Ex. A
For our first in-lecture exercise, we were tasked with sketching or designing a machine or device that we think will enhance our creativity. The following is the story behind the design idea…
Whenever I am stuck when writing essays in school or encounter an idea block when I have to create video storyboards during my internship, my go-to strategy to get inspiration would be to take a nap. Although it may sound counter-intuitive, I often get my best ideas when I am on the brink of falling asleep. Sadly, there are occasions where I am unable to fight the ‘Z’ monster and succumb to the temptation of sleep, and therein lies the challenge…
Thus, this problem helped me to formulate the direction I wanted to take for this exercise.
After conceptualizing an idea, I took to the internet to find some inspiration for a good design, and chanced upon an article which showed me another person who had the same ‘creative process’ that I had — Salvador Dalí.
Famous surrealist artist Salvador Dalí, one of the most creative and celebrated artists of all time, would always engage in this curious practice whenever he felt like he needed some inspiration for his artwork.
He would take a nap on his chair, with a key in one hand, poised strategically above a metal plate placed on the floor, and let sleep take him. As soon as he began falling asleep, his grip on the key would loosen and the key would slip from his fingers and clang against the plate — waking him immediately.
Dalí claimed that this method helped him to come up with many of the ideas behind his paintings. Research studies also suggested that “the early sleep stage, known as the hypnagogia state, which lasts only a few minutes before you drift off to deeper sleep, may be the ideal cocktail for creativity as it is where reality seems to blend into fantasy”.
Thus, I set out to design a machine that is able to sense my brain waves and wake me up when I am on the brink of sleep (refer to image A). My machine would be able to rouse me from the brink of sleep by using it’s human-like arm to shake me awake. Afterwhich, the machine would grab a notepad and pen for me to jot down my ideas before they disappear.
I believe that my machine would be able to enhance my creativity and would benefit many people who are cursed with the same ‘creative process’ as me...
