Creative Skills

Hello, my name is Sophie Rasmussen, and I am an International Media & Entertainment Management (IMEM) student, studying at the InHolland University of Applied Sciences in The Hague. I am currently in my second year, in which we are learning about new creative skills and techniques to come up with innovative and original concepts.  Thinking outside of the box, does not happen automatically, but is a long and creative process. For this process, there are a large variety of creative techniques, and the starting point for this is the Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model, developed by Osborn & Parnes, which will be discussed in another post. Essentially, this model shows that the problem solving process involves a number of divergent and convergent steps (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019). Image 1, Creativity Image. (ProwitingAid, 2017). Additionally, it is important to be familiar with and applying these creative techniques when analysing a problem at hand. This ...

The Creative Problem Solving (CPS) model consists of techniques that allow one to come up with solutions quickly and effectively for concrete situations.  In 6 steps, diverging and converging techniques constantly alternate.  This way of working ensures that logical ideas arise through a creative approach, until the desired result is achieved  (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019). Image 1, Creative Problem Solving Model.  (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019). There are 4 different areas, each having a number of steps with their own individual purpose and technique. The Problem Area is where problem orientation, collecting information and the problem definition takes place. The Idea Area is where ideas are generated. Generating ideas is also still part of the next area, which is the Evaluation Area . Finally there is the Selection Area , where ideas and an action plan are developed. Each of these areas have their own techniques, which will be outlined in each po...

The LOESJE Technique, is the technique that was addressed in the very first creative skills session, that our teacher, Leslo Wanders, organised.  After experiencing this technique first-hand, I can definitely draw clear comparisons between this technique and the brain writing technique. For this particular class, we all worked towards a specific end goal, which was to produce a LOESJE poster. Each group started out with a topic, and after a few minutes we had to pass the paper to our neighbour on the right. The neighbour would then continue where he/she had left off until the paper was returned to the original person. In the end, the ideas on each paper were used to design a catchy line for the LOESJE Posters  (Personal Communication, 2019).  For example, my topic was "parent's not vaccinating their children", and I then passed it on, and on and on, until eveyone had written on my paper what they thought about this topic. Image 1, LOESJE Example. (LOESJE, 2015)...

Image 1, Creative Problem Solving Model. (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019).   Goal Orientation Technique Image 2, Goal Orientation Picture. (Gocus, 2014).  The goal orientation technique was used during my creative skills showcase. Personally, I believe it is a very useful technique, and it was also a succesful showcase. When using this technique it is important to ask oneself: " What exactly is my goal? ".  By having a clear description and having a specific goal in mind, it becomes possible to address any issues that may arise with this specific problem definition. Due to this, the next step in the goal orientation technique, is to always start and find solutions for the problem, and they usually automatically begin to emerge once the goal has been defined  clearly  (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019). Strengths Allows you to pin-point your goal and, from the beginning, be able to have some solutions in mind. There are no boundaries, ...

Image 1, Creative Problem Solving Model. (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019).  None of the techniques from the idea area were presented in any of the creative skills sessions. Therefore, there is no detailed outline of the techniques.  Force-to-Fit  The force-to-fit technique is about making a physical or psychological excursion/trip, which is then used as the key source of the inspiration and starting point for the idea area. This excursion could either be short, such as studying an image, which is also psychological, or long and physical, such as visiting a museum or world exhibition.  This particular excursion, should then involve associations or bisociations. An association is a non-random connection between related ideas, whereas a bisociation is a fusion between habitually incompatible frames of reference (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019).  Strengths Clear guidelines on what to do in terms of either physical or psychological Everyone can...

Image, Creative Solving Problem Model. (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019).   Restructuring When restructuring, one will  look for the similarities between the ideas that emerged during idea  generation . These similarities will form the basis for the classification of the ideas into so-called clusters. The clusters will be given a name that reflects the similarity between the ideas. Due to this, it is important to place each idea into a relevant cluster. Ignoring some ideas would not be good, since that would mean that the ideas are already being evaluated, which would be too early to do at this stage of the technique.  The idea is for evaluation to be postponed until the second part of the restructuring process.  Now the ideas from each cluster will be looked at. In this stage it is important to remove any duplicate ideas and combine any ideas that are very similar to each other. It would also be possible to combine two ideas into one idea that incl...

Image 1, Creative Problem Solving Model. (Creative Skills Handbook, 2019).  The Something Good Technique  This technique was presented during the creative skills class, by the SMT group. When applying this technique the key question is:  'Are there any  good ideas in any of the clusters?’ . When answering this question, it is not important to identify why a solution is a good solution, but important to choose a solution spontaneously. The answer can be subjective and does not need to be accompanied by appropriate argumentation. The spontaneous selection of solutions actually increases the likelihood that a solution will have potential. This was proven during the showcase of the something good technique. We played a game of Family Feud, where two groups had to compete against each other. Each round we were given a problem, for example "client is not clear on the assignment". Then on "go", two people from each team had to run to the front, spontan...

The 6 Thinking Hats The 6 thinking hats technique, is an additional technique that was presented during the creative skills class.  As the name suggests, the technique involves the use of metaphorical hats.  Each hat serves as a different way of viewing the problem. The hats consist of: facts, emotions, judgment, logic, creativity, and control  (Personal Communication, 2019) . Image 1, Hats.  (Obront, 2018).    This method is used to develop solutions in relation to the hat that is being worn at the time.   This was a very fun and interesting technique, especially since the group leading the showcase, AVisual, had organised hats that we could put on in different colours. In my opinion, this technique brings the children out in us, so if you like to be fun, you are full of energy and excited to try new things, this is the method for you!  Brain Shifter The brain shifter creative technique is about acting as if you are someone else. ...

As someone who wants to work as an event manager or content manager in the future, there will be a lot of creative thinking involved. Therefore, it is very nice to know other methods besides traditional brainstorming. To really get a feeling of a potential situation that could arise, I have created a little potential scenario:  "Sophie has just been contacted by UNICEF , that wants her to organise a big fundraiser event to raise awareness and money. There are some basic parts of the event that need to be maintained according to the clients wishes, but besides that she is free to plan almost everything. The most important part of the event, is that people have fun, are entertained and that it is a creative event that people will enjoy and donate towards." Below is an outline of my top 3 creative techniques choice, in order to solve the scenario:  Goal Orientation Technique - I would love to use this technique, since it would allow me to pin-point my goal, and ...

For each showcase in the creative skills classes, there were 1-2 warm-ups for every group. Below is an overview of some of the best warm-up exercises, which I would love to implement for future sessions that I have to organise myself. Some of the warm-ups were suitable for boosting the energy, such as the mirror warm-up and the cha-cha dance warm-up, whereas other warm-ups were related to the main exercise.  The Mirror Warm-Up This warm-up was organised by H5O, who presented the wishful thinking technique. The mirror warm-up was about having each group member do movements for 30 seconds each, that every group member then had to copy. This was an efficient technique to get warmed up literally.  The Cha-Cha Slide  Warm-Up One of the warm-ups that my own group, Energy Events, organised for the goal orientation technique session, was the cha-cha slide dance. Everyone had to get up and listen to the lyrics of this song, and dance to it.  The Hardcore ...