I have developed the concept of exploring the commonalities between science and creative thinking, by identifying a recipe from research as an analogy for ‘ingredients’ or catalysts used in a science experiment. I have used the recipe to generate activities with contemporary design values that would creatively stimulate an audience of designers and artists.

 

As there is no in-built power switch for creativity, I have challenged the audience as much as possible with my publications and interactive sculpture as “There is no creativity with out discomfort.” (Shaughnessy, 2010, p. 113). I did not want to over- influence the individual’s imagination so I decided to present the works without direct guidelines and with minimal instructions to show how the audience should interact with them. This allows individuals to freely and openly interpret the work.

 

The design acts as a non-committal method of stimulating creativity in moments where the designer is feeling blocked. It encapsulates child-like playfulness with the activity book publications and building block interactive sculpture. These visual strategies were developed with the underlined conceptual idea that children’s imaginations are free to unobstructed experimentation while having fun.

 

I have developed my concept from the seven steps created by educational administrator Robert F. Eberle (Mindwerx, 2010), of the creative problem solving technique with idea spurring questions. I have combined the steps to create three guiding principles for the ‘catalysts’ of combine, adapt and apply. These creative prompts became the conceptual structure for the publication.

 

The interactive sculpture was simplified to the essence of the ‘catalysts’ of joining multiple ideas to suit the designer or artists brief. I linked Edward De Bono’s theory of “The brain as self-organizing patterning system of pattern asymmetries provides the logical basis for provocation, random entry and the other deliberate tools of lateral thinking which are used for cutting across patterns” (De Bono, p. 53) visually, by using a grid structure, to determine the format of the blocks. I used hand rendered techniques to produce the sculpture, as a method of demonstrating the emotional connection and complexities, physically and figuratively, behind the design.

 

De Bono, E. (2010). I am right, you are wrong. London, England: Penguin.

Mindwerx. (2010). The history of S.C.A.M.P.E.R. Retrieved from http://www.mindwerx.com/mind tools/5762/history-s-c-m-p-e-r

Shaughnessy, A. (2010). How to be a graphic designer, without losing your soul (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Princeton Architectural Press.

 

Michalko, M. (2011). Creative thinkering. Novato, CA: New World Library.