Slicing into pieces for "partial transformation"

The "Louis Vuitton Traveling Exhibition" ran for about two months starting late April in central Tokyo.

Featuring over 1,000 pieces, the exhibition incorporated various innovative elements in its venue design and layout. Furthermore, being a free exhibition, it reportedly drew crowds daily. Hearing about its popularity, combined with seeing it mentioned several times in articles and advertisements, piqued my curiosity and prompted me to visit.

For those who lived through the bubble era, the Louis Vuitton brand is an indispensable presence. It was a minor social phenomenon: streets overflowed with LV monogrammed wallets and bags, and Japanese tourists swarmed overseas shops en masse. Back then, I was a broke college student, merely gazing blankly at that glamorous world.

Visiting the venue still clinging to that old, superficial enthusiasm, I was struck by how shallow my knowledge and assumptions had been... I was deeply humbled and astonished by the sheer magnitude and depth of the influence this brand has had on culture and lifestyle.

Louis Vuitton is a brand that innovatively redefined travel style through luggage. It achieved this by creating designs that were sturdy yet lightweight and highly functional. Just seeing the many one-of-a-kind, custom-made pieces on display here, spanning from the mid-19th century to the present, makes that point abundantly clear.

The diverse items carried by the wealthy and professionals on their journeys—large wardrobe trunks holding multiple dresses, shoes, and cosmetics; desk-style pieces that transported an entire study; cases for numerous batons or full tea sets; even trunks with vanity mirrors crafted for kabuki actors...

Each piece is uniquely individual, and gazing at them brings scenes from different eras vividly to mind. While I can't be certain if my interpretations are accurate, it was an exciting exhibition that certainly sparked the imagination.

Paying attention to things I usually overlook and engaging my mind

Opportunities like this are precious to me. More than just gaining knowledge about global brands or clearing up misconceptions, they allow me to immerse myself in a world of fantasy right there. Being able to reach that state liberates my mind, which has become rigid with common sense and preconceptions, gradually softening it.

Louis Vuitton has realized the value of "carrying your everyday tastes and scenes directly into extraordinary journeys."
Louis Vuitton has realized this value. Expectations are brilliantly subverted—things you'd never think to bring along, things that simply shouldn't be taken—and one unexpected occurrence follows another. Because they don't fit your usual framework, wild imaginings naturally spring forth.

Breaking free from the shackles of assumptions and knowledge to unleash imagination is fundamental to idea generation. However, if you don't consciously create such opportunities in your daily life, you won't be able to do it immediately when the moment comes. Whether it's intensive training or maintaining your mind by skillfully utilizing everyday events, both are forms of mental stretching—what I call "mental gymnastics"—and something I highly recommend.

Now, let's proceed with our topic based on the content linked to the second class (broadcast on 6/24) of the online video learning service " schoo WEB-campus Brain Exercises (6 sessions total) ". Each time, we hold an idea contest with three planners from Dentsu Inc. This time's theme was "Things that make waiting at railroad crossings fun".

We've all had moments where something bothers us, and we think, "Can't I do something about this?" but then we brush it off because it seems like too much trouble. In those situations, if you don't give up on thinking and just make a little effort to engage your brain, you can weave "Brain Exercises" into your daily life.

Don't rush to find an answer, and certainly don't demand a brilliant idea. Just let your imagination run wild. Imagine things like, "Wouldn't it be nice if there was something like this?" or "Wouldn't it be fun if it were like this?" It's important to polish that imagination that's gotten rusty as an adult, even if it's just a little bit at a time.

This topic was set with that intention in mind. Look around you, reflect on your daily life, and consider various similar topics. Once you've written down a bunch of them all at once, a different awareness will start to sprout whenever the occasion arises.

Think relentlessly, think dirtily, think until you've thought it all through.

In the previous online class, we shared in real-time the process of brainstorming ideas without hesitation. This time, we took it further: after exhausting the initial ideas, we categorized them based on similar conceptual perspectives. With the awareness that "this area seems like a vein worth mining" or "there might be unexplored territory here," we challenged ourselves to refine the ideas once more.

