by Selina Allerstorfer -

Impulse #4 – Wreck this journal

Early this week I found myself procrastinating again and I stumbled upon a book I got for Christmas some years ago: Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith. The author stated in her acknowledgment that this book is dedicated to perfectionists all over the world; and I totally understand why. I would say I am a perfectionist myself and to be honest the idea of “destroying” a totally new book made me feel a bit unwell, but I guess that’s where real creativity and inspiration start, outside of your comfort and what you know.

This book has around 220 pages, where each page is a creative prompt, an invitation to mess around, destroy, let loose and have fun, it feels like a permission to play. I journaled a lot in my teenage years and I wanted everything to be perfect especially the first few pages. One of the first prompts was to “spill coffee on this page”. It took me some time to really bring myself to do it, knowing that the coffee will not just spill on this page, but also the rest of the book. I was stressed to be honest. But while doing it, felt quite freeing and fun. I mean there are still some pages, where I am having a hard time doing them, but I guess this is just a process. I am so used to try to make everything perfect and shiny. Every project needs to be efficient and optimized and there is no room for mistakes or failure. So maybe with every page I give myself the permission to just have fun.

I think this book is in a strong relation with the “Do First, Think Later” idea I wrote about in my last blog. The prompts are weird and illogical, like taking the journal to the shower, but it helps to start creating on an impulse without planning it too much. It’s all about just start doing it, get messy and see where the chaos leads. This book forces you to start with your gut instead of overthinking it with your head.

There are also a lot of pages where you need to destroy the page like it ripping it apart, crumbling it up or cutting into several pages. The good thing about having to destroy things is that you basically can’t fail. This removes all the pressure, self-judgement and need for perfectionisms. It’s all about the activity itself rather than the outcome. It’s all about fun and having a good time, embracing the imperfection.

Another important aspect of the book is, that they work with creative constraints like draw the page with glue. Instead of having infinite choices of a blank canvas you can get a silly prompt that forces you to get creative within a given limit or constraint. I think having a clear prompt can prevent the paralysis of endless choices that sometimes block the creativity.

Even though this is an analog book, which gives more ideas to get chaotic, messy and imperfect than a website, but I think the core ideas can be translated into the digital creative playground, and I think this webspace should exactly be a place for creatives to just let go, get chaotic, mess around. It should be a place where not everything needs to be perfect, it should be a place to just have fun and be creative.

AI was used to check spelling and grammar and better clarity.

by Selina Allerstorfer -

Impulse #2 – Finding Inspiration and Ideas

Yesterday I had a big block trying to find an idea for my next assignment. Honestly, I felt quite lost. I was sitting at my desk, just staring at my laptop and got more frustrated every minute. My brain felt completely blank and I was starting to get angry at myself, because I felt I was wasting so much time especially since I had plans to meet a friend later. I could feel how the pressure of “I need to get an idea now” totally blocked all my creativity.

I almost canceled on my friend, but then I thought maybe it is a good idea to step back from the project for a while, since I was already frustrated anyway. I am happy I did it. At my friends’ place I told her about the struggles, and she asked me a bunch of questions about what project and what I need to do. This already helped me to start getting some initial ideas.

At some point of the conversation, she stood up and grabbed a graphic design book. I was a bit confused at the beginning because the book was mostly filled with posters and logos from throughout the years and this was not really my assignment topic. But she told me whenever she feels stuck with a project, she looks into the book to get some fresh inspiration.

She gave me a little challenge:

  1. Pick a random page for the aesthetic.
  2. Pick a random page for the theme/topic.
  3. Pick a random page for the character or the main element.


It was really fun flipping through the book and finding inspiration in things where I wouldn’t normally look. I arrived at her place with zero ideas and two hours later I left with a brain filed with new ideas and inspiration. Just by talking to her and flipping through that book.

What I take away from this evening

It showed me once again, that when I want to work on a creative project, I can’t just sit in front of my laptop and wait for the perfect idea to just pop into my head. It just doesn’t work for me to force creativity on the spot especially while being in the same environment all the time.

In addition, I realized that I sometimes rely too much on inspiration from digital tools like Pinterest, but it only shows you things based on what you like, so honestly there is no new input that challenges your thinking.

Two reminders for my future creative blocks:

* Inspiration can be everywhere and sometimes it is better to close the laptop and to look for inspiration in the real world. Looking at a random book, observing the surroundings or just talking to someone who might give me a random starting point I need to get moving.

* Taking a break, especially if I am already frustrated, can be very helpful. Even if it’s just for an hour. It can help to get some new and fresh ideas.

So, don’t get stuck in front of the laptop. Change the environment and start with a random input to see where it leads you.

And shoutout to Stefi <3

AI was used to check spelling and grammar and better clarity.

by Selina Allerstorfer -

Impulse #1 – CoSA

Last week I visited CoSA – Center of Science Activites in Graz. CoSA offers twelve different areas, where visitors can explore technical and scientific relations and phenomena in a hands-on way. Instead of a strict and typical ‘do not touch’ they follow the rule of ‘please touch’, encouraging a playful discovery. I visited three of the areas: The Experimentarium, The MedLab and Technology.

The Experimentarium is a playful, curiosity-driven space full of scientific phenomena and hands-on surprises. Introductions and exhibits were hidden, and you needed to find the tiny drawers and covered elements spread throughout the room. The space felt like a playground and as a visitor you got invited to poke around, test things, explore and discover at your own pace.

In the MedLab you could discover the world of medical research. You could slip into the shoe of a medical professional, either as a doctor or a lab technician. There were three patients that needed to be examined, and you could even take a blood sample with real liquid in the syringe. The blood sample needed to be analyzed in the lab to find out the correct diagnosis, which made the experiment surprisingly realistic.

In the Technology Area focused engineering and mobility. You could build your own vehicle by selecting the different components needed for a car. For each component there were even different options to use, like a diesel engine, gasoline engine or electric motor. Once the car was assembled, you can test it in a racing simulation and fine-tune it based on the performance. It was a fun and very interactive way to learn about something complex as a vehicle.

I completely lost track of time during my visit and felt totally immersed in the exhibition. I was genuinely fun. When I reflected on why I enjoyed the exhibition so much, I realized it gives visitor a place to experiment, explore, and play. I felt a bit like a curious kid again.

And that feeling connects to what I want to research about in my master thesis: how interaction design can foster playful, imperfect and low-pressure creativity. We live in a world which pushes us towards productivity, efficiency and optimization and I think we all forgot how it feels to simply just mess around and play without expecting a result. As children playing was our way of learning, discovering new things and processing our environment and I think unfortunately we lost that as adults.

And maybe that is what we should bring that back in our lives. Play more, experiment more and just try things, without judgment and without pressure. This is where the idea for my project is coming from: I want to create an interactive web playground for creatives. A digital space where the goal is not to produce something ‘useful’, but to create something without pressure, where we can set our perfectionism aside and simply create something for the joy of creating.

So, I think this is a reminder for myself, that play isn’t a distraction of creative work, maybe it is a form of creative work; and the kind that brings back energy, curiosity, and inspiration.

AI was used to check spelling and grammar and better clarity.