The Imagination Challenge

Book excerpt: Companies constantly present technological developments-new materials, new mechanisms, and new ways to enhance existing products and services. Yet these seldom lead to truly new ideas. Why? Humans are all born with creative instincts, but in the interest of efficient and predictable productivity, institutions such as schools and businesses routinely hinder those impulses. The most innovative products and services, author Alexander Manu argues, arise out of the behaviors of play--the ability to imagine, without limits, the question "What if...?" Manu's engaging and inspiring book offers companies a wealth of practical advice and tactics to unleash their full creative potential and break ahead of the crowd. Manu's provocative, insightful applied methodologies for creating new business opportunities and transformative innovations gain resonance from real-world scenarios and conversations with leading innovators such as MIT's Mitchel Resnick. Readers will learn strategies to: Open their companies' eyes to unseen opportunities Spark the imagination and trigger the potential of product innovation teams Turn inspired ideas into successful products and services. Imagination Challenge is an AIGA Design Press book, published under Peachpit's New Riders imprint in partnership with AIGA.