In class we were given the assignment to review apps in order to boost creativity. I’m not sure if we were meant to find apps that we felt worked for us or to give honest reviews on apps that we felt stood out to us upon selection. I chose to give honest reviews about the apps that stood out the most to me and if they lived up to the descriptions given by them.
The first app I chose was brainsparker, an app that provides an exercise to stretch someones creative muscles. The app contains 200 cards containing thought-provoking words and phrases and they say you simply have to shake your device to shuffle the pack and produce a new card. This app is all about the randomness and looking at what card you picked and see how that relates to the project you’re having issues with. I downloaded it on my Ipad and and tested out the cards while thinking about a project I wanted to redo for my portfolio. Essentially I looked at cards of random phrases and images to see what it sparked in terms of creativity for my project. I can’t say it really worked for me for the 30 minutes that I was using it to test it but maybe it requires continuous use. The app was true to its word and did give me random cards and when I shook my Ipad it gave me a new deck. I would give it another chance to see if it was effective but I do understand the purpose of the app. The downside is that you have to pay for different categories like color.
The second app I chose was SimpleMind, now this one was one I was excited to try. When it comes to me working on projects I like to write down whatever comes to my mind whether I did research or if I’m just jotting down thoughts. This app help you organize your thoughts into something that’s actually going to work. So if I had dozens of ideas that don’t seem to connect up with each other, mind mapping is a technique that could help. I am not the most organized person, my mind especially can be hectic. SimpleMind allows for you to to transfer your mind map across devices which can be helpful as a backup in the event that you leave one of your devices home. One issue I had was that I would have preferred a tutorial upon opening the map or even just starting from scratch because automatically an outline appears and you have to figure out where an idea can go rather than just putting down your ideas.
