The perception of curious elements, systematic analysis and synthesis, unusual associations and combinations, the transposition of analogies, all these different ways of thinking increase the likelihood of finding new ideas during the design process of solving problems. There are other mental procedures whose application is necessary whenever a designer creates something new, such as analysis, synthetic thinking, intuition, hypothetical thinking and analogical thinking.
Analytical thinking
Analytical thinking is the way we recognise, classify and describe the elements of a problem. During the creative process, analysis dismantles the existing situation and so creates a chaotic state. The conclusions of that analysis can offer clues towards forming a hypothesis, an analogy or a new synthesis. Analysis is one of the creative thinking skills most practised in design and industrial design education [Baxter, 2000].
Intuitive thinking
Intuitive thinking is a direct, immediate contemplation of a reality or a problem. It is unconscious thinking, where the procedure cannot be explained. The physicist Gerd Binnig says that intuition is a kind of analysis or synthesis that does not proceed logically when the problem is very complex. Through intuitive thinking the designer makes a decision about the state of the project. To improve how intuition works, qualitatively and quantitatively, you need a good command of the discipline, or meditation techniques to create a state of relaxation, calm breathing, serenity and empathetic identification with the problem to be solved.
Hypothetical thinking
Hypothetical thinking is another procedure within creative thinking, consisting of the capacity to suppose and to reason. In design, as a rule, a plausible explanation of the facts is provisionally adopted, with the aim of submitting it to methodical verification through experience.
Analogical thinking
Analogical thinking emerges as a mental process of bi-association of ideas that allows new and unexpected relationships to be established between objects and situations. To create is to recombine knowledge through the development of analogical thinking, which requires training the imagination and using metaphor. Semantic reformulations or the use of synonyms can support and train the design of analogies and metaphors.
All these forms of thinking that support the generation of ideas are part of creative thinking and, although they are described separately, in practice and during the creative process they are always combined with one another [Tschimmel, 2003].
For greater fluency, flexibility and originality in creative thinking there are techniques we can apply, and so train our brain. Within the systemic perspective on the emergence of ideas, there are techniques such as Brainstorming (for intense activation of memory, for intuitive and emotional thinking, and for letting ideas go) or its variants Brainsketching and Brainwriting, Mind Mapping (to draw out thinking and develop the capacity to alternate between analysis and synthesis, to find links between different subjects), Semantic and Random Confrontation (to produce unexpected associations and combinations) and Analogies (to cross knowledge from various symbolic domains).
These days most people look after their body with good food and a decent amount of exercise, but almost nobody recognises the need to train the brain, which can also become faster and more flexible. Just as we develop the muscles and capacities that allow us, for instance, to dance more and better, we can also exercise the memory or practise and refine the capacities of creative thinking. Anyone who has taken part in several brainstorming sessions will have developed a greater capacity to think fluently and without prejudice. Someone who has drawn many analogies develops their capacity to think analogically, and the same goes for the other techniques.
Promoting creativity means creating the conditions for creative thinking and for applying various techniques and methods, which should not be seen as a set of isolated actions but as an iterative process. Promoting a culture of creativity and the generation of ideas is about promoting creative thinking as an element of the innovation process.
Thinking creatively can transform daily life; it is a way of relating to life itself.
If this topic interests you, I recommend:
- Moreira, J. (2016). O objecto como impulsionador do Pensamento criativo. Porto: ESAD, Matosinhos. Master’s thesis
- Tschimmel, K. (2011). Processos Criativos. A emergência de ideias na perspectiva sistémica da criatividade. Matosinhos: Ed. ESAD.
- Adams, James L. (1986). Guía y juegos para superar bloqueos mentales, 2a ed. Barcelona: Editorial Gedisa.
- Baxter, M. (2000). Projeto de produto. Guia prático para o design de novos produtos, 2. Ed. S. Paulo: Editora Edgard Blücher.
