Design and Creative Thinking - 10 Techniques to improve 10X more creative

Design and creative thinking has been a very big problem for majority of the people, right? It's been a, it's been more than 70 episodes and we have, we have discussed about more of creativity, we have discussed about what is design thinking. But this is slightly a blend of both design and creativity. Like how do you really cross this zone and think very freely. Right? So to understand this particular thing, we are having 10 different ways to improve your creativity also. And let us discuss why creativity is very important first. And how the understanding between a common people of creativity definition and as a designer is very different and it needs to be different. Also take a lot of notes and also this is going to be actionable podcast where you can implement all these techniques immediately in your design process or in your organization, wherever you're working. So, so that you can see a 10x more productive growth. Okay, let's jump into this topic. Welcome to this Design for Change podcast. Thank you for staying tuning in with me. And we have been journeying in this particular podcast for more than 70 episodes, which is like this is 72nd episode. And I have a very happy news for you that I'm blessed with the girl baby and my wife just, she delivered the baby three days before and both are in a perfect health. And I'm really happy and excited to share this information across this community as well as what you call a lot of things really are a little bit changing in the life when you have a baby with you, right? When you're really what you call stepping ahead into a new part of the life, which is a father, which is a very good experience for me, a new user experience kind of a field for me. And I just thought of sharing with you. And now today we are going to understand how design and thinking is very important. How design and thinking is really misunderstood by many designers. Even, okay, let's not talk about common designers, common people, because common people think creativity is something very different. But as a designer, we need to understand it's all about how you structure your work, how you structure your thinking, how you really go into the process of understanding the user needs, right? So this particular podcast, what happens is it's going to have the reality of what is creativity and what is personal growth. Okay? Because when it comes to this topic, people are wandering here and there. People don't know is there a particular workbook or is there a particular template or a guide which one can use to become creative? There is no such guide. This particular podcast is going to give you 10 different ways you can think about, but that's not the only way, right? So to enhance your skills or to have a professional seeking experience, or you need to become more creative in your mindset. This particular podcast is going to give you clarity for sure. So have each and every point noted down because 10 different elements can be applied in different, different segments of a project. Okay. And when you're able to intersect with this, what happens is you'll be more innovative, you'll be more, you will be more creative. And what happens is definitely your design will be a success, because when you are able to meet this, it's going to be a master blaster. You cannot take only one element and apply. And then you can tell, like, I'll be applying this for all of my design problems. No, it doesn't work that way. Okay, so the topic is exploring this creative thinking process. And design thinking is not about aesthetics. And design thinking or creativity is not only about focusing, looks and feels. It's about incorporating the empathy, the ideas, the creativity, the process. So let's break that down. Design thinking involves empathization with the end user. What is the problem, how you can define that first, how you can ideate that, how we can make some prototypes and test it. This is a cyclic and iterative process, which goes for a lot of refinements, right? That's why it's called human centered approach, why people follow human centered approaches. The design needs to follow the needs of a user. And the user is always human. Right? So that's the point. So what happens is how one can really understand the user, the perspective of the audience, to shape the defined, to shape the design better. So this is an iterative process. We all know it. So let the, let the creativity flow. But the thing is, it needs to be more iterative. You should not expect like you, you will apply a process and you will get the solution and then you will go back that it's not the case. Sometimes it will be one time a tray iterative, two times, three times. Sometimes it will be even 50 times iterative to get a very good solution. It's fine to do that. And you need to be prepared as a designer in terms of that mindset. Okay, so the 10 different techniques, what I'm going to be explaining you is actually the first technique is mind mapping, okay? So that whatever insights you're getting in this particular problem or you, whenever you're ideating some solution, please make sure you write it down or you draw some maps. It could be very simple, rough diagrams, sketches, and it's a visual representative aid for Creating connections. What happens is when you're able to connect some problem or maybe a different, different solution or a different, different thought process, what you're having. First of all, you need to map it. The reason why it is called Mind Map is it is actually popularized by Tony Buzan. Okay? It's. It's a visual tool which actually helps organize your thoughts. It starts with central concept, branching out and creating multiple interconnected ideas. So Tony Buzan was the one who first described it and people were able to use it in a more visual representative. It's not just for creative field, it's for each and every field where people have lot of ideas which is hanging here and there, thoughts which is not having proper clarity. So people pen that