
the same people, to prescribers who influence the purchase, and in general to everyone
who can discover something new about our business. Learning from everyone is the key to
always being up to date and evolving, always maintaining a breeding ground where good
ideas can germinate.
E = mc2
3.9 CREATIVITY TO EXPRESS IDEAS

When we try to communicate with someone, whether through words or writing, we must first
and foremost be clear and simple. Creativity does not mean excess, or rhetoric, or the use of
learned words. Creativity should be in the ideas and not in the form we use to express them.
1. Simplicity above all else

The most important thing of all is that we are understood, and if we do not know the
meaning of some words well, it is better not to use them rather than make a fool of ourselves
by pretending to elevate the literary category of our texts.
Here are some examples of what I’m saying. These are paragraphs extracted from letters sent
to a television channel by viewers who wish to participate in their programs:
“It’s been three years since I’ve seen you and I don’t know whether to see you or talk to
you through the microwave, because I don’t know...”
“Prostate: the reason for my letter...”
“...because a month and a half after being in Switzerland, my mother got pregnant.”
“My son Esteban has loved mammals since he was a little boy, that is to say everything
related to the underwater world, and even the sea.”
“Her name was Jacoba but she doesn’t like that translation of her name and she is known
by the original: Jacqueline. It is very simple.”
“She is like an umbilical navel for me, she is my other half.”
“And since she was one year old, her father went to Buenos Aires, specifically to Uruguay.
39
“She imitates Lina Morgan very well. In fact, in order to imitate Lina Morgan, he has
already had four operations on his leg.
“And above all, what is exciting is to see the love and affection that she processes in her
partners.
“...taking him to the hospital of San Juan de Reus, where they had to charge him with
the left leg.”
It is clear that if you do not know the exact meaning of the words it is better not to use
them.
2. Arousing curiosity and triggering answers

In presenting our ideas, the first objective we wish to achieve is to provoke positive responses
to our interests. To achieve this, we have to arouse the curiosity of our interlocutors,
predisposing them to adopt an interactive attitude towards our proposals. One way to do
this is to connect with their interests, playing around with the topics that are common to
us, diving into their memories, awakening their emotions and hidden desires, touching the
fiber of their sensitivity, their hopes and also their fears. Connecting with their intelligence
by seeking complicity with our discourse, asking them questions that lead directly to finding
the answer we expect.
When it comes to expressing our proposals in a text, in a physical presentation, or in an

audiovisual media, and without ever losing sight of our objectives, we must develop a
communication strategy in three phases:
- Persuade at the beginning. Through an emphatic statement, a general law or

maxim, a decisive fact, an appeal to feelings, a skillful insinuation, an ironic,
humorous, sarcastic, witty remark... Any motivation can be valid if it arouses
curiosity and persuades one to listen attentively to the message.
- Cover everything in the middle. To make clear from the first moment the
benefit that the receiver of our message is going to obtain, making only one
promise that is credible. And then explain the offer with our best arguments:
truth, logic, documentation and art. Fifty percent reason and fifty percent
emotion, so as not to leave any room for doubt in either logic or feelings.
- Be decisive at the end. Summarize everything with a logical conclusion and a
call to action. The recipient of our offer must respond on the spot because he or
she will have come to the conclusion that, for his or her own benefit, he or she
must not let the opportunity slip away.
40
3. Communicate from person to person

In the world of Marketing and Advertising it is common to define the target audience in
socio-demographic terms:
“Young people between 18 and 25 years old, university students, urban, upper-middle class.”
A definition like this may be suitable for talking to “people,” but it is not at all valid for
talking to individuals, because it can be answered just as well by supporters of a conservative
party as by militants from the more radical left. In both cases they may be the same people,
but they will certainly be different individuals. People are grouped more by interests,
motivations and lifestyles, than by age, social class or level of education. The media is a
good example of the unstoppable trend toward this type of segmentation, more focused on
individuals than on the masses. Hundreds of specialized magazines, FM radio stations, and
cable television networks or digital platforms, point it out to us daily.
To get the message across clearly, we must think in terms of individuals and not people.
Let our interlocutors always think:
“He’s talking to me. He’s telling me something important.” Even if we are delivering the
same message to an audience of millions.
3.10 CREATIVITY IN THE WORLD OF IMAGES

