My Creative Team’s 2010 Big List of Creativity Links

Creative Block #1 – I’m Not Creative - This is one of the biggest and most debilitating creative blocks of
all. Fortunately, it’s also one of the easiest to get around, provided you’re prepared to make a shift in
your mindset.

Hans Rosing & The Art Of Storytelling With Statistics - Hans proves what we all know, even if our
teachers from yesteryear did not: Statistics are not boring.

25 Ultra-Creative Packaging Designs - Web designers can (and should) draw inspiration from places
other than web design, so today’s article is going to showcase 25 creative packaging designs found on
Deviantart.com.

Resolve To Be More Creative In 2010 - Are you thinking about making New Year’s resolutions for 2010?
If so, then I strongly recommend that you add a resolution to become a more creative problem solver to
your list.

10 Idea Inspiring Lightning Rods - Waiting for inspiration? You may as well wait for lightning to strike.

Creativity Stuck? Try This. Just like your physical muscles, if you flex and use your creative muscles you
get more effective and efficient at coming up with ideas. One way to do this is by doodling and
sketching.

Marketing Innovation Drives Market Leadership. Marketing executives have limited dollars and
resources to invest on marketing programs and create market share growth. How do they pick the
optimal go-to-market strategy to achieve market leadership?

Negative Brainstorming. Negative (or Reverse) brainstorming requires a significant level of effort
analysing a final short-list (rather the initial mass) of existing ideas.

100 Things To Watch In 2010. In business, new opportunities often result from the ability to capitalize
on an emerging cultural trend. Here are 100 trends to watch this year.
21 Great Ways To Innovate. How hard is it to innovate? Not once but over and over? Try innovating
how you innovate by employing some of these ideas.

The Eyes Have It. New research indicates that horizontal eye exercises may improve creativity.

Colors Affect Mental Performance. Paint the walls blue to boost your creativity. That’s the message
from an intriguing study that shows the contrasting effects of blue and red on mental performance.

The World’s 25 Most Inventive Companies. What’s the most inventive company on the planet? If you
judge by sheer volume, it’s IBM (IBM), which has received more patents from the U.S. Patent &
Trademark Office than any other company for 17 years in a row.

Creative Block #2 – Fear Of Getting It Wrong. The fear of making a mistake and getting something
‘wrong’ can be paralysing for a creator. Paradoxically, this block can get worse the more successful you
are.

Visual Thinking Bookmarks. A collection of visual thinking links found on the web in the past few days
by our editors & vizthink community contributers.

Don’t Take The First Right Answer – The first answer is rarely the best answer. A better approach is to
take a little time to generate a long list.

Ten Steps For Boosting Your Creativity - Some good information from Jeffrey Baumgartner to joggle
the little gray cells.

The Best Of 2009 In The Design Industry - Some good redesigns from the year past.

Seven Steps To Empowering Your Creativity - To honor your gift of creativity, follow these seven steps.

20 Tips To Spark Your Creativity – Some tips from top designers to get your creative muse moving.

Alternative Scenarios – Scenarios are qualitatively different descriptions of plausible futures. They can
give you a deeper understanding of potential environments in which you might have to operate and
what you may need to do in the present. Scenario analysis helps you to identify what environmental
factors to monitor over time, so that when the environment shifts, you can recognize where it may be
headed.
Brainstorming: Mastering The Bad Idea - Have you ever noticed that it’s always the other guy who
comes up with the most creative idea first.

My Creative Team Custom Creativity Search - We’ve set up a custom Google search to help you locate
innovation-related links.

Innovation Blogs - A directory of blogs focused on innovation.

BusinessWeek On Innovation - A constantly updated source for stories relating to innovation in

business.

30 Seconds To Creativity - People who watched a target moving side-to-side for 30 seconds have been
tested as producing significantly more ideas when immediately given a creative task. This technique is,
“thought to increase the cross-talk between the hemispheres.”

