Before you continue in this chapter, I’d like you to do a short exercise. Do not read ahead. Do Step 1 first before reading any further:
Step 1: Get a pen or pencil and a piece of paper, and take up to 30 seconds to write down as many things that are white as you can think of. Not things that could be white (for example, a shirt could be white or blue or green), but things that are usually white. Begin!
Ok, now do the second part of the exercise:
Step 2: Get your pen and paper ready again, and this time take up to 30 seconds to write down things to either eat or drink that are white. Begin.
Count up how many items you have on each list.
I got this exercise from Keith Sawyer’s book Zig Zag: The Surprising Path To Greater Creativity. The point of the exercise has to do with constraints. Most of the time when I have people do this exercise, they come up with more items in Step 2 than in Step 1. That’s because the second time the instructions included constraints.
Some Constraints Enhance Creativity
We usually think that to be creative, it’s best to have as few constraints as possible— maximum freedom. I’ve heard designers say, “You’ve imposed too many constraints for me to come up with a creative solution.” When I’ve had a client that wants the design team to follow an existing style guide, or use an existing pattern library, some members of the team will complain, “All these constraints limit our creativity.”
It’s certainly true that too many constraints can and often do limit creativity, but having no or too few constraints also hampers creativity.
If you have no or few constraints, then you also have a less-defined problem or design space. It will be harder to set a specific intention about what you’re designing or solving. This means that the executive attention network discussed earlier in the chapter won’t have a clear idea of what to focus on. And the first step in being more creative is to stimulate that executive attention network with a clear intention.
What constraints you should impose, and how many, depend on what you’re designing. Here are some examples of constraints you could put on a design or a project:
- Limit colors
- Limit size
- Limit shape
- Use a particular style guide
- Use a particular set of design patterns
- Do the work in a limited time frame
Takeaways
- Try applying some constraints on your next design project.
- When you’re working with a team, get the team to agree on some constraints, at least initially.
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