5 ways I generate unique ideas

We all get it, the dreaded “writer's block”, “artist’s block”, or any other kind of “block” for any other kind of profession… I’m pretty sure “accountant’s block” exists too, those poor souls faced with the sudden overwhelming inability to calculate taxes or compound interest.

That being said, there are some sure-fire ways to get out of those little slumps! These methods may not help you achieve the next big breakthrough thinkpiece of your career — they could simply give you a bit of fun to distract you from the real problem at hand. Who knows, maybe you’ll forget you even had a problem in the first place!

Let’s get into it, here’s a list of helpful ways you can begin seeing the world a little differently, and begin generating your own unique ideas:

• Puns
• Nature
• Dreams
• Other people
• Taking thoughts too far

Puns:

Sometimes when I go about my day, I’ll be thinking of some odd word I saw in a book, or a song will be playing on loop in my mind. In both scenarios, I’ll occasionally draw connections to similar-sounding words — this sometimes results in an accidental pun to be born (usually they’re terrible puns though, just hear me out).

One day when I was cooking dinner for my family, I was trying to decide which knife would be best to quickly chop up some fresh garden herbs. Now we have A LOT of knives at home — most of them are blunt — but when I want to cut up some specific vegetable or leafy green, I want something that has a little more oomph behind it. So naturally, I would choose a big knife with a rounded edge so I can rock it back and forth to get that fine herby sprinkle that helps release tonnes of fragrance into the dish… But my big knife is blunt. Then I take a look at the super-sharp, serrated Victorinox knife and think that’ll be way better… But I won’t be able to slice up those herbs into said herby sprinkle as efficiently, since I have to be extra careful not to lacerate my digits. Do you see my dilemma?

So I double back and choose the big, blunt knife and begin working. The experience is terrible, I hate every minute of it, and my herbs turn into more of a mush than a fine sprinkle. Needless to say, I made some poor life choices — or more specifically — “poor knife choices.”

Another example — probably one that is less of a stretch than the terrible knife example — would be trying to tame cats in Minecraft, have you ever tried it? It’s hard work. Each time you try to sneak up on them, they’ll catch a glimpse of you and run off into the distance at great speed. They are some real “squaredy cats”, Good luck trying to catch one!

Thank you for bearing with me through these crazy scenarios, here are some illustrated ideas of the puns I had in mind. Try to make up some of your own and then doodle them, paint them, or create a digital masterpiece! I’m sure you’ll get some major meme clout online if you do.

Nature:

Ever heard of bio-mimicry? It’s amazing!

Google says: “Biomimetics or biomimicry is the emulation of the models, systems, and elements of nature for the purpose of solving complex human problems.”

How cool is that! When thinking about your next creative project — be it architectural, graphical, or animated — you can bet nature has already done something similar. Or if you’re trying to solve a structural problem — like building a new bridge, organising your garden, or spinning your next ceramic piece into existence — you can bet nature figured out the best way to do it about a million years ago.

Think about it, what were the first skyscrapers before humans came in with their concrete and steel… you guessed it, trees and mountains! Both of these naturally occurring structures follow remarkably similar design principles to those we apply to our daily lives. Both trees and mountains have a solid foundation or root system that helps support the structures above, while the structures above help strengthen and build upon the foundation.

Design and ideation are no different, one should always start with a strong foundation, nature didn’t just pop out leaves with no way for them to reach up and meet the sun. We apply this to our daily lives and pay it no mind because it is such a naturally occurring concept, however, sometimes when we make something new we tend to forget how to create that all-important foundation.

This is what I love about UX design; you can apply it to almost any industry, or use its methodologies on any product, all to create a more solid base of tried and tested research that helps inform the end-result!

Another great example is in green energy; the carbon capture idea is nothing new, nature has been perfecting carbon capture since the Carboniferous period. Why reinvent the wheel when we could just steal from nature? Why don’t you make use of this methodology in your next project, think about how nature might have already done the thing you are trying to do. Architects now recognise the amazing strength of cross-laminated wood as a building material, while our city planners are learning great new ways to organise urban areas by studying the mycelia of mushroom colonies.

