Creativity: Origins Study
My thoughts on creativity and the creative process
There is a misconception going around that to be creative is something you either are or are not. In my humble opinion, that perception is just that, a perception and not anywhere near truth. I have witnessed the ability of many people who cannot “draw” or feel they are not “artistic” critique a design layout with a skill that would leave the most seasoned graphic artists reeling. So where did that ability originate? Also, where does that creative process originate in those of us considered by others to be the creative types and professional graphic artists? There are many possible routes that lead to a successful layout or composition, painting, drawing or any object that is considered art and I would like to share my views on how those happen.
The first thing to consider when wondering where creativity emerges is the basis of it all or what I like to refer to as a Foundation. A thought process must start somewhere and whether you are a professional creative, a marketing manager, or a regular Jane off the street, that process begins and is based on previous experience. Even the non-professional can tell, consciously or not, whether they find something appealing to look at or easy to read, etc. That is their basis or foundation for telling if a piece is successfully designed and that is about where it ends for most people and that is just fine. Jumping all the way to a professional creative their decision set is ideally based on a much richer and diverse foundation. Created over time from a mixture of determination, love for the work, and over time the layers of experience coalesce into a basis for making thought-out and almost always intentional decisions that often take content from a black and white page of information and transform it into a pleasing and digestible composition that can be put to work.
As a graphic designer, I began my career with a few rules I learned in college and went about what turned out to be a long road of trial and error. Finding out what works and what doesn’t in real-world situations is pretty much how it went. Starting with a few rules and seeing what stuck when thrown at the wall was how the bricks of my foundation were laid. Over time, successes and failures refined my knowledge base. Being able to take what works and expand on ideas over time is my secret. I basically found myself wanting my artwork to be well received and at the same time be of good use. In order to get to that end, I needed to hone and learn new skills and learn how to make the things I wanted to happen actually happen and do it as efficiently as possible. Once I saw art I could create could be well received and could be of use to others I was hooked, and it’s been a really been a fun journey.
I find I need to supplement the foundations of the past. To me, the basic foundations are not useful on their own, at least not to an endpoint. Things like researching into the client or brand to get a more specific approach are always what happens before beginning any new design if it hasn’t been done prior. Also researching current products or promos can help add context. Adding context to the thought process is essential to help me keep sight of the brand while assembling a layout. I am always looking for anything that I can add to my bag of tricks. I am constantly looking at new fonts and browsing creative websites and galleries of peer work. I will bookmark and set anything I think has potential aside and hopefully incorporate it somehow into future work.
So, all that is where my foundation lies- Years of trial and error. Tedious experimenting, keeping what works, remembering what doesn’t, keeping stock of it all, and putting the knowledge to use collectively is what I think of as the origin of my creative process. Of course, there are more grey areas and techniques that I like to use to get to different ends. I am always evolving and seeing what is possible.
When I began a hundred years ago, I was always trying to force the creativity out, wondering where it was going to come from. These days I rely on a hard-won foundation of skills and knowledge that allows me to let things happen and not have to force anything or worry about where it’s coming from. That’s not to say that I don’t get stuck or wonder what on earth I am going to do to fix a tough puzzle, its more that I know that it will work in the end because I have witnessed the tough puzzles untangle enough times to know they will do just that – if I let them.
Where does creativity come from? It comes from time spent trying to be creative. The same goes for any serious profession. For example, a woodworker would say she got to be a master woodworker not because she was born a woodworking genius, she got to be a master through years of hard work having a great time doing it. Now she can look over a stack of various boards and have a much richer view of what is possible. I see a stack of content and images and graphical elements and know intuitively what’s possible vastly better than I did even a few years ago.
