Eiffel Over

Tag: song

  • What shall we do a with a no-brief client?

    (To the tune of “What Shall We Do with a Drunken Sailor”)

    Chorus:

    What shall we do with a no-brief client?

    What shall we do with a no-brief client?

    What shall we do with a no-brief client?

    Early in the morning? 

    Verse 1:

    Start with a list of their requirements,

    Start with a list of their requirements,

    Start with a list of their requirements,

    To get the process rolling!

    Verse 2:

    Sprinkle on a little bit of what delights them,

    Sprinkle on a little bit of what delights them,

    Sprinkle on a little bit of what delights them,

    And now we’ve got a briefing!

    Verse 3:

    Now it’s time to go and break the brief right open,

    Now it’s time to go and break the brief right open,

    Now it’s time to go and break the brief right open,

    To start creative thinking!

    Verse 4:

    Read the brief out slowly to them,

    Read the brief out slowly to them,

    Read the brief out slowly to them,

    And see what is emerging!

    Verse 5:

    Capture all their questions on a great big mind map,

    Capture information on a great big mind map,

    Capture inspiration on a great big mind map,

    And see what thoughts are forming!

    Verse 6:

    Oh ay, another idea!

    Oh ay, another idea!

    Oh ay, another idea!

    No idea is too stupid!

    Verse 7:

    Now it’s time to test them all against the briefing,

    Now it’s time to test them all against the briefing,

    Now it’s time to test them all against the briefing,

    To see what needs improving!

    Verse 8:

    And so you’ve got a brief and some emerging concepts,

    So you’ve got a brief and some emerging concepts,

    So you’ve got a brief and some emerging concepts,

    That the team can work with!

    Final Chorus:

    That’s what we do with a no-brief client,

    That’s what we do with a no-brief client,

    That’s what we do with a no-brief client,

    Next time, call us sooner!

    —–

    🎼 Do you like songs about engineering? Here’s another one I wrote.

  • Changing the key system to generate new ideas

    Changing the key system is a technique I teach to help people develop new ideas when their thinking has become stuck. It’s one of my techniques for ‘turning the Kalideascope’. In other words, it’s a way to find new creative connections between all the inputs we have gathered.

    What is the key system?

    Design is creating something new. If it already exists, it isn’t design: it’s shopping (for more on this see my post on the Designer’s Paradox). I usually find that the overall shape of that new thing is defined by the answer to a few key questions.

    For example, the overall shape of a city master plan might be defined by the answer to the question: how do we manage surface water. In a tall building, the key question is how do we manage lateral loads. For a song, it might be the rhyming structure or the chord progression.

    In each of these situations, the key system, then, is the flood water system, the lateral stability system, the rhyming structure or the chord sequence.

    The answer to these big questions has such a dominant effect on the solution space that, once they are set, the rest of the ideas develop within these parameters.

    (more…)

  • The Structural Elements Song

    Inspired by Tom Lehrer’s The Elements, I wrote the Structural Elements Song to be an itinerary to an educational world tour of structural form. Like The Elements, it is set to the tune of a Modern Major General by Gilbert and Sullivan.

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  • Creative inspiration from December

    Creative inspiration from December

    A new month, new good intentions. Just like when I started a new exercise book at school, when I would commit to being extra neat (and then forgetting about it a few days later). It’s good time at least to think about how the advent of December can influence your creative work.

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