Description:

Creative thinking skills are now considered crucial for thriving in our rapidly changing world. Over the past decade, creativity has increasingly been cited as the most important leadership quality. Given the numerous challenges the world faces, it's needed more than ever.

We need to change the way people think about creativity, making it more inclusive.

Our brains tend to form fixed ways of thinking, reinforced by our educational system and societal norms that promote conformity over free expression and creative thinking.

Squiggla aims to counter this.

Developed in Aotearoa New Zealand, Squiggla is a hands-on, visual thinking programme that fosters creative thinking skills through non-judgemental, intentional, and inventive abstract mark making—dots, lines, and squiggles. It is designed for people of all ages and backgrounds.

Inspired by the Creative Thinking Project from the Chartwell Trust and Auckland University, with contributions from Professor Peter O'Connor and neuroscientist Professor Cathy Stinear, Squiggla seeks to inspire creativity within everyone. It recognises that the brain benefits from frequent (neuro) exercise to develop connectivity, just like any other muscle.
Squiggla encourages breaking from familiar habits, disrupting barriers to in-the-moment creation, and relaxing into playful exploration by connecting hand, eye, and mind – ‘brain gym' that fosters the forming of new connections in your brain.

The Squiggla brand aims to be accessible and non-threatening to a broad audience, young and old alike. This is because many people decide early in life that they ‘can’t draw’ and therefore ‘aren’t creative’. The brand lowers the barrier to trying, framing the variety of Squigglaworks without competing with them. The complexity of the works dictated a simple, purposeful brand solution providing structure and meaning.
The name Squiggla, memorable and fun, reinforces the physical mark-making activity. The logo mark is clear and bold, able to stand out from surrounding hand-drawn marks, and is appealing to both children and adults.

The base colour palette is black and white, complemented by three bright supporting colours to aid communication and navigation of key ideas.
As the brand has expanded into art fairs, schools, and boardrooms, it has evolved to include a range of merchandise supporting mark making—free tools and resources, a gallery app, and an expanding community of users.

The Squiggla programme has been successfully adopted by schools, aged care facilities, art fairs, and social groups across New Zealand. There is growing interest in hosting Squiggla workshops in corporate environments, reflecting the positive impact of creative thinking on well-being and health.

Through its association with Rob Gardner of the Chartwell Trust, Squiggla has been endorsed by the Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, the Aotearoa Art Fair, and the Sydney Contemporary art fairs. It is a regular feature in many New Zealand art galleries. Although aligning with 'art' might seem counter to democratising creativity, it has provided a platform to socialise the brand and promote it within a community of like-minded individuals.