Creativity Toolbox
Welcome to the Creativity Toolbox. In this toolbox you can find different creativity methods and techniques to help you in introducing creativity into your on-line teaching. To facilitate your search, you can apply several filters, such as which part of the engineering phases it is related; if it is a group or individual activity; the number of people, or the type of class or classroom activity, as well as the duration. Of course you are also free to not use the filers and just navigate through the different methods and techniques to learn more. Our Creativity Session Planner will help you plan your creativity workshop. It is a progressive web app that you can also use offline. ENJOY!
Here you will find a comparison and evaluation, conducted by TICON, of all the tools from the methods below: Tool List
6 Thinking Hats
Six Thinking Hats, a teaching model promoting critical and creative thinking, is used for exploring different perspectives towards a complex situation or challenge.
6-3-5 Method
The 6 (x) -3-5 is a group-work creativity method that is functional as a brain-writing activity.
ABC Method
The ABC Method is good for connecting the old and new information and is a great way to help a group to get to know each other while having fun.
Catchwords
The catchword method is used to start the creative process by developing random terms.
Clarifying Challenge
The Clarify the Challenge method is used to reach and document a common understanding about the central topic or challenge.
Contextual Inquiry
Contextual Inquiry is a interview method to uncover who users really are and how they work on a day-to-day basis. This creates a empirical basis for the later design.
Continue the Story
The “Continue the Story” method sparks the students’ creativity by making them complete a story.
Dance Battle
The Dance Battle method is an ice breaker where teams compete with each other in imitating famous dance moves.
Day in the life
A “Day in the life” is used to elicit the interaction points of a user and the solution in the context of their daily life. The method helps gain insight into the needs, behaviour and
Delphi Technique
It is one of the most widely used techniques for prospective analysis by using expert assessment
Disruptive Images
The disruptive images method uses a series of unusual images to make students think out of the box and create a new sense or understanding of a topic or problem.
Dotmocracy
With this technique, the ideas within a group are evaluated in a democratic way. It is the spontaneous evaluation of ideas. Preferred ideas are marked by sticky dots. The evaluation based on several criteria can
Experiential Learning
Experiential Learning can be defined as “learning by doing” as it blends learning with experience, and therefore covers a very broad knowledge development process.
Expert Panel
In the expert panel, experts selected specifically for the panel share useful information based on their experience and can evaluate an idea from an objective point of view.
Feedback Session
The participants of a creative session provide feedback regarding a workshop.
Fishbone Diagram
A fishbone diagram is a visual tool used to identify the root causes of a problem. The method is a more structured approach to other root cause identification tools such as 5 Whys. The problem
Five Ws and H
This is a simple but powerful tool for cutting quickly through the outward symptoms of a problem to reveal its underlying causes (WHY), so that you can deal with it once and for all. How
Flashing Lights
The flashing Lights Technique is used to reveal the current mood and ideas of the participants in a group.
Flower
The flower method uses a structured brainstorming template to analyze problems, combine and detail initial ideas, and create scenarios or use cases.
Help the old lady
The “Help the old lady” method makes students experience the difference between convergent and divergent thinking in ideation and need analysis.
Idea Purchase
Participants rate the ideas and decide which ones they are willing to spend the money on. Also known as the $100 test.
Impact Analysis
Impact analysis technique assists in identifying the potential consequences of any change made to a system. It can be used in environments such as software development, change management, business pivoting, altering an existing revenue stream
Journey Map
Journey maps combine storytelling and visualisation, allowing the individual/teams to understand and address the customer’s needs. Storytelling and visualisation are essential aspects of a journey map as they are effective in conveying the information in
KANO Analysis
The Kano Analysis model (pronounced “Kah-no”) is an analysis tool used to explore and measure the customer’s emotional responses to the product’s features. The tool allows for prioritising features and creating product roadmaps based on
Lean StartUp
Lean startup is, in essence, a methodology to develop businesses and products that consists of applying the scientific method to a business model.
Lotus Blossom
The Lotus Blossom Technique is a structured brainstorming exercise used to expand on a central idea or problem.
Magic Play Dough
The Magic Play Dough technique can be used for the detailed design and prototyping session in the engineering process.
Mind Mapping Techniques
The Mind Mapping Method takes its name from the activity itself: participants are expected to write down components that belong to an idea or a theme, structure them in a map, and use it as
Morphological Box
This technique works as a more structured version of brainstorming, as participants create a “morphological box”.
Motivational video
The Motivational video method is an icebreaker that uses publicly available videos to motivate the students to complete more complex tasks throughout the day.
Music Quiz
The Music Quiz method is an icebreaker or a “mind-freer” where student teams will compete against each other in guessing the name or artist of a song.
NABC
NABC – Needs, Approach, benefit, Competition – is used to frame the development and communication of innovative solutions based on user needs and value creation. It a good way to structure pitches.
Oxford vs. Cambridge
The Oxford vs. Cambridge method is an icebreaker that makes student teams compete against each other.
Personas
A Persona represents a fictional character that represents a type of customer or user. The fictional character or persona is created from the synthesis of research data on actual users/customers, generalising on a specific type
Photo Story
The photo story method facilitates creating free associations related to a picture series under time pressure.
Pictionary
Pictionary or Scribble is a group activity where teams compete against each other in guessing what one group member is drawing.
Polling
Polling is a method by which a group of participants can make a collective decision, express an opinion or give feedback, usually following discussions or presentations.
Product Vision Box
The Product Vision Box is a fun, useful and collaborative tool, typically utilized at the onset of a new project, that enables team members to clearly define, understand and communicate the vision of a solution.
Reframing Matrix
The Reframing Matrix technique helps to overcome cognitive biases in ideation and problem analysis by enabling the students to look at a problem from other than their usual perspective.
Role play
Role play is an activity where the students can act or think as another person and put themselves into an imaginary situation where everything is possible.
Scamper
SCAMPER is considered one of the easiest, most direct brainstorming methods. The simple technique is based on the idea that what’s new is actually based on something that already exists.
Scenarios
Written Scenarios are plausible descriptions of the future, in which an idea or solution has become reality. Together with Personas they are quick way to explore how a problem is solved for an intended target
Sketching
The sketching method is a technique used in the ideation or conceptual design phase of the creativity process to explore and generate new ideas quickly. It involves creating rough, low-fidelity sketches of concepts and ideas
Spider Meeting
Spider Meetings a great way to generate sparkling ideas around a specific problem or task. It is a combination of brainwriting, pitching and sketching. Ideas are fleshed out and evaluated from the edge of the
Storyboard
Storyboarding is a technique that visually depicts a user’s interaction with your product.
Storytelling
Storytelling is all about engaging an audience by applying narrative techniques, it involves bidirectional communication between a storyteller and the listeners aiming to reach them emotionally.
SWOT Analysis
SWOT Analysis Technique enables participants/engineers to assess the internal and external factors effectively.
Taking a Picture
The “Taking a Picture” method is about each student going outside to take one picture of their own choosing and show it to the rest of the group.
The NAF Technique
NAF Technique is an idea selection method that aims to determine the Newest, Appealing and Feasible from a group of ideas.
Trivia Quiz
A Trivia Quiz can work as a fun ice breaker or “mind freer” as well as an engaging assessment tool of the students learning progress.
Usability/User Testing
User (or usability) testing is a process of evaluating a solution idea for a future product or service to see how well it fits the problem or need of the indented target users. The aim
World / Knowledge Café
Also known as “World Café” or “Knowledge Café” is a structured conversational process to share knowledge between smaller groups of people that are discussing a topic.