Try it for yourself! You never know what could happen.

Dreams:

My favourite part has finally come!

A great way to generate super duper uber extra unique ideas is to make use of the jumbled mess one’s brain creates every single night (if you aren’t a person who dreams often, or at all, then try asking other people about their dreams to get a visual handle on this point).

My dreams are wack as hell, I’ve had an overactive imagination since I was a zygote — and to top it off I love superhero films, fictional games, and all things sci-fi. This means my head is flooded with thoughts of grandeur at all times; thinking about where I would go if I could fly, how tasty molten lava looks, or what I will be doing with myself in 500 years time (I’m an optimist).

A few really vivid dreams I’ve had make for great creative material, I’ve dreamed up interesting new user interfaces, what it would be like if Jupiter crashed into the earth, and gigantic red forests with massive camels that host parties atop the buildings on their backs. The ideas are endless!

Next time you have a dream, try writing down some interesting elements you remember, or send a voice note to a friend about what you experienced and see what they interpret from it. I promise you will get some really fun ideas.

These kinds of inspirational jump-starts are mostly useful for illustrators or concept artists. Who knows, if you’re thinking about building houses all day and you end up dreaming about some crazy living space, why not draw up some blueprints of the thing and see where the design goes? You might be pleasantly surprised with the result.

Other people:

Austin Kleon summed it up really well in his book “Steal Like An Artist”. Simply browse around at what other people have done, find something you like, then remix the heck out of it until it becomes your own unique creation.

The world we live in is designed; every item you touch, every place you walk, and everything you eat was probably designed, thought up or cultivated by other humans. Seriously, even the food you eat is man-made to some extent. Think of corn, that big chunk of golden pearls on a stick didn’t just pop out of the ground that way — it was the result of thousands of years of cultivation by the ancient people of Mexico, all the way through to modern farmers who spread it around the globe. Likewise with the history of art; we find ourselves looking through the ages as artworks evolved from representational, to expressionist, to postmodern. Each artwork inspired the next, slowly growing from one stage to the next as we constantly remix the ideas of our predecessors. So try it out for yourself!

Take a look at your favourite artist's, copy the way they do things, add your own artistic flair and watch as your work grows from rip-off to one-of-a-kind.

Taking thoughts too far:

This one I love, remember that overactive imagination I mentioned? Well, it’s a part of this section too!

Sometimes when I go about my day — I’ll be thinking of something strange — this leads me to another thought, which leads to another, like dominoes cascading in a line to some obscure end. Finally, I’ll end up somewhere that makes me wonder how the hell I got there in the first place. This is where you rip out your notebook and write down what you’ve just done in that split second of runaway thoughts, you might be pleasantly surprised with the material you’ve just conjured up.

An example of this is how I speak to my dog, Bailey. She is super cute and fluffy, so when I’m overcome by the urge to ruffle her floofy ears, I go down a rabbit hole of thoughts and words that make me question my own sanity.

It goes something like so: “Hello Bailey, you little whaley, oh so scaley, you might go to jailey, uh-oh Bailey you gon’ go to jailey!”

Then for the rest of the day, I’ll be telling my family about how the dog is scaley and has to go to jail. They have no idea what I’m talking about, but hey, I came up with an interesting narrative in just a few seconds.

Give it a try! These thoughts don’t necessarily have to rhyme, you can draw any number of links from any number of sources. The fun of it is seeing how obscure you can make each jump, how far from the original idea did you get?

If any of these points resonate with you, I’d love to hear about what you’ve done with them! Share your strange dreams, draw your own original puns into a comic strip, or write your next novel based on the nonsensical ramblings you have with your dogs. Tell me about all of it!

Thanks for reading to the end, shoot me a message, leave a comment or find me online on LinkedIn or my Portfolio website!

Until next time 🌟

Images made with coolicons by Kryston Schwarze — coolicons.cool