from the Division of Generative Prompts.

This week we hear from the Division of Generative Prompts. The key function of this industrious group of Bureau agents is to continually develop new and interesting ways to stimulate creativity, flexible thinking, and new ideas through INSTRUCTIONS. Please enjoy these two prompts from the Division of Generative Prompts Collections.

INSTRUCTIONS.

PREPARING the MIND for the CREATION of a NEW PROGRAM, PRODUCT, BUSINESS, etc.

(prompt no. 182-A. See also: working backwards, chance, learning from pictures)

  1. Go select a book or magazine that has images in it from your shelf.

  2. Choose 3 images that strike you as beautiful, odd, annoying, or any feeling other than disinterest. (Do not look for images directly related to your work in obvious ways. Make sure each image is different than the others.)

  3. Choose 1 image. Imagine the image is the central image in the final branding of the thing you haven't created yet, and work backwards from it. Give it a title and tagline, etc. Don't worry about whether this is something viable.

  4. Repeat with all three images, remembering the cardinal rules of brainstorming and prototyping: embrace and explore all bad, irrelevant and preposterous ideas. In this case, driven by pictures.

    PREPARING for the RELEASE, LAUNCH or PUBLICATION of SOMETHING NEW

    (prompt no.104. See also: mischief, values detection, defiance, cultural analysis, new starting points, list making)

    1. list all of the things you "should" do in each stage of your "launch," according to your industry, common sense, capacity, etc.

    2. Imagine doing the exact opposite of all those things, and spend 30 minutes planning your launch "wrong," brainstorming as many ideas as you can about alternatives to the "correct" or "successful" way. Leave notions of failure or success outside the door for now.

    3. Harvest the results for original ideas.

    Many thanks to the Division of Generative Prompts for these 2 nuggets of deviant wisdom.

    And, as always, if you do 'em, let me know what horrible new ideas you unearth - and the possibly genius ones.

Amy WalshComment