iMPOrtant deSign cOMMunity MeSSage:

can you fill in the blanks below? if so, your team may be suffering from group brainstorming dysfunction. although this is common, it should not be taken lightly, and professionals recommend that you be proactive rather than inactive. flip the page to see how you can help your teamand have fun.

dear __________________, its time to add some __________________ to our brainstorming sessions. lately, ive been feeling __________________ about them,

Java Jolts of Creativity

The nexT Time you have a boring brainsTorming meeTing on The agenda, broaden your Teams menTal library by bringing along These creaTive exercises. everyones imaginaTion and The clienT will Thank you for iT.
By Stefan MuMaw & wendy Lee OLdfieLd i L Lu St rat i O n By S O n i a K r e tS c h M a r

and my head begins to _________________. im a ______________________ designer with __________________ ideas. Problem is, i get my __________________ ideas while __________________________________ or ______________________________. i think our meetings could use some help from these creativity exercises and ________

in study after study, hypotheses are made linking creativity to genetics, Transcendental meditation, environmental factors and even colors. The results may be inconclusive in practical application to a team setting, leaving colleagues tracing the rim of their coffee cups wearily in the freshly painted blue conference room (the most creative color, according to researchers at the university of british columbia) while trying to channel a mantra.
62 j une 2009 

whether or not those studied tactics published in journals work at your firm, we all know that creativity cant be canned, captured or copied. its about finding inspirationwherever it might be hiding. and that cornflower blue, eggshell, magenta or sage on the walls may look damn good, but it does squat for creativity in a group setting. so you need to vitalize those creative juices and give your team the brain food they crave to come up with that next great idea. The following creative exercises are meant to do just that: jolt creativity for the whole team. cut out these creative prompts (or download them for free at howdesign.com/teambrainstorming), divide up the team
w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m

into groups of twos, threes and fours, and then each team can fish out an exercise. The creative exercises contain suggested numbers of participants but feel free to modify. afterward, reconvene and share experiences. you never know which creative discovery may inspire your next big project.

________________.

www.illustrationweb.com/SoniaKretschmar

Please consider, (your name here)

The following exercises are excerpts from the book Caffeine for The Creative Team: 200 Exercises to Energize Your Next Brainstorm by authors Stefan Mumaw (www.letitreign.com) and Wendy Lee Oldfield (www.vekay.com). To find out more about this book, visit HOWbookstore.com.
w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m

P food helPs. esPecially __________ .s. and _____________.

hOw 63

cOPy cOnundruM
ever wonder how people write whole songs when the

i SPeLLed MaKe the LOgO Bigger

in June 2006, 12 creatives from wieden+Kennedy in Portland, oR,purchased150,000boxesofclearpushpins.Usingthepushpins,theybuilta14-footmuralthatread,Failharder,atribute

taskofwritingafewlinesofcopycanrattleyourbrain fordays?Thelyricsareeithersoabsurdthattheresno waytheywereconjuredbyahumanbrain,ortheyreso brilliantthatitsimpossibletoimaginesomeonecould write that powerfully. were going for the absurd part today, but we also understand that theres a fine line betweenabsurdandbrilliant. grab three other budding lyricists. You and your partnersaregoingtowriteasong.First,decidewhether you want to write it verse-by-verse or line-by-line, and whether you want to write the whole song or just the chorus. next,designatetheorderinwhichyoullwrite.The firstpersonwriteseitheronelineofaverse,onelineof thechorusortheentirechorus.Thenextpersonwrites the next line or verse and so on until youve reached musicalnirvanaandaresubmittingunsolicitedlyricsto LeAnn Rimes. continue the cycle until the entire song iscomplete. suddenly,writingafewlinesofcopymaynotseem

gO PLay On the cOSMigraPhOtrOn

whensthelasttimeyouwenttoaplayground?seriously? Playground equipment is virtually the same as it was 20 yearsago. Todayskidsspendmoretimewithvirtualrealityvideo gamesandusinghandhelddevicesthatplaymovies/games/ music,washthedogandcleantheirroomsforthem.Technologyisahugepartofakidslife. how can the exercise, fitness and social interaction promoted by a playground compete with entertainment centersthatfitinakidspocket?Thatsforyoutodecide. get at least three partners. Together, youll be creating a playground built for contemporary kids. You have everythingandanythingatyourdisposal.eachofyouwill createyourownapparatus,andyoullputthemalltogether tomakeaplayground.Keepinmindthevariousclimates and ages the playground needs to accommodate. either describewithwordsordrawwithpicturesyourpartofthe perfectplaygroundfortechnology-savvykids.

