Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All
The book that I selected is the Creative Confidence: Unleashing the Creative Potential Within Us All by Tom Kelley and David Kelley. Tom is an author of The Art of Innovation and David is the founder of IDEO and Stanford D. School. I chose this book because I wanted to strengthen my creative confidence not only in the UX design field, but also as a Content Creator and Fashion Designer. Being a creative I believe is important in different areas of my life. It allows me to expand my artistic horizons, embrace risks, and perceive designs or art from diverse perspectives. It helps me to push boundaries while creating something that changes others lives or simply leave an impact.
I anticipate that this book will dive into unlocking and cultivating various aspects and potentials of creativity within individuals. It will provide insights on nurturing and fostering creative growth over time, as well as guiding the process of transforming a nascent idea into a tangible creation. I expect it to heavily emphasize UX design and design thinking rather than focusing solely on design or art in general.
Insight 1: “Go out in the world and proactively seek experiences that will spark creative thinking (Kelley, 22).” I love this quote from chapter one because it encourages designers to not just sit and wait for an idea to pop up, but instead take action. Whether its sketching 50 different types or ways to use a cocktail glass (an assignment I done in my Ideation & Prototyping class) to spark innovation or going to a public area and observe people. This line also reminds me of our reading about visual thinking and doodling. These two methods are wonderful for designers because it allow us to express ourselves through images or even little doodles to convey an idea we may have. They both spark creative thinking.
Insight 2: “New opportunities for innovation open up when you start the creative problem-solving process with empathy toward your target audience (Kelley, 18).” This quote reminds me of activities we have done in our class such as the Lego building practice and the sticky note skteches. The Lego building helped us to take risks and design with our hands using the tools we have in front of us. This process allowed us to not feel pressured to create something perfect and instead it helped me to think outside the box more. When Kelley discussed “drawing confidence” that reminded me of the sticky note sketches practice we did in class. This process allowed me to sketch whatever came into my mind at first when a word was provided and to not overthink it. “A sketch is often worth a thousand words (Kelley, 59).” Both of these practices allowed me to come up with new ideas and I believe with these tools that I practiced in class will allow me to have even more empathy with my audience because it pushed me to use my imagination and imagination can help me picture myself in my users shoes.
Impression: Overall, I enjoyed this book and really glad I selected it. I believe this book will definitely help with overcoming any mental blocks I may have. It really boosted my confidence and I felt empowered throughout the book. I appreciate Kelley saying “the best way to gain confidence in your creative ability is through action — taken one step at a time (Kelley, 246)” I will remember this quote and in fact wrote it down and taped it on my wall where my desk is in my room because I feel this quote can help me in general with any creative paths I take into the future!
