The Imagineering Workout : Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles

• Why This Book?
• How to Use This Book
• "Yes, If..."
• Storytelling, Storyboarding
• Dream and Do!
• Your Creative License
• Warming Up
• Getting Started
• Getting Into the Idea Zone
• Techniques
• Shaping and Toning
• Going the Distance
• Strength Building
• Acknowledgments
• Inspiring Resources

The Disney Imagineers, renowned for their ability to turn fantastical ideas into magical realities, confront creative challenges every day. They do so - and succeed - utilizing time-proven techniques and a belief that anything can be achieved if the mind is freed from conventional formulas.

Now, just as you would work out physically for better agility and health, you can shape and develop your imagination by adapting the mental processes and creative techniques the Imagineers have honed over many years to your own home and work life.

The Imagineering Workout : Exercises to Shape Your Creative Muscles will stimulate your creativity, strengthen your ideas, and most importantly, inspire new approaches with interactive, ingenious, and practical creative exercises time-tested and used by the Disney Imagineers. This workout is for anyone who wants to learn new ways to problem-solve tasks or assignments - whether they're creative, logic-oriented, everyday, or event-inspired.

Begin your workout with topics such as Dream and Do, Establishing Objectives, and finding Skills to Match Creativity. We'll show you how to Blurt It Out and Let the Absurd Lead the Way in a brainstorming session. Then explore methods to bulk up your creative muscles, including: Unbuilding Things, Curiosity in Action, Starting at the Back End, and Recalibrating Normal. Create on demand with Deadlines as Motivators and Combining Ideas.

Go the distance by Thinking in Adjectives, Keeping a Bright Idea Bright, and Getting to the Real Solution, then cool off by Refilling the Well, among many other inspiring activities. In addition to the exercises oriented toward individuals, emphasis is also given to ideas for teams and groups.

Get your imagination into the best shape it's ever been in with The Imagineering Workout.

Peggy Van Pelt, Ph.D., co-author of Designing Disney : Imagineering and the Art of the Show, has been with Imagineering for thirty-three years. She has spoken extensively on the topic of inspiring creativity and imagination in the workplace. Recognizing the need for communications skills in the creative area, Peggy has focused her research and study on the design process and on the imagination and how it functions, as well as on the inner workings of the artist's creative process. She firmly believes in practicing what she preaches : "Art teaches me and allows me to create beauty in the world".

You've been told how to think "out of the box," and even been told to throw the box away, but really, isn't it time someone taught you how to create your own box in the first place? The Imagineering Workout: Exercises to Shape your Creative Muscles, will do just that, with interactive, ingenious, and practical exercises that will stimulate your imagination, tone your creative muscles, strengthen ideas, and, most importantly, inspire new approaches. The Imagineering Workout is for anyone who wants to learn new ways to problem-solve challenges, whether they're creative, logic-oriented, everyday, or event-inspired. The ingredients Imagineers use are simple and contain a large measurement of fun, which contributes to shapelier thinking and stronger solutions.