Creativity Toolbox

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Use the following tools to kick start your creative mojo. On their own, they can help stimulate, diversify, and broaden the range of your creative output. For help applying these and other tools to a guided problem-solving process, email Peter Lloyd. Visit the Head Shed for more creative resources and Creativity Tools.
Online Idea Generation
Brainline	Online brainstorming process that collects ideas from participants around the world, including your own, hand-picked, professional Brain Gang.
brainlineXpress	Do-It-Yourself version of Brainline without expert consultation or customized stimulation.
Bubbl.us	Collaborative, online mind-mapping tool.
Dot-o-mator	Combines words you choose and add into lists of original combinations.
MindMapping.com	Information about mind mapping and ideas to help you create and benefit from mind maps.
Web 2.0 Domain Name Generator	Generates random, Web 2.0 word combinations.
Instant Stimulation
Animal Crackers Tool	Shorthand version of the Animal Crackers process.
Create Your Own Quotation	Generates original and sometimes meaningful quotations.
Creativity Games	Games, questions, and challenges to improve creative thinking.
Heads Up!	Use this daily dose of invention, innovation, and new ideas from every kind of human endeavor from every corner of the earth to stimulate you creative work.
Job Force	Takes inspiration from occupations.
Lingzini	Power tools for naming products, services, and organizations
Naming Prompts	Suggests 100 ways to think about naming.
Naque Word Mixer	Generates new words from your word list.
Ricliché	Uses playfully distorted proverbs as prompts.
Random Word Generator	Forces your mind out of it’s normal routine and off onto tangents it otherwise would not have ventured.
Sloganeeze	Draws inspiration from advertising slogans.
Star Force	Asks how famous people might solve your problem.
Stimulation Processes
Creative Techniques	Offers limited random stimulation, then demands software purchase to continue.
Idea-A-Day	Over 700 free ideas and growing.
Random Word Technique	Adds solution-finding process to randomly generated words from Creativity Unlimited.
Watizit	Creative Idea Generation Tool
Wild Ideas	Inspirational, self-help radio vignettes featuring fascinating animal adaptations
Words, Rhymes, Quotes
Female Character Namer	Generates random female first and last names
Male Character Namer	Generates random male first and last names
NEW Memidex	Free online dictionary and thesaurus with a simple interface, complete inflections, auto-suggest, adult-filtering, frequent updates, a browsable index, support for mobile devices, and millions of external reference links for definitions, audio, and etymology.
One Look	Powerful word resource
quotAmaze	Follow a chain of quotations to inspiration.
Wikiquote	Ad-free compendium of quotations in every language, including sources.
Free Dictionary	One of the best. No ads.
Wiktionary	Collaborative, full-featured, multilingual dictionary
wordGizmo	An exercise in finding meaning in nonsense
Language Tools	Dictionary, Thesaurus, translator, anagrams
Rhyme Zone	Rhyming tool with references and definitions
Problem Solving Processes
100 Online Brainstorming Tools to Help You Think Outside the Box by L. Fabry
Alex Osborne Brainstorming	Seminal problem-solving method spelled out in Applied Imagination.
CPS	Method of theCreative Problem Solving Institute.
Productive Thinking	Tim Hurson's structured framework for problem solving.
Six Thinking Hats	Edward DeBono's thinking framework.
Synectics	Uses metaphor and analogy in specialized groups.
Win Wenger"s 20 Points	Problem-solving checklist.
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