UCS 3212 Creativity and

Innovation
Week 3: Methods and Tools for Generating Ideas
 Techniques to develop creativity

• Psychologists established two types of methods :

• free association methods: both by directly questioning users/consumers, as well as
through “expressive” combinations aimed at evoking new ideas
• brainstorming and other forms of exchanging ideas, meant to bring about
restructuring
 Free associations methods

• technique of free associations basically consists of asking questions, to

yourself or to someone else, of the type:
• “This here….what does it bring to mind?...and what else?...and?”,continuing like this
until you have exhausted the question, or until your mind is blank
• Effectiveness of the technique is due to the fact that we are not aware of
how our cognitive processes work, above all when they have expressive,
emotional or sentimental value
• Also known as involuntary memory
 Methods and tools: Free Association
Techniques
1. Absence thinking (reversal, TRIZ Contradiction Analysis )
2. Art streaming (rubber ducking, talk streaming, write streaming,
incubation, modeling, unfolding)
3. Assumption busting (Provocation, Challenge)
4. Attribute listing
5. Breakdown (rightbraining, essence, morphological analysis, chunking)
 Methods and tools: Free Association
Techniques

6. How-how diagram (How to, Wishing)

7. The Kipling method (5W1H)
8. Lotus blossom
 Methods and tools: Free Association
Techniques

9. Visioning (storyboarding, guided imagery, rememberance )

10.PSI (Problem + Stimulus = Ideas) (Forced Conflict, Forced Association,
Random Words)
11.SCAMPER
12.Value Analysis/Value Engineering
 Absence thinking: Think about what is not
there
• Use it when you are stuck and unable to shift thinking to other modes.
• Use it when you want to do something that has not been done before.
• The psychology of thought is such that we are very good at seeing what is there,
but not at all good at seeing what is not there. Absence Thinking compensates for
this by deliberately forcing us to do what we do not naturally do.
• Other similar techniques: reversal, TRIZ Contradiction Analysis
 Absence thinking

• Think about what you are thinking about, and then think about what you are not thinking
about.
• When you are looking at something (or otherwise sensing), notice what is not there.
• Make lists of things to remember that you normally forget.
• In other words, deliberately and carefully think about what is absent.
 Example

• A market manager for a furniture wonders about product areas where

customers have made no comment. She watches them using tables and
notes that they leave the tables out when not using them. She invents a
table that can be easily be folded and stored.
 Art streaming: Keep creating until you get
through the blocks

• Use it when you are more introverted and stuck in constrained thinking
• Use it when you are trying to be artistically creative and are creatively
blocked.
• This approach works by giving the conscious mind something to do that
allows the subconscious mind to free itself of what is concerning it. Worries
and ideas can all come out in the artwork
• Other similar techniques: rubber ducking, talk streaming, write streaming,
modeling, incubation, unfolding
 Art Streaming

• Go hide somewhere
• be alone for a good deal of time, comfortable, where you can write, paint or create sculptures
• Create, non-stop
• Do not worry about the quality of what you are doing. Let your subconscious create whatever is on your mind. Just
see what appears.
• The goal is to keep going rather than to create anything in particular. If you like what you have done, then put it
aside, by all means. When you are done, you can muse over what you have created, if you wish, and wonder what
your subconscious is trying to say. Or you can just scrap it.
 Example

• I am feeling frustrated by creative problems at work. I get home and head

for the garage and get out the wood and powertools. I spend the evening
carving, cutting, sawing, chiseling, screwing and gluing. The result is a
strange set of what could be called sculptures. By the time I go to bed, I'm
feeling much better and some useful ideas are trickling through.
 Assumption busting: Surfacing and
challenging unconscious assumptions
• In our everyday lives, we make an enormous number of assumptions about
how the world around us works. Normally, this works just fine, but in
creative situations it can blind us to many possibilities.
• Assumption-busting works by deliberately seeking out and addressing these
previously-unquestioned assumptions.
• Other similar techniques: Provocation (forcing on people instead of intent),
Challenge
 Quiz (5%)

Imagine you are a Bachelor Degree holder from UCTS

1. List assumptions that are stopping you to achieve your dream job
2. Challenge assumptions
3. Find ways of making the challenge reality
 Example: We cannot sell these new widgets
over the internet
• Assumption: We do not have the technology.
• Busting: We can learn. We can buy it in.
• Assumption: Buying it in would be expensive.
• Busting: You don't know until you ask. Get my teenage son to do it.
• Assumption: Your teenage son would not do it professionally.
• Busting: Look at these sites he did. He can at least do a trial site to prove the principle.
• Assumption: It won't work.
• Busting: A trial site would help prove this.
 Attribute listing: Listing attributes of objects and
then challenging them

• Use Attribute Listing when you have a situation that can be decomposed
into attributes
• Particularly useful with physical objects
• Highly rational style
• Suitable for people who prefer analytic approaches
• Good for engineering-type situations
 Attribute listing

