Frappe Break: 4 Creative Challenges to Expand Your Mind

Frappe Breaks are little doses of creativity that can be injected into your day at any point. They’re meant to inspire, wake you up, and put some fire under your feet! They’re just as potent as any cup of real coffee (or in my case, a good ‘ol frappe), just without all the jitters, and possible midday energy drains.

Brief:

It’s important to continue to think outside the box, and this Frappe Break will help you do just that!

Before the pandemic, I went to an in-person event called, “Make You Matter.” It’s a weeklong event that my company holds at least once a year, that’s dedicated to improving me (and all the other WarnerMedia employees) for the better. While attending this week-long event, I had the opportunity to engage in an interactive session with one of our Studios’ leaders. His session inspired this post!

Before you get started on your “Think Outside the Box” Challenges, check out the resources below. If you get stuck during any of your challenges, use them as a guide.

• Ideo is a global design company. You can use their courses or blog to bolster your design thinking skills.
• Wikipedia is the ultimate free digital encyclopedia, that continues to evolve. Did you know that they offer a Random Article Button? Go ahead and click the link to see it in action! You can use it to expand your knowledge, and guide you during the challenges.
• The Medici Effect happens when you use information that you learn in other disciplines to inform the decisions you make to a completely unrelated topic. The term was made famous by Frans Johansson in his book, “The Medici Effect.” After completing the challenges below, continue your learnings by reading the book!
• Oblique Strategies is the 1975 brainchild of musician Brian Eno and artist Peter Schmidt. It’s a card deck that lists random questions, sayings, and tasks. It was created to help musicians and artists overcome their creative blocks.

Deliverables:

I am tasking you with solving a few creative problems. Each exercise will have one (1) deliverable.

Challenge #1: Save the Cat!

The purpose of this first activity is to walk a mile in somebody else’s shoes. Let’s say you’re a civilian and you’re called to save a cat that’s stuck in a tree. In this exercise, you’re not allowed to save the cat in a traditional way (i.e. using a ladder to climb up the tree.)

• Start off by brainstorming different tools that a professional (i.e. a firefighter) might use
• Then think about the surrounding area. Is the cat in a park, is it in a neighborhood, etc. What’s around that could help?
• Consider who is around you. Can they help you save the cat in some way?
• Start solving the problem.
• Write 3 ways you can save the cat and choose the best one.

Challenge #2: Opposite Day

To get started with this challenge, you need to identify a simple problem. You can use this handy list of “first-world” problems to help you choose one.

Once you’ve chosen a problem, write down one way to solve it.

Once you solve the problem, take it to the next level! 👇

• Now that you have your idea that you think will solve your problem, try not solving the problem! Create a list of ways that will not solve the problem!
• Do what you want to do here! Maybe you want to add to the problem that you were trying to solve so that you can find creative ways not to solve the problem. It doesn’t matter!

Challenge #3: Trash Heap

Let’s make a TV show! With this “Trash Heap” exercise, I’m challenging you to write down 100 bad ideas before you leave the page.

After writing down these bad ideas, take a look at each one and start making connections. Use these connections to create a cohesive TV show concept! (Think about the Medici Effect as you do this exercise.)

Key Things to Remember:

• You must write down 100 ideas before you leave the page, no matter how bad they may be.
• You will have a HUGE trash heap by the time you finish the page, but that’s what makes this fun. You may find that it’s a bit difficult to get your idea down to one!
• You can use the Oblique Strategies if you get stuck. Here is a second set of prompts if you need more help!

🌟 Extra Credit: The Extra Mile Challenge

Now that you’ve successfully completed the creative exercises above, you can choose to go the extra mile!

Pick one of the ideas you created above. Ask the following questions to help refine your ideas:

• What’s the easiest idea to accomplish?
• Does this idea work without context?
• Will this idea appeal to people who don’t care?
• Will this idea work for all of your senses?

No matter what your idea is, these questions will help you gain clarity!

My Results:

Not going to lie, this is a lot and I want to fully complete all the exercises before I share. Stay tuned for my results!

Your Results: 

I want to see how you did! Submit your deliverables to Human Resources if you’d like to be featured on the community’s Employee Resource Group page!