Use Combination to generate new ideas

Any two or more things can be combined to get a product with enhanced features like a mobile phone with camera and MP3 player. This is the most widely used technique for creative thinking and product development. Many products of daily use are simple examples of combination. A pencil and an eraser, a music player cum recorder, a watch with a compass are all simple examples of combination.

We can have two different approaches. Either we work on a problem statement and try out various combinations or try combining different products to stimulate our imagination to create a new product.

What if we combine a sports shoe with a mini weighing machine to create an exciting product? What could be its impact on the buyers? Weight displaying shoes would certainly be a bold thing to wear; many would want to flaunt their weight as a style statement while others might reduce a few kilos to get into the shoe. The shoe might soon become an aspiration for the youth.

Poseidon Resort in Fiji combined underwater experience with a resort. It is the world’s first underwater resort which offers exciting adventures with luxury accommodation. Combine tree with hotel. There are many such hotels built on trees in different parts of the world, one such hotel is in Okinawa, Japan.

A fifth standard student came up with an idea of combining grass, leaves, and flowers with shoes. Perishable natural shoes could be used by ladies for special occasions, maybe for a special dinner or marriage evening. Imagination does not have any boundaries.

Innovate by using Magnification as a technique

Anything magnified always catches our attention. We are mesmerised by the architectural brilliance exhibited by the Taj Mahal, the Egyptian pyramids and the Titanic. New benchmarks in innovation are created when people try to achieve such brilliance. Magnification can be used as a useful tool for creative thinking.

Roger Bacon magnified human vision through a magnifying glass, the innovation which paved the way for invention of instruments like telescope and microscope. Audio amplifier is an example of magnifying the volume of sound. Hearing aid is a great innovative device which amplifies sound for people having hearing problem. These great inventors used the concept of magnification to overcome the limitation of humans associated with sight and sound. Do you know about the bladeless fan? It looks like a circular ring mounted on a vertical rod. It’s a great innovation called Dyson fans which use air multiplier technology to draw in air and amplify it, with no blades or grille they are safe and easy to clean.

Have you tried putting thread into a needle? I tried it a few times during my hostel days and got frustrated trying to push the thread through the small, almost invisible hole. An innovative needle with an adjustable hole would be of great help for people like me. Magnify the hole, put the thread in, then close the hole and start sewing.

The concept of malls is amplification of a shop, multiplexes magnified the concept of cinema halls, and cricket matches were never as big as Indian Premium League. The modern concept of entertainment, luxury and lifestyle are innovative magnification of traditional concepts. Location is no more a constraint for getting education. The concept of delivering education has been magnified to reach a wider audience. Education through internet and distant learning programs enables students to acquire knowledge even from foreign universities.

Try to magnify a concept which you like – probably an International College Fest and imagine the way you can make it a reality. Thinking is fun, so just enjoy it.

Difference between Creativity and Intelligence

People with high creativity are often mistaken as people with high IQ. People with high IQ might not be creative. High intelligence is required to build a robot but a lot of creative thinking was required to conceptualize and create the first robot.

IQ tests give us a fair idea about an individual’s intelligence but creativity is very difficult to measure. The highest IQ score  recorded is 228 and it belongs to Marilyn Vos Savant, an American magazine columnist, author and lecturer. Albert Einstein’s estimated IQ score is 160; Bill gates shares the same score with Albert Einstein. Are you surprised?  For most of the super geniuses it is their creativity which differentiates them from others.

Yet there is one more important difference, the one between creativity and vision. The geniuses we are talking about were also great visionaries. All creative people are not visionaries. Visionaries see things which others cannot see; they are highly intuitive as well. People might make fun of visionaries in the beginning but they are the ultimate winners. I was surprised to read in one of the sites that telephone could not be used for the first 15 years after invention because people thought it was not useful enough.

A vision is not enough to become successful. You need a lot of passion and courage to follow your vision. When you have the vision and have passion to pursue your dream, it’s time to use your intelligence in executing the idea. An idea is worth nothing until it is executed.

Have you heard about the Bill Gates think week? Bill Gates’ bi annual Think Weeks best exemplifies the power of creative thinking. He takes leave twice a year for a week to read ideas sent to him by Microsoft employees and ponders on avenues to improve his organisation. That is how visionaries function.

At the end it is hard work. Imagine the effort which went into building organizations like Infosys and Airtel. Sometime back I saw a television show on entrepreneurship where the Infosys co-founder Mr. N.R. Narayana Murthy said “A ship is safest at the harbour, but it is not where it is supposed to be. It must go out into the high seas and face the challenges of nature.”  An entrepreneur is similar to the ship who finds true credibility by confronting challenges. That is the statement of a great visionary packed with the flavour of determination, passion and courage – all in one.

To conclude I must say that intelligence is just the one leg and you need the other leg - creativity to stand out and make a difference.

Perception is an important element in creative thinking

Perception is like seeing a glass half empty or half full. Different people perceive different things about the same situation and we assign different meanings to what we perceive. Perception is an important element in creative thinking and contributes towards developing different views for same or similar situations.

                                                      X

The above letter “X” can be viewed as an alphabet or it can be perceived as the alphabet “V” and its mirror image.

                                       

The above picture looks like a cat’s head but a closer observation would also create a perception of an outline of a human head wearing a cap.

Video conferencing could be perceived as a threat for airlines companies. Chocolates are competing with homemade sweets. The general perception towards jewelry has changed, wearing iron jewelries are in vogue. Shopping in Malls and Hyper malls are perceived as entertainment, people visit these stores with their family to enjoy on weekends. Red is perceived as the colour of danger and caution but we don’t have the same perception of Michael Schumacher’s red Ferrari or the red flag over Tiananmen Square in China.

We can use the power of perception to analyze  a problem from various angles and come up with a creative solution. Try it out....it's great fun as well.

Try to perceive the following as parts of a human body:

                          III          2011, 2012

Here, the Roman 3 can be perceived as three I’s , so that sounds similar to “eyes”. The next one year’s sounds similar to “ears”. With the change in perception we could connect two sets of totally unrelated elements and bring them to a logical conclusion.