Imagine That: An Exercise in Visualization and Creative Thinking

Creativity can be defined as the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, and patterns to create meaningful new ideas, forms, and methods. In essence it equates to originality through the use of imagination.

One of the most effective ways to improve creativity and problem solving is with visualization. When you can look at a challenge and imagine the different possible outcomes before applying any effort you save time, energy, and in some cases money.

This book is an exercise in visualization and creative problem solving through the use of drawing exercises. It is designed to promote creative thinking and is a method sometimes used in illustration education to encourage students to look at subject matter from a different perspective. Artistic ability is not the point here though. It doesn't matter if you can or cannot draw. The point of this book is to give you a task that would normally be easy, throw in a challenge, and then encourage you to make the challenge part of the solution. This method is effective in solving design solutions but can also apply to any challenge in life by assessing boundaries, and then visualizing solutions that fit.

With practice, anyone can visualize solutions to even the most daunting challenges. By constantly pushing yourself to do so, you're likely to become more comfortable and experienced at it.