Playing is an important design technique. Playing provides a freedom that allows ideas to bounce around inside your head and spill out in a creative flow. Once it gets flowing it is hard to bottle it up. You don't just get to wash your hands - you get to have a shower!

Too often, people approach the blank page with unreasonable expectations on their creative abilities. Before doing anything, they say to themselves that they must do something great. Such ego-driven foolishness is the death of creativity. You might well ask: "what about those individuals who can instantly turn on greatness?" Sure, some can - I believe they do so because they have the ability to look at the blank page with the same kind of freedom that comes with playing.

Playing is trying something - anything really! You need no commitment - just do something. Even if it is a single horizontal line. Think of all the things that line can be: a horizon, vein, rope, stick, water, vector, divider, road, EKG flatline, wall, mirror, subway tunnel, timeline, etc. By opening up your mind to thinking of the possibilities, you make yourself receptive to ideas. For example, if in the line you saw the possibility of a mirror, then perhaps the next step is to add something to be reflected and so on and so forth. Playing in such a manner can of course be directed towards a task. What makes it play is the freedom you give yourself. It doesn't matter if the result is good or crap or something in-between --- in playing you are free of such qualitative concepts.

Now out of such playing can ideas you recognize as good - worthy of more attention. It is probably worthwhile to pursue those ones (with more playful exuberence) than to persue the crappy ones. [img]/infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Humans are playful creatures. Why did we evolve that way? I think it is because creativity is critical to our survival as a species and that playing is the mechanism to get that creativity flowing. I could be wrong - but if you are playing at least you are having fun! Go on - give yourself permission to have fun and make each moment you are designing sometrhing to enjoy!

Regards, Ross

PS - If you see anything of interest in my ideas on "playing" then you might well enjoy this link: Willing-to-try website. You'll need to have shockwave installed. It is one of my most favorite sites. I hope you like it too - and I hope you see the connection to the ideas I've written about.

[This message was edited by Ross Macintosh on February 02, 2002 at 12:28.]