1. BUILDING YOUR
PROBLEM SOLVING TOOLKIT
AUDREY CARR
DIGITAL STRATEGY DIRECTOR, LEO BURNETT TORONTO

2. ABOUT ME
// WEB DESIGNER
// INFORMATION ARCHITECT
// DIGITAL STRATEGIST
// CRITICAL MASS
// ORGANIC
// LEO BURNETT
// USER-CENTERED DESIGN
// DESIGN THINKING
// CREATIVE PROBLEM SOLVER

3. Technology is a big destroyer of
emotion and truth. Technology
doesn’t do anything for creativity.
Yeah it makes things easier, you
can get home sooner, but it
doesn’t make you a more
creative person. That’s the
disease you have to fight in any
creative field: ease of use.
- Jack White. It Might Get Loud

4. PROCESS?

5. WHAT IS THE REAL
PROBLEM?
Dan Roam: The Back of the Napkin

6. METHODS!

7. IDENTIFY YOUR
PROBLEM SOLVING
STYLE

9. UNDERSTAND
YOUR CLIENT’S
BUSINESS

10. VISUALIZE THE PROBLEM

11. THINK ABOUT ECOSYSTEMS

12. THINK DIFFERENT

13. UNCOVER
YOUR BRAND
POINT OF VIEW

14. FIVE QUESTIONS TO KICK- START
YOUR DISCOVERY
1. HOW HAVE PEOPLE’S BEHAVIOURS CHANGED?
2. MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHY? WHAT CULTURAL TRENDS ARE
INFLUENCING THEIR ATTITUDES AND BEHAVIOURS?
3. WHY WAS THE BRAND CREATED? WHAT TRUTHS SHOULD BE INCLUDED
IN THE BRAND’S MISSION STATEMENT?
4. WHAT DOES THE BRAND STAND FOR? BELIEVE IN?
5. WHAT WOULD HAPPEN IF THE BRAND DISAPPEARED TOMORROW?

15. GET
DIRTY!

16. GETTING UP CLOSE & PERSONAL
1. NEVER DO IT ALONE
2. MAKE A PLAN:
• WHO
• WHERE
• HOW
• HOW LONG
• WHEN
3. HAVE A HYPOTHESIS
4. ENGAGE ALL THE SENSES
5. PLAN YOUR ROUTE:
• BECOME
• TALK
• DETECT

17. FINDING
YOUR WAY

19. Making the simple complicated is
commonplace; making the
complicated simple, awesomely
simple, that's creativity.
- Charles Mingus

20. WHAT’S IN YOUR TOOLKIT?

21. RECOMMENDED READING
PROBLEM SOLVING STYLES
• Basadur Creative Problem Solving Profile
• Six Thinking Hats
• 10 Faces of Innovation
BUSINESS PROBLEMS
• Business Model Innovation
• Strategy Maps
• The Back of the Napkin
• Zag
• Blue Ocean Strategy
• Re-Imagine
BRAND STRATEGY
• The Brand Gap
• Purpose: The Starting Point of Great Companies

22. RECOMMENDED READING
RESEARCH
• A Designer’s Research Manual
• How to Be an Explorer of the World
GETTING UNSTUCK
• Unstuck
• Thinkertoys