‘Big things from small ideas’: Reflections on creativity from UF J-school students

As the spring 2017 semester here at UF J-School comes to a close, I was inspired by the self-reflection of students in my Innovative Storytelling class. This semester we had UF students in journalism, telecommunications, advertising, sociology and political science come together to learn a framework for intrepreneurship and innovation, and to develop product prototypes for new journalism and communication ventures. Some of those will be built out and shared through the CJC’s content+product incubator, Hatch.

These are some of their reflections, in their own words:

Something I know now from this class that I didn’t really know before was that there are multiple facets of creativity, and no one side of it is right. I always saw creativity as black-and-white (which seems kind of like an oxymoron, I know): either you are creative, or you aren’t. There’s no in between.

This class taught me that my line of thinking was wrong. Creativity is a spectrum, and anyone can be creative if they’re given the right outlet and environment to let it shine. I also learned that creativity isn’t just art. Creativity can be found in numbers, in building things (like a laptop holder made out of Legos!) and in the way we view the world. This class taught me that creativity isn’t an entity that exists solely by itself. It exists in everything we do, and it makes everything we do better when we tap into all it has to offer.

Beforehand all I really knew was that I love to ask questions, listen, and then write about it. Unfortunately only that doesn’t seem to be enough in this industry. It’s competitive and ever changing in relation to technology and how accessible it is to be a “journalist.” I have all of these ideas and so much passion over people and stories but I never knew how to start. I normally wither when I think about using technology or becoming a “brand” because I’ve never been introduced to the mediums in an immersive way. This class didn’t necessarily instruct technology, but it opened doors to its accessibility
through collaboration so that I can bring my stories to life and into a light of eyes with other’s strengths and my ideas.

I loved how the class gave me the freedom to think and create. I also admired how it was okay for me to make mistakes and learn from them. There’s no room for error in other classes and I’m fortunate to have
experienced a class that steered away from that criteria.

I’ve learned that it takes a lot of discipline to create. Some people think creativity is all fun and games, but it takes great discipline.

This class also taught me the skill of truly thinking outside of the box. Of course I always knew to look at things from a different perspective, but this was the first class I’ve ever taken that really let me try it. For the past 12+ years I’ve spent in the education system, I’ve never had a class that gave me free rein to work out my ideas without a rubric holding me back. I love
getting the chance to be hands-on with the lessons and really work through the ideas in a way that will stick in my head. I want to keep developing the skill of looking from a different perspective. It will help me not just in education, but in my career and in my life.

My take away from this project and class is how hard it can be to take an idea and put into execution. When we discussed kind of the process of an idea and the motivation behind it, the trough of sorrow was what spoke to me the most. There have been ideas and projects that I have had the passion to start and the moment things stop working out, I am quick to lose motivation. Finding a definition for the feeling made the process much more human for me actually. When I think of creativity and people who try to start up new ideas, or even people have great executions of their idea, I can appreciate more the hustle and the struggle that they went through.

I’m committed to the fact that this class is one of the most useful classes in the CJC. There isn’t any other class like it that encourages creativity and thinking outside of the typical journalism box. I personally feel that there is one model for success that is celebrated and fortified in the college, and this course kinda went against that grain and empowered students to go beyond what’s already available. And if something was available, the class taught us to try and make it better.

Damn. Talk about impactful.

I loved the constant flow of creativity and the inspiration. It was like drinking up all of these great things during the class and learning about things that were critical to being a storyteller and an inventor. It went a little beyond the course description, and that’s what an impactful class does. It offers more.

Cool stuff forced students to get out of their personal comfort zones and take a careful look at things. It was very enjoyable to watch the presentations and listen to a person’s perspective on whatever content they chose to show the class. It offered a closer look at how each member of the class was personally inspired by stories.

Damn number two.

It’s actually exciting to reflect on this. I could sit at the table and listen to
discussions about Chanel perfume ads all day long. The dissection of each piece gave us all food for thought about the process of telling a story or creating a thing. Instead releasing us into the big, bad world of innovation to create a project of our own, we were first showed that it is possible to create big things from small ideas. Our introduction to human-centered design was so important. The majority of people in class were studying journalism.

Journalists have a tendency to follow the word of god — and by god I mean
their editors. It’s rare to see a journalist who writes for the audience and not just the person approving it for publication. To embrace the idea of working for the people who consume the content we push is essential to contemporary success. What problems exist in what we already have available, and how can we fix them?

Maybe I won’t design the next big moneymaker. Who cares? I realize now that there are direct links to being capable of designing audience-worthy content. That’s enough for me. I thoroughly enjoyed the class. I’ve learned quite a few little bits and bobs that are going to help me in the “real” world. The nuggets of wisdom are truly priceless. I also learned to not get ahead of myself. I want to do things that make an impact on the world or really solve problems. With my initial pitch, I wanted to serve an audience that was non-existent in the journalism world. My idea was too complicated to complete in a few weeks, but it still offered the notion that good ideas exist if a person is actively seeking to solve a problem.

Boom. That’s it. This class was my jam, and I’m so happy that I finished out my time at the University of Florida with a course like this.

Damn number three.

Damn, indeed. I’d like to thank the students enrolled this semester (and the previous semesters) in Innovative Storytelling for sharing their inspiring evolutions.

I’d also like to acknowledge the frameworks, exercises and ideas borrowed from and inspired by the IDEO framework on human centered design, as well as John Clark, Laura Cochran, Steven King, Chloe Negron, Sara Peach and many others used in this course as it iterates each semester.