Hacking the creative Brain

Denise R. Jacobs

Future. Innovation. Technology. Creativity.

Amsterdam, Netherlands

18 February 2013

Working Better to Create More

Tweeting tall

talesI am:

@denisejacobs

We’re at:

#FITCAms @fitc

I’m talking about how to:

#hackcreativity

I used to have long hair

I’m part Vulcan. Srsly!

Photo: Stefan Nitzsche

I Almost adopted a chicken

I Like to make stuff

After writing this…

I had an epiphany

Empowered & empowering

Intro

Is this all

there is?

Live in Cubicalia

The BossMan

All of the pressure…

Oppressed

“Houston, We have a

problem…”

No, not these…

I mean this

Feel Like this?

Aka: Meh.

Out of Inspiration

Or this?

We need to be Conversant with

“Creativity is newness produced.”

★

“Creativity is the process of

developing original ideas that

have value.”

- Sir Ken Robinson, Out of Our Minds

We are alchemists

Even though it feels like it…

“Creativity is magical, but is not

magic.”

- Charles Limb,

“Your Brain on Improvisation” TED

talk

Let’s get our hack on

1

emancipate

2

Adjust

3

Practice

4

Generate

5

Innovate

6

Produce

1

emancipate

Multitasking

Unclosed Loops (ZeigarNik

Effect)

Communication addiction

Busyness

The evil voices in your head

(“false evidence appearing real” or

“f*ck everything and run”)

causes unnecessary inhibitions which

obstruct the generation of new ideas

on a biochemical and neurological

level.

Fear

Banish you inner critic

Impostor syndrome

Comparisons

“An essential aspect of creativity is

not being afraid to fail.”

- Dr. Edwin Land

“Being right keeps us in place. Being

wrong forces us to explore.”

– Steven Johnson, Where Good Ideas

Come From

Hack: Reframe #fail

2

Adjust

I’m talking about this

Balance Your Brain

Get your alpha on

Get physical

Hack: Shower

Hack: Be still

Lower cognitive filters

HACK: “Lo-fi” time

HACK: Deliberate

Daydreaming

Biophilia

Negative Stress > Eustress

Hack: Laugh

3

Practice

Eliminate distractions

Exercise discipline

Show up everyday

Clean-up your habit fields

Manage time

Delegate

Be Mindful – Do one thing at a

time

Restructure Work environments

Work standing up

Why? Because

4

generate

Look for problems to solve

Seek chanllenges

Change environments

Incubate to Generate

Gather and Curate

Zootool.com

Gimmebar.com

Pinterest.com

Imgspark.com

Scrnshots.com

Vi.sualize.us

Emberapp.com

Evernote

Diigo

Delicious

Flickr

Trello

Tools

5

Innovate

Do it with others

Bring brilliance together

Ideas are a network

The source of great ideas

Sameness

Diverse environments

Invite others to wonder with you

Share Ideas

Share mistakes

Co-work to collaborate

Parallel platy

IMprovise

Hack: Plus it

6

Produce

Tinker

Make Prototypes

Iterate

• observe

• suggest

• tinker

• review

• apply feedback

• reiterate

The d.school process

Get into the flow

• Cleared space – work area, time, head

• Concept in mind: know what you want

to achieve and what it looks like

• Necessary materials on hand

• Distractions eliminated

• Practice in place

• Willingness in place

All of the pieces in place…

Cavalier creativity

Outro

Easter Eggs

Level Up

Level Up

Joy in work

Creative Confidence

“…the confidence that, when given a

difficult problem, we have a

methodology that enables us to

come up with a solution that nobody

has before.”

- David Kelley, Ideo

“Whatchoo talkin‟ „bout, Willis?”

From this

To this

Full of ideas

Value YOurself

Ultimate outcome

delicious.com/denisejacobs/unfoldyourbrai

n

delicious.com/denisejacobs/creativityhabit

delicious.com/denisejacobs/brainoncreativ

ity

Resources

Articles for further reading (mine)

netmagazine.com/features/four-secrets-enhancing-creative-productivity

alistapart.com/articles/reigniting-your-creative-spark/

alistapart.com/articles/banishing-your-inner-critic/

Americomorales.com

Smashing Books #3 &#3 1/3

My chapter:

“Storytelling in Webdesign”

SmashingBook.com

Shameless Self-Promotion #2

The CSS Detective Guide

CSSDetectiveGuide.comtwitter.com/cssdetective

Shameless Self-Promotion #1

InterAct With

Web Standards:

A Holistic

Approach to Web

Design

InterActWithWebStandards.com

twitter.com/waspinteract

Shameless Self-Promotion #3

How to find me

DeniseJacobs.com

denise@denisejacobs.com

twitter.com/denisejacobs

slideshare.net/denisejacobs

Thank you!