CREATIVITY, inspiration, innovation, and Where Ideas Come from Part 1

I’ve decided to spend a few entries on an area many feel is a struggle for them. I don’t know how many times I’ve encountered students in my visual design class who say, “I’m not creative.” This comes up from time to time when I’m visiting with colleagues and we’re discussing either their actual drill or other elements of their band’s entire production.

I will be operating from the following premise. I believe that everyone and I mean EVERYONE possesses creativity. Being a human and surviving this world requires creativity. Just take a second and think about what you have to do just to navigate life for one day. The number of adjustments, tweaks, use of language in communication, etc. you made today.

Now that we’ve established that everyone possesses creativity, let’s look at what we mean by the word creativity. What is it? The Merriam-Wesbster definition is pretty short and sweet. “The ability to create”. There is nothing in that definition about how good or bad the creation is…..Nothing about it being Box 1 or Box 5, getting a standing ovation or a polite golf clap. Remember this, because I’m going to circle back to it. Now let’s look at another definition of the word, creativity. Dictionary.com states the following, “the ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination: the need for creativity in modern industry; creativity in the performing arts.” Now that is starting to sound a little more like what most of us involved in the arts would recognize. You noticed that some “value words” appeared. Words like originality, transcend and meaningful put a little different spin on the definition. Okay, now one more: If you type the word, creativity into Google you get, “the use of the imagination or original ideas, especially in the production of an artistic work. Synonyms: inventiveness, imagination, imaginativeness, innovation, innovativeness, originality, individuality.” This last definition is pretty concise.

I contend and agree with Theodore Levitt (an economist, of all people) that creativity and innovation are 2 completely separate things. Something can be creative, but not necessarily innovative. To quote, “Creativity is about unleashing the potential of the mind to conceive new ideas.” He goes on to say, “What is often lacking is not creativity in the idea-creating sense but innovation in the action-productng sense, i.e. putting ideas to work.” So to boil it down a little for us visual designers. Creativity is exploring/creating ideas while innovation is seeing those ideas through and making them happen.

Here is where I believe many of us get hung up. We (I’m using the ‘royal we” here) too often squelch our ideas because of either our own internal judging voices or those that come from the outside. Everyone knows about that internal judge, right? In order to be creative, we must put the judge to bed, in the other room, somewhere they can’t interfere with our creative self. That’s step one (the most important) and has to be in our awareness before we do anything else. Remember the “value words” above? During the creativity phase, these types of thoughts will stop our process.

We have to engage our brain in a way that allows us to be creative. How do we do that?

1. Ready our mind to be creative. Given that we are getting quality rest and nutrition, we need to be in a place with minimal distraction. This will be different for each of us. Myself, I need to be in a fairly quiet room with the door closed, and effective task lighting. Now, before you envision a “Drill Dungeon”, let me assure you that I like to be surrounded by stimulating items. I have many nickknacks and chochkies around my office. I also keep manipulatives on my desk to engage my hands from time to time. I usually have a stress ball/tennis ball, a Slinky, and a fidget spinner (Star Wars) within reach. My desk in my home office features a freshwater fish tank. It helps me to glance over once in a while to see my Gourami swimming about.

   It is very difficult for me to work with my office door open. I’m a social person by nature and if I see someone pass by my door, I want to engage. That’s not a bad thing, but it can interrupt my creative flow. I will usually be listening to music if I’m writing text. Full disclosure: I’m currently listening to Earth, Wind, and Fire as I’m typing this. If you don’t know who they are, stop reading here and do some homework. :) If I’m actually doing design work, I only listen to the music to which I’m designing. I just have to do that in order to keep connection with the design. This goes for beginning sketches and continues on into entering the design into the design software.

2. Identify the time of day when you are the most open to being creative. Spend that time doing your idea exploring. Again this is an individual preference. For me, I’m usually more engaged in creating ideas in the morning and the evening when my household is the most quiet. This was much more difficult when my children were young. Now that they are older and on their own, the quiet time is easier to come by. I find my least productive time is from about 1-3 pm. Not that magic can’t happen then, but the chances are a little slimmer of realizing my most creative self during that time. This is the time of day I will generally do less tasking types of work. I can certainly handle phrase blocking (I may not worry about generating ideas for each phrase) during that 1-3 pm time, but I’ll usually save the actual creating for later. Many times, I’ll take a break and go for a walk or bicycle ride this time of day. I can engage in those activities while I’m mulling over ideas I’ve produced earlier. I’ve even been working late at night and hit a creative wall only to go to bed and then wake up the next morning with the solution in my head as soon as I open my eyes from sleep.

3. Overall, we have to allow time for ideas to arrive and take shape. If we’re always feeling like we’re having to rush to be creative, we’ll probably be very frustrated. Generating ideas takes time because we’re trying to have as many ideas available to us as possible. Then when we get to the actual designing, we can decide which idea is the best option for a production or phrase. I don’t know how many times I’ve just pressed and pressed for ideas and nothing seems to be happening. Then I’ll get up and leave my desk and move around, go for a walk, or a bicycle ride and the solution will be staring me in the face. Once I return to my work area, I’m ready to place the idea into the bigger design.

   A popular quote of Beethoven,

   "You will ask me where I get my ideas. That I cannot tell you with

   certainty; they come unsummoned, directly, indirectly,--I could

   seize them with my hands,--out in the open air; in the woods;

   while walking; in the silence of the nights; early in the morning;

   incited by moods, which are translated by the poet into words, by

   me into tones that sound, and roar and storm about me until I have

   set them down in notes.”

4. Don’t sweat the small stuff. I know it’s easier said than done. Try to have fun with the process. At the creativity stage, no idea is too outrageous or impractical. Every idea is just that, an idea. So allow yourself to “play” with the ideas. You never know where an idea can eventually lead you. Even though it may not make it all the way to being realized in the design, it could help you generate an idea that will. This happens to me all of the time. I have a series of design ideas lined up/sketched on paper and then I sit at the computer. Oh no! I can’t make that form work with the number of performers or counts I have available…..But I CAN alter it slightly and it WILL work.

EVERYONE reading this does possess creativity. We just have to allow ourselves to realize it. —DB