If you have an Amazon Echo at home, chances are you’ve used it to help you with a mundane task around the house.
However, for creative types, your Echo devices can offer much more to your artistic routine than weather updates and alarm clocks.
We're highlighting some free creativity-focused Amazon Alexa skills, from creative writing prompts to imaginative meditations, that will help engage your inner artist, designer, or inventor and get over any pesky creative block you might be facing.
How to Install Alexa Skills
For most of these skills, you can install them by clicking the Enable button next to the skills page in the Alexa app for Android or iOS, or asking Alexa to open the skill by name. Other skills take advantage of the Flash Briefing feature; you can add them to your Flash Briefing by finding the skill in the Alexa app and selecting the toggle next to the skill name.
1. Digiday TLDR
Most creatives are familiar with Digiday as a top resource for industry updates and digital marketing news. Now, you can have all of Digiday’s top stories, as well as news from its sister sites Glossy (covering fashion and luxury) and Tradestreaming (covering fintech), read to you while you grab your morning coffee with the Digiday TLDR skill.
Simply add Digiday to your Flash Briefing—your daily rundown of news read by Alexa. You can even reorder your Flash Briefing so that Digiday is read first.
2. TED Talks
One of the best ways to get inspired is to listen to other creatives who have succeeded in their projects or to world-renowned speakers who offer a new perspective on interesting topics. TED (which is an acronym for Technology, Entertainment, and Design) is a mega-successful global conference series that invites individuals to give TED Talks about “ideas worth spreading.” While you’ve probably watched a TED talk on YouTube, now you can listen to one while multitasking on projects or planning out your day.
With the TED Talks, you can ask Alexa to play you the latest TED talk, play a random TED Talk for spontaneous inspiration, or search for specific talks by topic or speaker name. Start with top creative TED talks such as “Your Elusive Creative Genius" by writer Elizabeth Gilbert or “Tales of Creativity and Play" by designer Tim Brown from IDEO. As of right now, this Alexa skill doesn’t allow you to pause and resume talks, so you’ll need to finish each talk in one sitting.
3. Creative Coach
A lesser-known skill, Creative Coach turns Alexa into an on-demand creative mentor, offering you a new artistic prompt each day in creative thinking, drawing, writing, or design. You can specify what kind of prompt you’d like to receive, asking, “Alexa, get a writing prompt from Creative Coach” or “Alexa, tell Creative Coach I need a drawing exercise.” Alternatively, you can let Creative Coach decide the type of prompt you’ll receive.
4. Alpha Waves
Relaxation is just as important to creativity as time spent working. However, you can hack your downtime to be as imaginative as possible. Enter Alpha Waves, a skill that uses sound therapy to help your mind fully unwind and tap into its creative consciousness.
Human brains consist of millions of different neurons that fire off electrical signals to communicate with one another. When these signals synchronize, they create brain waves, which can be detected on neurological devices such as EEGs. Different bandwidths of brain waves are linked to different aspects of human consciousness. Alpha waves (8-12 Hz) are usually created when you are daydreaming, meditating, or in a state of mindfulness. Scientists have discovered a correlation between increased alphas waves, reduced depressive symptoms, and improved creative thinking.
Certain low-frequency sound patterns can induce alpha wave generation and help your mind enter a state of relaxation and creativity. Alpha Waves, developed by sound engineers who worked for the Blue Man Group and Cirque du Soleil, uses powerful audio-technology and isochronic tones to stimulate alpha waves. Users can launch the skill to start the tones and change course with commands such as “pause,” “resume,” and “start over,” Several users also report that the Alpha Waves skill also helps them fall asleep.
If you’re looking for more help to get a good night's rest, view our primer on how to sleep better with a smart home.
5. Deepak Chopra
Not all creative mentors need to be designers, writers, or painters as many creatives learn their deepest lessons from spiritual and emotional leaders. Deepak Chopra is an Indian-American author and inspirational speaker known for helping individuals all over the world unlock new creative dimensions of themselves.
Now, Alexa users can add a bit of Deepak to their daily routine. By adding the Deepak Chopra skill to the Flash Briefing users will receive a daily reflection from Chopra designed to help listeners reflect, meditate, and adopt self-care practices into their daily activities. According to Chopra, creatives who take care of their mental, emotional, and spiritual health are more likely to have success in their personal and professional work.
6. Writing Prompts
Creatives, especially those who create to fund their livelihoods, sometimes need an extra push to get their work done under a deadline. Self Publishing School is a successful online education company that helps writers learn how to craft, market, and publish their first book in as little as 90 days.
In order to help all writers take the first steps toward crafting their own book, Self Publishing School created the Writing Prompts skill that gives users endless expert-crafted prompts to kickstart their writing. Simply say, “Alexa, open writing prompts,” to hear two new prompts for the day. If neither of those sound good, you can keep requesting prompts until you find one that works.
7. Brain Workout
Creativity requires sharp cognitive skills such as recognition, concentration, processing speed, and recall. Exercise and improve your cognitive abilities with Brain Workout. The Brain Workout skill leads you through several fun exercises that are personalized to you.
Each exercise features six different questions, based in neurological research, that focus on a different aspect of cognitive functioning—concentration, focus, memory, processing speed, and math.
Your performance after each exercise is tracked, and workouts are customized based on past performance, gradually becoming more difficult to keep you challenged. Users who engage with Brain Workout at least three times a week self-report increased mental sharpness and a boost in personal confidence.
8. Merriam Webster Word-of-the-Day
As many creatives know, language is the door to artistic expressions like poetry, prose, and playwriting. Merriam-Webster, one of the world’s best-known dictionaries, has created the Merriam Webster Word-of-the-Day skill that can be added to your Flash Briefing.
Each day, after hearing your regular news, you will also learn a new word presented by Merriam-Webster. This skill offers not only the pronunciation and definition but also the history of the word and a few fun facts. You’ll also hear the word spoken in a sentence from popular literature or newspapers. One drawback for visual learners: this skill does not have a visual component for Echo Show devices, meaning that words and spellings are not displayed on your screen.
Get Creative With Alexa Skills
With these skills installed, you’ll meet your daily dose of inspiration to help you over the next case of creative block and grow in your artistic, writing, or design practice. Who knew Alexa could help you in this way?
And along with these great skills for creative users, there is a whole world of free Alexa skills to check out if you're an Amazon Echo fan.
Image Credit: Andres Urena/Unsplash
