Be Creative as A Kid

Kids are the great source of creativity - they will do anything, not necessarily for any reasons. They have not yet learned their inhibitions.

Creativity is natural, but not everyone is taught to be creative. Creativity then needs to be learned and supported. Without encouragement, creativity wanes.

One way to foster creativity is to teach yourself new skills- not to perfect the craft, but knowing the general idea of how things are done helps to think about new ways to do things.



Here is how Jeff Grant, the designer from Skyline, a toy design studio of IDEO, says about devloping an idea:

Get A Good Idea
The first thing you need is an idea. It doesn't even have to be a good idea, it just needs to be an idea. You should be able to get ideas from anything you do, not just when you sit down and decide to come up with and idea.

Brainstorm
Grab a bunch of people and start to brainstorm that idea. At Skyline, this is what everyone else is there for. One person gets an idea, and says to someone else "Let's brainstorm!". This is not necessarily formal. Everyone throws out ideas, with one person recording everything that is said. Someone, perhaps the person with the original idea, becomes the owner.

Prototype
The owner is the one who organizes the ideas that everyone had and begins the prototype process. Prototyping will include mock-ups, diagrams, etc. The complexity of the prototype depends on the complexity of the idea. Prototypes are evolved until the idea becomes well thought out. It is common to ask other people to help in the prototyping process when something needs to be done that you can't do yourself (i.e., designing a circuit).

User-test
Skyline does not necessarily user-test all of the toys before the idea is sold. When done, it is to settle uncertainty in the designers' minds that the toy will be likable and usable.

Repeat as needed
The brainstorming, prototyping and user-testing is done in as many iterations are needed to convince the designers that it is a good, or bad, idea.

Capture the Idea
All ideas are captured in an idea database. Even if an idea is deemed to be a 'bad' idea, it is documented in a database. Since public tastes vary, an idea that is not good at one point in time might be wonderful in the future. Perhaps a designer was not able to obtain affordable technology now, but will be able to in the future. And, of course, it may just need a pair of fresh eyes to help it along.

Sell the Idea
The last step in the design process at Skyline is to sell the idea. Most ideas need to be tailored to the company the idea is being sold to. One decision might be whether to tailor the toy to younger children (softer materials, rounded edges, more primary or lighter colors) or older children (more sharp edges and details, darker and more complex color schemes). Character licensing also matters-- something with a Sesame Street branding will have different styling than a toy with Hot Wheels branding.