Mind Mapping and Random Word Association

As promise in my previous post, I am going to share with you all about the process of producing the animation clip with the topic of "Creativity in the context of Multimedia University", starting from getting the idea until the production of the animation clips.

Much of the thinking done in formal education emphasizes the skills of analysis--teaching students how to understand claims, follow or create a logical argument, figure out the answer, eliminate the incorrect paths and focus on the correct one. However, there is another kind of thinking, one that focuses on exploring ideas, generating possibilities, looking for many right answers rather than just one which is creative thinking.

The first requirement to improve your creativity is to see what others are not seeing or at least to make an attempt to see things from a different perspective. This constant practice of forcing their brains helps them to make new connections with often unrelated subjects. There are a lot of methods that can be used to force the mind to make creative leaps such as mind mapping methods and random word association. This helps to come up with what others often call 'brilliant' ideas.

Storyline and Animation Clip Production Process 1: Mind Mapping
A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decision, and writing.

As I mention before in the previous post, in order to be creative, one must understand what the aim is and gather as much information as possible by using any possible ways. Mind mapping is one of the way to collect information. As the first step of producing a story based on the topic of "Creativity in the context of Multimedia University", I come out with a mind map as below.

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From this mind map, I choose "SWEET" to continue with the process of producing the story in a creative way. Next, by using the word "SWEET", I come out with the title of "Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland" for the story and the animation clip. Then I draw another focus mind map based on the title.

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 From this focus mind map, I create the story of "Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland" that is shown in my previous post. I also linked the story with the topic of how to be creative.

Storyline and Animation Clip Production Process 2: Random Word Association
Random word association is one of the Force-Fitting Techniques that can be used to 'force' the mind to make creative leaps. A symbol(picture, a word, a sketch, a number or a relationship) that may or may not be related to the problem is jot down. After that, we are required to think of something associated with the symbol. These ideas then become part of the brainstorming solutions. In order to produce a animation clip, I used random word association method to come out with the design of the clip. The random word that I choose is "POPCORN".

Association:
Pop - Pop art design
Pop - Using pop out animation
Explode - Using explosive comic dialogue box
Hot - Using some array of sunlight as the background
Cinema/Theatre - Using image of celebrities
Shape - Using halftone design that looks like popcorn shape
Paper box - Using old paper effects as the background to create the vintage look
Paper box - Using a bog box to contain all the criteria of creativity
Uneven color - Using uneven color for the background
Fun fair - Using happy song as the background music

Based on the association, I finally come out with the design of the animation.

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Myth of Creativity and How to be Creative

I am currently pursuing the course of Media Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Multimedia University. Although this course is categorized under the Faculty of Management, however it is somewhat a hybrid of both Faculty of Creative Multimedia and Faculty of Management courses where most of our assignments require creativity. Few days ago while me and my assignment groupmates working on producing a interactive web page, one of my groupmates claimed that she is not creative and is unable to design a web page. At that moment, I realized that there is a lot of myth about creativity which is not true among the students of MMU. When some problems occur, students of MMU tend to think that "the problem maybe solved by some experts but not by me because I'm not (a) smart enough, (b) an engineer, or (c) a blank (whether educated, expert, etc.) ".Therefore, in this post I am going to discuss about the myth of creativity and also how to be creative.

In this post, I am going to share some of the myth of creativity:

Myth 1: Only special talented people are creative
The truth is creative genius reveal a lot of very hard work, rather than innate talent.


Myth 2: Being creative is hard
The truth is it is not being creative that is hard, but working on developing that ability


Myth 3: Problems are in our life to make it more difficult
The truth is problems of any kind are the key to learning


Myth 4: I am not creative
The truth is creativity can be nurtured and not just by nature


Myth 5: Innovation is the domain of geniuses
The truth is hard work is required to succeed


Myth 6: I have to have brand new ideas in order for me to be considered creative
The truth is most new ideas are a combination of old concepts presented in a fresh new package that provides us with a sense of novelty


Myth 7: Brainstorming is hard work
The truth is brainstorming can be a lot of fun


Myth 8: Only artist need to be creative
The truth is creativity belongs to everyone


Myth 9: Writer's block is a greatest obstacle in the creative process
The truth is it is one of the obstacles but not the biggest one


Myth 10: Using structured creative techniques will hinder my ability to be creative
The truth is not all techniques are suitable for a person.

