$Creative thinking is a skill – coming up with innovative new ideas is by no means easy. With that in mind, author of The A-Z of Visual Ideas John Ingledew has developed a new book 'How to have great ideas: A Guide to Creative Thinking' to aid you along the way. But can Ingledew's 20 years experience in design, photography and creative thinking really help? In short: yes.
Pitched as 'the perfect book for ideas prospectors', the first thing we noticed was the amount of advice Ingledew has managed to get into this nicely-sized book. There are in excess of 50 strategies for unlocking innovative ideas, including improvisation technqiues, changing scenery, challenging set boundaries and many more. Each has at least two dedicated pages featuring short explanations, ideas, relevant examples of successful contemporary and/or historical designs.
The book is also packed full of practical projects to kick-start inventive thought, and, we have to admit, they're a lot of fun. Exploring creative thinking across all visual art disciplines, projects include making a chair using only cardboard boxes, drawing a family tree and creating a story using just 140 characters.
The book has the perfect balance of copy and images, with every page stealing a lovely bit of white space, giving your eyes a chance to breathe. Case studies from the design, advertising and communication industries are presented in full beautiful colour imagery, often occupying full and multiple pages throughout.
At A5 size, How to have great ideas: A Guide to Creative Thinking would easily fit in most bags, serving as a handy reference if you're suffering with creative block. This thick, 180-page book will take you a while to work through – and if its contents don't stir your creative senses, we don't know what will.
