I love Austin Kleon’s book on the subject and his 10 lessons tounlock your creativity.
My favourite: Limitations mean freedom. He talks about the age of information abundance and overload, where having constraints actually allows you to concentrate on what is important.
So brainstorms where we say, “the sky is the limit” are not that helpful. They’re paralysing. So, how might boundaries encourage greater creativity? I found this study from the American Society of Landscape Architectsfrom 2006 where they tested if a fence would constrain children in their play. Turns out: on playgrounds without fences, children tended to gather around the teacher and were reluctant to stray far from their view. On playgrounds that were fenced in, they ran around the entire playground, feeling more free to exploreโ. Pretty cool. With more constraints we actually get more creative to explore the far corners of what is possible within those boundariesโ. So next time you do a brainstorm, instead of pushing teams to think outside the box, make sure there is a clear box defined. hashtag#constraintshashtag#creativityhashtag#designsprinthashtag#thinkinsidethebox
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Weโre adventurous out-of-the-box do-ers, engaged facilitators, challenging the status quo with humor, energy and years of innovation practice. We have run 75+ Design Sprints globally and countless innovation mindset workshops to get teams moving and adapt a growth mindset.