Developing a Creative Practice
“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people…A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.”
- Steve Jobs
Become a Creative Thinker, Ten Tips for a Creative Mindset, Start-Up Founders share their Creativity Secrets: all these have been written, over and over again. So why am I bothering to add to this overflowing cornucopia?
I want to share a few accessible practices and processes that I rely on for my own creative development, because I’m sure that at least some of them are things you might want to try out too. Some are seemingly banal, but creativity doesn’t stem from doing oil paintings while standing on your head.
There’s no set formula or hack that will help you be a more creative person, but the good news is that everyone is inherently creative. It’s a part of our history. Think about it — people have been solving problems for thousands of years, from developing the first tools that enabled chopping, scraping, and pounding, to making cave paintings in order to pass on stories and keep communities connected.
I’d like to advocate for turning this creative seed into a creative lifestyle change. There are so many small, daily habits we can practice as individuals or groups that can help us grow into the confident creatives we’re all capable of being.
Let’s use a cheesy metaphor: many of us drive cars (let’s not start on the whole self-driving car spiel now), and the first few times we’re behind a wheel it’s a new, sometimes scary, learning experience. The first time we bump something can be devastating (I think I cried when I first accidentally scratched another car while parking). With practice we slowly run into small successes (parallel parking on a hill in traffic, check) and the longer we drive the more comfortable we become. So it is with creativity — constant practice leads to smoother sailing.
I agree with Steve Jobs, that (a big part) of creativity is just connecting things. To do that, you need: a mental catalogue of collected things; some methods to help you track and make sense of those collected things; fun, no pressure ways to practice your creative thinking; and a few more focused ways to stretch your creative muscles. As Thomas Edison said, “genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration,” but with continuous practice, that perspiration can be fun.
Build your Mental Catalogue
Observe and Listen
I know this seems like the-most-obvious-thing-ever-thanks-a-lot, but honing observational and listening skills is a key requirement for creative thinking. These are the two solid pillars upon which I build my understanding of the world around me. Try being extremely deliberate and purposeful about observing the next place you walk into, and listening actively to the next conversation you’re a part of. What details did you notice that you might’ve previously missed?
Research
With Google at our fingertips, our curiosity is quickly rewarded. I encourage you to dig into things that pique your interest as deeply as you can. The more you know, the more likely you are to be inspired by subtler aspects of a topic. I love this excerpt from a Bertolt Brecht play — “what you do not know yourself, you don’t know,” because there’s so much value in building up your own perspective.
I like browsing statistics as inspiration and recommend the US-based Pew Research Center as a great place to start.
Read
I know, I know, our time is limited blablabla, but as RuPaul says, “reading is fundamental.” I don’t think I need to spell out the benefits of reading for your personal or professional development, but I want to emphasize that being well-read will add content to your creative catalogue. The more you read, the more you’ll be aware of what our current challenges are, and understand their intricacies. I’m also a strong advocate for reading fiction — exposing yourself to another world and mentally seeing stories will open your mind and give you more room for imagination.
Stay on top of Current Events
If you have no idea what’s happening in the world, how can you hope to do things that are relevant and useful? As an interaction designer, I find that a lot of my inspiration and drive comes from current events and issues being faced by people around the world.
Some of my personal favorites (excl. newspapers): The Atlantic, Quartz, The Intercept, Jacobin, Twitter Trends, Podcasts, or a news aggregation app (Pocket, Flipboard, etc).
Stay up-to-date with new Tech
The ubiquity of technology makes knowledge of its applications and advancements a necessity for any field of work. Having an awareness of new tech means you’ll be able to more quickly identify situations in which it can be applied. Keep in mind that you should be wary of technological solutionism — this Atlantic article is a great introduction to why always thinking solution = tech is problematic.
Science Fiction
Sci-fi is a great showcase of the human potential for invention, creativity, and imagination. I’m a huge sci-fi fan, and even if you aren’t I encourage you to dive into some sci-fi books, TV shows, and movies (yes, I’m asking you to watch TV, a real challenge). I’m fascinated by the concept of prescience in sci-fi — how do these ideas impact the thinking and work of designers, engineers, and creatives of today, and shape the direction our global society is moving in?
