As a student of
advertising I find the subject of teaching creativity quite interesting. In my
undergraduate courses, there was never a class dedicated to the creative
process. So when I arrived at UT Austin for graduate school I was excited to
hear that Creative Strategies would be a required course for our first
semester. I found myself curious as to what the projects would entail and how
exactly we would be “measured.” The class was interesting, don’t get me wrong,
but the only thing it did was reaffirm my belief that creativity cannot be
taught. The exercises, some challenging and stimulating, did not foster the
creative thinking breakthroughs I was hoping for. I have never considered
myself a particularly creative person. I would use the word observant. But
there are definitely moments in my life that fostered creativity more than
others (that class unfortunately not being one of those times). When I was
younger I was a synchronized swimmer. This was, and albeit still is, a rather
unconventional sport to be involved in. I’m not sure how familiar you are with
the sport, but it is somewhat like performance art. Every aspect of the routine
including the theme, music and costumes is developed from scratch by the team,
trio, duet or individual. The freedom to design the routine allowed for some
rather creative developments over the years some of which included, the “Cell
Block Tango” routine (Chicago musical)
and the “YMCA” routine (we wore swimsuit costumes of the Village People). This
time in my life stands out as particularly creative because of the “creation”
aspect. The task of developing these routines down to the smallest details with
little guidance encouraged a creative environment.
One of the things that I
think is important in this situation is the lack of direction. Although, I do
think it’s important to know the vital elements and limitations that need to be
considered. For example, in synchronized swimming you are given the number of
people you are required to participate in the routine, the time limit and the
specific “elements” that must be displayed in the routine by all the members.
Everything else is in your hands. This type of creative process is structured
in a less intimidating way than just a clean slate.
In the jobs I have held
over the years, particularly the more creative design positions, I find this
same method works the best for me. Without guidelines I feel lost, but with too
many restrictions I feel constrained. I definitely gravitate towards working in
groups in organizational creativity settings. I believe there are people
capable of being creative by themselves, in fact, many people in their blogs my
say that is what works best for them. In the group settings, at least in my
experience, it is important for the members to have some “common ground.” There
needs to be the ability to relate to one another in order to fully understand
another individuals idea and furthermore be able to take that idea and
add/expand on it with your own ideas. I believe that is where true creativity
happens in an organization. For example, in school I had a difficult group
project that stifled creativity when it could have thrived. We were tasked with
creating a “branding video” for a company of our choice. Each member of the
team, myself included, took the idea and ran with it. But, we all ran in
different directions. When we came together for a meeting, it was, well a
complete mess. This project had no rules, required elements, or common themes.
It was just “make a brand video.” Since we had procrastinated as most students
do, we were left with only a few options. We attempted to brainstorm other
ideas and build off each other’s ideas but since we didn’t understand where
those ideas came from, we were left with what I thought was the worst idea.
(Creating a “taco porn” video about Torchy’s Tacos.) I am humiliated even
typing that sentence. As it turned out, we didn’t do as terribly as I was
anticipating, but needless to say it was not a “fun creative exercise” as the
instructor had intended.
This was perhaps one of the only times I felt that
working with a group hindered my creativity. But as I said, I think the
importance of a “point of reference” is essential to the environment and so is
some semblance of “guidelines.” Each person has their own sense of what creative
process works for them and I think we inherently know what will prove most
effective. But this is where I think the group dynamic can provide an
interesting platform for ideas as those creative processes we have developed
can be applied to an outsider’s ideas (that effervesced from their own creative
process). The “play on ideas” is where I often find the greatest insights. A
theme that I think has been common in the Advertising world of creativity is
the “think outside the box” type thinking. It’s about strange, out-there,
unconventional and borderline crazy ideas. Like this ad for example... I mean c’mon?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cG042nkReBA
And in that
regard I think it is about personal experiences. Every individual has a story.
Some narrative that makes them unique and shapes their outlook on the world and
despite even the most similar sounding situations, everyone has their story.
This plays a large influence on what shapes your creative ability. You either
can draw from your vast experiences to enhance your creative thinking or you
can reside in your own imagination. Imagination is a gateway for creativity.
It’s funny though I find that when you are a child everyone has such wild
imaginations with outlandish hopes and dreams and as you become more educated,
you slowly begin to be brought down to earth along with your ideas. It’s the
people that don’t ever fully get out of their childhood mind that become the
greatest successes in advertising. Here is a fun video that appeals to the
child in all of us. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2lXh2n0aPyw This is of
course just my opinion. Lets face it, what the hell do I know? Some more
credible people have commented on creativity, a few of which I recall from that
Creative Strategies course. Leo Burnett, a pioneer in the ad business, said
creativity is “The art of establishing new and meaningful relationships between
previously unrelated things…which somehow present the product in a fresh new
light.”
I recalled one of the books we read called Eureka! It Really Takes Years of Hard Work (a play on the “light
blub moment”) made creativity seem more of a habit that requires practice. One
particular business that I have found a tremendous amount of creativity in is
the music business. The immense competition and pressure within the business I
think has both a negative and positive effect on the creativity of the
musicians. But the ability to write music that is completely original and for it
to be so well received by millions of different people goes to show the immense
power of creative thinking. Singer and songwriter Jack White shares some of his
thoughts on the creative process and the demands that come with being tasked
with producing something truly innovative.
