Creative Thinking Hub

Creative thinking expert Jim Connolly, shares tips & resources to help you think more creatively.

Creativity and the need for mistakes

Updated March 2015

Creativity takes courage. That’s because an essential element of creativity is the willingness to make mistakes.

The challenge is that we have been programmed to think of mistakes as failures. They are not. Mistakes are stepping stones on the way to our best art or work. Mistakes provide us with proof… proof that we are trying something new, rather than playing it safe within our comfort zone.

Here’s a suggestion

If you find yourself suffering from any kind of creative block, give yourself permission to make more mistakes.

Just don’t keep repeating the same mistake. Learn, adjust and move on.

Design and simplicity, by Jony Ive

Updated July 2025

Apple’s former head of design, Jony Ive, shares some thoughts on the role of simplicity in design.

“Simplicity is not the absence of clutter, that’s a consequence of simplicity. Simplicity is somehow essentially describing the purpose and place of an object and product. The absence of clutter is just a clutter-free product. That’s not simple”.

Anyone can remove clutter. Simplicity requires us to understand what the minimum required is. Then, to have the courage to ignore the rest.

Creative thinking and removing the blocks

Updated January 2015

Have you ever been unaware of a noise, until the noise suddenly stops?

You know, like when someone outside is using a lawnmower, and you suddenly notice the silence, when they turn the lawnmower off?

Our minds work like that. Very often, something is blocking us from being able to think with clarity or focus. Yet, we don’t realise it, until that thing is removed.

Worth considering, the next time you’re struggling to create.

Creativity, touch and feel

Updated January 2015

I wrote recently about how tablets and mobile phones were far more than mere consumption devices. Today, I’d like to share an example of exactly what I mean.

One of the things I have always loved about writing on paper with a pen or pencil, is the tactile connection between the page and my hand. Writing via a keyboard has always felt like there was too much distance between me [my fingers], which were on the keyboard, and the page, which was on the screen of my computer.

Disconnected

It seemed somehow disconnected. This wasn’t much of an issue, until I needed to write something creative. Then, I’d always need to start by fleshing the ideas out on paper first. I’d only use my MacBook after the creative element of the composition was in place.

Then I decided to try something new

I decided to see how it felt, literally, writing with a tablet device, where my fingers connect directly with the screen. I immediately noticed that I felt closer to the words… not just in a literal sense, but closer mentally.

If you own a tablet device, give it a try. Whilst nothing is quite like using a nice pen or a freshly sharpened pencil, a large screen tablet device provides another tool for your creative arsenal. The creative experience is certainly different enough from using a traditional keyboard, for it to change your creative state.

That’s worth remembering, the next time you’re struggling for inspiration at your keyboard.

Every interaction leaves a mark

Updated December 2014

Well used doors
Photo: Jim Connolly

Every interaction with these doors has left an imprint or mark.

Some would have been immediately evident. Others would have been hard to spot with the human eye. Yet the doors record them all.

Stuck? Try this useful problem solving tip!

Updated December 2014

Sometimes you get so close to a challenge, problem or project, that it smothers you… and your creativity.

Give yourself some distance

When you’re stuck or making too little progress on a creative project, put some distance between the project and yourself. Imagine the project is in a different place, miles away from where you’re working. Look at it again, this time from a distance.

This study confirms what many have known for years. That viewing a creative project from a distance alters our connection with it. This subtle change shifts our perspective. It gives us fresh eyes and a chance to see what we were previously blind to.

Try it!

Show… don’t tell

Updated December 2014

Telling is easy. That’s because talk is cheap. Anyone can say anything.

Showing is tricky. That’s because you have to create. You have to put your art out there and risk the ire of the critics.

Of course, this is why there’s never a shortage of tellers. It’s also why those who show are so extremely rare.

If you want to get noticed, the answer is clear. Show… don’t tell.

Video: Andy Warhol eating a hamburger. Is it art?

Updated March 2024

So, here we have a 4 minute video of Andy Warhol eating a hamburger. It’s an excerpt from 66 Scenes from America; a 1982 Danish documentary film directed by Jørgen Leth.

Is it art?

Of course it is! It’s a wonderful piece, from an era before the Internet — decades before people took photos of their lunch and posted it to Instagram. It causes us to ask questions. It captures our attention. Engages our curiosity. Yes, it’s art.

For more of Andy Warhol’s amazing work, check out the The Warhol Museum website.