For some students the 'Creative Tools' might not at first seem relevant or important to the process of 'Creative Thinking'.
I've been using them throughout my career, but not with the names that we've given them or withiut actually realising they exist outside of my mind. Sometimes what may seem like intuition to me, can be ascribed to a 'Creative Tool. So they are useful and are great aids to call upon, particularly when freelancing.
Of all the creative tools we ask our students to explore, There's one I use quite a lot when freelancing - 100mph Thinking. The reason for this is it's the best way to get down as many ideas as possible. This can be quite useful when I only have one day to produce initial ideas for a client presentation. If I'm lucky I might get 2 days to generate ideas, so again it proves very useful.
Research is also very important and I've used this to great effect, again when there's little time to explore many routes. Primary research has led me to many ideas, which I wouldn't have arrived at without first reading about the problem/product etc etc...
So use them, get to know them, and you'll find it becomes second nature when looking for creative solutions.
