Think Outside The Box

Poetry bridges between our emotional and rational capacities. Though it may feel foolish (and getting comfortable with feeling foolish might be another way to think outside the box), try writing a poem about the problem you’re working on.

Your poem doesn’t necessarily have to be seen or propose a solution – the idea is to let the more creative part of the brain work on the problem instead of the more rational one.

• Write your design challenge or problem in the center of a blank piece of paper and circle it.
• Add the following five Topic Areas around the central challenge: User needs, Inspiration, Constraints, Commercial drivers, Service design triggers.
• In the Service design triggers Area, Pick 3 triggers from Entertainment, Simplified/light, Adaptable, Economical, Integrated, Durable.
  
• Consolidate what you know about each topic area into 3 triggers each.

• Vertical thinking is the traditional type of thinking where one moves forward by sequential steps and where each step must be justified.
• Lateral thinking is the process of generating new ideas. It teaches you how to look at a problem from a different angle and challenge your thinking patterns to produce better ways of solving a problem.
• Vertical thinking is very useful for analysing facts, numbers and data. Lateral thinking is useful to solve unique problems that require innovative thinking.