The Power of Constraints

One of the things I learned in the years I studied creativity and innovation was the power of constraints.  While the operating cliche was always to "think outside the box," what that normally produced was a popcorn effect with lots of ideas with little substance.  What seems to produce richer ideas is to carefully define a new box and then think deeply within its boundaries.

An example of the power of constraints came to me from my friend Polly Hubbard yesterday.  It is a short film contest with extremely restrictive constraints ... no more than 3 minutes long, with a prescribed six-line dialogue.  Within that box, anything was possible.  The winner of the contest was announced a few days and it is a moving film worth watching.  One of the fascinating things though is that you can know every word of the dialogue and still be surprised and moved.  Here's the dialog:

What’s That?
It’s a Unicorn
Never seen one up close before
Beautiful
Get away, get away

I’m sorry.

Now take a short break and enjoy this lovely example of creative film making:  Porcelain Unicorn.