Switch Off Your Social Self. Switch On Your Creativity - The paradox is that, when you’re being
yourself, rather than trying to imitate success, you’ll be your most original and creative.

Were The SuperBowl Ads Any Good? Let’s Ask Twitter! – Even in an age of social media there’s still
something about Superbowl advertising that appeals to us all.

Need A Business Idea? Look For Pain – If you really want to innovate your business and improve your
revenue look for the pain that customers face daily.

Why Design Matters - All of the energy fed into the debate about the value of good design to the world
of commerce would be better spent building ways to make holistic design a routine activity in
business—and society.

The Walking Advert – Here’s another idea designed to harness businesses’ lust for exposure: make
yourself into a walking advert. Is this something you could customize to work in your business?

Information is beautiful: 30 examples of creative infography – The perfect infography must synthetize
complex information in a simple visual representation, which is not easy. The following examples take
information architecture to another level by making it beautiful.
Increasing Creativity and Memory in 30 Seconds? - There is a folk tradition that someone with shifty
eyes is considered untrustworthy – as being devious or sneaky. The truth is, purposely shifting one’s
eyes back and forth for 30 second intervals was found to increase creative output as well as memory
recall.

The Many Forms Of Creativity - I am not a creative snob, I don’t think it is reserved to one area of life. I
love it in almost every form, the only thing I ask in creativity is that it is easily accessible to the masses.

Creativity & The Idea Grid - The Idea Grid has been a staple at agencies to illustrate how a product or
company can differentiate themselves by occupying or owning position that no one else is currently
exploiting.

What Is Lateral Thinking? - Lateral thinking is one of those terms that many people have heard of, but
probably very few of us really know what it means.

Creativity Is At The Heart Of 21st Century Work – Creativity in Business Thought Leader Series interview
number 11 is with celebrated New York Times best-selling author, Dan Pink.

Freewriting – A Method For Unblocking Creativity – Freewriting is a personal creativity technique that
is particularly useful when you have hit a mental roadblock.

Harnessing The Creativity Of The Individual – Creativity is at the same time robust and fragile. Bold
ideas seem to speak with their own authority and stir the imagination and spirits of humans.

New Creativity iPhone App - A go-anywhere tool that you can use to catalyze ideas on demand is a
compelling one.

The Mad World Of Innovation - I feel I’m in good company as I observe the sheer insanity of companies
and the way they embrace innovation.

Cultivate Your Genius (podcast) – Explore the 7 essential principles by which Leonardo Da Vinci lived.

Reverse Brainstorming - A different approach to brainstorming.

Design Tools From The American Creativity Association

Three Enemies of Innovation – If innovation’s such a good thing, a good idea, the secret of success, then
why isn’t everyone doing it?

The Levity Effect – Having fun with innovation.

How far should you let people peek inside your creative process? – Should your creative process be
transparent?

Does Stress Limit Creativity? – A relaxed attitude boosts creativity.

Actions To Increase Your Creative Thinking - Draw a picture, daydream: these are a couple of things
that can help move your ideas along.

16 Creative Ways To Supercharge Your Presentations

Enthusiasm – The Key To Creativity & Innovation

Creativity Tool: Google Sets

Blog Post Idea Generator

Creativity Block #5: Being Disorganized

10 Tips & 20 Questions For Unleashing Innovation

There’s More To Innovation Than Good Ideas

Strategies For Capturing Ideas

Creative Block #7 – I Don’t Know What I Want To Say

Creativity Tool – The Idea Lottery

Babies & Creativity

Optimism Boosts The Immune System

How Do You Measure An Idea?

Creative Block #6 – The Inner Critic

Simple Productivity Tips

How To Evaluate Ideas

Paradoxes Of Creativity

Why The iPad May Be The Perfect Ideation Tool

Innovation Lessons From Silly Putty

100 Simple, Low-Cost Ways To Be More Creative

Creativity With Concept

What Is Design Thinking?

