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Written By Jonathan Biggs
CREATIVITY IS THE DEFEAT OF HABIT BY ORIGINALITY
ARTHUR KOESTLER
6 7
Being creative is what scientists, philosophers, artists,
writers, poets and people in general have been doing for
centuries, as the human species is naturally creative and
creativity is evident in all aspects of our culture. The verb to
create was for many centuries confined to the pages of the
Bible: God did the ‘creating’ and humans got on and did the
INTRODUCTION: WHAT IS CREATIVITY?
best with what they were given. However the course of history
is littered with examples of humans being creative.
Chris Sharrock describes the origins of human creativity:
‘Our prehistoric ancestors, using pieces of shattered flint,
sharpened twigs, animal guts and bits of bone to solve the
problems they faced in order to survive are all the evidence
we need to prove that we are a naturally creative species’
(Chris Sharrock 2008). However in contrast to the idea that humans
have always been innately creative, a more traditional view is
that thinking, or indeed creativity, was not a necessity. Plato,
Aristotle and Socrates established the notion that ‘In a stable
world it was enough to teach ‘information’ because this would
last for the student’s lifetime. Information would tell you what
to do. Thinking was unnecessary. Once there was knowledge
then all else would follow. However this is an old fashioned
absurdity. Knowledge is not enough. The creative, constructive,
design and operating aspects of thinking are just as important
as knowledge’ (Edward De Bono 1982). Increasingly, in many aspects of
society, the role of creativity and thinking is as valued as much
as the importance of knowledge.
The creative act however is a relatively problematic one
to define as it involves a complex set of processes. Saul Bass
described how he ‘didn’t attempt to explain what the creative
process is, except note that it looks peculiar, is frequently
contradictory, takes surprising turns and occurs under strange
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THE CHASE
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The Collins English dictionary gives the following definition for the adjective
creative:
Creative (Kri:’eitiv) adj. 1. Having the ability or power to create. 2. Characterised by
originality of thought or inventiveness; having or showing imagination. 3. Designed
to or tending to stimulate the imagination or invention; creative toys. –cre’tively adv.
–cre’ativeness n. -, crea-tivity n.
The Oxford English Dictionary gives the following definition of the noun: Creativity
(Kri:’eitiv) The use of imagination or original ideas to create something; inventiveness.
WHAT IS CREATIVITY THE CREATIVE PROCESS
8 9
circumstances’ (Saul Bass 1996). Similarly, William Beck has said that
‘No one seems to know where creativity comes from or how it
works. I have thought about the nature of this creative process
and have reached a somewhat aberrant conclusion. I don’t
understand it and I don’t think anyone else does either’ (William
Beck 2001). Yet Oliver Sachs attempts to articulate a rationale for
creativity that ‘involves the power to originate, to break away
from existing ways of looking at things, to move freely in the
realm of the imagination, to create and re-create worlds fully
in one’s mind – while supervising all this with a critical inner
eye. Creativity has to do with inner life and with the flow of new
ideas and strong feelings’ (Oliver Sachs 2001).
A basic definition of for the creative act would be
the combination of different elements merged together in
a new way, but of course creativity also has many different
characteristics: it is about looking at things in new ways, taking
risks, making unlikely connections, discovering concealed
relationships, challenging assumptions, following curiosity
and being open to new methods. Indeed these processes are
integral to the unexpected and surprising nature of creativity.
Albert Einstein asserted that ‘imagination is more
important than knowledge’, and today creativity informs many
aspects of everyday life and disciplines such as science,
mathematics, medicine and engineering. Creativity is not just
the exclusive preserve of the arts. People however often make
the mistake of thinking of creativity solely in regard to the arts,
even though today the widespread importance of creativity is
generally unquestioned. ‘Too often we think of creativity just as
“art”, but art is not in fact a very high expression of creativity
because art can be wonderful without much change in ideas
or perception’ (Edward De Bono 1996). This emphasis on creativity
being about a change in ideas and perception is significant
because it informs the way good designers now approach
client briefs: it is no longer enough to simply be innovative in
formal or aesthetic terms. Instead there are now economic,
social, environmental, ethical and cultural factors that have
to be considered. Design does not exist in a vacuum. Bruce
Mau is at the forefront of this trend to make design more
aware of, relevant to, and connected to the wider world in all
its complexities: ‘We use our creative and analytical design
method to invent and visualize the highest purpose, and the
greatest economic, social and cultural potential for your
business or product, your city or country, your organization or
initiative’ (Bruce Mau, 2010).
I plan to look at the role of creativity in graphic design,
and how it not only influences the design approach but also has
the capacity to persuade, influence and even change people’s
thinking and decisions. In looking at how creativity in graphic
design is utilised in today’s society I plan to analyse how the
creative process works. This will involve me researching how the
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ARTHUR KOESTLER
THE ACT OF CREATION
1964
WHAT IS CREATIVITY THE CREATIVE PROCESS
10 11
brain and the unconscious work within this complex process. I
will discuss the different creative strategies that professional
designers use to help generate new ideas, by looking at
selected designers who have developed their own personal,
distinctive creative strategies. I will discuss the importance of
designers generating new ideas, as, without being prepared
to continually look for new alternatives, designers will remain
trapped in the same circles of approach, producing the same
works and coming up with the same solutions.
Researching creative strategies will help me to question
just how creative the designer can be, given the inherent
restrictions contained in a client’s brief. To what extent can
a brief restrict the creative approach of the designer; or
conversely can the limitations of the brief actually help the
creative process? I will also focus on the subject of creativity
on demand. Finally, I will discuss the broader context of
creativity and how design cannot ignore social, economic,
environmental, ethical and cultural considerations.
