Thinking outside the box

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

Attributed to Martin Mull (and several others), this simile conveys the point well and even tempts you to try to express yourself this way.

On the other hand, today I heard:

In order to think like a graphic artist you have to think outside the box. 

Think outside the box is a cliche and, as such, expresses thinking within the box and not even your own box, at that.

Think outside the box. What does it mean anyway? If you want to say unusual, unconventional, abstract, counter-cultural, experimental or imaginative, then say so. Words have a clean, freshly-minted quality about them. Hackneyed phrases have baggage. They look the part and then you notice the tired lines under make-up.

Think outside the box. Starting with that phrase.