Creativity pertains to the domino effect on two different levels.
First. The domino effect represents a state of flow. After the first tile has dropped, the entire line of tiles is falling, one-by-one, until there is no tile left standing.
So is working in a state of creative flow. After the first couple of awkward lines has been put onto the paper or the first couple of sentences has been typed, there is no stop until a masterpiece emerges.
Second. The domino effect also represents a creative way to deal with mishaps or accidental occurrences. A whole new game (and perhaps a sport) evolved by chance. I remember my grandmother and grandfather used to play domino on the big dining room table, only instead of laying the tiles horizontally they laid it vertically. Looking at them playing, I can imagine how the falling dominoes game was invented…
So are many creative projects. One mistake. One wrong stroke, over heating or mixing the wrong materials can bring to wonderful creations of fine art.
For this week’s inspiration prompt I suggest to derive inspiration from the domino effect. We can benefit both from its representation of creative flow and of dealing with mishaps creatively.
This prompt was inspired by one of my readers – Alexander Gartley – who made this wonderful project, together with his co-workers, to promote a creativity and innovation festival at the Rochester Institute of Technology, where they work:
Dominoes Everywhere from Jared Lyon on Vimeo.
Enjoy the domino effect and get creative!
Share
Share your ideas and thoughts on creativity and the domino effect and leave a comment 🙂
Tags: challenge, creativity, domino effect, flow, Inspiration, Inspiration prompt, Video
I deal in domino effect each and every day. You only need one to knock all the others down. Beautiful.
It IS beautiful. This one can take a lot of time and effort but once it’s down, creativity is flowing abundantly and sometimes your hands aren’t quick enough to write down (or to create) all the greatness that follows.
I love the idea of using the energy generated through accidents to fuel future creativity. It means being able to see opportunity everywhere, being open to new ideas. Many great inventions and discoveries have occurred this way. Also some of my favorite recipes!
I’ve had a lot of happy accidents (as well as not so happy ones). You learn from your success and can also learn and evolve from the less successful endeavors.