Innovation Success Is Based On Enthusiasm

25 Talks To Unleash Creativity

20 Ways To Let Your Inner Child Go Wild

How To Work Less & Do Better

Whole Brain Approach

Survey Reveals Workplace Factors That Support On-The-Job Creativity

What If Innovation Was The Norm

Karaoke Creativity

10 Essential Blogs For Creative Entrepreneurs

It’s Time To Think Like A Fool

Refocusing Our Powers Of Observation

Bubbles Connect Your Ideas

Brainstorming With Post-It Notes

Three Ways To Unstick Your Thinking

30 Boxes

What To Do When You Run Out Of Inspiration

Walking For Inspiration

Metaphorical Thinking

Building Blocks Of A Great Idea

Creativity Tool: The Concept Fan

Paradoxes Of Creativity

Oil Disaster Needs Innovative Solutions

Framing A Problem

Big Creativity In A Small Space

Business Model Innovation

Innovation: Step-By-Step Instructions

Creativity Tool: Six Thinking Hats

The Healing Power Of Journaling

Slowing Down To Speed Up

Seven Tips On Elegant Design

Innovation Failure Points – Idea Generation

23 Reasons Nothing Happens After A Brainstorming Session

20 Business Lessons Learned From Monty Python

23 Ways to Capture Creativity

100 Stimulating Videos for Beating Writer’s Block

50 Informative and Well-Designed Infographics

Spark Some Creativity With These Websites

Top 10 Innovative US Cities

Where Imagination & Creativity Can Take You

Creative Teaching

Creativity As A Pathway To Greater Well-Being

Your Creativity Quotient: How To Boost It

Are Your Ideas Crazy Enough?

Strengthening Your Creative Thinking Ability

How The 21st Century Brain Affects Creativity

How 21st Technology Affects Creativity

Stop Trying To Reinvent Wheels

Color As Stimulus For Creativity

30+ iPad Apps For Designers, Developers And Creative Types

Why Creative Work Is Like Making Magic

10 Ways To Help Left Brainers Tap Into The Best Of Their Creativity

The Stevie Ray Vaughan School Of Business

Is Management The Enemy Of Creativity?

How To Create A Corporate Culture Of Innovation

Creatives Take The Lead In Innovation

Creativity Tool: Absence Thinking

The Line Between Persuasion & Manipulation

Imagination Prompt Generator

Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?

10 Ways To Expand Your Creative Possibilities

The Three Legged Stool

6 Ways To Go Beyond Your Limiting Assumptions

201 Ways To Arouse Your Creativity

5 Websites To Spark Your Creativity

4 Creative Uses For Twitter

The Key To Creating Remarkable Things

5 Creativity Refreshers For The Workplace From The Work Of Art

Creativity Tool: Doodling

Igor Stravinsky Agrees: Standards Enable Creativity – There is a stereotype of the creative person who
chafes at standards, convinced that any sort of process-driven continuous improvement will have a
negative effect on how his work is performed. Just the opposite is true.

Can Creativity Be Taught? – Newsweek says creativity scores among children have been falling since
1990. Can we turn it around?

Forget Brainstorming - Brainstorming in a group became popular in 1953 with the publication of a
business book, Applied Imagination. But it’s been proven not to work since 1958, so why are we still
trying it?

Creative Car Advertising – Campaign for the Smart Car.

43 Things – Publish your lists to keep yourself accountable and browse through other lists to find
creative ideas.

Absence Thinking: Think about what is not there.

CATWOE: A checklist for thinking about problems and solutions.

Jump Start: Enter a “How can I?” question, then get a list of adjectives that can help start the
brainstorming process.

Mindomo: Use this mind mapping tool to organize your thoughts and start your project with a clear
plan.