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MARTIN GARDNER
MATHEMATICIAN
CREATIVE PROCESS THE ROLE OF THE BRAIN
Creativity is the result of a complex set of processes, it is not a mechanical
process that can be easily followed, but more a personal process that designers
learn and develop over time. People have their own ways of stimulating this
ideas-making process: the poet Schiller would keep rotten apples in his desk so
he could smell them when he needed to find the right word; Ivan Chermayeff does
most of his thinking in taxis; the mathematician Jacques Hadamard gets his ideas
by being awoken by a loud noise; Thomas Edison would sit in front of a roaring
fire holding a large ball bearing in his hand - as he nodded off the ball would fall
and awaken him so he could remember and capture any idea he was having at
the time. In this way he would circumvent the domination of the conscious mind
through sleepiness. The point is we all have different wiring, but it is down to the
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WHAT IS CREATIVITY THE CREATIVE PROCESS
12 13
individual to gain their own understanding of the creative
process. As Chris Sharrock has said, “If I laid out the
basic operation of a combustion engine and how it drives a
motor vehicle, merely reading this would not make you able
to drive a car, nor would it make you a brilliant Formula
One driver. However, someone driving to the supermarket
in a car and someone careering at high speed around a
racetrack are both operating within the same basic system.
Their ability to use that system, and how much they can
control it, will depend on them” (Chris Sharrock 2008). However it
does not automatically follow that practice improves a skill.
The fact is that the mind thinks with ideas not information,
so acquiring knowledge is useless unless one learns how to
use it. A dictionary may contain all the words but no one can
tell a poet which to choose or what to write.
The mathematician Jacques Hadamard devised a set
of phases for the creative process: preparation, incubation,
illumination and verification. Preparation is the acquiring of
information and incubation is allowing the brain to process
this information (I will return to illumination and verification
later). The human brain is at the centre of everything we
do and yet our understanding of the brain and how it works
is very limited, ‘we know more about the inside of a star
than we do our own brain’ (Richard Gregory, 2001) and if our brains
were simple enough to be understood, then we would be too
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simple to understand them.
The purpose of the brain is to enable us to survive and
to cope, not to be creative, so for us to use our brain in a
creative way we have to get it to start understanding how
to think in this way. An idea is essentially a new combination
of elements but the capacity to bring old elements into new
combinations depends largely on the brain’s ability to see
relationships. Edward De Bono is a leading author in the
field of thinking techniques. He puts forward the theory that
the brain is a pattern-making and pattern-using system.
De Bono claims that the brain provides a means whereby
incoming information gets organized into a pattern, and
once a pattern is formed then the mind no longer has to
analyze or sort information, any information that reaches
that pattern or channel will flow along it always in the same
way, always establishing the pattern ever more definitely.
An example of this would be: ‘when you are reading poor
handwriting it may take a while to recognize a word. Then
suddenly it becomes clear. With print we recognize the
words so rapidly that we are hardly aware of this ‘pattern
recognition’. This is because the mind works to recognise in
the outside world familiar patterns’ (Edward De Bono 1982).
It is this pattern recognition that allows our experience
to form certain concepts, patterns and organizations. We
follow a pattern but in order to progress we may have to
FRANCIS CRICK
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THE BRAIN THE CREATIVE PROCESS
14 15
backtrack and change to another pattern. This would mean
that working within existing patterns will not in itself lead to
new patterns or ideas, and this is essentially how creativity
works. If we are always thinking in the same way and going
through the same routines then nothing new will be created,
just rehashes of other, previous work.
This theory is supported by James Webb Young who
believes that ‘the mind follows an operative technique which
can be learned and controlled: and that its effective use
is just as much a matter of practise in the technique as it
is the effective use of any tool’ (James Webb Young, 1965). Similarly
John Gorham believes that ‘the conscious part of the brain
can only think in terms of what it knows, what it has learnt,
what it has seen. So if you think of a good idea, you must
have seen it somewhere else. It is their subconscious which
comes up with the unexpected’ (John Gorham, 1996).
De Bono offers a thinking technique called ‘lateral
thinking’, the purpose of which is to offer a more deliberate
means for pattern switching than relying on mistake or
accident. It is about reasoning that is not immediately
obvious, and ideas that may not be obtainable by using
only traditional step-by-step logic, although he does state
the unconscious, stating that he has ‘always been drawn
to the theory of an unconscious mind, I’ve always known
there was a part of me that works even when I’m asleep
or when I’m thinking about other things. My unconscious
mind feels as real to me as do my heart, lungs and liver.
I can’t see any of these vital organs, but I know they’re
CREATIVE PROCESSTHE ROLE OF THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND
Albert Einstein asked “Why is it I get my best ideas in the morning while I’m
shaving?” The answer is the role of our unconscious mind in the creative process.
This phenomenon is the belief that ideas appear out of the blue through the
unconscious mind, a flash of inspiration; and it would appear to be a commonality
in all the creative endeavours, yet it is a theory that academics and scientists
struggle to explain. The theory is that your subconscious still works on a problem
while your mind focuses on other things. You could say that it is the borderland
between sleep and full awakening. Adrian Shaughnessy supports this idea of
THE ROUTE FROM A TO B
IS VERY DIFFERENT FROM
THE ROUTE FROM B TO A.
LATERAL THINKING OFFERS
A MEANS FOR PATTERN
SWITICHING (DE BONO,1982)
that sometimes ‘we use these techniques and come up with
nothing at all, sometimes a good idea no better than the
existing idea will appear, but sometimes (occasionally) we
use it and come up with a better idea’ (Edward De Bono, 1982). His
technique involves trying to look at the problem from many
angles instead of tackling it head-on, using idea generating
tools to break current thinking patterns, and focus tools to
broaden the search for new ideas. This is essentially how we
can be more creative: by trying different methods of thinking
which in essence should lead you to new and unexplored
places.