Let me introduce a few ideas born from this process.

When categorizing the ideas, many focused on the crossing mechanism or the passing train itself. However, the perspective of creating something to entertain people waiting face-to-face was unique. In fact, Germany has already implemented a traffic light system called "STREETPONG." It allows people waiting on opposite sides to play a game against each other, and it seems to have been effective in reducing jaywalking.

While IT advances across all fields, automatic railroad crossing barriers have existed for about 60 years with little change in their form. That said, grand visions like "what will the future of railroad crossings look like?" or "let's change the mechanism itself" lack practicality. The insight that simply leveraging what already exists and adding a little IT can create change feels promising.

In actual work, we repeatedly think things through over and over until we arrive at a proposalable idea. We dig here, dig there, dig deeper into what we've uncovered, and keep digging relentlessly. The ideas that come to mind initially are the same ones anyone would think of. The real battle begins after exhausting those. We think, think, and think until we've thought it through more persistently and thoroughly than anyone else.

But we don't just think blindly; we employ techniques and frameworks.

You might wonder, "But won't ideas dry up if you keep thinking like that?" If you just let your imagination run wild and improvise as you go, that might be true. That's why we employ various techniques and templates to make our minds work in ways that allow us to mass-produce ideas.

Following last column's "Extremization, " let's introduce "Partial Transformation."
No matter how jarring it feels, we generate ideas by partially transforming (swapping out) one element—be it the setting (time, place), people, or objects—and replacing it with something else.

In fact, the Oogiri ideas I mentioned earlier were also selected using this method. Each idea emerged by transforming the situation ("city streets → sports field") or a part of an object ("circuit breaker bar → electronic display board").

When you start wondering, "What kind of thinking led to this?" about the things and events around you, you'll find many examples of this "partial substitution" approach.

Take "onigirazu," a hit product and buzzword from last year. While its ease of preparation and approachable name contributed to its popularity, its spread on social media is said to have been driven by its stylish appearance and variety. The ability to showcase colorful fillings sets it apart from the more rustic onigiri. By replacing the bread with rice and presenting the rest like a sandwich, it likely captured the hearts of young women.

While reading a magazine, I came across a product called the "Amazing Phone." Its concept is truly unique. It looks like a landline phone, but it's actually a mobile phone. Since it uses wireless communication, there's no need to install phone lines. Shifting the perspective to imagine it in offices or homes reveals an essential need. In places like evacuation centers, construction sites, or election offices, there's a need for phones that can be set up quickly for a limited time and shared by everyone. This idea brilliantly breaks the conventional wisdom that cell phones are compact and portable.

This partial transformation concept is also frequently used in entertainment like novels, manga, and movies. Common patterns include historical figures time-traveling to the present, or conversely, someone from the modern era swapping places with a historical figure. Classic examples include "Sengoku Jieitai" (Warring States Self-Defense Forces), and more recent ones like "Nobunaga Concerto". It's a concept heavily used in TV commercials too, so try to spot it while you watch.

Anyone can turn coincidence into necessity

The key to "partial transformation" is, first and foremost, to break down an object into pieces or parts, like a jigsaw puzzle or a model kit. This is where we start in our daily "mental exercises."

Train yourself to immediately break down objects or situations in front of you into their constituent elements. Instead of just looking at them vaguely, engage your mind and consider how they are structured. Sometimes, take it a step further and imagine transforming those elements into something different—this will further strengthen your mind.

By regularly maintaining this "mental gymnastics" template, you develop the ability to repeatedly generate ideas, refining them through various approaches until they become sharp and polished. While sudden flashes of inspiration are rare miracles, anyone can turn chance into inevitability through this gradual accumulation.

The third session of our online "Brain Exercises" class will be live-streamed this Friday, July 22nd, starting at 7:00 PM. The theme for the brainstorming session is "Business cards that spark conversation even at first meeting." We hope you'll join us.

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Class Details: " schoo WEB-campus Brain Exercises - Idea Generation Training Practiced by Dentsu Inc.'s Active Planners, Session 3 "