365 Picture Prompts: Use these photos and imagesto spark your creativity.

7 Principles Of Creative Problem Solving

Turn Your Idea Into Reality

The History Of Creativity

Color Palette Generator

Eat More Innovation

Here’s your weekly dose of creativity links:

Creativity Tips: Stoke Your Creativity

55 Quotes To Spur Creativity

Time Management For Creatives

Downtime: The Key To Creativity

20 Reasons You Get Your Best Ideas In The Shower

Doing nothing to enhance creativity

Creative bus ads

Where Do You Draw Your Design Inspiration?

What to blog about when you are stuck creatively

25 Real world creative work spaces

The Power Of Daydreaming

26 Ways To Beat Creative Block

7 Ways To Smash Procrastination

5 Ways To Foster Your Creativity

The Cure For Boring Meetings

The Creativity Crisis? What Creativity Crisis?

Balance Spawns Creativity

Creativity & Play (video)

The Brain As A System & Creative Tool

Mindmapping Tool (free option available)

Playing With Genius – If you invite 500 people into a conference room, give them access to laptops and
brainstorming software and ask them to be creative, several things might happen, and most of them
aren’t good.

Look To Nature For A Creative Breakthrough – The secret for meeting your biggest challenge, in fact,
may have already been worked out thousands of years ago by a cockroach.

Creativity – This is Ad Age’s online publication all about creativity in the advertising business.

Tips For Personal Brainstorming – Everyone has problems and challenges that need solving; they’re an
inevitable part of living. Most of them can be overcome using a simple, focused program of personal
brainstorming.

25+ Audacious Creativity Tools - This list includes a wide range of tools, such as creativity cards, tools to
scribble, idea markets and a random word generator.

20 Tips From Psychology To Help Boost Your Creativity - Creativity is all about finding new ways of
solving problems and approaching situations. This isn’t a skill restricted to artists, musicians or writers; it
is a useful skill for people from all walks of life. If you’ve ever wanted to boost your creativity, these tips
can help.

Six Ways To Awaken Your Creativity – Your creative energy is always within and ready to be used; how
you harness it for your greater good is the challenge.

Enhancing Creativity By Playing Kids’ Games – Games can be a useful tool for enhancing creativity. They
make work more fun, they reduce stress, and they get people in action, but not all games are created
equal.

How To Build A Creative Organization – Creative solutions are needed for organizations to thrive, but
how can business leaders deliberately increase creativity?
10 Ways To Improve Your Writing – Want to improve your writing skills? Here are 10 tips to help you on
your way.

14 Ways To Get Breakthrough Ideas – Is there anything a person can do — beyond caffeine, corporate
pep talks, or astrology readings — to quicken the appearance of breakthrough ideas? Yes.

5 Reasons Why You Need A Muse – “A muse?” you ask. “You mean some kind of invisible spirit that
dumps creative inspiration into my mind?” “Exactly!”

Complete Your First Book With These 9 Simple Writing Habits – Your first book isn’t going to happen by
itself.

Creative Thinking Hacks – All of us, except my idiot cousin who still eats glue, possess everything
necessary to be more creative. The problem is we’ve been trained away from our creative instincts by
schools, parents, movies and workplaces.

9 Attitudes Of Highly Creative People – Let’s look at some attitudes to build into your approach if you
want to be a more creative person.

Where Good Ideas Come From - (video) People often credit their ideas to individual “Eureka!”
moments. But Steven Johnson shows how history tells a different story.

7 Questions About Basic Creativity & Imagination – Our imaginations are our chief tool for creating vital
and engaging services, but in our “follower” culture, we may be losing our ability to imagine.

The Life & Death Of Great Ideas – Ever wonder why innovation stalls? Chart your company’s idea
approval index and find out.

The Secret To Creativity – The secret to creative thinking is to start with good problems. Then you need
to turn those problems into thought provoking challenges.

How To Generate Opportunities For Innovation – Changing the way we do business may not often take
on the title of innovation, but that’s what it is.

My Creative Team’s Big List Of Creativity Links – I’ve pulled together in Word document format all of the
creativity links we have presented so far this year. I’ll keep updating, so check back often.
The Top 10 Social Networks For Creatives - This article starts by looking at the benefits of networking for
creative people & surveys 10 social networks that should be on your radar as a creative professional.