• List attributes, as many as you can

• Consider value of attributes
• For each attribute, ask 'what does this give'? Seek the real value of each
attribute.
• Modify attributes
• Finally look for ways in which you can modify the attributes in some way. Thus
you can increase value, decrease negative value or create new value.
 Example:

• For example, the handle of a screwdriver being examined has attributes of 'hexagonal'
which have the value of 'helps grip' and 'stops rolling on workbench', but has negative value
of 'sharp corners'.
• Modify the attributes of the screwdriver handle to be 'comfortable grip' by adding a rubber
sleeve
 Breakdown: Careful decomposition to explore
the whole system
• Use it to take apart a physical item being invented.
• Use it to decompose a logical problem into its constituent parts.
• Use it to explore individual parts and relationships.
• Use it to seek the most important focus.
• Many problem situations are hierarchical in nature, and will yield to breaking down into
component parts. Doing this slowly and carefully allows attention to be paid to how the
whole system works, and hence enable the discovery of problems and the triggering of
ideas.
• Similar techniques: Chunking, Essence, Morphological analysis (artist), Rightbraining
 Breakdown
• Bound the problem
• Define the overall problem or item under investigation, to create a 'closed problem set'.
• Break down the problem
• Identify the primary boundaries of division.
• Explore each part and its relationships
• Understand it as a complete thing and explore the relationships that it has with its parent item and other peer
items.
• You can visualize the hierarchy with such as a top-down tree or a center-out spider diagram.
• Build the hierarchy
• Repeat the careful process until you end up with a better understanding of the whole.
• Seek the best focus
• Now that you understand the whole, think about the areas in which you can best focus. Look for places to
innovate, to replace, to combine and so on.
 Example:

• An engineer is considering the brake assembly on a car. He first looks at the whole
system from many angles and watches it work. Then he takes it apart carefully,
looking at how the calipers and brake disc interact, how the cylinder and piston
work and fit together. In doing so, he notices how a rubber gaiter is stretched at
extreme ends of piston travel. Focusing, he continues to break down parts of the
gaiter: the ends, the folds and so on.
• Doing some experiments, he finds that the gaiter folds split after a while. With a
careful redesign of the gaiter, he makes the operation of the brake more reliable.
 Viewing Assignments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ze3hTL2rY0s
 How-how Diagram: Break down problem by
asking 'how'
• Use it when you are seeking to create a practical solution to a problem.
• Use it as a way of exploring the details for a plan.
• works by repeatedly asking the same question of a problem, breaking down
the solution into more and more explicit elements
• Similar techniques: How to, Wishing
 How-how Diagram
• Uses cards that can be Post-it Notes, Index cards or boxes on a computer
application such as Powerpoint
• State your problem clearly and write it on one card. Make sure that the
problem is written as a 'need', so the 'how' question will work
• Ask how and write down all solutions
• Repeat and conclude
 The Kipling Method

• 5 wives 1 Husband
• 5 wives:
• What? Where? When? Why? Who?
• 1 Husband:
• How?
 The Kipling Method

• Any questions work because we are conditioned to answer questions that

we are asked
• The Kipling questions work because they are short and direct
 Lotus Blossom
• Use it when you want to develop creative ideas.
• Use it when you are having problems creating more ideas.
• Use it when you are trapped by a single mode of thinking.
• Use it to create seeds of ideas that can trigger further good ideas.
 Lotus Blossom

• Describe the problem

• Surround it with ideas
• Write each idea on a card
or Post-it Note of its own
and place it around the
problem description.
Eight ideas fit neatly. You
can also do six, in a
hexagonal shape.
 Unfold the Lotus Blossom
• Make a copy of each of the idea cards and place them radially further out from the cluster (the stamen and pistil of the
flower) that you created in the previous steps.
• Now repeat the previous step of the process, surrounding each of the copied idea cards with secondary ideas, using only
the copied idea cards as stimuli. This should result in ideas which are further removed from the original problem.
• This can lead to many ideas. You do not have to fill in every space - if ideas run out, you can move on. Also, if an idea
seems to be leading somewhere, you can repeat the whole process ad infinitum until you get somewhere or nowhere.
• When you are working in a group of people, you can rotate them around the lotus. Thus a person puts one secondary idea
against a copied idea and then moves on to the next copied idea. This creates a dance around the ideas, moving the
thinking on at each step.
• Look around the many ideas you now have and seek to link some of these back to the original problem, using them as
stimuli for more practical solutions that may be implemented.
Unfold the Lotus Blossom
Visioning: Creating a motivating view of the
future

• Use it when you want to create a common direction of motivation for a group of people.
• Use it get an understanding of what you really want to achieve.
• Use it to get the subconscious engaged before other creative sessions.
• Use it to help define the problem as a vector towards a desired future.
• Visioning works because we are an imaginative species and are motivated by what we
perceive as a possible or desired future.
• It is also affected by our ability to recall thoughts. By making it easy to remember and
associated it with stronger emotions, we make it easier to bring fully back into memory
Similar techniques: Guided Imaginary, Remembrance, storyboarding
 Visioning

Imagine a brilliant future

• A vision is a 'motivating view of the future'. It creates pull. It gives direction.

