Random Images
Random Images is an applied improvisation exercise from Joseph A. Keefe's Improv Yourself in which partners select five unrelated images for each other and each person creates an original story combining all five images into a coherent narrative. The exercise develops the ability to find connections between disparate elements, a core skill in both creative thinking and improvisation.
Structure
Setup
Participants pair up. Each partner gathers five images for the other person. Images can come from magazines, printed photographs, phone searches, or any available visual source. The only rule is that the five images should be as unrelated to each other as possible: a mountain, a teacup, a traffic jam, a child laughing, a blueprint.
Progression
Each participant receives their set of five images and studies them for two to three minutes. They then construct a story that incorporates all five images. The story does not need to describe the images literally. A mountain might become a metaphor for ambition, a teacup might represent a grandmother's memory, and a traffic jam might become the moment a character decided to change careers.
Partners share their stories with each other. After each story, they discuss how the storyteller connected the images, what surprised them, and which connections felt most natural or most forced.
A second round may follow in which partners receive the same five images and must create an entirely different story, demonstrating that any set of elements contains multiple narratives.
Variations
A group version gives the same five images to everyone and compares the range of stories produced. A timed version limits storytelling to sixty seconds, forcing rapid connection-making. A progressive version starts with two images and adds one image per round up to seven.
How to Teach It
Objectives
Random Images develops the creative skill of finding connections between unrelated elements, the foundation of metaphorical thinking, innovative problem-solving, and narrative improvisation. The exercise demonstrates that creativity is not about waiting for inspiration but about building bridges between existing ideas.
How to Explain It
"Your partner has chosen five completely unrelated images for you. Your job is to create one story that includes all five. The images can be literal elements in your story or they can inspire ideas. Find the thread that connects them."
Scaffolding
Begin by demonstrating a sample connection between two unrelated images, showing how a bridge can be built through character, theme, or narrative logic. Increase to three, then four, then five images. Allow generous time for the first round and reduce time in subsequent rounds.
Common Pitfalls
The most common issue is participants who list the images rather than weave them together. "First there was a mountain, then a teacup" is a list. A story integrates the elements so that each one matters to the narrative.
A second pitfall is forcing literal interpretations. Encourage participants to let images inspire rather than dictate. The photograph of a mountain does not require a mountain in the story; it might inspire height, isolation, challenge, or permanence.
In Applied Settings
Random Images is used in creativity workshops, design thinking sessions, and communication training. The exercise helps professionals develop the ability to synthesize unrelated information into coherent narratives, a skill that transfers to strategic thinking, presentation development, and cross-functional collaboration. Facilitators use the exercise to demonstrate that creative solutions often emerge from unexpected combinations rather than from linear analysis.
Skills Developed
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Related Exercises
Picture Story
Picture Story is an applied improvisation exercise in which participants create and share stories inspired by images. Players receive a photograph, illustration, or abstract image and must construct a narrative from what they see, developing the ability to find story in unexpected places and communicate ideas through vivid description.
Random Words
Random Words is an applied improvisation exercise from Joseph A. Keefe's Improv Yourself in which partners each place ten dissimilar, unrelated words in a random pattern on paper and then compose an original story, poem, or monologue incorporating all ten words. The exercise builds the creative muscle of forging connections between unrelated concepts under constraint.
Creative Inspiration
Creative Inspiration is a category of applied improvisation exercises that use unexpected prompts, arbitrary constraints, and non-linear starting points to spark creative thinking and generate innovative approaches to familiar problems. The exercises work by disrupting habitual thinking patterns: participants are forced to make associations and connections they would not reach through direct analytical approaches. They are used in innovation, ideation, and creative problem-solving programs.
Image Expert
Image Expert is an applied exercise in which one person delivers a spontaneous speech or explanation on a subject they know well while other participants hold up random images -- photographs, illustrations, or pictures cut from magazines -- that the speaker must seamlessly incorporate into their ongoing talk. The exercise trains adaptive thinking, the ability to find relevance in unexpected material, and the spontaneous integration of new information into an existing line of thought.
Portrait
Portrait is an applied improvisation exercise from The Applied Improvisation Mindset in which one participant poses while others describe what they observe. The exercise develops skills of attention, descriptive precision, and the ability to notice details without projecting assumptions onto another person.
Rhythm Machine Part Two: The Image Machine
The Image Machine is the second part of a three-part rhythm machine sequence in which the machine represents a specific image or concept rather than remaining abstract. Participants build interlocking sounds and movements that evoke a named theme, adding narrative and expressive meaning to the mechanical structure established in Part One.
The Lineage
Explore the schools and structures that influenced or evolved from Random Images.
Improv Yourself (Joseph A. Keefe)
How to Reference This Page
The Improv Archive. (2026). Random Images. Retrieved September 28, 2026, from https://improvarchive.org/exercises/random-images
The Improv Archive. "Random Images." The Improv Archive, 2026. https://improvarchive.org/exercises/random-images.
The Improv Archive. "Random Images." The Improv Archive, 2026, https://improvarchive.org/exercises/random-images. Accessed September 28, 2026.
The Improv Archive is a systemically maintained repository. The archive itself acts as the corporate author.