Creativity isn't one big idea. It's the link between two that didn't belong together.

The myth of the big idea makes creativity sound like lightning: it strikes, or it doesn't. The good ideas I've had weren't single bolts. They were links between two things that didn't obviously belong together.

A pattern from one industry solving a problem in another. A line from a book that reframed a client's whole brief. The raw material was already there. The work was noticing the connection, which is mostly a function of how widely you've read and how unrelated your inputs are.

That's why I chase range over depth in what I take in. Stock the mind with enough unrelated things and the connections start finding you. A narrow diet of design references produces narrow design.