Hannah

I’m coming to the end of my first year and for my personal development file (PPD) we were meant to be noting and writing our thoughts and feelings about each of our modules down within this blog. Unaware of this, we, as a class, hadn’t even started our blogs let alone it being nearly finished it. So, let’s go back to the beginning and I’m going to try and include as much detail as possible.

As we started the course my eyes were opened to the different ways of thinking creatively. Firstly, I started the course looking into what ‘creative thinking’ actually is? Where I found that there is two different sides of the brain that are used to think about different things. We don’t just decide which side of the brain we want use at what times, it happens automatically.

The right side being; more emotional, visual, creative and imaginative - usually being the Art Director.

Where the left side being; more strategic, logic, verbal, predictable and practical - usually being the Copywriter.

By practising our right side of the brain, we, within groups had activities to complete which then at the end of the module we had to create a creative ‘carrier’ to carry all the creative thinking activities we had done within our groups.

Methods like;

Eavesdropping – walking around a public place listening to other people’s conversations and creatively making up a full story from a few sentences. In another way, it can be seen as creating a life you think they might lead.

We, as a group went to the centre of town and eavesdropped on two men sat on the cafe chairs outside a cafe.

The picture shows me eavesdropping on the two men. I personally, found it quite hard as when you’re trying to concentrate on something specific it was difficult. Where when you’re not concentrating on something it comes easier.

Save a life with a £1, was another technique; where we, again as a group, went out and brought an item that would save a life for £1 only. We chose a belt and then, when back in class named 50 imaginative things we could use the belt for.

Brainstorming, is a formation of ideas and thoughts. A brainstorm is a mind map a process of noting down pictures and/or text of a specific key word, this being either a task or a product. An example of a good brainstorm would be detailed, descriptive and full of thoughts and ideas.

The picture shows an example of a good brainstorm, which includes pictures and textual content.

Word association is another technique to help create a tangent of ideas; starting with one word leading to a completely different one.

I find brainstorming and word association very useful and have used them continuously throughout my portfolio work. Both help me chose a creative direction of where I want to proceed with the brief.