down, people write it down, people draw some small sketches or put some boxes or put some circles or even rough figures to connect that. So what happens is when you're able to make that connection, more creative ideas will pop up, more creative gaps will be bridged, more creative, clear thought ideas will form. I'm pasting you in the resources column, guys. In this podcast, okay, you can go to Tony Bhujan's official website and try to find how you can create your own mind map. It's a very simple tool. You can go to that website and do it, okay? So do not worry. This description is there available in the description of podcast. This link, hyperlink. Okay? The second important technique is brainstorming session. We all know it. We would have. You mean you would have understood in your organization or you would have done some brainstorming sessions in your college or organizations or wherever you studied. Right? It's a diverse perspective enhanced ideation technique. Okay? So more ideas will be generated. Normally it is done in a cross functional teams or it's done inside the design teams. It's a collaborative group session where individuals and groups are free to share their ideas on a specific topic. Sometimes if you have a structured brainstorming session with the time limit with a specific goal, it goes in a more productive way. Many times it doesn't happen. So people flow their ideas but nothing is taken care of there. So it should be more time constrained, it should be more goal specific. And then what happens is you will get an end objective. The synergy of different perspectives often leads to innovative ideas. That is the idea behind this brainstorming. When different mind comes, a different brain comes automatically. You do it. There is a resource which I pasted called Harvard Business Review, the power of Brainstorming. They have written so you can read and improve that particular Insight and knowledge about it. Okay, so the third very important technique is S, C, A, M, P, E R which stands for S is substitute, C is combined, A is adapt, M is modified and P is put to another use. Eliminate is E, R is reverse. This is a beautiful tool, guys. It's a very systematic approach of modifying your ideas. Like let's say if you have ideas, if you have more ideas or if you have selected one or two ideas, you can apply the scramper method. Okay. You can write script amper and what you can do is you can try to use substitution method which is. Yes. Okay. You can try to use. Okay, can I use this technique? Can I use for solving this problem? Like let's say if you are designing some kind of a shelf or a or a furniture. So can I use my chair as a table? That's called substitution, right? Or can I use my table as a chair? Vice versa. So this is called substitution. What happens is many times you will find creative ideas combine. How I can combine my chair and table and make a very good different unique furniture. Yeah, I'm taking chair and table as an example, but it is applied for anything. Adapt. How I can adapt this particular chair table for using as a dinner table as well? Yeah, you can make that provision and you can give some provision in the bottom so that the table can expand. Maybe the chair can become one or two pieces so that more people can sit or like a bench. So you can modify that and you can put to another use as well. Right? See, scamper method will trigger your creativity in a different directions so that you can use it. Okay, so how do you eliminate that? So E stands for eliminate, right? So how you can eliminate, like let's say if your table is split half into two, you can eliminate one part. And one part can be pretty much enough to solve your needs of your user. Maybe your user is a individual user. He's living in like a bachelor's life. He doesn't have a family. So you are catering for a bachelor's life furniture which is more towards one or two people sitting. Right? See, by eliminating also you can serve a market and there are which is last is reverse. This is a beautiful technique, guys. You know what? Many times you will not find the answers in a direct way. That is why reverse technique uses like let's say if your user is using the furniture or if your user is using table and chair for a specific purpose, which is dinner. And then they are relaxing and then they are. What do you call Sometimes they are laying down and then taking a short nap. Think in the other way without this table, what my user will do. Or maybe my user is using this for a different purpose. Like let's say if you completely ulta this table or maybe if you completely reverse this table, what will happen? If I completely reverse this table, my user will not be able to sit, My user will not be able to lie down. This functionality is not myth. But what happens is if you put it in the reverse way, it will form as a cloth hanger, it will form as a different aid. Like let's say you can put it in a corner of your room and then you can stack things over there, right? Yeah. When you, when you reverse the table, you can stack a lot of things. Like let's say if you are putting a storage room or if you are putting any kind of a waste storage room, or maybe if you are using a multiple boxes as a stack in storage, you can ulta this table and you can put a lot of boxes on top of it. Right? Okay. Of course that's not the real purpose of buying that product, but something else will emerge at the end. You don't have to necessarily use your table as a storage shelf, but you can design a storage in the form of table which can become altogether a different product, solving different needs, solving different market. It could be sometimes it can even solve your customer problem also. So the reverse technique works majority of the time. And I purposefully used this. Guys, this is a beautiful technique. A lot of people don't use their neurons or the brain pattern to think in this way. This is a big problem. When you're able to rewire yourself to think in a reverse way, you tend to become more creative using your proportionality in a different