taKe a ride On iMaginatiOn

whiletherehavebeensignificantstridesmadeinthedesign of commercial buses (check out the success at metro L.A., page 72), the fact is that most are built to accommodate dozensofpassengers,theirluggageandthenecessitieslike a driver. only ber-successful rock bands and well-known footballcommentatorscanaffordtheirownprivatebusesto hittheopenroadinstyleuntilnow.haveyoueverdreamed ofwhatitwouldbeliketohaveyourowntourbus? ifyouhadanunlimitedamountofmoneyandyouwere requiredtospenditonbuildingtheperfectluxurytourbus foryou,whatwoulditbelike?Thatsthetasktoday,butits notjustforyouitsforyouandtwopartners. on your own, brainstorm design features and creature comfortsyouwouldhaveonyourownbus.Afteryouvejotteddownafewideas,comebacktogether,shareyourideas anddesignthebusinterioronpaper.whenyouredone,start savingandyoushouldbeabletobuilditaround2187.

tothephilosophyoftheircreativedirector. Asremarkableasthefeatwas,itwouldhavebeenineffectiveifthewordssaidmakemoremoneyordesignRocks!it was the simple but jarring message along with the execution thatmadeitsuchamemorablepiece. Today,youandthreepartnerswillbedoingsomethingsimilar(althoughyouwontneedpushpins,sothelocalofficesupply storeneednotbealerted).eachofyouwillneedacamerafor thisexercise.Butfirst,cometogetheranddecideonatheme. chooseathemewithmeaningforyourgroup,thewaytheFail hardermessagehadmeaningtothePortlandcreatives.itcan beinrelationtoyourplaceofbusiness,toaprincipleortheory creativesvalueanythingvagueenoughtohavepersonalperspectiveforeachofyou,yetmeaningtothegroup. when that theme has been established, each of you is to comeupwithyourownwordortermthatdescribesorpoints to that theme. when youve decided on your word or term, grabyourcamera,gooutintothecommunityandshootfound typographyforeachletterofyourwordorterm.whenyouve shoteachletterseparately,useyourcomputertoassemblethe picturestogethertospelloutthewordorterm.Youllhaveto croptheimagestoputtheletterscloseenoughtogethertobe read.Reassembleandshareyourcreations.

TiTle

likesuchadauntingtask.(Andifitstilldoes,seewrite

moregoodonpage68).

_________________________

chorus lines: #1 ____________________________

______________________________
#2 ____________________________

yOur teaMS MuSicaL deBut

in1981,mTVbroughtmusicvideostothemassesbystartingthefirst24-hourmusicvideochannel.sincethen,videos havebecomeanormalpartofthecommercialmusiclandscape.hordesofdirectors,producersandwritershavecut theirteethonmusicvideos. You could produce a music video, couldnt you? Aw, cmon,youknowyoucould.weknowyoucould.Asamatter offact,youregoingtoproveitrightnow. grab at least three partners, and among the four (or more) of you, choose a song for the group to use for the musicvideo.onceyouvedecidedonasong,divideupthe chorusandtheverses,eachpersongettingoneverse(orthe chorus).wheneveryonehasbeengivenhisorherrespective lyrics, grab a digital camera and head out into the musicvideo lovin world to shoot an image (or series of images) to accompany each line of your verse or chorus. Print the images on full pages and reassemble for the screening of

______________________________
twO-faced
There are a lot of coins out there, and they all have similar qualitiesandcharacteristics.isntittime we redesigned the coin? (say yes. goodanswer!) Youandtwopartnersaregoingto redesign a coin, one feature at a time. startbydrawingtheshape,thenpassthe paper to the next person, who is charged with adding one feature. Pass it to the third person to add another feature. go around a few times untilitgetsdifficulttothinkofanythingtoadd,thengo aroundonelasttimeaddingfeaturesthatmaybeabit offthewall.whoknows,maybekidsinthe29thcentury willbecollectingyourcreation.

#3 ____________________________

______________________________
#4 ____________________________

______________________________
#5 ____________________________

yournewmusicvideo. hang all the photos on a wall or series of walls large enoughtobeabletoputeachverseorchorusinonehorizontalline.wheneachpersonhasplacedtheirimagesinthe rightorder,playthesongwitheachpersonpointingtothe

______________________________
#6 ____________________________

appropriatephotoattheappropriatetimeinthesong.when thesongiscomplete,callmTVandletthemknowyouragent iswaiting.

______________________________
64 j une 2009 
w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m

hOw 65

itS aLL in the cardS

sincethe12thcentury,folkshavebeenplayinggameswith cards.FromsolitairetoTexasholdem,welovecardgames.

