Oflow for iOS offers 100 ways to help trigger creativity

A wise man once said, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."

Independent developer Tanner Christensen just released Oflow 1.0 for iOS, his lifestyle app that enhances creativity by helping users to see their creative challenge from a new perspective. Designers, inventors, and artists are expected to regularly give birth to new ideas, but engineers, salesmen, and teachers must also find creative means of accomplishing their goals. Oflow offers 100 proven techniques for re-framing any problem and enabling any user to enter the natural state of flow.

Feature Highlights:

* Oflow is designed to help you be more creative

* Oflow is filled with 100 proven, creative methods that will have you coming up with great ideas in no time

* From creating a mind map to drawing in the dark, Oflow will help you break through any creative block

* Keep notes and favorites

* Share ideas and methods by email

The inspiration for the app came to Christensen as a result of his experience working with creative people (artists, writers, filmmakers, teachers, dancers, musicians, etc.), who consistently experienced periods of frustration while working on a creative project or a personal problem. Because so many creatives have their iPhone nearby, Christensen conceived of the app that became Oflow.

Each time the user opens the app, he or she is presented with one of 100 different suggestions for re-establishing the magical mental state of flow, where ideas, patterns, and concepts become clear without effort. The 100 methods are displayed at random, and the app allows users to bookmark their favorites. Some examples include: focusing on your 5 senses, asking "why?" five times, pretending you are a cartoon, free writing, looking to your past, focusing on the process, people watching, and making your problem or project into a joke. If an insight occurs while using the app, it can be saved in the Notes section.

Example Methods:

* Set Smaller Goals - Identify what you're trying to do and then break it down into smaller goals. Write the goals down somewhere and check one off as you complete it as a way of monitoring your creative progress. (Method #84)

* Disprove the Facts - What are 10 facts about your problem or situation? How can you force a change to at least one of those facts to make it untrue? Use your imagination and push boundaries. (Method #57)

* People Watch - Create stories for people you see. Ask yourself, "How would that person handle my problem?" By removing yourself from your situation, you allow your mind to pursue creative outcomes that may seem somewhat unreasonable. (Method #9)

* Think Big to Small - Look at what the smallest, simplest solution would be for getting back into the flow right now. Then use your imagination to come up with the largest solution. Plot where you would like to be on the chart and get started. (Method #70)

* Make a Matrix - Draw a square matrix and break it into 10 columns and 10 rows. In the top of each row write down one unique idea, and do the same on all of the left columns. Then combine ideas in the open cells. (Method #90)

Oflow is based on a relatively new branch of psychological research, positive psychology. Whereas psychologists have generally studied behavior, emotion and thought, and the various imbalances and disease states to which they are each susceptible, positive psychology takes a different approach. Its goal is to explore and understand positive human functioning in an effort to help individuals realize their full potential and experience happiness and fulfillment. According to Wikipedia, "Flow is the mental state of operation in which a person in an activity is fully immersed in a feeling of energized focus, full involvement, and success in the process of the activity. Proposed by Mihaly Cs kszentmihalyi, the positive psychology concept has been widely referenced across a variety of fields."

"Even the most creative people sometimes get stuck," commented Tanner Christensen. "Oflow will help break your creative logjam and get ideas flowing again."

Device Requirements:

* iPhone 3GS/4/4S, iPod touch (3rd/4th generation), and iPad 1/2/3

* Requires iOS 5.1 or later (iOS 5 tested)

* 1.2 MB

Pricing and Availability:

Oflow 1.0 is $0.99 (USD) and available worldwide exclusively through the App Store in the Lifestyle category. Review copies are available on request.