Managing the creative ciphers of images is an excellent weapon to successfully develop
multiple activities, from film, television or advertising, to fashion shows or the presentation
of audiovisual ideas at sales conventions.
The creative possibilities in the field of images are infinite, but basically they fall into two
main areas: aesthetics and humor. For the first of these it is impossible to make specific
suggestions beyond what I have been saying throughout the book: notoriety, surprise, brilliance,
spontaneity and a break with conventional schemes. In the area of humor, however, we can
resort to the use of some creative schemes that never fail.
1. Prepare the audience by anticipating the outcome

It is an old trick that has been used in the cinema since the early days. It is about making
the spectator have an advantage over the protagonists of any story, allowing him to anticipate
41
events and enjoy the final outcome for longer. It is the most repeated resource in Hitchcock’s
films: the girl in Psycho is in the bathtub taking a quiet shower, while the spectators can
see her killer approaching with a knife in his hand. The scene lasts for an eternity and we
all know beforehand what the end will be, but we suffer and are terrified in the armchair
waiting anxiously for that moment.
In the field of humor, we can let the public know that the sewer has no cover, when we
see a character with a top hat and a haughty look approaching it, who will fall hopelessly
down the hole. Or we can show a room full of elegant people celebrating a party, when
a woman in her underwear is about to enter it, trying to hide her occasional nudity in a
discreet place. There are a thousand ways to anticipate a fun moment, and the viewer will
always respond with a grateful smile, the more we make him enjoy the preambles.
2. Letting good luck change the direction of the action

Just as the predictable works when it is the character who is surprised and the spectator who
knows in advance what is going to happen, it also works when we surprise the spectator with
a last minute wink. In the old silent films, Buster Keaton, Harold Lloyd, Stan Laurel and
Oliver Hardy, Fatty Arbuckle, W. C. Fields and Charles Chaplin exhibited complete mastery
of this technique. The typical slap that the protagonist will receive but which ends up in
the face of the policeman when he bends over, or the cake - a one-liner repeated hundreds
of times, both in silent films and in sound films - that always ends up with anyone but
its addressee. These are resources that repeat the same scheme: a predictable action - since
the spectator knows beforehand what is going to happen, but things never end as planned.
It is creativity capable of giving a twist to surprise us.
And we have to look for that return above all, because that is the guarantee of achieving
the necessary impact to occupy a place in the memory of the recipients of our messages.
3. Degrading the characters

Making the characters go through hardships, have setbacks and get involved in adventures
that degrade them, always produces laughter when the context is humorous naturally. And
the more serious the degradation, the more laughter it causes. The fact that a clerk slips
in his office in front of all his colleagues may be funny, but if the prime minister is the
one who slips exactly while entering the House of Representatives, tearing his trousers and
exposing his bum, the effect will be really comical.
42
4. Taking words at face value

Since the times of Groucho Marx to today, countless comedians have based their work on
exploiting absurdity. Playing with the meaning of words by using them out of context, looking
for a double meaning, or simply taking them at face value, is a resource that always works.
When the word game is also taken to the world of images, the comical effect is multiplied,
because the absurd concept is strengthened and the joke becomes more obvious, which
facilitates its understanding by all kinds of audiences.
Let’s imagine the typical scene of the woman and her lover surprised by the husband in
the bedroom. It is a room in a villa, with a door that leads directly to an outside garden.
When the husband enters the room from another inner door, the lover quietly collects his
clothes and addresses the husband, as if explaining, and says: “I am waiting for the bus”.
Right then, we see that a bus does indeed appear in the garden, and stops exactly in front
of the bedroom door.
The more absurd the situation, the more surprised the viewer will be and the more fun
it will provide. The possibilities of playing with the literality of words are immense, since
language is full of set phrases, such as “Tighten your belt”, “Don’t miss the train”, “Be up
to your neck in water”, etc., whose meaning can be considered absurdly and filled with
humor, just by converting them directly into images.
5. And, as a general rule, disrupt everything

