The Quadruple Circle Method

Describe Your Creative Method

The Quadruple circle method allows us to engage with our creative, unrestricted minds while still
solving problems practically. This method can be helpful in various ways but is mainly utilised for
solving problems that require innovative solutions. Expectedly, the Quadruple Circle Method
includes four circles

The first inner circle is ideas that are realistic and directly solve problems or ideas that stem from
your present self, allowing us to engage with our present practical mind
The Second inner circle is ideas that are a bit more adventurous whilst still solving the problem, like
a 10-year-old would, allowing us to think from the perspective of ourselves with a mix of creativity
and practicality
The third circle is highly adventurous and are not held back by realistic expectations or laws, and can
be as stupid/crazy as you want, like a five-year-old would think, allowing us to be as creative as we
want.
The fourth circle will be used to link ideas from each circle to form a realistic yet creative method
that can effectively solve the problem

This method attempts to bind ideas from each circle together to create an innovative yet realistic
approach to solving problems. Thus, this method is helpful as it forces us to engage in our creative
thinking, not allowing realism to restrict us from creating innovative and creative ideas.
Furthermore, by first engaging in practical methods to solve problems, the user can then bind their
‘crazy ideas’ with the realistic ones, creating a hybrid that will hopefully still attain the goal of
realism whilst also allowing creativity in the idea simultaneously.

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Visualise Your Method

Justify Your Method

When?
The Quadruple Circle method would be most effectively utilised in a situation where you need to
solve a problem creatively and are struggling to tap into your creative mind. Using the Quadruple
Circle Method in a case like this will allow the user to forcefully imagine their younger selves and
what they would do if given the same problem, allowing ourselves to tap into our creative minds. In
the instance of my group assignment, the Quadruple Circle Method was used in the development
stage of our solution.

Why?
The Quadruple Circle Method is valued on the concept that our younger selves can think more
creatively and not be restricted by worries, including whether the solution is feasible or practical.
The Quadruple Circle Method effectively comes up with creative solutions because studies have
proven that children can be better than adults when it comes to creative thinking. A main inspiration
for the creation of my methodology derives from Runko (1989, who importantly argues that
"Children can be remarkably creative in their impromptu songs, games, and dances, their figurative
speech, their expressive artwork, and their imaginative play", displaying aspects where children are
more creative than adults. Furthermore, although creativity is vital in solving problems, it is still
necessary to ensure that practicality is involved. Thus, I implemented the fourth linking circle and
the middle 10-year old circle to allow users to combine their creative ideas with their practical
present self ideas. Through this, a hybrid concept that includes both a child's creativity and the
practicality of an adult can be created.

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Reflection on Method
The Quadruple Circle Method proved to be mostly effective throughout Assessment 2 and 3. When
we first presented our methods in our 2-minute presentations, my methodology was widely
accepted and liked. They saw it as a feasible method to effectively create a creative solution. I was
confident about my idea through this acceptance and hoped it would help develop our solution.
However, I still worried whether we would be able to tap into our younger self's creative thinking
without the stress and worry of combining it with our present feasible solution required for the third
assignment.

When we got to our third assignment and began the development phase, where my method was to
be utilised, we were in a moment of being 'stuck.' So, I was hoping that my method would be able to
get us out of our stuck moment. Unfortunately, the group and I struggled further to develop our
solution with the Quadruple Circle Method. I think this was because of a few reasons. First, the
group and I struggled to fully tap into our creative minds when engaging with the second and third
circle, limiting our creativity as a whole. I think this was because even though studies show that kids
can be more creative in thinking than adults, we are still adults, and trying to put ourselves into the
minds of our younger selves proved difficult. Secondly, if we formulated an idea for the third 5-year-
old perspective circle, we struggled to combine it with our other circles to create the hybrid solution.
I think this happened because if we did come up with an idea for our third circle, they were
sometimes so far fetched that it was near impossible to combine it with a present idea from the first
circle. Although it did help us realise that we needed to devise a whole new methodology to help
propel us forward, deviant thinking, overall, the Quadruple Circle Method proved to be mostly
ineffective in practice.

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