Card #36 – ”Combine Ideas”

Card #36 – ”Combine Ideas” from the Creative Whack Pack

Available on the iOS App Store and as a physical deck of cards

Combining unusual ideas is at the heart of the creative process.

Inventors combine components to craft new products: Gutenberg joined together the wine press and the coin punch to create movable type and the printing press.

Entrepreneurs
bring together resources from different arenas to build new businesses: Joseph Pulitzer added large-scale advertising to high-speed printing to create the mass-circulation newspaper.

Engineers
mix different materials to create new ones: ancient Greek metallurgists alloyed soft copper with even softer tin to produce hard bronze.

Scientists
marry diverse concepts to produce new models of explanation: the standard model of evolution combines the genetic mutation work of Gregor Mendel with the natural selection ideas of Charles Darwin.

Poets
mix unusual metaphors to create provocative images: Luciano de Crescenzo: “We are all angels with just one wing — we can only fly while embracing one another.”

Playful crossword puzzle editors
bring together unlikely clues for the same word: “Quick good-bye gesture” and “modern kitchen appliance” both connote “microwave.”

Crime investigators
connect disparate evidence to build convincing cases: Sherlock Holmes tied the stolen boot, ancestral portrait, and perfumed stationery to the baronet’s murderer in The Hound of the Baskervilles.

Artists
draw on nature and technology to express new possibilities: architect Frank Gehry combined the scale structure of a fish with advanced-aircraft cutting technology to fashion the titanium skin design of the Bilbao, Spain, Guggenheim Museum.

Humorists juxtapose unrelated situations for comic effect: “What do you call a clairvoyant midget who just broke out of prison? A small medium at large!”

Thus, with good reason the philosopher Heraclitus said: “A wonderful harmony is created when we join together the seemingly unconnected.”

— What unusual ideas can you combine with your issue?

— Suppose the following pairs of individuals collaborated to give you suggestions on your problem. What advice would each combo give you?

• A chef and a soldier

• A software developer and a talk show host

• A cheerleader and a minister

• A grief counselor and a politician

• A quarterback and a pawnbroker

• A gardener and a trial lawyer

• A test pilot and a florist

• A circus clown and a butcher

• A death row inmate and a street vendor

• A venture capitalist and a homeless person

• A concert pianist and a dog trainer

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