Make it memorable
• A vision only works when it is remembered and is up-front-and-central in your thoughts for
most of the time - especially when you are making important decisions in this area.
• Use dynamic and emotive words to paint motivating pictures. Use words like 'sharp', 'now'
and 'value'.
 Example:

• We are looking to improve our customer service at the firm where we work.
We discuss what it is like to be a customer. One of the people in the group
says, "You know, when I want service, I want it to happen just like that!" He
snaps his fingers as he says this. We all agree, and the phrase 'service, just
like that' is adopted, along with the snapping of fingers.
 PSI: Problem + Stimulus = Ideas

• Quick tool it sets a direction. More serious use requires effort to define the problem
and experiment with stimuli
• uses the principle of forced association, which gets your brain out a rut by bringing
together things that have not previously been combined. In its flight from the
discomfort of this, the subconscious brain will give you whatever you want,
including useful ideas by deliberately using the problem as one part of the
combinatory equation.
• Similar techniques: Forced Conflict, Forced Association, Random Words
 PSI

• Define the Problem

• Find a Stimulus
• Bang them together (P+S+I)
 Example:

• P= If you are seeking to stop a window leaking, you can define the problem as staying dry or
keeping out water, it can be about sealant or surfaces, materials or coatings, corners or the
entire frame. You can even look at it from the viewpoint of the rain or the window
• S = A stimulus for the leaky window could be found by looking through the window. Can
you see a tree, a car, a running child?
• I = When you look at the tree, you could wonder how the inside of the tree stays dry. Could
you apply some bark? It has fibres in it. Could you pack the area with waterproof fibre? Or
what about the car. That has windows - how does it keep out the water, especially at speed
in the driving rain. It uses rubber seals that fit closely over the window and flex with any
movement
 SCAMPER

• SCAMPER works by providing a list of active verbs that you associate with your problem and hence create
ideas
• As they are all verbs, they are about doing, and so get you to think about action
• a tool to support creative, divergent thinking
• a checklist that helps you think of changes you can make to an existing product to create a new one
• ask questions that require them to think "beyond the lines" of a text - helps develop critical thinking skills
and supports in constructing imaginative texts
• useful cooperative learning tool and a great stimulus for role play
S Substitute place of another to have another person or
thing act or serve in the place of another

C Combine to bring together, to unite

A Adapt to adjust for the purpose of suiting a condition

M Modify to alter, to change the form or quality

Magnify to enlarge, to make greater in form or quality

Minify to make smaller, lighter, slower, less frequent

P Put to to be used for purposes other than originally

other uses intended

E Eliminate to remove, omit or get rid of quality, part or

whole

R Reverse to place opposite or contrary, to turn it around

Rearrange to change order or adjust, different plan,
layout or scheme
 How Can I Adapt It?

• It is not necessary to use all the steps in SCAMPER.

Steps can be selected and combined in a variety of
ways to match your intentions.
• SCAMPER can be used to assess listening, speaking,
reading, viewing and writing.
• explore and demonstrate contextual understanding
and knowledge of the structures and features of texts
Example: I want to invent a new pen
• S: Substitute (a part, element)
ink with carbon
• C: Combine (bring together assorted ideas and situations)
sketches on paper become electronic graphics
• A: Adapt (or adjust to suit a different application)
pen top as a flashlight
• M: Modify (e.g. change the physical size, properties of some parts)
body to be flexible
• P: Put to other uses (can be applied on other materials other than paper)
use to write on wood
• E: Eliminate (a function, feature, part)
clip by using Velcro
• R: Rearrange (some parts, function, feature)
can write by both top or bottom of the pen
 Value Engineering/Value Analysis

• Use Value Analysis to analyze and understand the detail of specific situations.
• Use it to find a focus on key areas for innovation.
• Use it in reverse (called Value Engineering) to identify specific solutions to detail problems.
• It is particularly suited to physical and mechanical problems, but can also be used in other
areas
• Used to increase the value of products or services to all concerned by considering the
function of individual items and the benefit of this function and balancing this against the
costs incurred in delivering it. The task then becomes to increase the value or decrease the
cost
• Identify and prioritize functions
• Identify the item to be analysed and the customers for whom it is produced.
• List the basic functions (the things for which the customer is paying).
• Identify the secondary functions by asking ‘How is this achieved?’ or ‘What other functions
support the basic functions?’.
• Measure the cost of each component as accurately as possible, including all material and
production costs.
• Seek improvements
• Eliminate or reduce the cost of components that add little value, especially high-cost
components.
• Enhance the value added by components that contribute significantly to functions that are
particularly important to customers.
 Viewing Assignment
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=weIQIthC3Ks
Thank you for your attention!