The creative process

In my courses most recent project the creative process is even more evident. We were given a brief to do with three words, a trend, a shop and a word to base our marketing strategies on. We had to generate ideas about how the store would use the trend story, in conjunction with an end outcome.

 Most people believe that creativity is not an intellectual thought process. You cant necessarily create creativity it is more of an unconscious thought that you run with. If creativity is a more lateral unconscious process, can creativity even be put into a kind of model?

The creative process has a number of ways that people have tried to understand it and break it down. However as i said creativity is hard to pin down into a set process, and should not be restricted to this.

In our course we have been using the creative process as a way of keeping on task and on track. I have found it really helpful in making sure that I cover all areas and really get as many ideas as possible. We use the process of contexts, ideas, concepts and outcomes, to structure our creative thinking.

I recently watched a documentary on the creative process ‘from nothing, something’. While watching this documentary filled with so many different occupations, It became clear how similar the process of creativity is to everyone. The documentary not only features artists and designers, but also occupations that I have never before considered creative, such as cancer researchers. I realized that there is a level of creativity in everything, it is not restrictive to anyone. We all in some way use creativity and we use creative processes to do this.

We recently were given a lecture on the five I’s, a model of the creative process. Through our current project and in the documentary, I could see how the five I’s come into play all the time.

The first I is investigation;

Investigation is the questioning stage. It is about challenging a brief or idea and thinking critically. For this stage we research using tools such as sketchbooks, websites or blogs. In our project this involved finding relevant images to do with our theme, and getting to understand the store and its history. For say a cancer researcher this would be looking into other studies, and how these support or contradict there own. Investigation is the finding of both Existing knowledge (secondary research), and new knowledge (primary research).

The second is Insights;

Insights are all about finding barriers, and seeing them as opportunities to overcome. With our project this involved looking into some mintel reports about failing department stores. We identified these problems, and used solving them as a basis for our ideas. In design fields or advertisement insights may be seen as a ‘gap in the market’, an opportunity to fulfill consumers un-met needs that were before unrecognized.  Insights should be disruptive and different from the norm in order to create something new and effective.

The third is Ideas;

The idea stage is for me the most exciting stage. Through our project, I have learnt that the most important aspect of ideas is to not close yourself off to the first idea that comes. In the documentary creativity was described as being like the Frankenstein's monster. Initially you have lots of control in creating the components, but at some point you have to let the idea almost grow, and have a mind of its own. I believe that the letting go is mainly in the ideas stage of the process. It is very easy to get attached to an idea but you can’t be too rigid, you must explore all avenues and naturally let ideas grow from within ideas. There can never be too many ideas to pick from before eventually choosing the best one and going with it.

The fourth is Inspiration;

Inspiration is basically further investigation, after the idea. It is the part of the process where you decide which creative approach would be most effective. For an artist this may be which media to use for a piece (sculpture or paint), or even what style (abstract or realistic). In our project this would be what type of marketing approach to use, for example we had ideas using gorilla marketing techniques, and some within social media platforms such as hashtags.  Creatives look for inspiration of how this has been done before, and which way was most effective. We looked at artists and brands that had used both of these techniques and read about how they worked. Once a creative had found the inspiration, they can apply this to their ideas and further develop them.

The fifth is interaction;

This stage is all about the consumer/target persons for the work. It is about connecting the ideas with the person/ people it was aimed for. For an author this would be creating a buzz around the book launch, with things such as book signing tours or previews, all in venues or on platforms that the consumer base is most active. For our project the approach was very similar, we used all the information we had found about the store; its existing consumer base, its weaknesses and its strengths, to create PR events and social media campaigns that best connected the consumer to the idea.

This creative process often happens without us realizing, however I found it really interesting to learn about. I am a lot more aware of how it works, and less likely to miss anything out that may prohibit me from creating the best outcome. I do think it is also important to remember that creativity is a bit chaotic, and in some ways should stay like that for any idea to be authentic, and therefore effective.