In order to give some insight of how to be creative, I decided to produce a story and a very short animation clip with the topic of "Creativity in the context of Multimedia University" by using various techniques such as mind-mapping and random word association (will be discussed in the next post). The title of the story and the movie clip is "Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland of Creativity" .

Story of "Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland of Creativity" 


Once upon a time, there was a wonderland full with vast amount of sweets. We call it, Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland of Creativity. There was a group of youngsters, Pink, Red, Yellow, Purple and Blue.They leave their home sweet home to further their study in this Sweet Wonderland and Experience their lives independently. All of them share the same sweet dream of getting a better life and earning big money in the future.


Each of them have different personality, Pink is the sweet talker. Because of that, she is very popular among the students and always the apple in the eye of the lecturers in MMU. Well the actual reason that Pink likes to have a lot of friends around her is to gather information. For example, she will always get a lot of assignment answers from all of her friends so that she can compare all the answers and modify it and make it as her own work. Besides, as she is the favorite student of the lecturers, she never has any problem getting exam tips from the lecturers. Therefore, Pink is always the top student in class.


Red loves to eat a lot especially sweet things. He is a very smart person and the reason of him being smart is because of the sweet things that he eat. Red thinks that by eating sweet stuff will release his stress and always feel happy. Therefore he can always think clearly and his brain is able to generate more new ideas than others.


Blue is a thinker. He likes to live in his fantasy world. Blue's imaginations are just like the sky and ocean, wide and unlimited. Due to his hobby of loving to day dream, Blue always ends up having his sweet dreams in class. Surprisingly, every time when he wakes up, he will come out with more outrages ideas.As the result, Blue become one of the best investor in the history.


Here we go to the sweet couple, Yellow and Purple. Yellow is good in logic and numbers while Purple is good in colors and shapes. They always discuss together and get opinions from their sweetheart while solving problems. Because both of them are superior in different field, they always learn from each other to beautify their imperfections.


This group of friends, with their different type of personality, makes the most powerful combination in this Sweet Wonderland of Creativity. They all are the criteria of being creative. To be creative, we just need to follow some steps. First, Pink, the sweet talker, she gathers information to achieve her goals. To be creative, first you have to know and understand what your aim is. Then you have to gather as much information as possible by using any possible ways.


The second important step to be creative is to make your brain stress-free just like what Red did. When you are under pressure, your brain will never function in a proper way. Therefore, you have to be happy and stress less in order to come out with different ideas. Next criteria of being creative are "thinks out of box". Blue always fantasizes and because of that he can become a great inventor. You have to think differently than other people in order to be creative. You should think of possible out of impossible.


Besides, having dreams is another method of being creative. Dreams can actually create new ideas through the generation of random thought mutations. Some of these may be rejected by the mid as useless, while others may be seen as valuable and retained. Blenchner, an American psychologist and psychoanalyst, calls this the theory of "Oneiric Darwinism." That is the reason whay every time when Blue wakes up from his sweet dreams, he will get more outrages ideas.


Lastly, it is another misconception that creativity is purely right-brained. The left brain tends to deal with words, logic, numbers and the right brain tends to deal with colors, shapes and rhythm. Actually the real creativity involves both sides of the brain. Just like the sweet combination of Yellow and Purple, the combination of imperfections make perfect. Once again, follow the steps and everybody can be creative just like Pink, Red, Blue, Yellow and Purple. When this five colors combine together, you will get a color that is beyond your imagination.


Animation Clip of "Multimedia University, the Sweet Wonderland of Creativity"