This article is a reflection on the experience of engaging tertiary art and design students in a range of creative methods, on the relative effectiveness of selected methods, and how these may support studio and professional practice and research. The importance of heuristics as a means of enquiry is examined and how the methodologies of action research reflect this process. Using a categorization of theories of creativity that points to the pervasiveness of metaphor as a creative mechanism (Kozbelt, Beghetto, and Runco 2010), the significance of metaphor is identified in a number of the creative techniques described. Particular attention is given to mind mapping, team creativity, synectics, sensory awareness and accessing the unconscious. As an example of a speculative culture embodying action research, reference to Studio Anybody provides a case study of practice-led research. It concludes that learning creative techniques has positive implications for studio research and professional practice.