What would a creativity toolkit look like?

I'm setting out to build a creativity techniques inventory or 'toolkit' focused on higher education teaching and learning. Currently at the stage of thinking about this in somewhat general terms, I thought I would document a few initial thoughts and generally see what would happen if I simply started to type. I'm confident that a point or narrative integrity will emerge if I relax and concentrate less... (might chance favour the unprepared mind too?)

Original image: Pushing weights...

Firstly, it is perhaps worth trying to define the objectives, or at least to clarify the 'problem' that this project is trying to resolve: Creativity is an increasingly valued and almost feverishly sought attribute of university graduates in the employment market, and an underlying current of influence in changes to learning and teaching practice in higher education. There is, therefore, good reason to want accessible and efficient ways of developing creative capacity by learning and through (as well as of) teaching. I am, therefore, simply to trying to address this challenge here using traditional documentation and publication formats. I'll try other things (of course), but I wonder what a really useful, concise, beautiful, rigorous, and germinal creativity toolkit 'document' might look like? What would it take to persuade academic colleagues to engage with the information effectively and consequently add value to their teaching practice? What a great/impossible challenge...

Original image: Candy to a baby...

Now, there will clearly need to be a significant emphasis placed on signposting established creativity techniques and creativity research. Indeed, there already exists a considerable range of creativity techniques collections of which Michael Michalko's 'Thinkertoys' is an obvious and excellent example (and I already have a good grounding more generally in the wider academic literature). At the level of fundamental creative thinking, the scholarly landscape is well populated and capable of being pulled together effectively in some form of concise literature review. Remembering the underlying objectives for the project though, I have to be mindful of drifting into 'literature review' mode and to focus fundamentally on the objectives. This is not intended as a journal paper or academic lecture; this is intended to be something that will be actually used, applied and shared (irony optional). Ultimately, the aim will be to use text economically and creatively and to make useability and accessibility rather than depth of scholarship the core attributes.

Original image: Let's play a game...

In my experience, 'useful' for academics often means efficient, relevant and effective. Gone are the (probably fictional) days of truly open academic freedom and space to explore interesting things for the sake of exploration itself. Increasingly customer-focused and business-like in operation, research is challenging and competitive (for funding), academia subject to increasing numbers of performance indicators and quantitative and qualitative measurement, and information almost bewildering in its complexity and quantity. There is pressure for time and attention and the value of actually using the toolkit must therefore be an inherent, noticeable and immediate aspect of the document. I'll need to use visual metaphor quite a lot (more efficient means of communicating ideas than text hence the pictures in this blog), generally develop significant design and layout integrity, and maintain a clear focus on 'useability'. It may need to be beautiful and accessible to be useful at all. 

 Photo by Bryan Peters @ http://www.flickr.com/photos/urbandude/6165041212/

So, I think I'm trying to package an invitation to cognitive exercise and action with something of the attractive and playful qualities of boardgames or confectionery, and present concepts and ideas like a 'tray-of-shiny-things' almost tactile and colourful in their design. I'm aiming for this to be conventionally formatted (at least in one form) as a concise document for an academic audience. The key balance to strike is therefor one of incorporating sufficient depth and integrity of information without simply writing an academic paper, and developing an information set that is sufficiently adaptable and flexible to meet the needs of an extremely wide range of subjects and teaching practices without simply developing a series of temporarily amusing or thought-provoking posters.

Original image: Mmmm, choices choices...
 

There needs to be choice and clear labelling (something to suit every taste) and a presentation format that enables ease of interaction or 'dipping in' in the toolkit. Now, I have always been wary of the distinction between 'surface' and 'depth' when used figuratively to imply some form of negative correlation between strength of surface design quality and substance or underlying integrity. Whilst I accept that culture presents innumerable examples of machine airbrushed 'beauty' or auto-tuned musicianship that add fuel to the fire of the 'design-quality-suspicion' debate, there are many more examples of what I like to consider as 'all the way down design' where from the proverbial front-cover-to-the-last-page everything works, fits, leads, connects. The surface communicates the substance and engages.

 

Original image: Your perfect fit is here somewhere...

Information will need to be fit for purpose. There needs to be an obviously high probability of there being something useful to engage the filtering and selection process in the audience initially, but also careful and clear labelling as well as attractive and/or functional presentation to make the information accessible and promote continued engagement. Too much information would be counterproductive and too little of limited purpose or impact. A balance needs to be struck.

So, might chance favour the unprepared mind? I've rambled and, in an intervening shopping trip, gathered a number of photographic examples to illustrate my thinking. It feels like preparation but also like a form of 'deliberate blurring' of aims and objectives. I'm trying to do this creatively and am therefore conscious of wherever tangible crossroads emerge with opportunities for 'approaching things differently'. The first of these, for me, is simply that of how work of this nature often emerges; Why do this on my own when I can invite so many people to contribute their ideas? I can invite the world (that's you) to help.

Any ideas? Help!