Creativity

Art 160/ Art 260 / Greg Clayton

Intro Notes

There is a lot of literature that explores and expounds creative process. Creativity, problem-solving and creative process are each active areas of education, professional development and corporate consulting.
Whats here refers to or briefly summarizes whats out there.

Universal Traveler...Modified

Since its publication in 1974, the Universal Traveler has been something of a standard tome in the world of practical creativity — exploring how to enhance it and how to not block it. The book is as fun as the topic ought to be — its not academic in structure, just loaded with good insights and ideas.

The Universal Traveler (UT) presents one particular sequence of stages of the creative process — while not rigid, doctrinaire or nearly as linear as first presented, this sequence is, I believe, a useful way of getting to know one's own creative process. The UT presents seven stages. I've added two more that are gleaned from other sources.

Creative Problem-Solving Process

These are the 9 creative problem-solving stages that we'll emphasize, discuss and, yes, learn.

Get familiar with this list.
Know what occurs at each stage — what is the main point or focus?
Consider what you actually do in your ongoing design projects — when you are developing your designs, what are you actually doing that matches these stages?

One of our main course goals is to learn about our own creative problem-solving abilities, and to better harness and grow them.

Accept

Analyze

Define           (see discussion of Concept Statements)

Incubate*

Ideate

Select

Implement

Evaluate

Let Go*

__________________________

Live with It*       

(This is our unofficial 10th insight — this stage involves being conscious of the consequences of your choices — experiencing the outcomes and relating those outcomes to the solutions you implemented. "Living with it" prepares us to move on to still better creative solutions — it provides motivation to restart the design process and pursue still better answers.
See the DirectedCreativity cycle here, and at the bottom of this page.)

*not found in Universal Traveler

Creativity Page