Catalyst Ranch’s
Creative Juice Blog
Many of you who have been to the Ranch know that one of the key components of the design is the toys. The toys are provided for a variety of reasons. They remind people of their childhood – either a toy they enjoyed playing with or a toy that they wanted to play with, but never [...]
Are you always coming up with great ideas or tinkering in your basement developing your next invention but don’t know how to bring them to market? Or are you involved in new product development and are interested in tapping into some great brains who don’t happen to work for your company? Well, IdeaConnection is a company [...]
Name: Rick Gurolnick Company: Neotoy Area of Expertise: Design, Invention, New Product Concepts and Markets, Kid Marketing What sparks your creativity? Seeing a great example of Art or Design. For example, look at this great photography of an off road race in South America, incredible photos: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2010/01/dakar_rally_2010.html Thinking of a lightly trod niche of new opportunity [...]
I've partaken in quite a few discussion around how you go about creating a culture of innovation within a company. No matter how large and well-organized a company seems to be, very few appear to have figured out how to actually infuse their corporate culture with innovation and make it a key aspect of how they [...]
I know that you can't always get to Chicago for your meeting and finding creative meeting space seems to be the country's best kept secret, so I thought I would start introducing you to some of our friends in this selective niche. Yes, there's this underground group of us who all believe that environment is an [...]
A few evenings back I attended the Cyriel Kortleven event at Catalyst Ranch, Chicago. Cyriel is an innovator/author with New Shoes Today in Belgium. I always take away a fun nugget or two of information when I leave these events. But I have been thinking about one idea in particular that is actually an idea gold [...]
My best thoughts come when I am engaged in other endeavors. You know like working out at the gym or visiting blogs of other creative types. I am always on the hunt for new and inspiring places where I can put pencil to paper or click away into cyberspace. When I need a break from my [...]
I am sitting here trying to think up a name for a new product. It is funny that while I have performed this act a hundred times before --- never has an idea come while sitting down, looking at a blank page waiting for the name to just show up. I just isn’t going to happen [...]
I was just checking the Catalyst Ranch calendar to see what creative talent may be stopping by and I found something that may be of interest -- especially to those of you living in the Chicagoland area. Cyriel Kortleven from NEW SHOES TODAY will make his way from Belgium on March 31 from 6 to 9 [...]
We have been exploring the many facets of brainstorming and creativity. At Catalyst Ranch we experience creativity, innovation and group brainstorming on a daily basis. But, what if you are tackling an individual project or problem. Can you still work creatively to find an answer? Can you brainstorm solo? We decided to seek insight from Gregg [...]