This blog has been a hard one to write. I've lost count of the amount of rewrites I've done for it and I'm still not really happy with what I'm putting down to paper which is a shame as I've really enjoyed researching for this piece. Creativity is no small topic and I make no claim that I "get it" otherwise I'd have a flawless post in my hands rather than what you're reading but I digress. Creativity is part of the design process a way of problem solving concepts using existing ideas and material to create a new outcome. I'm finding it hard to explain but hopefully throughout the rest of the post I can illustrate my point better.
To me creativity is an open mindset allowing artists and designers to take in the world around them because we understand that everything has a value. By connecting to this and storing the information we discover into a mental library we can use what we experience later on when tackling a brief or any problem for that matter. Creativity is a curious state of possibilities and what ifs allowing an artist to explore a huge range of possibilities to follow in which there's no wrong answer as they all lead to the final outcome. In this mindset we can take our existing information and create a new meaning from them and this is where the personal flare comes in.
How would this then apply to my work? The most visual example of this is definitely the concepting stage of any project where ideas are churned around constantly. It's at this point you begin to make the connections between your research and your own ideas and push the project forward. We'll look at my vehicle project from last term. Below are images from my research.
These are split into the three categories you can see. Between the form and aesthetic reference there's not much relation between the two but to me I'm connecting the dots mentally to push what I want to create although at this point it's still not clear what that exactly is. This then extends to the functional aspects of the reference and how I see them connect to the visual aspects of the design and from there they begin to evolve into my idea.
You can see all the elements of my research meld together into what I want, the chrome and simplicity of Apple's design is present, the way it functions with the hydrofoils and rotors and the streamlined form. Those are the basic over arching points there are further points and element that I've brought over from the rest of my research but I won't get into that here. Ultimately what I have as my final outcome is uniquely mine however having expanded on the creative process it is also clear as to how I reached it.
Creativity isn't a gift that only artists are born with, hopefully through this post you can see that it's merely a process and like any process it can be honed. I like to think I'm quite creative, it definitely helps to be in this industry and over the past year I feel I've been able to improve it greatly. Perhaps in part to being more aware of it or my expanding knowledge and understanding in art, design and elsewhere or maybe being surrounded by a group of creative people. The later is definitely a fair point as being able to bonce ideas amongst one another predominately leads to stronger ideas and ones that you yourself would never have realised. Like I said before this topic hasn't been easy and I'm struggling to think of a way to close this so below are a couple of videos that are a good watch on the topic presented by Adam Savage and John Cleese that I found particularly helpful and just interesting generally. Knock yourselves out.
Sources:
Aventureforth
http://www.aventureforth.com/2006/08/21/what-is-creativity/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-26925271
Big Think
http://bigthink.com/videos/creative-types-embrace-chaos
Forbes
http://www.forbes.com/sites/stevenkotler/2012/10/11/einstein-at-the-beach-the-hidden-relationship-between-risk-and-creativity/
Gamasutra
http://seriousgamessource.com/features/feature_063006_second_life_library.php
Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creativity
Youtube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AU5x1Ea7NjQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjOwusjrpmg
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