Keep clear of conventional approaches, change the sense of reality, and jump over logic.
These are always the keys to all types of creativity and we should never lose sight of these
principles, whether we are writing texts, making images or inventing situations.
Make tramps and homeless people talk like aristocrats, make the characters of antiquity
express themselves with today’s slang, make children talk like adults and adults like children,
make a Pygmy from deepest Africa pilot a Boeing 747, make people go to the opera in
their swimsuits and to the beach in their tuxedos.
Everything is valid to break rational schemes, to surprise us and to make us laugh.
43
HOW TO GENERATE MORE IDEAS Some key ideas to sell ideas
4 SOME KEY IDEAS TO SELL IDEAS

Selling ideas is one of the most difficult things you can do. History is full of cases in which
a great inventor dies without anyone having taken an interest in his brilliant invention.
Copernicus and Galileo suffered first hand through experience for the daring nature “of their
revolutionary ideas”, but they were not the only ones. Edison was told that the light bulb
was a stupid invention, and the first Harry Potter book was rejected by several publishers,
who thought that the book was boring, old-fashioned, and too long, and would not interest
any child.
Ideas are fragile and invisible, they only materialize in the thoughts of the people who create
them, and similar to what happens with some good wines, they travel very badly from one
brain to another. Being a great creator of ideas does not mean being a great communicator
also, and very often good ideas do not succeed in crossing the thought threshold of their
creators, and are lost in the limbo of disappointment and apathy.
Other times, ideas come before their time and the world is not ready to assimilate them,
and also banishes them or freezes them in expectation of better times. The situation is such
that for an idea to go ahead there must be some particular circumstances, not least of which
is the way of selling it.
1. Search for the most suitable buyer and time

In the business world there are many opportunities for ideas, because most companies are
obliged to constantly offer new products to their customers. Although, our own R&D
departments produce most of these new ideas of course, any self-respecting entrepreneur
must always have an open door to any proposal.
Those who have recently been overtaken by their most direct competitors will be especially
receptive.
There is also a good breeding ground for selling ideas when a gold rush emerges in an
industry, as happened with Silicon Valley computer technology or with the incredible boom
of the Internet in the late 1990s. In both cases, companies were eager to have the most
advanced and revolutionary ideas, and did not hesitate to buy them from anyone.
44
Young students like William Hewlett, David Packard, Steve Jobs (Apple) and Bill Gates
(Microsoft), had the unique opportunity to sell their ideas in the Californian technological
paradise; and many others, like Sergey Brin and Larry Page, creators of Google, had theirs
some years later with the Internet.
In all cases their brilliant ideas coincided in the right place and time to be appreciated and
developed, unlike so many other brilliant ideas, which have undoubtedly remained in the
dustbin of history.
2. Sharing the authorship of the idea

Having the buyer make the idea their own is a very important part of the sales process.
First of all, you can tell him that he, or his company, gave us the clue on how to approach
our Research. Some public opinion of the businessman or his company’s own products
showed us the way to follow.
This will flatter his vanity and will predispose him to be interested in the problem whose
solution we have come to offer him. Later, when he feels part of the idea, we can show a
little insecurity, so that he is the one who encourages us, finding arguments in favor of the
idea and defending it as if it were his own. By this stage he will already be ours.
We must always present the ideas in a passionate way, but using a moderate tone. We
should also avoid trying to hide the possible failures, since it is better to expose and discuss
them by involving our interlocutor in the search for possible solutions. The most important
thing is that the idea is allowed to be glimpsed, but is not shown in all its splendor, so
that it does not seem like a closed issue in which no one will be able to do their bit. The
more people who support the idea, the stronger it will be and the more opportunities it
will have to become a success.
3. Selling yourself
If the idea is to sell oneself, there are five elementary rules:
1. Attract the interest of our interlocutor by being original in our presentation.