way. Right. So I've taken an example of a table, but you can use this technique for anything, literally anything. If you're designing a mouse, if you're designing a car, if you're designing a mic, or if you're designing any kind of a product, even a digital product, you can use this reverse technique to think how you can really stretch it. This is the technique which is called Scamper S C A M P E R I pasted some mind maps and technique for Scamper tools in the description. You can use that for thinking. Okay, slightly I've gone deeper because this third ideation technique, scamper is a very beautiful important technique. The fourth important creative ideation is six thinking hats. This is very good empathy tool. This was first designed by Edward D. Bonobo and I pasted his official website link. Also you can use six thinking hat. So the six thinking hat, what normally happens is it gives you a different perspective. It gives you well rounded ideas. You know what six thinking Hat method develops some metaphorical thinking, some like let's say it will foster your creativity in a more different way. It's like wearing different, different hats. Like let's say if you are having a different emotion or if you're having a different kind of mindset or if you're having different. One different idea. But how you can really think for different users. Like let's say I'll tell you the different hats. Okay. Like let's say a white hat, Maybe six, six hats we'll have, we'll have a white hat. So think about facts, think about stats, think about data. Okay. And how you can use this for your research. Obviously you could use this for your ideas. Okay, Red color hat. Let's go for the second hat which is feelings. Think about how your user will really hunch this, how they will feel, how they will intuitively think about, judge or prejudice. This product. Green hat. Third hat which is creativity. How you can bring more creative to your ideas. Fourth is positivity. Yellow color. You can use optimal design. You can use a very pessimistic, optimistic kind of a design. Fifth is analysis. How you can use your stat data analysis and needs of a user and analyze that and synthesize more effectively to manage the process better. And each hat, when you wear it, guys, you need to think like that guy. That is the point of using this. If you are not able to what you call think in this way, it's not good to follow this technique. Because this whole idea of following this particular hat is if you wear a hat of positivity or a creativity or a feelings or a fact, you need to think like that. Then only this technique will make a lot of sense for you. Okay? And you can use judgment hat which is a black color. Spot the difficulties, find the dangers, question the real need of this thing, be a critical guy and check the feasibility of how it can really help the people. And when you do this guys, what happens is many times you will find a rational ideology behind your concepts. You will not be biased and you will be more open and receptive towards others ideas as well. This is the most powerful technique when you use it. Many big organizations and design thinking studios use this six thinking hats. Okay? The fifth idea which I would say is forced connection. So linking unrelated concepts like for novel ideas. So what happens is this encourages combination of unrelated Concepts into generating something fresh ideas. This is actually a what you call this challenge individually. Individually breaks down a kind of conventional thinking. Like let's say if somebody is thinking very conventional, they're not able to think out of the thing. So this kind of a forced connection will discover more innovative patterns, more innovative way of solving this problem. You know what? IDEO uses this technique, forced connection, which is called idou. I pasted the link, you can check out that. Because many times we will be rigid. That is why we need to little bit force ourselves out of the system to find more creative ideas. And the sixth technique is some of the funniest one worst possible idea. So this encourages thinking beyond conventional limits. Many people will be biased and many people will not be confident. Many people will be a little bit scared also, right? What if this idea is not good, not up to the mark and what if people tell. That's why this is really good. You know what TED Talks emphasizes considering the worst possible idea as a creative exercise. This technique challenges individuals to really explore many unconventional method and extreme solution. Often leading to unexpected breakthroughs. Like you might be thinking this is a worst idea. You know what? When you take that worst idea and put it in a board and ask a team to brainstorm and ideate it, a lot of beautiful creative ideas will come. But on the first go it will not sound like a good idea. This is the power of using this technique, guys. Okay, utilize this. There is a good TED talk which is I put the resource here. You can watch it out. That worst possible idea technique. Okay, the seventh is reverse thinking. We have slightly discovered this reverse thinking in scramper way. But let me take it little deeper. Flipping your problems to find alternative solution. Same like I told you for table as a ulta table for storing some devices, storing some excise or even you can use the legs of your table to even exercise. You can use that as a pull up or push up bar. So it could be like that. It could be alternatively thinking in a reverse way. So that reverse thinking involves reversing the problem statement to uncover a very different perspective. A very new innovative thought process which encourages out of box thinking. I posted a link called Creativity post. You can use that. Okay, the eighth different technique. The eighth ideation technique is random word technique. You can name any kind of a random keyword and this is a very beautiful technique. What happens is you can choose a metaphor or you can choose a random keyword around the particular problem statement what you're looking. It will