THE BRAIN THE CREATIVE PROCESS
16 17
there. And I also know the unconscious mind is where ideas
come from and over time I’ve learnt to trust it and to treat
it with respect’ (Adrian Shaughnessy, 2009). Marty Neumeier agrees
with this, stating that ‘the history of invention can be seen
as a series of marriages of incompatible ideas, or at the
least ideas that previously had not been introduced. The
matchmaker in most of these marriages is the unconscious
mind’ (Marty Neumeier, 2001). Shaughnessy says that over time
he has ‘learnt to trust’ his unconscious mind, yet when Saul
Bass was a young designer he stated that when he did a
good piece of work outside of the rational process he would
distrust it and felt it was an accident. However he now
realises his unconscious mind is an key part of the creative
process.
It is fascinating that our mind can work on a problem
even when are not thinking about it, but that is because
of the complexities of the brain and the creative process.
James Webb Young offers an example of this phenomenon:
‘You remember how Sherlock Holmes used to stop right in
the middle of a case and drag Watson off to a concert? That
was a very irritating procedure to the practical and literal
minded Watson. But Conan Doyle was a creator and knew the
creative processes. Drop the problem completely and turn
to whatever stimulates your imagination and emotions’ (James
Webb Young, 1965). I acknowledge that this is a relevant factor in
EXTRACT FROM
THE ART OF LOOKING
SIDEWAYS
the creative process and that it is important to allow time
for your unconscious to digest the relevant information to
produce a worthy idea.
However the unconscious mind doesn’t necessarily
produce amazing ideas, it can only work with what it knows.
That is why when you hear of scientists and designers
talk about this ‘flash of inspiration’ or their ‘moment of
creation’, it is not because their unconscious is a smart
entity which told them, it’s because they have a vast wealth
of knowledge on the subject and a great understanding of
how the creative processes work.
John Cleese believes that you get better results when
your unconscious has worked on a problem. He started to
observe ‘what was going on when I was creating. The first
thing I would notice was when I was trying to write a sketch
at night and I would get stuck I would go to bed and when I
woke up in the morning, not only was the solution immediately
apparent to me, but I couldn’t remember what the problem
was the other night. I realised that the explanation for this
was my unconscious part of my mind must have continued
working on it while I was asleep, with the result that when
I wrote it out it was better’ (John Cleese, 2010). Arthur Koestler
believed this is because the unconscious aids creativity by
keeping the problem constantly on your mind, while your
conscious is occupied elsewhere. He states that ‘without
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PENTAGRAM
THE UNCONSCIOUS MIND THE CREATIVE PROCESS
18 19
believes that in every brief there are a number of instructions
and demands: ‘Follow these and we will probably end up with
an acceptable result. But in most briefs there is also a hidden
and unspoken element, a key that unlocks the creative solution
to the task’ (Adrian Shaughnessy, 2009). A good designer will understand
this, they will look closely at the details of the brief, making
connections between the different snippets of information in
search of a creative solution - but it isn’t always easy to find.
The American artist Robert Rauschenberg stated how
‘he tried never to come into the studio with an idea. If he
has an idea, he goes for a walk to get rid of it. He said that
CREATIVE STRATEGIES IN THE PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN
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if he does start with an idea, chances are he’ll only come up
with stuff that he or somebody else has done before him. He
wants all the insecurities and doubts of the working process
to become part of the final piece’ (Stefane Sagmeister 2008). However
as a fine artist Rauschenberg rarely has the pressure to work
to tight deadlines and can afford to be as freely creative as
he pleases. But does the graphic designer have the luxury to
be able to adopt this approach? Adrian Shaughnessy wrote
that ‘most designers look at books when they want ideas.
Others pound through the Internet. This is fine, but we should
force ourselves to go to unlikely books and unlikely places in
cyberspace; if we are all looking at the same hip design books
we mustn’t be surprised if everything we do looks the same as
everything else’ (Adrian Shaughnessy, 2009). Both Rauschenberg and
Shaughnessy recognise the importance of trying to work in
different ways to the norm. The difficulty can lie in originality.
There is such a vast plethora of design work out there that it
can be very easy to fall into the trap of repetition or recycling
someone else’s earlier idea. If the designer is repeating
another designer’s work they are not creating but merely
mimicking. Good designers learn how to borrow and adapt
ideas, as well as discovering new ideas. Many designers have
developed their own distinctive working method to help them
respond to briefs and help with the creative process, some of
which I have researched.
In the professional practice of graphic design it is important to respond to
briefs with fresh new ideas, yet this can be difficult given the inherent restrictions
of the brief. But no matter how detailed the brief is it always leaves something
unsaid. This is where the designer can use their creative skills. Adrian Shaughnessy
this constant pressure, a favourable chance constellation would pass unnoticed.
The unconscious helps in bringing forms of ideation into play which otherwise
manifest themselves only in dreaming states’ (Arthur Koestler, 1996).
Of course not everybody works in this way; this is just one of many ways
of getting an idea. If you do have a so called ‘eureka!’ moment it’s never as
glamorous as Newton and the falling apple or Archimedes and his bath tub - it
is still just an idea which you have to bring into the real world and make work.
CREATIVE STRATEGIES CREATIVE STRATEGIES
20 21
OBLIQUE STRATEGIES
The Oblique Strategies were devised as a set of cards in the 1970s as a way of
circumventing the repetition of thought process and to help with creative blocks that
arose through studio practice. Both Schmidt and Eno understood that the pressure of
time tended to steer them away from the ways of thinking they found most productive
when the pressure was off: ‘The Oblique Strategies evolved from being in a number
of working to deadline situations. If you’re in a panic, you tend to take the head-on
approach because it seems yield the best results’ (Brian Eno Interview). But of course, that
often isn’t the case. The idea is that the user draws one of the Oblique Strategies
cards at random and applies the instruction on the card to the problem at hand. My
personal favourite instruction is “Honour thy error as a hidden intention”, as it can
be all too easy to discard a mistake for what it is - a mistake. As Bruce Mau puts it:
‘Capture accidents - the wrong answer is the right answer in search of a different
question. Collect wrong answers as part of the process. Ask
different questions’ (Bruce Mau, 1998).