Some suggestions to get you started:
- Read: Dune, 1984, Brave New World, Ender’s Game, Ready Player One (a great list)
- TV: Black Mirror, Battlestar Galactica, Orphan Black, X Files (a great list)
- Movies: Blade Runner, Metropolis, Europa Report, 2001, Wall-E, Her (a great list)
Question Everything
Who, what, when, where, why, how — these classics should be your go-to for any situation. I strive to question everything I experience. Why is _____ this way? Why not this way? Who uses _____? How is _____ made? When did we start doing _____? A curious and questioning mind is more likely to identify problems and understand connections. Constant inquiry can lead to great new ideas.
Enjoy your Hobbies
Pursuing passions is another key to creativity. Your experiences getting outdoors, practicing sports, knitting tiny hats for hamsters, or making fan-art of your favorite videogame definitely inform your unique worldview. Pull from these experiences to enrich other areas of your life.
Expose yourself to new Places and People
You should already be broadening your perspective and exposing yourself to people who inspire and challenge, because isn’t that what makes life interesting? To refer back to the Steve Jobs quote cited above: “A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect.” Go out there and find your dots!
Track your Observations and Learnings
Idea Board
Create an idea board for yourself or for your team at work. Any thought or idea that comes to you can be pinned up and saved for future use. This is especially useful for groups, since anyone can walk by and be inspired by or build upon ideas already posted.
Idea / Observation Journal
Carrying around a small notebook (or even using your phone) to track observations and ideas as they happen takes getting used to, but can be highly rewarding. You’ll not only find it easier to go back and look for inspiration in past ideas, but find yourself becoming a more active observer and thinker in your daily doings.
Take Photos
Since we’re all glued to our phones anyway, taking photos of everything and anything that inspires you is pretty easy (and you probably already do it). A cool typeface? Photo. An old building that you think could be transformed? Photo. It’s helpful to collect these somewhere that’s not just your phone’s camera roll — try creating an Instagram account just for these photos, uploading them to a specific folder, or putting them on a dedicated Pinterest board.
Time for Daily Reflection
I’m going to link to one of those “18 Crazy Habits of 23 Bunnies who are Successful CEOs,” but this one is worth skimming. Finding some time every day to reflect on what you’ve done, wanted to do, or things that happened will help you get a better overview of your thoughts and experiences. Lateral Thinking, developed by Edward de Bono, promotes questions like these for the start of your day: what new opportunities might I have today? What new opportunities might I bring about (or design) today?
No-Stress Ways to practice Creativity
Exquisite Corpse
Invented by the surrealists, exquisite corpse is a method by which multiple people create something together. My favorite version of this is a game where a group draws something (a person, a face, an animal, etc) together, but each person is only allowed to see their contribution before passing the paper on. This can result in silly but often very creative new images.
Alternative Uses
Designed by J.P. Guilford in 1967, this test challenges you to come up with as many uses as possible for a common object. Your ideas can be scored across four criteria:
- Fluency — the number of alternative uses you can think of
- Originality — how unusual those uses are — evidence of ‘thinking different’
- Flexibility — the range of ideas, in different domains and categories
- Elaboration — level of detail and development of the idea
My favorite version of this comes from a task one of my university professors set my peers and I in our first Interaction Design class. I’m passing his challenge on to you: come up with 100 uses for a roll of toilet paper in ten minutes.
Draw it Out
Fill a page with circles of the same size. Set yourself a time limit and see how many different things you can turn these circles into. You’ll probably start by drawing the obvious — an ice cream cone, glasses, a ring — but you should challenge yourself to think out of the box (or out of the circle, hah). You might draw a seal balancing a ball on its nose, a new planet, or a child blowing a giant bubble. Doing an exercise like this regularly will accustom your brain to seeing everyday things through a new lens.
Incomplete Figure
This challenge is a central part of the Torrance Test of Creative Thinking, which is a method used to measure creativity (you probably have your own opinion about the pluses and minuses of trying to test creativity). Incomplete figure gives you an abstract shape and asks you to complete the drawing. As with the above method, incomplete figure can help you see random, seemingly meaningless things in a new way.
