More thoughts on creativity and freedom…

I got a great note in response to Friday’s post: “I totally agree with your line of thought. I believe that creativity lies within everyone. I grew up in a rural area where people constantly innovate to meet their daily needs, fix things, and entertain themselves.

To me, design is a profession that has developed tools and methods to express and communicate ideas and innovations. The actual differences between disciplines are actually slight. Mostly, it’s the “tools” we use that are different. For example, industrial designers’ tools include materials and molding processes while a graphic person has imagery and fonts. A writer uses words. I found it kind of comical when I came to [my agency] that the only people considered “designers” are people with graphic design training.”

Along a similar vein, Bob Moore, chief creative officer at Publicis USA, is quoted in the 4.30.07 Ad Age as saying his agency doesn’t hire people without digital in their portfolio, the hoped-for net effect being not two classes of creative but one. The challenge is getting people to think about it as a blank slate, he said, and “the irony that creative people are the slowest to recognize this is grating on me. Terribly.”

The point - again - creativity isn’t the sole domain of anyone. We all need to be charged with being creative, innovative, and free to solve problems. These days, the “right” canvas (or the context) isn’t nearly as important as telling the right story - wherever and however it connects to people most effectively.

A few thoughts hit me as I read Thomas Friedman’s Op-Ed piece on Einstein and China in today’s NYT (see link below).

First, the link between freedom and creativity is undeniable. We need to create and zealously maintain room in our lives (and in our employees’ lives and our childrens’ lives) for imagination. In today’s multi-tasking, always-on, productivity-first environment, it’s a difficult task. We aren’t allowed (or don’t allow ourselves) the grace to take a different path, seek out alternative inspiration, look for insights in the non-traditional places, and explore approaches that may turn into dead ends, but maybe just maybe will create something exquisite. Creativity is limited to so-called ideation sessions that are overly-structured, underly-inspiring and far too linear. Quick, in the next :05, give me 10 innovative answers.

Creativity requires freedom.

The other thing I was struck by was Einstein’s ability to visualize mathematical concepts. It’s such a stunning example of creativity in support of what we (in the U.S.) tend to think of as a non-creative realm. Once I worked in a design firm where we were constantly told that Designers are right-brained and therefore creative and everyone else - by default - must be left-brained and non-creative. Everyone without a design background was marginalized. It would have been laughable, had the work not suffered from the same narrowmindedness.

Everyone can be creative. And creativity can take place in all disciplines.

Creativity requires freedom. And respect. Live it.

One last unrelated note: A shout-out to Brachstar, who begins her innovation adventure today. She’s on the road to greatness. Shine, goddess!

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/tsc.html?URI=http://select.nytimes.com/2007/04/27/opinion/27friedman.html&OQ=_rQ3D1Q26thQ26emcQ3Dth&OP=70a39f43Q2Fx-pcxieQ7DzzixoQ23Q23axQ23vxoaxzkQ2FJQ2FzJxoaQ2AQ7DQ2FpQ51ZQ60JQ3E4iZR