Charles Leon
Inspiration - The Act of Breathing

I’ve always been fascinated by the moment an idea arrives — not the neat, tidy moment when it’s been polished and wrapped in ribbon, but the untidy, slightly breathless instant when something shifts in the mind and a new possibility becomes visible.

Inspiration - The Act of Breathing
Creative Thinking, Design Thinking
Charles Leon
Why Designers Think Differently

When someone eats your last Rolo, you feel a totally disproportionate sense of loss. It’s not about the chocolate. It’s about the gap. The narrative was broken.

So, we became wired not just for survival, but for pattern and narrative. We became restless, creative creatures—itchy with the need to make meaning. We drew patterns in the dirt, scratched stories on cave walls, and eventually, designed complex systems, cities, and even shoes that glow in the dark. All of this because our brains, forever uncomfortable with uncertainty, keep asking, What happens next?

Why Designers Think Differently
Charles Leon
The Transformative Power of Sketching & ...

Sketching has enormous benefits for mental health and for problem solving.

The Transformative Power of Sketching & Creative Pursuits
Charles Leon
How Picasso Helped me publish my Book

There is a very famous film of Picasso painting live. About halfway through creating an effortless masterpiece he says “ Ca va tres mal” (it’s going very badly). Even someone like Picasso struggled to get a painting to go where he wanted it to go. It’s his self-belief, confidence and self-trust that allows him to work through the “bad” stage and experience that tells him that he can make it right. I’m certainly not in that league, but that helped me to understand that I should push through (although sometime you can try too hard and take a sketch too far) and trust my instinct.

How Picasso Helped me publish my Book
Charles Leon
A Cotswold Recce

I don't think many places in the UK have so much condensed beauty in such a relatively small area as the Cotswolds.

A Cotswold Recce
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Asking Questions. 5 key questions for solving complex problems.

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Asking Questions. 5 key questions for solving complex problems.

There is nothing more important for creative thinking and problem solving than asking good questions. Good questions start the process of creative and analytical thinking, adventure, experimentation, and discovery.

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Will the Sun Rise Tomorrow? Critical Thinking.

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Will the Sun Rise Tomorrow? Critical Thinking.

If the sun rises on the eastern horizon every morning, are we right to expect it to do so tomorrow?

Philosopher, David Hume says our expectation is irrational, and, as I’ve mentioned before, irrationality is what we do best and goes to the heart of how we think we think.

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Clouds and Clocks

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Clouds and Clocks

Systems and reductionist thinking.

According to Karl Popper, all problems are either Clocks or Clouds. A clock is something you can take to pieces analyze the parts and work out how it works. A cloud is a dynamic system, you can’t it apart. The way to understand a cloud is to study it in a holistic way.

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