Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

Book Review: Creative Stuff

Posted on: May 2nd, 2012 by Shaun Hensher 27 Comments

Creative Stuff: An Activity Book for Visual ThinkersDesign is hard. The creative mind is a finicky thing. Sometimes you can get in a flow state and it seems like no design problem is a match for your supreme wit. On the other hand, sometimes you just can’t seem to get in the groove and feel like you couldn’t design your way out of a wet paper bag. Hey, it happens to the best of us.

We all have little tricks and ways of jump-starting the creative process, but sometimes what you need is a little guidance.  That’s what a new book by Dave Gouveia and Chris Elkerton offers. Creative Stuff: An Activity Book for Visual Thinkers is stuffed full of activities and exercises designed to help break that mental block.

 The review

Overall, I think the creators of this book have done a pretty good job. Admittedly, there are some pages that seem like filler to me (word games and puzzles that I don’t think help much). That being said though, there are plenty of fun and challenging activities that make up for the fluff. The book itself is well designed, colourful,and playful. There is also an abundance of useful information and interesting trivia.

If you need a little kick in the pants to help get those creative juices flowing, this might be just the thing.

www.creativestuffthebook.com

The Creative Process

Posted on: November 9th, 2011 by Shaun Hensher 34 Comments

In the last couple of posts, we’ve been talking about how to be creative. In The Creative Mind, we covered the mindset required for creative production. In The Creative Space, we talked about how our surroundings can help us foster our creative thinking. Now let’s talk about the actual creative process.

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The Creative Space

Posted on: November 1st, 2011 by Shaun Hensher 14 Comments

Creativity Room

In the last article, The Creative Mind, we discussed the mental aspects of fostering creativity. This week, we pick up where we left off. If you haven’t read that article, I recommend checking it out.

Now that we’ve got ourselves acting like kids and thinking like crazy people, let’s talk about some of the external factors that help foster creative thinking.

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The Creative Mind

Posted on: October 27th, 2011 by Shaun Hensher 24 Comments

Creativity

It’s one of the coolest things that make us human. It’s what has allowed us to become what we have become. Creativity is the driving force of innovation. It’s what keeps us moving forward as a society. It’s also bloody hard. In a connected world of nearly 7 billion people, it’s sometimes easy to think that it’s all been done before. How can there possibly be any new ideas? Even if new ideas are possible, how the hell am I supposed to come up with them?

Well, it is possible, and while it’s never easy, with the right mindset and the right tools, it’s not as hard as it might seem. It can also be a lot of fun.

This is the first in a series of articles on the subject of developing and fostering creativity. I’ll be talking about what makes us creative and how we can foster our innate creative abilities. I will also share some processes that will help you unleash your creative potential. I hope you enjoy the series!

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