There is no such thing as a new idea, just fresh combinations of existing ones. Eighteenth-century philosophy explained the process of having ideas like this: when we think of ‘a golden mountain’, we’re simply combining two things we’re already familiar with, ‘gold’ and ‘mountain’.
The writer Will Self puts it another way: the human imagination is like ‘a giant one-armed bandit and, when you pull the handle, there are many, many reels turning inside it. Every time it’s stopped, because it’s random, they’ll be aligned to produce a new idea: a new gold mountain.’ Idea generation is a game of chance. But the more internal reels we have to run, and the more we set them spinning, the more likely we are to prosper. When our imaginations are well-stocked with material, it’s easier to turn up unexpected combinations and create new things from what already exists. So fuel your inner resources by following your curiosity wherever it may lead you.
This week’s homework is full of challenges in spinning reels and bouncing off boundaries. Have fun!
“We don’t believe so much in the idea of thinking outside of the box. There is this misunderstanding that creative people should run wild. We always say: give us the parameters.”
This week in summary
Limbering up
As a wise person once said, a cliché is just a bankrupt idea looking for reinvestment. So when we want to communicate clearly and creatively, the best strategy may be to reinvigorate a familiar concept by giving it a surprising twist.
In the workshop, you did this by combining the lightbulb icon with other objects to make fresh symbols for innovation.
Now we’d like you to take a similar approach to renovating another standard graphic device. This time your experiment is to alter the generic shape of a speech bubble to express the content, feeling or idea of what is being said visually without putting words or illustrations inside the bubble. Instead, use the speech bubble itself to make a picture, suggest a diagram, imply atmosphere, scenery, decoration or era, or convey tone or quality of voice. Start by playing with these prompts below, and then see what other ideas you come up with. Aim to design five different speech bubbles. If you get stumped, try some of our ideas and tools for unblocking in Pencil Tips.
Anger
Go this way
Go away
I want a burger
A waiter suggesting a martini cocktail
Two opposing politicians coming to a compromise
Saying something woolly and confusing
Getting straight to the point
Bragging, boasting
Suggesting a brilliant idea
Whispering
“An idea is nothing more nor less than a new combination of old elements [and] the capacity to bring old elements into new combinations depends largely on the ability to see relationships.”
Homework challenges
Playing with chance
You’ve already made one experiment like this game of chance, and now we’re stepping up the challenge. First take a sheet of paper and draw a one-line scribble. Then pick a phrase from the list below and turn your scribble into a picture to illustrate it. Once you’ve done one, try a few more.
Here comes trouble
In the night
Walk on the wild side
The trial
Lust for life
Louder!
The mirror
Battle of wits
The kindness of strangers
At a fork in the road
The story of a life
All the same
Someone’s idea of paradise
This exercise is about thinking laterally rather than literally, and using happy constraints to force your ideas in fresh directions. It may help you come up with unusual visual solutions and get a fresh perspective on the meaning of the words.
Spinning the reels
Here’s a game to set the reels of your imagination spinning. To start playing, use the two lists below. Take one item from the first column (head, say) and one item from the second (one-armed bandit), and merge them to make a third more surprising but meaningful symbol. Begin the process by whisking your eye down the table and lingering when you spot a pair that gives you a gut feeling for potential. They don’t have to be side by side. To see more possibilities, cut up the table to rearrange the given pairings and try again. Review what you’ve got and develop your favourite combination.
List 1
Head
Key
Apple
Sneeze
Tower block
Hand
Sock
Ostrich
Island
Glass ceiling
Iceberg
Inkblot
Treasure chest
Cabinet
Platypus
Volcano
Firework
List 2
One-armed bandit
Laboratory
Tube
Desert
Flea
Sausage
Steps
Warning sign
Sheep
Cactus
Chain
Clock
Map
Ladder
Brick
Playing card
Springboard