101 Activities For Teaching Creativity And Problem Solving

Combinations 133

26. Ideatoons

Background

If you liked Ideas in a Box and are a visual thinker, then you’ll like Ideatoons. Ideatoons

are based on the work of architects Christopher Alexander, Sara Ishikawa, and Murray

Silverstein (1977), who used a visual thinking activity known as “pattern language” to

help create new building designs.

The architects developed abstract visual symbols that substituted for words. Each

symbol represented a particular problem attribute. The symbols helped bring out poten-

tial relationships between attributes that, when identified, could trigger ideas. For

instance, vertical arrows might point toward a curved line at the top of a page. This sym-

bol might then suggest different ways of supporting or building an arch.

Michael Michalko (1991) adopted this visual approach and used it to describe

Ideatoons—graphic problem representations. (This technique is also similar to the Sym-

bolic Representation activity developed by VanGundy, 1983.) You don’t need to be an

artist to use Ideatoons—you just need the ability to draw anything remotely resembling

something else.

Objectives

• To help participants generate as many creative ideas as possible


• To help participants learn how to use the activities to generate ideas

Participants

Small groups of four to seven people each

Materials, Supplies, and Equipment

• For each group: markers, two flip charts, and masking tape for posting flip-chart
  sheets


• For each participant: one sheet each of three different colors of sticking dots
  (^1 ⁄ 2 ” diameter) and one pad of 4 x 6 Post-it®Notes..

Time

45 minutes

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