This strategy is a systems-based approach to creativity
and I acknowledge that these instructions offer a creative
solution. However, I would question whether the user would
automatically get better results using them. You would certainly
get mixed results. I think the Oblique Strategies cards are more
suited to, say, a fine artist than a graphic designer because the
results would be rather more unpredictable. This of course is
acceptable within graphic design, but given the limitations of
the brief, they may not be suitable to use. They would however
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be helpful to use in response to briefs for more experimental
projects.
I would argue that what Schmidt and Eno’s cards do
well is allow the brain to take a different train of thought. The
random instructions serve to tap into lines of thought that might
otherwise have stayed hidden. Musicians such as Coldplay,
MGMT, Phoenix, U2 and the German composer Blixa Bargeld
have all used the cards when recording albums, with mixed
results - Stefane Sagmeister stated how he was ‘working with
Brian Eno’s Oblique Strategy cards every once in a while with
mixed results’(stefane sagmeister 2010). Louis Pasteur said ‘Chance
favours the prepared mind’(Louis Pasteur, 1848) and essentially this is
how these cards work. If you have the right understanding of
the brief then a preferable chance constellation is more likely.OBLIQUE STRATEGIES
STATEMENTS
OBLIQUE STRATEGIES CREATIVE STRATEGIES
22 23
De Bono offers a similar technique to Oblique
Strategies called the ‘random stimulation method’, which
is provided by a random object, word, person, magazine
or exhibition: ‘The main thing is that it cannot be chosen
because if it is chosen then it is chosen through its
relevance to current ideas and therefore will reinforce
rather than change them. It is a matter of exposing oneself
to a random influence or deliberately producing one’ (Edward
De Bono, 1982).
Chris Sharrock gave an example in a lecture of how
he blindfolded a student and spun him around. The first
object the student saw would have to be applied to the brief
RANDOM STIMULATION METHOD
Brief: come up with ideas for a new deodorant.
Random stimulation : Umbrella
Idea: An Umbrella is used during wintertime.
Design special winter / summer editions.
Idea: An Umbrella is used according to climate
conditions. Design a deodorant that reacts to
changes in body temperature.
Idea: Some umbrellas can be folded to a small size.
Design a small deodrant pack to carry in your bag.
as a restriction. Another example (Stefane Sagmeister’s)
would be to open the dictionary on a random page and
choose the first word you find, apply that word as you
see necessary to the brief. The random influence helps
as a restriction as it allows you to free yourself from the
endless possibilities of a restriction-free brief. De Bono
believes that ‘in our thinking we move out of a certain area
along the traditional route. If we toss in a random word
it has its own associations. Sooner or later these link up
with the associations of the problem. We can now move out
of the problem along this new route and see what we can
find’ (Edward De Bono, 1982).
As with Oblique Strategies the value of this method
is debatable; the key is the random aspect as it allows
the brain to make chance constellations it would otherwise
not have made, had it not been subjected to a random
influence. Whether this chance constellation works is
another matter. The fact is that this method will throw up
both intelligent ideas and ridiculous ideas. I would imagine
both this method and Oblique Strategies would take a lot
of practice before these techniques produce worthwhile
solutions.
EXAMPLE OF THE
RANDOM STIMULATION
METHOD
THE
GR
EA
TES
T D
AN
GE
R F
OR
MO
ST
OF
US
IS
N
OT
THA
T O
UR
AIM
IS
TO
O H
IGH
AN
D W
E M
ISS
IT
BU
T R
ATH
ER
TH
AT
IT I
S T
OO
LO
W A
ND
WE
RE
AC
H I
T
MICHAELANGELO
ARTIST
RANDOM STIMULATION METHOD CREATIVE STRATEGIES
24 25
THE HUMAN BRAIN CAN
ONLY GENERATE 30 WATTS
ILLUSTRATION BOB BLECHMANnot otherwise dare to make for the fear of the idea being
ridiculed. No idea is too ridiculous to be put forward. It
is very important that no attempt at evaluation of ideas is
made during the session.
Brainstorming can have genuine advantages if used
at the right stages of the creative process. It can be a
reminder of how rigid your thinking has become and can
help your mind to free itself of rational thinking: ‘At worst
it can be hostile to the creative process as it leads to
the proliferation of ideas exclusive of merit’ (Ralph Caplan,
1996). It can also stifle creativity, as the very competition it
fosters establishes one of the biggest blocks: the fear of
making a mistake. So to be effective brainstorming should
be used wisely. It would most probably prosper in a studio
environment where designers can bounce ideas off one
another.
BRAINSTORMINGAlex Osborn came up with the concept of
brainstorming in the late 1930s. The main features of a
brainstorming session are cross stimulation, suspended
judgment and the formality of the setting. The technique
involves a group of people trying to solve a problem
together by very rapidly throwing out ideas. It requires
that the session be a short period of time, all ideas should
be written down so that everybody can see them and that
there be no censorship. Brainstorming sessions provide
an opportunity for people to make suggestions they would
ALE
X O
SB
OR
N S
PP
LIT
THE
MIN
D I
NTO
TW
O P
AR
TS. TH
E
JUD
ICIA
L M
IND
AN
D T
HE
CR
EA
TIV
E M
IND
- B
RA
INS
TOR
MIN
G
WA
S H
IS M
ETH
OD
TO
EN
CO
UR
AG
E C
OP
IOU
S I
DE
ATI
ON
W
HIL
E D
ISC
OU
RA
GIN
G P
RE
MA
TUR
E J
UD
GE
ME
NT.
MIS
OM
ISM
IS
A P
SYC
HIA
TRIC
TE
RM
FO
R A
N U
NR
EA
SO
NIN
G
FE
AR
AN
D H
ATR
ED
OF
NE
W I
DE
AS
.
