Pick an exercise
Three ways to spark creativity
Curated from Creative Confidence and IDEO, safe and age-appropriate for every student.
โจ Creativity Challenge #3: Jumpstart an ideation session
๐ก Here's one quick, simple exercise to get creative muscles warmed up. We learned it from David's mentor, Bob McKim, back when David was a product design student. The classic version is called Thirty Circles; on this platform we use 15 larger circles so they're easier to draw on screen. You can do it on your own or in a group. ๐ฏ The goal is to test your creativity by turning circles into recognizable objects in a very short period of time.
๐ ๏ธ Tool: โญ Fifteen Circles (on-screen)
๐ฅ Participants: Solo or groups of any size ๐ค
โฑ๏ธ Time: 3 minutes, plus discussion โณ
โ๏ธ Supplies: ๐ฅ๏ธ This screen, 15 larger blank circles. Draw with a mouse, trackpad, or finger (like a digital pen and paper).
๐ญ Name what youโre brainstorming so your sketches stay focused (optional but helpful).
๐ Instructions
- โ๏ธ Step 1: On this sheet you have 15 circles, pick your drawing tool (mouse, trackpad, or finger on a touch screen).
- โฑ๏ธ Step 2: Turn as many of the blank circles as possible into recognizable objects in three minutes (think clock faces, billiard balls, etc.).
- ๐ค Step 3: Compare results. Look for the quantity or fluency of ideas. How many people filled in ten, fifteen, twenty or more circles? (Typically most people don't finish.) Next, look for diversity or flexibility in ideas. See if the ideas are derivative (a basketball, a baseball, a volleyball) or distinct (a planet, a cookie, a happy face). Did anyone "break the rules" and combine circles (a snowman or a traffic light)? Were the rules explicit, or just assumed?
โ๏ธ Draw inside each circle. Try clocks, billiard balls, faces, planets, anything recognizable. ๐จ
๐ฌ Compare results (discussion)
๐ Look for the quantity or fluency of ideas. How many people filled in ten, fifteen, twenty or more circles? (Typically most people don't finish.) Next, look for diversity or flexibility in ideas. See if the ideas are derivative (a basketball, a baseball, a volleyball) or distinct (a planet, a cookie, a happy face). Did anyone "break the rules" and combine circles (a snowman or a traffic light)? Were the rules explicit, or just assumed?
๐ Tips from the field
๐ก Besides being a great warm-up exercise, this circle challenge offers a quick lesson about ideation. When you generate ideas, you are balancing two goals: fluency (the speed and quantity of ideas) and flexibility (ideas that are truly different and distinct). We know from experience that it's easier to have a great idea if you have many to choose from. But if you have a lot of ideas that are just variations on a theme, you might really only have one idea with fourteen other versions. When you combine fluency and flexibility, you can generate a rich array of concepts to choose from.
๐ Adapted from ideas shared by IDEO and Chapter 7 of Creative Confidence.
Adapted from Creative Confidence by Tom & David Kelley