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Make Yourself Creative: Two Easy Idea-Generating Methods


Here are a couple of exercises to force yourself to come up with some brand new ideas. These methods can be used to give your business an edge, to overcome creative blocks, or just for fun - to prove to yourself that you can have some great ideas.

Method 1: "It's X meets Y"

Many movie critics use the "It's X meets Y" formula to help them quickly and accurately describe what a movie is all about. For example, the film Open Water was described by one critic as "It's Jaws meets Blair Witch". Anyone can now guess that the film involves sharks (or other water-dwelling monsters), and is a horror film filmed in a realistic way.

You can also use this formula to create brand new products, which can be easily understood by the potential market.

Choose 2 products from your industry (or choose 2 at random), with different features and audiences. Combine the two and consider the result. This is your brand new product. Do this a few times to create 5 different new products and then evaluate them to see which to go with. For example "It's Pop Tarts meets AllBran" could give you the idea to make a toastable breakfast health snack, or mini-Poptarts that you pour into a bowl and eat as a cereal.

Funnily enough, this method works really well with new movie-script ideas.

Method 2: "Redesign This"

This method allows a product to be developed very quickly.Consider an existing everyday item and improve it. Write down the item's main essential features - no more than the essentials. Then write down all the extra features you would personally like to see in the perfect version of this item. Then sketch out some ideas which have all the features you have though of.

If we consider a Kettle, what essentials features does it need? The ability to heat liquid, to be safe, easy to pour, easy to fill.If we think of it like this we could design a kettle that can have variable settings for different liquids - one to boil water, one to heat baby's milk, one to make hot chocolate (though it would have to be easy to clean!). Or we could make a more traditional style kettle, but with an extra wide spout to allow it to be filled without having to remove the lid.

These new ideas appear only when we strip an item down to its absolute essentials and start again from scratch.

Is your business as targeted as it could be, or are you providing unwanted features? Could you bring out some new redesigned products to complement existing ones?

It is very satisfying to improve an old classic.

Profile: You can be a Saint - right now - at the author's web business. Become a Saint at http://www.yousaint.comfor a modest donation of £35.


MORE RESOURCES:

Creativity - Google News

Creativity trumps cute factor in Super Bowl ads - The Detroit News


Globe and Mail

Creativity trumps cute factor in Super Bowl ads
The Detroit News
Perhaps this is why the ads that left the biggest impressions — good and bad — are those that showed sparks of creativity and pathos. This is why Chevy deserves a gold star for its apocalyptic ad. In the spot, a man and his dog are shown in a truck ...
KAMERA OBSCURE: This year's best/worst Super Bowl commercialsBall State Daily News
The Journal's All-Star Super Bowl Live Blog TeamWall Street Journal (blog)
Fiat's Super Bowl ad adds real wow factor to its compact car offering.FOXSports.com
Midwest Sports Fans -Bleacher Report -Examiner.com
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Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area to build a cultural and creative production base - Ningbo Expat Life


Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area to build a cultural and creative production base
Ningbo Expat Life
Cooperating with a leading cultural company of China, Ningbo is going to build a cultural and creative production base in Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area. The other day, Ningbo Hangzhou Bay New Area signed an agreement with Shenzhen Huaqiang Holdings ...

and more »

Hayes: Reflections on being caretakers of creativity - Midland Daily News


Hayes: Reflections on being caretakers of creativity
Midland Daily News
I honestly believe this is a most significant structure, not only as a functional building but also as a catalyst to generate new facts and new feelings in the creative lives of all who use it." The 2011/12 season marks the 40th anniversary of MCFTA ...

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the mystery of consciousness - CNN International


the mystery of consciousness
CNN International
By Antonio Damasio, Special to CNN Editor's note: Antonio Damasio, author of "Self Comes to Mind", published by Pantheon/Vintage, is a professor of neuroscience and director of the Brain and Creativity Institute at the University of Southern California ...

and more »

Innovation and creativity move to the heart of the curriculum - Financial Times


Financial Times

Innovation and creativity move to the heart of the curriculum
Financial Times
Top schools have devoted considerable resources to entrepreneurship, from electives and specialist courses to in-house incubation centres to help groom the creative leaders of the future. While some business leaders question whether entrepreneurship ...

Who's More Creative? Introverts or Extroverts? - Big Think (blog)


Who's More Creative? Introverts or Extroverts?
Big Think (blog)
The big difference is the kind of environment they thrive in, says Susan Cain, author of a new book on the creative power of introverts. Now more than ever before, says Cain, Western society approves more of extroverts. Have we reached the tipping ...
The quiet achieversSydney Morning Herald

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Travel to Latin America with Creative Cauldron - Patch.com


Travel to Latin America with Creative Cauldron
Patch.com
Each performance is part of Creative Cauldron's Passport to the World festival, a pocket-friendly opportunity to travel the world without ever leaving Falls Church. Creative Cauldron is the non-profit arts organization that manages and operates ...

Pinterest, an online bulletin board, inspires creativity - Pensacola News Journal


Technorati

Pinterest, an online bulletin board, inspires creativity
Pensacola News Journal
» How it works: Users upload images or videos (which can be linked back to their original websites for additional info) with a drag-and-drop browser extension. The image, or pin, is then assigned to a board. Users can follow each other's boards, ...
7 Tips for Planning a Wedding on PinterestMashable
Pinterest Gaining Intensity and Support with Social ZealotsTechnorati

all 24 news articles »

Machine Knitters Club offers both creativity and friendship - Knoxville News Sentinel


Machine Knitters Club offers both creativity and friendship
Knoxville News Sentinel
Or maybe you just want to try your hand at a relaxing, creative craft or provide such items for those with special needs? Any which way you see it, the 30 or so women of the Tennessee Valley Machine Knitters Club would be pleased to have you come for a ...

and more »

Plant Creativity Saves GM Millions - Chicago Tribune


Plant Creativity Saves GM Millions
Chicago Tribune
Creative solutions can save a lot of money, and if you happen to be building light-duty and heavy-duty pickup trucks for GM, those savings can run into the millions of dollars. Josh Cable of Industry Week magazine recently toured GM's truck assembly ...

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