EXTRACT FROM
THE ART OF LOOKING
SIDEWAYS
EXTRACT FROM
THE ART OF LOOKING
SIDEWAYS
BRAINSTORMING CREATIVE STRATEGIES
26 27
JAMES WEBB YOUNG & CHRIS SHARROCK
Both James Webb Young and Chris Sharrock offer an identical creative
strategy. Young wrote the book A Technique for Producing Ideas (recommended
by Sagmeister and Craig Oldham). Both author’s methods relate to the theory of
the unconscious mind and to Jacques Hadamard’s set of phases: preparation,
incubation, illumination and verification.
Young and Sharrock are by no means suggesting that creativity is a simple
process which – following the steps listed above - will automatically make you
creative. They are simply laying out the basic mechanisms that underpin the
complexities of the creative process. If you understand these steps then it will help
you to become a better thinker. The key to this method is allowing your mind to gain
the right knowledge and understanding of the brief in order to give yourself more a
chance of finding an acceptable creative solution. Without an understanding of the
project the ideas you produce will lack relevance to the subject.
JAMES WEBB YOUNG
STEP ONE
‘Allow your mind to gather all the raw materials of the project. Think about the project from any possible point of view. From yours, the clients, the audience.’
STEP TWO
‘The process of masticating these materials, What you are seeking now is the relationships; little tentative or partial ideas will come to you.’
STEP THREE
‘You drop the whole subject and put the problem out of your mind as completely as you can, turn the problem over to your unconscious mind and let it work while you sleep. You stimulate the unconscious creative process’
STEP FOUR ‘The idea will strike you when you don’t expect it.’
CHRIS SHARROCK
STEP ONE
‘Gather all the data and information you can on the subject. Illustrators often form a personal opinion first and then research around this.’
STEP TWO
‘Think about the subject of the brief. Don’t be frightened of it, take risks, jump into the unknown. Play with it. Don’t be scared of it. It won’t bite you.’
STEP THREE
‘Forget all about it. You have the information, now let it go and turn to what stimulates your imagination.’
STEP FOUR
‘The Idea. This often comes when you least expect it’
STEP FIVE
‘Show it to other people and get their opinion remember you are trying to communicate with others, not yourself.’
JAMES WEBB YOUNG
A TECHNIQUE FOR
PRODUCING IDEAS
1939
A TECHNIQUE FOR
PRODUCING IDEAS
COVER
JAMES WEBB YOUNG
1965
HOW TO BE CREATIVE ON
DEMAND
CHRIS SHARROCK
2010
CREATIVE BLOCK & NO RESTRICTIONS
YOUNG & SHARROCK CREATIVE STRATEGIES
28 29
Webb Young gives an example by the writer De
Maupassant that I think epitomises the importance of good
research: ‘Go out into the streets of Paris and pick out a cab
driver. He will look to you very much like every other cab driver.
But study him until you can describe him so that he is seen in
your description to be an individual, different from every other
cab driver in the world’ (James Webb Young, 1965). I think within graphic
design this method provides useful advice in getting the right
results and producing high quality work. When working for
clients you will need to make them look individual and different
from their competitors, even though the difference may be
minimal. The right knowledge and research of the problem will
help this process.
Young claims to have received feedback from people
entirely outside of design, such as poets, painters, engineers,
scientists, and even a writer of legal briefs, who all say that
Young has described their own experiences with the creative
process. This supports the idea that the creative process can
be the same for everyone even when applied to different fields
of work: so the creative process in science would be the same
as in art and design.
YOU
HE
AR
PE
OP
LE A
LL T
HE
TIM
E S
AY
ING
RID
ICU
LOU
S T
HIN
GS
LIK
E I
C
OU
LD W
RIT
E A
BO
OK
OR
, I
CO
ULD
CO
MP
OS
E A
PIE
CE
OF
MU
SIC
. W
ELL
O
F C
OU
RS
E T
HE
Y C
OU
LDN
’T T
HE
Y M
IGH
T H
AV
E A
N I
DE
A I
N T
HE
R H
EA
D
BU
T IT
S R
EA
LIS
ING
TH
AT
IDE
A T
HA
T C
OU
NTS
VIVIENNE
WESTWOOD
FASHION DESIGNER
Mau wrote The Incomplete Manifesto for Growth, an articulation of statements
exemplifying his beliefs, strategies and motivations. Mau stated that he ‘tried to
articulate the way that we work - day to day, moment by moment - so that others
might learn from the method we had developed’(Bruce Mau, 2009). They are thought
provoking statements that are useful in helping designers move beyond the design
process mindset they can often get stuck in.
Often designs conform to the latest patterns or software tricks. Mau’s
statements challenge assumptions on how to approach design work but also help to
BRUCE MAU - THE INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH
There is a long tradition of artists creating manifestos to express their views
of the world and their approaches towards art. Amongst the first art manifestos
was that of the Futurists in 1909, followed by the Vorticist, Dada and Surrealist
manifestos. All these defined a moment. Much later in 1998, design guru Bruce
MASSIVE CHANGE
BOOK COVER
BRUCE MAU
BEGIN ANYWHERE BILLBOARD
NEW YORK
BRUCE MAU
INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH CREATIVE STRATEGIES
30 31
1. Allow events to change you
2. Forget about good
3. Process is more important than outcome
4. Love your experiments (as you would an ugly child)
5. Go deep
6. Capture accidents
7. Study
8. Drift
9. Begin anywhere
10. Everyone is a leader
11. Harvest ideas
12. Keep moving
13. Slow down
14. Don’t be cool
15. Ask stupid questions
16. Collaborate
17. ____________________.Intentionally left blank
18. Stay up late
19. Work the metaphor
20. Be careful to take risks
21. Repeat yourself
22. Make your own tools
take an alternative route to the ‘norm’. These statements have
a different purpose to the Oblique Strategies: they are more
a philosophy for designers to follow than a statement to apply
to a project.
