I met with the creative team last night for the International Climbers Festival. We debriefed the last ICF, and started concepting for this year’s festival. When starting a new project, the best way to start the creativity flowing is by creating a mind map. I pitched the idea to the team and they decided to give it a try. I said I would give them a word, and they should shout out the first word that comes to their head. I said “Climber!” Brian said “Muscle!”
This is how it played out the first time: Climber > Muscle > Blood > Cell > Molecule
I told him now we can connect the climber to a molecule, which can give us ideas for print ads, catchy slogans, a logo, and even videos.
At first you see a world, very peaceful and quiet, then the camera starts to zoom in. Though the clouds, the camera starts racing down showing the country, then the state, then the city, the cliff, and then the climber. Once the camera gets to the climber it zooms into the muscles firing like pistons. “Daaaatz” the climber says as the camera enters into the muscle showing the adrenaline and blood flying through the veins, zooming even further still onto one blood cell, and finally onto a molecule, where we see that even it is climbing. “Daaatz,” the molecule says. Then a catchy line appears on the screen, “Climber to the core. We know. Attend the 17th Annual ICF.”
This is just one scenario played out from one branch of the mind map. How many ideas, then, can we come up with from the full mind map?
This mind map was first created by hand and then brought into the digital realm by using MindNode for Mac. Do you use mind maps to jump start your work?
That was the creative process at its best! Love it!@