Creative Thinking Hub

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

How to prove you’re clueless about design

Updated February 2014

I visited a website earlier. It told me nothing about what the website owners stood for or who they were.

It was pointless.

No connection.

A waste of my time and their money.

Stock photos. Stock design. Uncreative and lifeless

The site greeted me, with a stock photo of a group of beautiful, trendy people. None of whom have any connection with the company, who bought their image.

If you are going to use images of people on your website or blog, show us who you are or who your customers are. Use some creativity. Don’t just paste a group of models on your site, as if they were part of your team.

Otherwise, we may wonder what else you are lying to us about.

Apple Mac: Thirty years of innovation

Updated December 2015

The Apple Mac range of computers have always been popular with creative people. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Mac, Apple put this interesting, short video together. It shows how some well known creative professionals have used the Mac, to help them express themselves.

The 60th anniversary of Under Milk Wood on The BBC

Updated January 2014

Dylan_Thomas_photo60 years ago today, the Dylan Thomas masterpiece was performed on BBC radio. Under Milk Wood became a classic, and Richard Burton delivered what he considered one of his greatest ever performances.

The fact the radio play was ever finished was impressive.

Dylan Thomas was very ill, but was forced into touring New York for financial reasons. However, he still managed to get the radio play finished. Thomas would die in New York aged just 39, before his, now famous, BBC radio play was broadcast.

A great artistic inspiration

Dylan Thomas has since inspired generations of artists in every medium. Bob Dylan was so inspired, he famously took the name Dylan for his stage name.

What an amazing legacy. What an inspiration. Rest In Peace Mr Thomas.

Photo.

Find your shipping recipe

Updated May 2014

Lets do this

An early morning, with a notebook and some coffee or green tea. That’s what does it for me. That’s the recipe to get my mind flowing with ideas and for those ideas to get shipped. In my case, shipped means written up for my readers. I get ideas all day, but I have found that early mornings work best for getting those ideas transformed from thoughts into things.

It doesn’t matter what works for you

What matters is that you find your recipe, to get the ideas flowing and shipped. Practice. Try things. Change the media from pen to pencil. From computer to tablet. From keyboard to paint. From guitar to sound sequencer.

It doesn’t matter, just so long as it works for you… so long as it gets the idea from your head into; the marketplace, the world, the community, the client’s hands or into the reader’s inbox. Steve Jobs was right, real artists ship. So, find your shipping recipe and get your art out there.

Living your dreams?

Updated December 2015

Those who make a difference. Those who improve their lives, their communities and their world, are doers. People of action. Dreams are fantastic, but we need to live our dreams if we want to make them real… if we want to make a difference. This requires intelligent activity.

Chanting to the universe. So-called Cosmic Ordering. These act as a narcotic to ease the pain of being less than you can be. They distract their advocates from the very real fact that the clock is ticking. They provide an alibi for those scared of doing. After all, it’s not THEIR fault if the universe isn’t listening to them, they say.

Here’s what we know works, from every great artist who has ever lived: Intelligent action is required.

The need for action

“Action expresses priorities.” – Mahatma Gandhi

“What one does is what counts. Not what one had the intention of doing.” – Pablo Picasso

“Do the thing and you will have the power.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Well done is better than well said.” – Benjamin Franklin

“Write it. Shoot it. Publish it. Crochet it, sauté it, whatever. MAKE.” – Joss Whedon

“You are what you do.” – C.G Jung

“Imagination means nothing without doing.” – Charlie Chaplin

“A thousand words leave not the same deep impression as does a single deed.” – Henrik Ibsen

“The more often he feels without acting, the less he will be able ever to act, and, in the long run, the less he will be able to feel.” – C. S. Lewis

“Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action.” – Benjamin Disraeli.

If you want to make a real difference, you need to get real.

Translate your good intentions into good deeds

Updated January 2014

The book you intend to read, won’t teach you anything… until you read it.

The book you intend to write, will never be read… until you write it.

Intentions and deeds

It’s wonderful to have good intentions. However, our results are going to be determined on what we do, rather than what we intend to do.

Read the books. Create the art. Translate your good intentions into good deeds.

The secret behind the world’s best problem solvers!

Updated December 2014

This article is about one of the keys to creative problem solving.

It starts with an understanding that the best problem solvers and idea developers, know that most questions have more than one correct answer.

For example, if your question is; how can I write upside down, using a pen and a pad?’, there are lots of correct answers.

These include:

  1. You could spend weeks, months or maybe years, learning how to re educate yourself, so that you can write upside down.
  2. You could simply turn your writing pad upside down and write normally. Then, as soon as the pad is turned the correct way, your writing will appear upside down.
  3. You could grab a pen and write the words ‘upside down’ on your writing pad. This is a play on words, but it’s still a possible answer.

All those answers are correct, depending on what you want to achieve.

  • If the reason for asking that question, was to learn a new skill, then the first answer is what you are looking for.
  • If the reason for asking that question, was to find the fastest way to solve the problem of writing words that appear upside down, then the second answer works.
  • If the reason for asking that question, was to develop a party trick, then the third answer is what you need.

Creative and traditional problem solving

Creative problem solvers search for as many answers as they can find. They then determine which answer is the most valuable to them.

Typical problem solvers look for THE correct answer, as if there were only one. When they find it, they stop looking. The challenge with this approach, is that the first correct answer we find is not always the best answer. It’s just AN answer.

Problem solving tip

Once you have clearly defined your question, keep looking for answers. Aim for at least 5 possible answers. 10 is even better. Then, evaluate the answers and determine the one you believe to be most valuable.