Mau believes it is important to disregard what people
think is ‘good’. People who have brought about true innovation
were focused on trying to change things. Good is acceptable;
innovation however comes from pushing the boundaries.
Daniel Nettle wrote that ‘when we have good ideas about
how to be happy, they come to us through means very different
from instinct but through long, difficult learning; through study,
through reflection; through spirituality; and through art. It is
as if our untempered impulses constantly lead us astray and
we need an input of wisdom to keep us on the right track’ (David
Nettle 2009). This is how I think these statements work. They act
as an ‘input of wisdom’, which helps the designer think about
and approach projects in different ways.
2.
FO
RG
ET
AB
OU
T G
OO
D.
GO
OD
IS
A K
NO
WN
QU
AN
TITY
. G
OO
D I
S W
HA
T W
E A
LL
AG
RE
E O
N.
GR
OW
TH I
S N
OT
NE
CE
SS
AR
ILY
GO
OD
. G
RO
WTH
IS
AN
EX
PLO
RA
TIO
N
OF
UN
LIT
RE
CE
SS
ES
TH
AT
MA
Y O
R M
AY
NO
T Y
IELD
TO
OU
R R
ES
EA
RC
H.
AS
LO
NG
A
S Y
OU
STI
CK
TO
GO
OD
YO
U’L
L N
EV
ER
HA
VE
RE
AL
GR
OW
TH
INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO
FOR GROWTH
BRUCE MAU
THE INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROWTH(STRIPPED VERSION)
23. Stand on someone’s shoulders
24. Avoid software
25. Don’t clean your desk
26. Don’t enter awards competitions
27. Read only left-hand pages
28. Make new words
29. Think with your mind
30. Organization = Liberty
31. Don’t borrow money
32. Listen carefully
33. Take field trips
34. Make mistakes faster
35. Imitate
36. Scat
37. Break it, stretch it, bend it, crush it, crack it, fold it
38. Explore the other edge
39. Coffee breaks, cab rides, green rooms
40. Avoid fields
41. Laugh
42. Remember
43. Power to the people
INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO FOR GROTWTH CREATIVE STRATEGIES
32 33
THE IMPORTANCE OFEXPERIMENTATION
As a designer keeping ideas fresh is important. Clients want work that is
new and original so as to differentiate from the competition. Stefane Sagmeister
believes in the importance of refreshing his work and so takes a year long sabbatical
from design around every seven years, during which he declines to take projects
from clients so he can concentrate on experimentation. He feels that his work can
often become repetitive and so believes in the importance of experimentation:
‘under pressure, the chances are that I revert to something I did before. When
I stop the pressure, I can relax, I can look at things or start developing things
that I have no clue about. Almost every designer whose work I really admire has
some sort of set period set aside for experimentation’ (Stefane Sagmeister Interview). In 2000
Sagmeister took a year-long sabbatical. Although most designers can’t really do
this, it is necessary to have time set aside for experimentation. It is important
STEFANE SAGMEISTER
THINGS I HAVE LEARNT IN MY LIFE SO FAR
2009
LOV
E Y
OU
R E
XP
ER
IEM
NTS
AS
YO
U W
OU
LD A
ND
UG
LY C
HIL
D.
JOY
IS
TH
E
EN
GIN
E O
F G
RO
WTH
. E
XP
LOIT
TH
E L
IBE
RTY
IN
CA
STI
NG
YO
UR
WO
RK
AS
B
EU
ATI
FU
L E
XP
ER
IME
NTS
, IT
ER
ATI
ON
S,
ATT
EM
PTS
, TR
IALS
AN
D E
RR
OR
S.
TAK
E T
HE
LO
NG
VIE
W A
ND
ALL
OW
YO
UR
SE
LF T
HE
FU
N O
F F
AIL
UR
E E
VE
RY
DA
Y.
BRUCE MAU
INCOMPLETE MANIFESTO
FOR GROWTH
to keep yourself thinking in different ways. If your brain is
always doing the same routines and working methods, your
focus may well become narrow and you will get into the habit
of doing things the same way, your work stagnating as a
result. Having experimentation time allows you to explore
different ways of working which may not be possible under
the pressures of ‘creating on demand’. It is the act of
reflection that allows us to make sense of and balance our
thoughts and feelings.
There is a question of whether or not you view
work for clients as experimental or personal work. Adrian
Shaughnessy believes that all his work is personal: ‘The
fact that it’s not self initiated doesn’t mean its not personal;
the fact that I have a client with a brief and a deadline and
a budget, and a sack full of prejudices, restrictions and
limitations, doesn’t stop me trying to do personal work. Its
all personal’ (Adrian Shaughnessy, 2009). I agree that it is important to
make your commercial work personal, however the extent to
which this is possible is down to the inherent restrictions of a
brief. It will also depend on what type of work the studio does
for clients: if you are stuck doing work which doesn’t really
involve a high level of creative input it may well be hard to
make the work personal. Other briefs however do allow the
designer to really engage with the project and really stamp
their own creative input on it.
EXPERIMENTATION CREATIVE STRATEGIES
34 35
CO
PY
MA
GA
ZIN
E G
AV
E U
S S
IX S
PR
EA
DS
AN
D W
AN
TED
US
TO
FIL
L TH
EM
W
ITH
SO
ME
THIN
G A
NY
THIN
G R
EA
LLY.
