Creatomatic Concept Drawing

The Creatomatic is designed to accelerate the imagination and prompt new inventions. It works like a slot machine, but instead of matching symbols, it will randomly juxtapose diagrams of two everyday objects from a selection of thousands. Through free association, the two objects can prompt the invention of an entirely new object, which can be practical or nonsensical. Inspired by the accidental nature of creativity, the Creatomatic uses the technique of surprise to overcome habitual ways of thinking and short circuit rational control. It is designed to help those who do not consider themselves creative to arrive at surprising results.

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Creatomatic Schematic

Download Print Resolution Image (2.5 MB 11″ x 8″)

Below are some examples of the inventions people came up with using the Creatomatic method. I prototyped the idea with staff at the Children’s Museum of Pittsburgh using pieces of colored paper.