stimulate different ideas through unrelated word prompts. Okay, so creativity game explores this random word technique which involves introducing random words as a prompt. What happens is it will stimulate a different word. Like let's say if you're solving a shelter problem. Like, let's say if you're building a house, you can put keywords like ant, you can put keywords like snake, you can put keywords like rabbit, which might seem random, but you can think about ant. How does ant really find out shelter? You know what ant shelter is capable of withstanding 2 temperatures, extreme hot as well as extreme cold. How do the ants really build that? If you go and find out that automatically, you can implement that technique as well in your particular project, right? So you don't have to be using your brain so much of times. Many times you can use this particular technique to crossword this ideation and find out ideas from something else. Like let's say I told you for ant, you can use for rabbit. How does the rabbit furrow works? Sometimes many. Sometimes ideation will not come in a particular word. You can leave that, you can go for the other word and you can find out that it's a very cool technique. Many times it helps. I pasted a resource called creativity games. You can click out that. Okay, so the ninth important technique is storyboarding. This is a beautiful technique which film creators, animators do, lot of visual designers as well do. So you can create a visual narrative to explore the ideas. You know what. Nielsen Norman Group provides an insight into storyboarding basics. This method uses visual narratives to explore and communicate your ideas in a more particular, valuable insight way. So when you're able to map your thinking for different, different user needs, you can map out the different user experience and the journey for your user. You know what, when you're able to do this properly through a story narrative, you will find more relevant and meaningful solutions for your problem. What you're looking for, people really don't understand this. That is a big problem and they really face this challenge. Okay, so the last technique is scramper technique. We are discussing this again because systematic approach to modifying your ideas. There are mind mapp tools and there are brainstorming techniques which we discussed. So use this into your scramper. That is why I have discussed this point again. Okay, so use these techniques into a scramper information so that this method prompts individuals to ask specific question about existing ideas. How I can subtract it, how I can eliminate this, how I can reverse this, how I can put to a different use, how I can make alternate use, how I can modify this use when you are able to expand the scramper world of your ideas and the brainstorming techniques, whatever you used, you know what more exciting ideas will come. It will foster your system in a more explorative way for potential improvements in your existing technique itself. I have used, I pasted a mind mapping tool. You can find it out that guys. Okay, so according to a study did by McKinsey Companies that prioritize design thinking and have and have a creative techniques of ideation of any one of the 10 techniques what you whatever we have discussed, you know what they are having 32 percentage increase in their revenue growth compared to their competitors immediate peers. Right? So imagine guys, it's not just a story, it's not just a what you call techniques. It's been proven and McKinsey is one of the big consulting organizations which take data and stats in a more realistic way. So they are saying 32 percentage higher revenue growth happens when you apply design thinking. That's a great deal, right? So why not we use this any of the techniques for our different needs of the problem. So the concept of design thinking gained really more popularity through Stanford Design D School where it was formalized as a methodology of innovative problem solving. But we can use that, right? So it doesn't matter where it comes from. So you can read about role of empathy in design thinking. You can read about integrating this design thinking into organization culture. You can find real time world applications in design thinking and you can really refine your thought process process in a more structured way. So when you're able to do this, guys, you know what people really give you lot of projects, people give you lot of opportunities, people give you a lot of light when you are able to bring this kind of a different perspective to thinking and solving problem. So don't just be a normal guy who's very rigid. I'll only make some ideas and then I'll close the project. Be open, be honest, be genuine and use any of this technique based on the problem statement and you'll see a search in your group. Okay? So thank you so much guys and I hope this podcast would have helped you giving different creative ideas. And if you need my support in guiding and mentoring and if you wanted to learn more of this, like if you want to really have an accountability to develop this kind of an ideas. Like in our session in our mentoring program, we used to do two hours of ideation, we used to do one and a half hours of non stop ideation where people generate more than 100 plus ideas. Each and every individual. So if you wanted that kind of a support in helping you to become more creative and make your salaries 2x3x growth in design and if you are jumping from a graphic designer to a product designer, or if you wanted to come from a different background to design, please take my mentorship support so that you can accelerate your learning process and become successful. You can write to that email or send a hi and you can even send a description to this podcast. We'll be reaching out to you. Okay? So thank you so much guys. Thank you for listening to this podcast. Subscribe and get notified for further episodes. And if you find this valuable, give me your best rating in Spotify and Apple. Thank you so much guys. Take care. Bye Bye. All the best.