TH
IS S
OU
ND
ED
IN
ITIA
LLY
EXC
ITIN
G
BU
T F
ILLI
NG
TH
E P
AG
ES
WIT
H N
O B
RIE
FS
AN
D N
O B
OU
ND
AR
IES
TU
RN
ED
OU
T TO
BE
MU
CH
MO
RE
CH
ALL
EN
GIN
G T
HA
N I
HA
D N
AIV
ELY
E
XP
EC
TED
. A
S T
HE
WE
EK
S W
EN
T B
Y M
Y S
EA
RC
H F
OR
CO
NTE
NT
BE
CA
ME
IN
CR
EA
SIN
GLY
FR
AN
TIC
STEFANE SAGMEISTER
THINGS I HAVE LEARNT IN
MY LIFE SO FAR
CREATIVE BLOCK & RESTRICTIONS
Creative block can happen to any designer and can
be down to any number of reasons. Anything, from the
pressures of creating on demand, to a reliance on the
same working method, can cause it, or just the fear of not
being able to come up with anything. Having a brief with no
restrictions can be another cause: designers need a brief to
be able to stimulate thinking about an idea. Personally I am
not the sort of person who can come up with ideas out of the
blue. One might imagine having a brief with no restrictions
would make a designer very excited, however I would agree
with Sagmeister that it is quite the opposite: ‘Unlimited
freedom can be a curse, particularly for a design studio
used to working with tight briefs and deadlines. How to go
about it? Where to start? Should we run portfolio pieces?
Jokes? What do I want to say when I can say anything? ’
(Stefane Sagmeister, 2006). Michael Beirut also believes that having
no restrictions can be a curse: ‘Thought that the poster
for America’s most progressive design competition, the
One Hundred Show, would be the ultimate easy problem to
solve – no restrictions whatsoever, an audience of other
designers, nothing but commonality, how could I help but
be brilliant? But people crash and burn on jobs like this. I
was frozen by it. I put it off repeatedly, even when I was
pestered to make decisions about colour and size’ (Michael
Beirut, 1996). Restrictions are a necessity that allows the
brain to start working, which is why Saul Bass would
‘frequently set up some sort of absurdist condition
that forced him into considering the relationships and
ideas and experiences which would be conjured up
within the r¬estrictions of the familiar world’ (Saul Bass,
1996). The thought of no restrictions then can lead to
a creative block – indeed, it should be said, any brief
could lead to a creative block. In this situation Chris
Sharrock offers a fallback method that he calls the
‘Basic Ideas Of The Universe’.
THE ONE HUNDRED SHOW OF
AMERICAN CENTER OF DESIGN POSTER
MICHAEL BEIRUT
1992
‘WE
CR
EA
TE S
OLU
TIO
NS
IN
RE
SP
ON
SE
TO
PR
OB
LEM
S. TH
E M
OR
E
SP
EC
IFIC
TH
E D
EF
INIT
ION
OF
TH
E P
RO
BLE
M, TH
E M
OR
E D
IRE
CTE
D
THE
EF
FO
RTS
AT
SO
LVIN
G I
T. C
ON
STR
AIN
TS A
RE
NO
T YO
UR
E
NE
MY,
BU
T YO
U F
RIE
ND
’
RICK EIBER
DESIGNER
CREATIVE BLOCK CREATIVE STRATEGIES
36 37
BUNNY LAKE IS MISSING
FILM POSTER
SAUL BASS
1965
THE BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE
The basic ideas of the universe
is a fallback method offered by Chris
Sharrock for when a designer is
suffering from a creative block. The
method is a group of 10 techniques
which the designer can use to apply to
a project. This method is primarily aimed
at students who may not have a great
understanding of the methods which
designers have at their disposal.
1. THE MEDIUM AS THE MESSAGE
JIF LEMON PACKAGING
EDWARD HACK
1956
PAUL WENMAN BUSINESS CARD
ABI STONES
2004
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
38 39
2. VISUAL METAPHOR
BOOTS DISHWASHER POWDER
ROBINSON LAMBIE-NAIRN
1991
THINGS ARE FINE
CAMPAIGN
BORDERS PERRIN
NORRANDER
CARTOON OF DAVID CAMERON
THE GUARDIAN
STEVE BELL
3. DEBUNKING
POSTER FOR JACK GOLD’S
FILM RED MONARCH
JOHN GORHAM
ADOLF, THE SUPERMAN SWALLOWS
GOLD AND SPOUTS JUNK
JOHN HEARTFIELD
KAISER ADOLF
JOHN HEARTFIELD
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
40 41
4. ADAPTION OF SOMETHING WELL KNOWN
PROTEST POSTER
UNKNOWN DESIGNER
1970
A VISUAL RUNDOWN OF
THE FILM THE LAST OF THE
MOHICANS
ATELIER WORKS
1994
POSTERS FROM THE SERIES OF THIRTY
FIVE IN THE ‘GREETINGS FROM SARAJEVO’
EXHIBITION IN ZURICH
TRIO SARAJEVO
1994
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
42 43
5. REBUS
IBM LOGO
PAUL RAND
1991
TRICKETT & WEBB BROCHURE TITLE
DESIGNER UNKNOWN
1991
6. THE DESIGNERS EYE
FEDEX LOGO
LINDON LEADER
1994
LOGO FOR MAGAZINE THAT WAS
NEVER PUBLISHED
HERB LUBALIN & TOM CARNASE
1965
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
44 45
7. WORDS AS PICTURES
SHELL LOGO
RAYMOND LOEWY
1971
TELECOMMUNICATIONS PLESSEY LOGO
NORBORT DUTTON
1959
SLOGAN FOR NEW YORK
MILTON GLASER
1975
8. INVERSION OF SCALEOR OPTICAL ILLUSION
FUKUDA EXHIBITION POSTER
SHIGEO FAKUDA
1975
BOOK ILLUSTRATION
SHIGEO FAKUDA
1984
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
46 47
THE WHITE RABBIT ALICE
IN WONDERLAND
JOHN TENNIAL
1865
9. ANTHROPOMORPHISM 10. 1+1=3
JEEP HUSKY AND CAMEL
GARY LIM
2008
BASIC IDEAS OF THE UNIVERSE CREATIVE STRATEGIES
48 49
I believe preparation is the most important aspect in the creative process.
