You’ve had a coffee, done your morning workout and opened up your desktop ready to go. But nothing is coming to mind despite the fact that you have read the brief ten times. 

Creative block can be a huge barrier to confidence as well as productivity. When it comes to our own projects we can afford to maybe give it a couple of days but when it strikes during work for a client with a strict deadline – it’s really not ideal. 

Here are a few exercises that will help draw your creativity out of its cave – it’s in there somewhere we just need to entice it out!

Turn two shapes into 10 different things

For example, draw 2 squares, triangles and circles next to each other. What do they become? Perhaps a pair of spectacles, a house, a Toblerone chocolate, a puppy? This exercise can take anywhere from ten minutes to an hour – it’s up to you how long you spend. Regardless, it’s a great way to start the day and get the creative juices flowing. 

Get Lyrical 

If you’re not an illustrator or don’t consider yourself particularly visual, try and do a similar exercise with words. See how many different lines you can write around the word paper. Use it as an adjective, noun, simile or metaphor and see what happens. 

Restrict yourself
Sometimes restricting your material sources is where creativity really happens. For example, how can you sew a dress without thread? Do you resort to bamboo? How do you lay down a drum line without a drum kit – do you resort to a shaker and create a bossa nova type sound? The possibilities are endless and there for you to explore.