Start yOur quacKerS

Theresapowerfulcombinationofspeedandagilitythathas people all over the world spending inordinate amounts of moneytotakepart.ofcourse,weretalkingaboutracingrubberducks,butyouknewthat. Racing and rubber ducks go together like peanut butter andhotdogs.Theysimplybelongtogether.Andtoday,youre going to get theopportunity to competeatthe highest level youve most likely ever competed at: the super-exclusive RegionalRubberduck-off. everyoneinthegroupiseachgoingtodesign(read:decorate)hisorherveryownrubberduck,thenracesaidducksto determine the supreme duck. Youll need a rubber duck for eachcontestant,abodyofwatertoraceinandsomerules. Youneedtodecideaheadoftimeifwatercurrentordesign willpoweryourducks.iftheonlybodyofwateryouhaveavailable is a still body of water, youll need to engineer how the duckswillmove,eitherbywindorbymotor.ifyouhaveabody ofwaterwithacurrent,itsadvisedtomakethisaduck-only affair,nopropulsionneeded. once each of you has designed the perfect racing duck, starttheraceandseewhocomesoutasthesupremeduck!

gather arOund fOr StOry tiMe

storytelling is at the heart of all communication. From brands to music, the ability to tell a well-crafted story is oneofthepurestartformsinhistory.Traditionally,though, werarelyusemorethantwoorthreeofoursensestotella story. imagine if we could tell a story using all five senses. Thatwouldbeapowerfulstory.itstimetogiveitashot. Youre going to tell a five-part story, using a different senseforeachpart.Theperfectnumberofparticipantsfor thisexercisenaturallyisfive,butyoucandivideupthefive senses,withsometakingontwoorthreepartsofthestory asneeded. Thefirststepistodevelopastorythattakesadvantage of all five senses. collaborate to develop your story along oneofthesesuggestedstorylines(or,ifyoureshortontime,

oneofthereasons,ofcourse,arethecoolsuits.whatsnot toloveabouthearts,diamonds,clubsandspades?But,its timetoaddsomespunktoplayingcards. You and three partners will be redesigning a deck of playingcards.chooseathemebelowasyourdesignguide: Rocknroll Videogames Baseball Junkfood Ugly childhoodtoys Ancientegypt houseparty Tacky cartoons wildcard(pickyourown!)

a Picture wOrth 1,000 wOrdS

whileonepicturecandoalot,coulditdescribeyourentire day?howaboutpartofyourday?wereabouttofindout. Youandtwopartnersareeachgoingtotakeonepicture thatencapsulatespartofyourmorning,afternoonandevening.Takeonepictureforeachportionthatwillcompletely sumupthatpartofyourday.whenyoureconvene,putall thepicturesonthetableinabigpileandinvitesomeone notinthegrouptocomeinandtrytoputthethreepictures inorderforeachperson.

pickanexistingstorythatusesallfivesenses). TheAgencymurdermystery LoveBetweenchefs mysummerasaRocknRollRoadie TailgatingatthesuperBowl TheFloristandtheFly halloweennight TheshortLifeofaBee oncethegrouphaschosenastoryline,startdeveloping a story that can be told in five parts using the senses for each. For instance, a photo or video could be used for the sense of sight. something brought in that emits an odor couldenhancethesenseofsmell.Atactileobjectwouldbe usedforthesenseoftouch,andsoon. onceyouvedevelopedyourstoryanddeterminedhow

each person gets a suit based on the overall theme youve chosen. design what the ace and five card of your suit would look like. if youre feeling snappy, design new suiticonsaswell,ditchingthetraditionalones.

ShOtgun dOOdLing
startoffwith10blankindexcardseachforyouandapartner. decide who goes first. one person quickly draws a squiggle on the index card and hands it to their partner, who has 10 secondstomakesomethingoutofthesquiggle.Takenomore than 10 seconds per squiggle, and move on. do this for two minutes.Theideaistorecognizeshapesquicklyandtodoso withoutjudgment.whenthetwominutesareup,switchroles andrepeatthissequenceforeachindexcard.

each sense plays a role in that part of the story, divide up and acquire each of the things you need to tell the story. Reassemble with the items and lay them out in some way totellthestory. Bring in people not involved with the group and take them down the line, letting them experience each part of thestoryusingadifferentsense.dontrevealwhatthestory is;askthemtotellyouthestoryastheyexperienceit.You cangivethemthetitleofthestoryasaguidetothetypeof taleitis,butthenletthemtellyouwhattheyrethinkingas theygo.ifyourstoryuseschocolatechipcookiesforoneof thesenses,besuretohaveplentyonhand!

66 j une 2009 

w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m

w w w. h o w d e s i g n . c o m

hOw 67