Creative Exercise #4: Signs

OK... so here is another creative exercise from the book, "Caffeine For The Creative Mind" by Stefan Mamaw and Wendy Lee Oldfield. The book is a collection of 250 exercises to help "wake up your brain". Remember... the only way that this is going to work is if YOU PARTICIPATE. So... each time I post an exercise... YOU have to play along... OK? If you are just joining us... you can go back and do the first 3 to catch up if you'd like. Some of the exercises will seem a little silly at first... but they are designed to get you to think outside of the box.

This exercise is called "signs". We all understand what common road signs mean. If it's yellow with a curved arrow pointing to the right we know that there is a curve coming up to the right. But what if we didn't know what they meant? Some of those signs might be communicating more than the designers bargained for. So... here's the deal: Come up with alternative meanings to the following five common roadsigns.


















Here's my "new take" on all of these common road signs:

1. It's an "Air Band Saxophone Solos Prohibited" sign? (Did you ever do that? Do you know what I'm talking about? OK... so that one was pretty lame.)

2. A "No Imagination Zone" sign. (I don't know!! THEY couldn't seem to think of anything to print in the box either!)

3. This is a "Wii Station Ahead" sign. (Get it... restroom?... Wii station?... it's the Wiimote thingy...OK forget it... next.)

4. Oh yeah... A "Mooooove Over There's a Big Cow In The Middle of The Road" sign. (You usually come across these around Chick-fil-A restaurants. Yeah... I know... pretty baaaaad.)

5. This one is a "Drive Really Fast... There Are Two Anacondas On Your Tail" sign. (Hey... nobody said they had to be REALLY GOOD interpretations of the signs.)

OK... it's YOUR turn. See what you can come up with. Again... if you're really brave (which no one seems to be... yet) leave a comment if you come up with some really good ideas. Remember... these exercises are for fun... but they really do help you to start thinking outside the box. Listen... you wouldn't try to run a marathon without first training would you? Well... we are training our brains for idea generation. So think of this as preparation for that next creative meeting that you are going to... or for that next project at work that you have to come up with a solution to a problem. After all... that is what creativity is.... problem solving.

Until next time...