Design Thinking
Ideation: Creativity of constraints tells us that limits make us more creative
When you think of limits you think of something that stands in your way or prevents you from doing something. But what if I told you that limits can actually make you more creative?
There is a TedTalk by Tim Harford, an economist, and journalist, called “The Power of Constraints” in which he discusses how constraints can actually improve our creativity.
He starts off by talking about the British rock band, Muse. They had a very successful album called “Absolution” and it was full of big, anthemic songs. But when they went to make their next album, they decided to constrain themselves. They limited themselves to using only three chords per song. And what they found was that by constraining themselves, they were actually more creative. They came up with some of their best songs, like “Knights of Cydonia” and “ Supermassive Black Hole.”
Designers, innovators and artists use constraints to improve their creativity all the time. Constraints can be defined as anything that limits your options. For example, when you are designing a logo, you might…
