by Katie Weeks
Day 1 Create a smile file. Collect things that make you laugh or think harder. Clip magazine articles, cartoons or cool project announcements and keep them together for instant inspiration.
Day 2 Play "What if." The goal of this game is to think of the most outlandish situations possible. What if paper were outlawed? The more ridiculous the scenario, the better.
Day 3 Buy three magazines you normally wouldn't give a second glance. Consider the following questions: How does each magazine visually tackle its subject matter? How do they aesthetically connect with their audiences? What does each do differently?
Day 4 "Designers should do whatever they need to do to clear themselves-whatever they can do to be able to listen-to hear their own intuition. The creative process always works; in our lives, it gets overridden by other stuff." -Petrula Vrontikis, Vrontikis Design Office, Los Angeles
Day 5 Get out: Drive, walk, run, bike. Do anything that takes you somewhere new and then explore your surroundings.
Day 6 Take a long shower or bath. You'll be surprised at what comes to mind when you're too soapy to write it down.
Day 7 "Stay up late: Strange things happen when you've gone too far, been up too long, worked too hard, and you're separated from the rest of the world." -Bruce Mau, Brue Mau Design, Toronto
Day 8 Go to your local art museum. Or spend a day painting and create your own exhibit around the studio.
Day 9 Dedicate 15 minutes to completing a free-association exercise. In the middle of a piece of paper, write down one word, any word. For five minutes, write down everything that comes to mind with that word and branch off from there. "Restaurant" may lead to "greasy food" to "heartburn" to "burning heart" to "falling in love". Once the five minutes are up, look back at everything you've written. Are there new connections you missed before?
Day 10 Create themes for workdays. The same Monday to Friday routine can lead to a creative rut. Celebrate each day, whether it's a Bad Food Friday or Movie Madness Monday.
Day 11 Start a story and route it around the studio with each person adding a line before she passes it on. At the end of the week, call a brief staf meeting and read the tale aloud.
Day 12 Have a "no regrets" day. Try something new, do something unfamiliar. The only stipulation: You can't hesitate or regret anything you do all day.
Day 13 "There is no doubt that creativity is the most important human resource of all. Without creativity, there would be no progress, and we would be forever repeating the same patterns." -Edward de Bono, founder, World Academy of New Thinking
Day 14 Allot 15 minutes for drawing or writing without distraction. No idea or concept is bad. Don't judge, analyze or stop what you're doing until the 15 minutes are up.
Day 15 Sing. Loudly.
Day 16 "Be culturally literate, because if you don't have any understanding of the world you live in and the culture you live in, you're not going to be able to able to express anything to anybody else." -Randall Balsmeyer, Big Film Design, New York City
Day 17 Make up a story about five people you encounter during your day, from the man next to you on the subway to the checkout clerk at the grocery store.
Day 18 Read a book. Try Art is work: Graphic Design, Interiors, Objects, and Illustrations by Milton Glaser, Screen: Essays on Graphic Design, New Media, and Visual Culture by Jessica Helfand or Design Form and Chaos by Paul Rand.
Day 19 Try cooking something bold. Find a challenging recipe in an old cookbook, your mother's recipe file or on the Web at www.foodtv.com and kick your culinary creativity up a notch.
Day 20 Go to a concert, see a play, check out a local exhibit or lecture. By widening your horizons, you'll expand your creative possibilities.
Day 21 "Eliminate something superfluous from your life. Break a habit. Do something that makes you feel insecure." -Piero Ferruccci, psychologist
Day 22 Learn three new things about each person you work with today. Ask them about their lives. How many siblings do they have? What's their favourite childhood memory? If they were a superhero, who would they be?
Day 23 Challenge your creativity. Using only the supplies you have in the studio, create a new office decoration. Can you make a lamp with what you find? What about a new picture frame or bookend?
Day 24 Play a creative game like Cranium or Thinkblot. Get your mind moving with a round of chess or backgammon. Heck, whip out time-tested standards like Candyland, Monopoly or Clue.
Day 25 Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: "The brain is a wonderful organ; it starts the moment you get up in the morning and does not stop until you get to the office." Break your work routine. Rearrange your daily schedule to do everything backward.
Day 26 Design an apple 20 different ways. Only one rule stands: Don't impose characteristics or images upon the apple; re-create it.
Day 27 "Creativity requires a sandbox larger than ink on paper."-AIGA president Clement Mok, San Francisco
Day 28 Build a creativity kit. The HOW team, for example, keeps a box on hand filled with toys, Silly Putty, markers, blank paper and games to loosen up our brains during long brainstorming sessions.
Day 29 Declare today Design Day. Turn off your phones, pagers and computers and cozy up with a good CD, some munchies and lots of art supplies. Then design, draw and create to your heart's content.
Day 30 "Each time you experience the new, you become receptive to something different, you let the universe know you are listening. Trust your instincts...Respect your creative urges. If you are willing to step out in faith and take a leap in the dark, you will discover that your choices are authentic. What is more, you will discover that your life is all that it was meant to be." -Sarah Ban Breathnach, author
Reprinted with permission, HOW magazine, June 2002; www.howdesign.com.
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