Couple of months back, I was introduced to a new style of creative thinking that's known as Reverse Thinking. I had always heard about this technique, especially after entering the realm of design!
So, What Exactly Is Reverse Thinking?
Reverse thinking is a method which allows a person to change his/her perception and think in the opposite way that he normally wouldn't have.
Generally, in design we begin by looking for opportunities and identifying problems and then moving towards creating solutions. But I tried it the other way round! (We were being taught space designing during that period). Let me tell you how.
STAGE 1
Round 1
Okay, so we had some material with us to start with, such as sticks, glue, cutters, etc. The task was to use this material and create whatever form that crossed our minds within 3-5 minutes. After some random cutting and pasting I came up with a drone like figure.
Round 2
I tried some other forms but felt like a creative block in between because I was struggling to achieve perfection in the models and was trying to "make them look" like something that already exists. After that we were told to make 10 forms with the time frame being 1-2 minute. When I sat to do this, I repeated the same mistake again and spent about 40 minutes on the model and was starting to feel exhausted. Unfortunately I misplaced the model along with the picture but it kinda looked like wings.
Round 3
This time I had decided that I will definitely finish it in 2 minutes but NO!
I did it, AGAIN!!
I put in more that 30 minutes for the 3rd one but I did like the way it ended up looking.
Round 4
By this time my fingers were in pain because of the alpins and all the cutting. So, I thought of giving it one last try. I had no clue what I had just made but I was relating the following form with some animal, sub-consciously.
Done For The Day!
I was really not understanding the point of doing all this meaningless effort and felt a little annoyed, to be honest and decided to leave it after that.
The next day we presented our models and were asked how much time did we invest in making them. And everyone of us had done the same exact thing!
After that we were simply told to complete the remaining models but the rule was to just haphazardly cut and join sticks without any thought.
I was feeling like I was in my childhood.. When we used to make random things within short span of time!! After that the next task was to give meanings or a concept to these models. WAIT, WHAT?
STAGE 2
Yes, this was the task that would help in developing our conceptual side. And let me remind you, I love creating stories out of anything and everything :D So, I knew I was gonna enjoy this one! I developed concept for each one of these models flawlessly and some for a couple of my friends too which seemed kind of funny at that moment.
I didn't even know I actually had the capability of adding meanings spontaneously. That's when I learnt why the exercise was so important.
As, we were learning about space designing and had to create some installation/sculpture, the idea was to put out a raw thought as quickly as possible without much distortion and as many as possible. And then later on build the concept around it. My faculty, surprisingly loved the ideas and especially the model made in Round 4.
STAGE 3
Visualisation of space. Creating sketches of the models in some space.
Oh yeah, that's model no. 4. Somehow during refinement, I flipped one part of the form and it ended up looking like a parent-child figure! It was such a meaningful experience for me that beautiful ideas can be created without much effort sometimes.
I will soon be sharing the actual scale model (along with the concept and process) of this figure which has been made out of bamboo and continue the rest of the part in that post. I have talked about this model in one of my earlier posts about landscape designing.
Till then..
Keep Creating
Lots of Love <3