Amazing Photo Manipulations Of Erik Johansson – Erik Johansson – a 25 year old freelance
photographer who lives in Sweden - has a knack for photography and photo manipulations.

Creativity Toolbox – Use these tools to kick start your creative thinking. On their own, these tools can
help stimulate, diversify, and broaden the range of your creative thinking.

15 Foundations For Facilitating Creativity In The Workplace – Trying to jumpstart creativity in your
workplace? Here are 15 concepts to guide you.

Watizit? – Pronounced like “what is it”, this is the online version of an idea-generating technique used
by Dave Dufour in live seminars.

Solvr – This online tool helps you structure your thoughts clearly, and can be used in collaboration with
others.

How You Can Harness Your Creativity – Creativity is the mental equivalent of sailing the uncharted
waters, but we are the biggest obstacle to our own creativity.

8 Bad Habits that Crush Your Creativity – Everyone has innate creativity but we learn bad habits as we
grow up that stifle us.

The Creativity Daily – Extra! Extra! Read all about creativity in this daily newspaper devoted to it.

Unleashing Creative Development – Unleashing creative potential and innovation is the key to cultural
and economic development. Values and education that empower people to recognize and pursue their
own creative paths are vital.

50 Ideas To Change Science – Neuroscience – Thanks to better brain imaging and biological insights,
we’re closing in on the neurons of consciousness and the subtleties of our mental machinery.

Helping Kids Be More Creative – An 11-minute presentation from Sir Kenneth Robinson discusses the
need to change our public education paradigm.

Creativity Daily – Read all about it in this Twitter daily newspaper.

Reclaiming The Imagination – Why did humans evolve the capacity to imagine alternatives to reality?

Magical Thinking - Can belief in lucky charms actually have an influence over one’s ability to, say,
perform better on a test, think creatively or win an athletic competition?

6 Ways To Let Your Child’s Genius Out – Here are 6 ways to let your child’s genius out.

4 Ways To Get Your Creative Groove On – So, where exactly can we find creative leaders, and sharpen
our own creative talents?

How To Make Innovative Ideas Happen – Anyone can come up with an amazing idea but how you
execute the idea will determine your success.

6 Free Sites To Create Your Own Comics – No talent for drawing? No worries. Check out these sites.

10 Fun Doodling Apps To Increase Your Creativity – Everybody needs a good doodle now and then.

The Decline In US Creativity – America was once one of the world’s most innovative societies. What
happened?

Wordplay – Taking your writing seriously doesn’t mean giving up the fun of it.

Eyewire Creativity Cards - Each card in the deck contains a brief brainstorming exercise to help
stimulate your creative muse.

Tools For Implementing Ideas – Coming up with the idea is sometimes the easy part. Here are some
tools to help take your creativity to market.

Painting Tips: Inspiration & Creativity - An ever-growing collection of tips to boost your inspiration and
creativity.

12 Ways To Tap Into An Endless Well Of Creativity – There is no reason to ever run out of ideas. The
world, our minds, history, and the Internet offer an infinite realm of artistic exploration.

WiseMapping – Create mind maps with this free tool that also allows sharing if you are collaborating
with others.
Evernote – No matter where your inspiration comes from, use this tool to take a photo with your phone,
type in text, or clip information from the Internet so you never lose a creative thought again.

10 Blogs To Stimulate Your Creativity – Roger von Oech is an author, inventor, and consultant. This is
his list of favorite blogs in alphabetical order.

Seven Principles Of Leonardo da Vinci – One way to unleash your creative genius is to apply one or
more of the principles Leonardo da Vinci (above) used to engage new thinking.

The 10 Best Innovation Links – Here are links to 10 stories from last week about innovation.

The Power Of Limits – Creativity often is born out of limitations.

