A Guide to the Creative Process
If you don’t view yourself as being creative you have probably proclaimed the following, “I am by no means creative, so don’t judge me for this drawing, concept, idea, etc.” Unfortunately, I have heard this from family, close friends, and coworkers several times. There is no benefit for anyone who has this perception of themselves, it only creates a separation of who is and who isn’t. We all have perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences that contribute to a comprehensively unique mind. It is important to understand that your way of thinking can only be thought by you. Your ideas are just as important as someone else’s.
So what exactly blocks people from discovering their creative potential? Knowing that creativity can manifest itself in different ways, it becomes difficult to determine all of the pain points that may cause discouragement. When trying to curb this mentality, we can focus on one aspect that is present within all creative situations, the creative process. This process flexes and evolves from person to person and project to project. Breaking down the creative process helps identify where so many people experience friction and conclude that they aren’t the creative type. Even for the most seasoned creative thinkers, let alone self-proclaimed “non-creatives”, this process is challenging to navigate. To illustrate the complex system of the creative process, we can look at a puzzle majority of us encountered as a child; a maze.
Solving a maze requires patience, intention, and trial and error; much like working through the creative process. When we break down the anatomy of a maze, we can understand how the process becomes unique to every situation. The next sections show the importance of each step and where most people tend to cut themselves short from creative thinking opportunities.
I) The Parameter
The Parameter of a maze allows us to see the space we are able to work within. Much like the start of the creative process, we discover what objectives, challenges, and/or restrictions are ubiquitous to a project. Parameters can be seen as project briefs, school assignments, personal passion projects, etc. As someone who works within the advertising industry, parameters are fundamental to client work. They provide the main challenge we are trying to solve and the restrictions we have to work within. The parameters are items like what media we have to work within, what brand elements/visuals we are allowed to use, and what audience it needs to resonate with. For more traditional artists these items may be what materials are going to be used, what subject matter is shown, and what conceptual meaning needs to be portrayed. In the most basic form, parameters are the non-negotiable variables that make up the fence of the maze.
II) “First thought, first shot.”
Now that the parameters are set we can visualize the entrance and exit. This is the moment where “non-creative” people assume that they have all the information needed in order to solve. They take the parameters for face value and don’t question if there are other things to consider. This makes forming a unique idea difficult due to not having much information to ruminate on. I label these ideas as “first thought, first shot” solutions. The deceptive quality of these solutions is they aren’t necessarily wrong. They accomplish the challenge set by the parameters, but it falls short of novelty. A straightforward idea may lack the depth of strategic thinking. The ramification with this approach is that it concludes the creative process right before creative thinking has begun. Having these ideas isn’t bad, but only relying on these ideas isn’t helpful. We should not assume to have all the information we need and push to the next step within the creative process.
III) Form the Walls
We can now introduce the most crucial part of the maze and the creative process, the walls. In a maze, walls are set within the parameters to coerce us to think through each move we take. The distinct difference between a maze and the creative process is that; a maze provides walls and the creative process requires us to construct them. When we have more than just the given parameters our solutions tend to take on twists and turns. Our solutions become more of a product of intention. Walls are constructed through various actions. Researching, testing, experimenting, questioning, etc. all help to build walls. Through these actions, we start uncovering other variables we should consider before we go to solve. Walls can almost be viewed as sub-parameters. Variables that influence the solution but aren’t set in stone.
This is where our creative efforts start to become unique to ourselves. Since we have ownership of the walls that are built; we are subconsciously influenced by our perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. The walls that I consider building are different than the ones you consider. Even though this step can be very difficult, we should be encouraged that this moment invites our individuality into the process. This also explains why so many artists feel they learn something about themselves within their creative work.
IV) Our Actual View
Now that the walls are set, we face the next obstacle; the actual view of the maze. Throughout this explanation of the creative process, we have used figure drawings that look at the maze from a bird’s eye perspective. Unfortunately, that is not our view when we go to find a solution. We enter the maze at ground level where we don’t have visibility of the full picture. Even though we may be the ones who determined what walls were built we don’t know for certain how they may interlock with each other. All we can do is start at the entrance and work our way to the exit. We may find a path on the first try, we may have to stop and turn around or even start over.
V) The Path a.k.a. The Solution a.k.a. The Idea
Even after all of the testing, research, and experiments it may still feel very abstract on how each piece locks together. As we work our way to the maze, we slowly understand how each wall interacts with each other. Knowing we can’t see the maze from a bird’s eye perspective, we should not assume there is only one path. There may be several solutions that all successfully navigate through the maze. With having the mindset of finding multiple solutions, we tend not to favor one path over the other. It may be easy to stop after discovering a viable path but there may be another solution that invites a unique turn that allows us to think about the challenge in a different way. This is where we can exercise patience with our creativity. The attitude when starting at the entrance needs to be open to rethinking and resetting.
VI) GET AFTER IT.
Now after getting a glimpse of how the creative process works, we can understand that friction is the fuel that forces us to think creatively. Creativity is not always easy. Sometimes the hard-to-work-through problems are the most rewarding projects. This article has been written, rewritten, edited, and worked on for a total of a month and a half straight. The initial idea for this article isn’t the final product it evolved to be. The creative process comes with stepping out of your comfort zone and trusting yourself to keep finding the path. If you feel the current path isn’t working, it may require you to turn around or even start over.
You are a creative person, stop saying you are not. Stop suppressing your potential and get comfy with the uncomfy. Step into the parameters, build your walls, and solve the maze. Don’t cut yourself short, I believe you can do it.
BONUS) Collaboration
Illustrating the collaborative creative process with a maze works just the same. The only difference being the ownership of the walls. Each member may provide different research, testing, and experimentation; providing a unique set of considerations. These are also influenced by everyone’s perspectives, backgrounds, and experiences. This allows the process to uncover a number of unique twists and turns with several solutions that are great paths to take. The struggle is trusting the process and being patient to see how each wall interlocks with each others when going to solve. Collaboration curates a wonderful reflection of the team’s personalities, qualities, and values. This makes for incredible solutions that we couldn’t have thought of alone.
