The Dot and The Line activity was created by Parnes, Noller & Biondi (1977) as part of their Creative Problem Solving programs. Since 2021, I have been inviting students, colleagues, and clients to complete this activity to help them better understand their thought patterns and uncover internal barriers that hinder their imagination and creative potential.

Imagination is our superpower. We spend most of the day remembering, planning, or thinking about the future, but as feelings of anxiety and loneliness have increased, our imagination has become constrained and underdeveloped. Paradoxically, when we all need new ways forward, and fresh perspectives to approach problems and think about the future, we are stuck and most of our ideas are negative or permutations of what we have already seen.  

To help people reclaim their imagination, I’m inviting everyone to complete the activity and learn more about themselves. Below are the instructions for the activity and how to submit your output.

If you want to learn more about the meaning of your output, please get in touch!

Instructions

1. Watch “The Dot & The Line” short film by Norton Juster (10 minutes).
Do you identify yourself as being closer to the straight line or the squiggle?

2. Draw one stick-figure of yourself, indicating your degree of “straight-line-ishness” and “squiggle-ishness” by the relative lengths of the legs of the figure, one being the straight line, the other the squiggle. Create the drawing in any way you want – digitally or using pencils, markers, etc.

3. Upload a picture or a file of the final drawing!

Thank you so much for daring to imagine!