Creative people do things differently. But what specifically? We mostly agree that creative people are willing to act unconventionally, that they are inquisitive, and that they are intuitive. But aren’t creative artists different from creative business people?
There are differences between domains. Here are some extra characteristics that Sternberg (1985) found to be important in the following domains:
Art: Imagination, Originality, Risk-taking
Business: Coming up with and exploring new ideas
Philosophy: Play and classifying new ideas
Physics: See order amid chaos, Inventiveness, Problem solving
These are really quite different, aren’t they! So what are you great at? How can you develop your unique skills?
Most people I know think a creative person is some kind of an artist or designer. Though I think we all in fact ‘creative’.
Having trained in and practiced design for many years – there are numerous methods to make us thing laterally, six hats, with different personas, etc. The key point for me has always been and I think always will be ‘What is the problem/need?’. All creativity stems from identifying the problem/need and specifying this well, and even this can take a tremendous amount of research.
‘Design a chair’ contains the word ‘chair’ – which maybe in our minds already suggest that it has 4 legs and a back rest. This brief already limits us in our thinking.
‘Design a means for sitting’ perhaps breaks it down to another level, though again, perhaps the word sitting implies that our knees must form a right-angle.
Breaking things down to the core requires a lot of analysis. Being in the web field, the obvious example is Google. Before its existence we had Yahoo and other for search. The difference?
1) A page with a mediocre looking logo and one big input field and two buttons;
2) A page with an input field under the logo and with many other links and news on it.
The solution here was not to come up with something ‘more fancy’ or brilliant-looking but the design is as simple as you can get it with perhaps the ‘I’m feeling lucky’ button for fun. The best designs are probably the products/items you take for granted because they are easy to use.
As a ‘Creative’, I personally don’t think there’s any ‘magic’ to it, just the sum of acquired skills, techniques, experience and being open to adopting new methods of thinking.
very impressive about your article and J’s comments,which makes me thinking about this word “creative”,thanks~
Very intersting topic!
My current position is that “creativity” and “doing” are mutually exclusive.
My belief is that individuals can be very creative and have great ideas which are shaped by our immersion in life, but our ability to execute creativity into an output (I believe) is more in the realm of innovation.
To support this, I’ve reviewed the characteristics as described by Sternberg, and my observation (other than physics) is that domains discuss “imagination” and “ideas” — something largely intangible!
So in response to the topic “What does a creative person do?” and at the risk of sounding arrogant, My response is “nothing much”.
p.s. I only hope there is academic out there to support such claims!
Art, Business and a little Physics for me, with an interest in the philosophy end of things, with it being perhaps my least creative strength.
As for developing my skills?
(Business) I take time out for short, (mostly at the moment) random intervals of working on ways to do things better, for both us and clients, and we’re gradually implementing.
Art; at least get another painting started, and make a habit of music practice! …oh and of course visiting galleries, taking pics here and there of scenes to paint, going to concerts performed by master musicians etc…
(since you asked
@Terry – I would disagree with the notion that creativity is mutually exclusive with activity (or doing) – or, rather, that there is not a symbiotic relationship between the two.
The whole purpose of creativity is just that – to create. If we’re not creating something, we’re actually not being creative (more just navel-gazing – lots of fun if you’re in the mood, but very impractical).
In addition to that, how many times have we seen good ideas – lets say, for a building – put into practise, and it just so happens that some element hasn’t been taken into account. One cannot have a ‘do-er’ making the decision on how to resolve the problem – one needs to create in order to conceive the solution, and then to put this into action.
Your thoughts?
Andrew