2. Offer a service instead of asking for a position.
3. Be very specific about the job you want and the requirements you fulfil in
order to perform it.
45
4. Always be sincere.
5. Make your ambition to grow in the company clear and to contribute ideas in
order to improve our work performance.
Ideas are the engine of all ambition. Without them, progress in any activity, including both
personal and career development, is simply not possible.
In order to grow at work it is necessary to constantly come up with new ideas, and apply
them not only to our daily tasks, but also to the general business of the company we work
for. Others will appreciate our ideas even if they cannot always be carried out, because
having ideas and offering them is a sign of professional worth and future ambition.
4.1 CREATIVITY TO LIVE

Creativity is innate in all human beings. Whether it is developed or not depends solely on
ourselves.
Creativity is a necessary condition to develop a complete and independent personal life.
We can use it to try and solve our doubts, find solutions to all problems, open up new paths,
and expand the horizon of our professional expectations. Creativity is not a gift granted only
to poets, painters, musicians, actors, photographers, writers and artists in general. Today
society also considers cooks, engineers or architects to be creative, but that is not enough,
because all other human beings can also be creative regardless of our activity. The only
requirement is for us to be willing to introduce a little imagination into the development
of our thoughts. Changing our way of thinking is the first step towards the formation of
a creative mind, and that is within the reach of all of us.
46

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1 The world of ideas 12

3 Recipes for Creativity 18

4 Some key ideas to sell ideas 44

THE POWER OF IMAGINATION

A leap over logic

The value of intelligence

The genius myth

Albert Einstein himself, in a brilliant article published on December 8, 1933, in Liberty

We can all be creative

1. Do not trust exclusively in the rational automatisms of our nervous system

Characteristics of creative individuals

1 THE WORLD OF IDEAS

Similarly, in “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, he explains Isaac Newton’s

It’s all about perspective.

1.1 A MATTER OF TECHNIQUE

Anticipatory imagination: We can harness this to foresee what is going to happen.

It is a question of collecting as many stimuli as possible and continuously evaluate their

2.1 SOME KEY PHASES ON THE WAY TO THE IDEA

Approach to the problem

3 RECIPES FOR CREATIVITY

3.1 LOGICAL IDEA ASSOCIATION

3.2 CREATION STIMULI

1. Start from an abstract premise that is not proven experimentally

2. Changing the Formulation of the Problems

Thus our mind is opened to the most unsuspected ideas.

5. Converting thoughts into Images

6. Create Limitless Ideas

7. Making Random Connections

8. Explore all Angles

9. Turn Things Upside-down

Turning things upside down suffices to make us think of unusual thoughts.

10. Put Yourself in another Person´s Shoes

3.3 PARALLEL WORLDS

As in all creative techniques, it is necessary to go off the beaten track of experience, so it

3.5 CREATIVITY IN THE WORLD OF OBJECTS

3.6 WHAT DO PEOPLE SPEND THEIR MONEY ON?

3.7 WHAT THINGS BOTHER ME AND OTHERS?

- What bothers me?

2. Stimulating the vanity of the grey man

3. Making public things private

4. Let the user intervene in the process

5. Putting controls, lights and buttons on everything

There is a certain magic in everything technological, which is accentuated by their external

6. Apply the concept of “use and throw away”

7. Transplanting the characteristics of one product or service in another

8. Add, subtract, multiply and divide

9. Forming harmonious sets

The possibilities of forming harmonious sets are practically infinite.

10. Humanize the objects

11. Turning things upside down

12. Restoring old ideas

3.8 CREATIVITY IN THE BUSINESS WORLD

1. Base messages on the most common needs

Need for love: Passion, attraction, sympathy, admiration.

Need for security: Guarantee, protection, duration, conservation, economy, future.

Need for self-confirmation: Progression, health, energy, improvement.

Aesthetic needs: Beauty, style, elegance, good taste.

2. Combine different incentives

3. Offer all kinds of testimonials

If we address mothers, fathers or grandparents, we can resort to putting the testimony in

4. Exploiting the humor of absurdity

5. Showing the story from the inside