Mind Map
I absolutely love mind maps and use them for almost every problem I’m faced with. Writing an article? Trying to create a brand’s look and feel? Creating a new service to offer? By visually connecting all inspiring words, thoughts, and quick sketches associated with your challenge, you’re not only going to make it easier to have an idea, but might also find a whole new area of inspiration. Mind maps can be fun to practice creative thinking as well — for instance, try to map out the goals of your company or team, or to map out your experience when taking public transportation.
Find ’n Fix
Find and fix (a name I just made up for this exercise — practicing my creativity!) was another one of my first university assignments that I really enjoyed. We were asked to observe five things in our daily lives that bothered us, and to sketch out five improvements per issue. Try to complete at least one find and fix every day; this activity will sharpen your observational skills and can even lead to some incredible ideas.
Idea Generators
When you’re really stuck on something, or really bored, it can be helpful to just work on any random idea to get going again. Generators are a great prompting tool. Two design-focused ones that I really enjoy are Brief Generator (very specific and detailed) and Briefz (fun, simple, open-ended challenges).
Word Reflex
This is another name I made up (I’m sure there’s a real one out there…) for a game I love to play with my family on long car drives. It’s exceedingly simple, but also exceedingly tiring. One person starts off by saying any word, and the next person has to immediately say any other word that the first word brings to mind for them. An example of one round might be: tree, forest, logs, saw, horror movie, scary…This is a great mental warm-up activity to play in a workplace setting as well. If you want more structure you can also try category, category, out.
Focused Methods to stretch your Creative Muscles
Constraints (HMWs, BMC, etc)
Constraints help us focus our thinking. If you’ve ever tried looking at a blank piece of paper and coming up with ideas, you know how frustrating it can be. Constraints like How Might We questions and the Business Model Canvas have helped me and people I’ve done workshops for come up with strong, realistic, and interesting ideas. If you haven’t tried either of these I encourage you to approach your next problem using one or the other.
Group Brainstorm
Everyone brainstorms naturally, but coming together to work as a group leads to stronger and more interesting ideas. Setting aside a dedicated time for team brainstorms at work can ensure that your team vibes together as people listen to one another, share constructive critique, and build upon each other’s ideas. Check IDEO’s brainstorming tips.
Random Entry Method
This method is used by companies like Apple to provide new constraints for ideation. Starting with a problem statement, you then choose a random word and use that word to come up with as many ideas as you can that address the problem. One example: “How can we make the doctor’s waiting room less scary for kids?” with the word “Fruit.” Some ideas: a talking apple that kids can shake to learn new facts, a game that challenges kids to create their own fruits, an interactive fruit wall which children can touch to make the fruits sing. This kind of constraint can force you to be incredibly creative, and some of the crazy ideas you come up with can have implementable aspects.
Analogous Inspiration
Even though this isn’t a method I personally use a lot, analogous inspiration is an effective technique that could become your favorite creative tool. Designers love talking about the following example: think about how you could make the operating room more efficient. An operating room is busy, full of a team of people who all play a specific role, and requires care and speed. An analogy to this experience is the team that services a race car: there’s a short time limit for a team of people to all complete very specific roles with great care. Think about what makes the race car team effective, and then apply these insights to the operating room.
Question-Storming
Coming up with questions instead of answers might seem counter-intuitive, but question-storming will push you to deeply examine all aspects of a problem and will lead to more meaningful ideas. One way of doing this: you might take a statement like “Education is a basic human right,” and dive in deep with your questions. What does education mean? What constitutes a basic human right? Who decides on these definitions? How does the meaning of education differ among cultures? Etc.
Choose your Methods and get going
There’s no such thing as a creative person and a not creative person. Creativity comes from practice and experience. It’s up to you which of the above ideas you want to try, and which you want to adopt into your own personal practice. Different things will work for different people in different combinations. The most important thing to remember is to not get discouraged. Creativity should be fun — let yourself play, explore, and learn with no pressure to have the next most groundbreaking idea. It’ll come when you’re ready.
