"14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas"

http://changethis.com/

The above is a link to the website featuring Mitch Ditkoff's "14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas".  It outlines 14 different techniques of stirring the creative pot in order to gather new ideas.  Most are fairly self-explanatory creative exercises, but they are explained in-depth and in detail, and are great considerations for when you've hit a mental roadblock.  Let's take a closer look at three of the techniques.

#8 - Take a break


It is, in fact, possible to over-think things.  Especially when working on something you're passionate about, dwelling over something obsessively can create frustration and curb creativity.  That's why taking a break can be so fantastic for the creative process.  It's one of my favorite techniques, and I was glad to see Ditkoff mention it.  Walking away from a problem, instead of being an admission of defeat, can spark new life in an idea and resurrect passion for it.  I think it's a great idea, and one that goes unused far too often.
I find that distracting myself from a project for a few hours can give me a new appreciation for it.  Especially when working on something visual, I'll find myself staring at it for too long and getting content with unacceptable flaws.  It's only when I leave and return later that I see these flaws and correct them.  Of course you have to be critical with yourself, but it's hard to continuously re-evaluate a piece that you've been working on for a long time, and taking breaks is the perfect solution.

#9 - Notice and challenge existing patterns and trends

Being ahead of the competition is a great way to predict trends and innovate first.  Ditkoff mentions several professions where pattern recognition is paramount:  stock brokers, meteorologists, air traffic controllers, ect.  Being able to detect and interpret patterns, Ditkoff argues, is the key to their success.  I think being able to predict trends in the market is one of the most important skills for anyone looking to make a splash to have.  Sometimes getting a good idea into the market first is just as important as getting the idea in the first place; you never know who else is thinking the same thing you are.  In a competitive industry, speed is certainly important.
I'm currently working on a creative project unrelated to school.  It's something I enjoy doing, and something I hope could one day make me some money, but if it's going to go anywhere it has to be relevant.  Technology-related endeavors are a tricky thing; they can be difficult to make, but must also be made quickly in order to stay up to date.  Technology advances at an incredibly rapid pace, and you wouldn't want to be caught releasing a Playstation 3 game when the Playstation 4 is already out.  By predicting trends in the industry, one can gauge where the market is headed and be better prepared when developing one's product.

#10 - Hang out with diverse groups of people


Ditkoff's tenth suggestion is one I myself ignore far too often.  Hanging out with the same people over and over, while comfortable, doesn't do much to expand your creative horizons.  Meeting and interacting with new people can bring new experiences and fresh ideas to a person who would otherwise never have them.  Ditkoff mentions how engineers at Sony were once required to spend at least 25% of work time interacting with people "outside the walls of their industry".  This would give them the experience and new interactions necessary to expand their pool of influence, thus giving them (and by extension Sony) an edge over the competition.
I think it's a valid technique, but it's something I don't often do.  Everyone's method(s) of getting new ideas is different, and rarely do I come across my best through interactions with strangers.  Much of my creativity is aided by interesting conversation and interaction, yes, but it's mostly through friends and established peers.  I'm just not as comfortable discussing ideas and the creative process with someone I don't know at all.  Perhaps I'll work on this one and see what it can do for me.

Prompt for #9 - What trends in the marketplace most intrigues you?  In what ways might these trends shift in the coming years - and how might your most inspired idea be in sync with this imagined shift?


The extracurricular project I'm currently working on is a technology-dependent investment.  I need to be able to analyze the mobile phone / tablet market and how it's evolving if I want to really succeed in future-proofing my project.  The trend towards larger screens and higher-resolutions is interesting; where once the race was to smallest phone, we seem to now be moving in the opposite direction.  Users want a mobile device with a large, clear screen for doing everyday tasks, but something small enough to fit in a pocket or bookbag, so hardware manufacturers are creating screens with much higher resolutions; that is, screens that are small but also very pixel-dense.  This allows for both mobility and clarity.  Unfortunately, there aren't really industry-wide standards for screen resolution, so there are lots of different configurations on the market.  This means software developers must create multiple versions of one application if they want it to look proper on all available hardware.
Apple's mobile devices alone span three resolutions; the old iPhones and iPods, the newer iPhones/iPods with retina displays, and the iPad all have different resolutions.  While one version of an app could theoretically run on all three devices, it wouldn't look as crisp or polished on the higher-resolution screens.
For me, this means creating content that's easily modifiable.  I need to be able to quickly and effectively change up the resolution of a project , which means I need to keep things simple.  Of course, simple is good anyways, but the uneven hardware landscape of today practically necessitates it.  Creating multiple versions of a superfluously confusing application would be an incredible headache.