Ideation – One of the most overlooked activities in a company’s Product Development Process (PDP) is
the systematic search for new products, new markets, and high-value features. This process of discovery
is often called “Ideation”.

Evolution of Human Creativity – Human creativity may have evolved as a way for parents to bond with
children.

Learn How To Draw - This site has numerous free lessons on how to draw.

Three Keys To Organizational Creativity – Does your company provide the right ingredients to foster
creativity?

The Three Threats To Creativity – Creativity is under threat. It happens whenever and wherever there’s
a squeeze on the ingredients of creativity, and it’s happening in many businesses today.

Web 2.0 Productivity Tools – Here are some Web 2.0 tools we’ve come across that increase
productivity.

20 Reasons Why Creative People Work In Cafes – Sometimes you just have to get out of the office. So,
take a cafe creativity break.

Marvelous Creativity Tools For The iPad – Here are a few apps that support your creativity.
Four Key Principles Of Personal Innovation – Let’s begin our exploration of personal innovation by
examining what I call the four I-Skill Principles.

10 Creative Myths – Let’s dispel these myths about creativity.

5 Rules For Mindful Creativity – Necessity alone is no longer enough reason for being creativity.

Job Force – Got a problem? This tools asks you – for instance – how a daycare worker, would solve it.

Steve Jobs Mind Map – How To think like Steve Jobs is illustrated in this mind map.

Five Ways To Avoid Creative Blocks – You may be handed a project or report and asked to work within a
structure someone else has designed. This can lead to a creative block. Here are some tips on handling
it.

How To Fuel Your Creativity – Here are five simple yet surefire ways on how to fuel your creativity and
stay smart.

Four Ways To Unleash Your Creative Genius – “But I’m not creative!” If that thought is what froze you
the last time you decided not to (fill in the blank), it’s time to adjust your thinking.

The Inspiration Room – This website is part of a global effort designed to influence, affect and involve
creative communities in the development of a world standard for inspiration.

Campaigns Creativity Loved – Creativity, an Advertising Age publication, has published its top 10
creative campaigns for 2010. The list includes Old Spice Man, and Domino’s Pizza Turnaround campaign.
Are your favorites on the list?

On Creativity & Leadership – A global survey of CEOs called Capitalizing on Complexity lists three best
practices for succeeding in an increasingly complex environment. Their top recommendation: “embody
creative leadership”.

Eureka Moments – Where do ideas come from, and what conditions spawn them? Tom Fishburne takes
a crack at answering this conundrum.

80 Very Best Outdoor Ads – I’m not sure if these are the 80 best outdoor signs but there are some really
creative ones here.
10 Steps To Successful Brainstorming – Brainstorming dates back to Plato, but much of what we do
today is based on work by Alex Osborn.

Taking Care Of Your Creative Self - Creative expression involves our whole being, so taking care of
ourselves emotionally, spiritually and physically is part of being a healthy and thriving creative person.

Three Incredibly Effective Techniques For Creative Thinking - Here are some great techniques that will
help you solve problems and generate ideas.

17 Resources To Awaken Your Right Brain – Put down the remote, get off the couch, and do something
by and for your right brain terrain.

Thinking Like A Genius - Even if you’re not a genius, you can use the same strategies as Aristotle and
Einstein to harness the power of your creative mind and better manage your future.

Business Owners Surf The Crowd For New Ideas – Vapur Inc.’s three founders set out to jazz up their
reusable and collapsible water bottle. So, they used a crowdsourcing site to drum up design samples
from hundreds of creative types.

11 Ways To Get Out Of A Creative Rut – If it feels like you haven’t had a fresh idea in months, here are
11 ways to get your creative mind moving again in 2011.

Using Fear To Create Awesomeness – Today, the majority of us don’t see fear as a good thing anymore,
we see it as something to be avoided at all costs. You need to embrace fear.

12 Creative Christmas Ads – A dozen ads using a Christmas motif.

Creative Idea Implementation Plan – Coming up with the idea is the easy part. Making it happen is hard.