A good understanding of the subject will give you a solid platform from which to
find the best answers to the brief. This process is dependant on the brain’s ability
to discover new ideas. The creative strategies I researched all involve the brain
making connections, whether it be through an instruction, a random word or your
unconscious. The brain needs time to find concealed relationships, it needs time
to find a solution to the brief - this is the incubating aspect of the process. Next
is illumination: the creative process allows discovery of new ideas, but whether
these ideas work is up to the designer - an idea is still only an idea until it is made
real and it works. The last step in the process is verification. There is no point
in creating something if it doesn’t fulfil its purpose. It is very important to get
people’s opinions on a piece of work, remembering that in most cases it has been
created for somebody else and it will be their opinion that matters the most, not
your own.
Having understood how the creative process works and the skills designers
have at their disposal I will now discuss the broader context of creativity and its
role within today’s society.
CREATIVE STRATEGIES OVERVIEW
Having researched how the creative process works and having looked at a
number of creative strategies, I believe Jacques Hadamard was right to assert
that the creative process works through the stages of preparation, incubation,
illumination and verification.
important issues facing the world, and need to think of the
ethics of what they do, and what projects they choose to
apply their creative skills to. In there day-to-day working,
the Liverpool design studio Non Conform promotes a practice
that is more environmentally anchored. They are a ‘carbon
neutral company’, a ‘tree 250 company’ and a member of
the PFH (procurement for housing), as well as using a ‘cycle
to work scheme’. Studios like Non Conform recognise the
importance of having principles that clients can relate to.
Similarly clients are becoming more ethically aware and so
will search for designers who have ethical principles in line
with their own.
So for a designer it is important to decide what one’s
ethical stance is. This can be problematic if one’s ethical
principles do not correspond with those of one’s clients.
Adrian Shaughnessy offers an example of an instance that
requires an ethical response: ‘you are asked to design the
packaging for a new fizzy drink which contains sugar and
other dubious chemicals but which promotes itself as fun. If
CREATIVITY IN TODAY’S SOCIETY
As outlined in the introduction, it is no longer enough to simply be
innovatively creative in formal or aesthetic terms. There are now other factors to
be considered. Creativity cannot be impervious to social, economic, environmental,
ethical and cultural considerations. Design studios are now more aware of
TOP
PROCUREMENT FOR HOUSING
BOTTOM
CYCLESCHEME
CREATIVE STRATEGIES OVERVIEW CREATIVITY TODAY
50 51
you feel the drink is contributing to poor health among the
young and vulnerable you may decline to work for them. But if
they were producing a product that did not claim to promote
health, and if they made the contents clear on the packaging,
most of us would find it professionally expedient to take on
the project. If, however, the company claimed their drink
offered strength and vigour this would become a moral issue
as they are asking us to lie.’ (Adrian Shaughnessy, 2009)
Ethically designers have a choice to make on what
kind of work they will accept, however they may still be
compromised by whom they work for. The simple answer
would be, don’t take the project, but that’s not always that
simple: it is not that easy to decline work when other factors
come into play, such as the need to keep earning money or
career motivations. A designer’s relationship to a client
is often one of complicity, so how, when doing a job, can
they challenge the underlying principles, particularly of
big companies? Patrick Burgoyne believes the competitive
nature of the graphic design industry has contributed to
unethical tendencies in graphic design: ‘many designers
professionally engaged in advertising do have sensitive
consciences, high ethical standards and a strong sense of
responsibility. But even for them external pressures from
the clients who commission their work as well as from the
competitive internal dynamics of their profession can create
powerful inducements to unethical behaviour’ (Patrick Burgoyne,
2007). It is morally and ethically wrong for designers to use
their creative skills for exploitative, manipulative or corrupt
purposes, and yet certainly the last of these purposes is part
of how communication design works. One could argue that by
being complicit with a company’s manipulation of customers,
designers have contributed to some degree to ‘oiling the
wheels’ of successful brands, making them hugely desirable
and instantly recognised within the environment of global
capitalism. It may be going too far to implicate designers in
the negative effects that ‘unethical’ corporations are having
on the world, for instance their exploitation of developing
countries, dwindling natural resources and contribution to
climate change.
CREATIVITY IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR
It is generally agreed the currency or worth of creativity in human
behaviour is a positive force, but creativity can also be utilised for questionable
purposes. Designers can hide behind the term ‘creative’ because it is seen to
equal good, when in actual fact designers are being paid to use their creative
skills to persuade, manipulate and control people’s decisions – persuading people
they need something that they don’t.
Patrick Burgoyne believes that ‘today, some advertising
is simply and deliberately untrue. Generally speaking, the
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problem of truth in advertising is somewhat more subtle: it
is not that advertising says what is overtly false, but that
it can distort the truth by implying things that are not so
or withholding relevant facts’ (Patrick Burgoyne, 2007). It is this
aspect of creativity that is questionable. Advertising aimed
at children can exploit the way they are highly suggestible,
in the hope they will put pressure on their parents to buy
products they don’t need. This is the manipulative power that
creativity has, the power to persuade and control people’s
decisions. And it is this aspect of creativity that I believe
contributes to the negative effects of global capitalism. We
live in a world of want and greed, which has led to high levels
of consumerism that is becoming unsustainable and is putting
pressure on the world’s diminishing resources. Creative
designers therefore have a responsibility to question if and
how they have used their creativity to contribute to this by
persuading high levels of consumerism.
Creativity as a human trait is used in both positive
and negative ways. On the positive side people want to use
creativity to make a better, more liberal world, to tackle
the problems we face. Yet on the negative side creativity
is used to persuade and control people’s decisions, which
in themselves contributes to the very problems that need
solving. So maybe now it is time for designers to, instead
of supporting the status quo, focus their creativity on
issues that are critical of the established order. What then
can designers do to reverse the problems brought about
by uncontrolled free market capitalism and rapacious
globalisation?
The designer can be more proactive through their
creative design by consciously working with more ethical
companies and organisations. Yet a lot of the problems
more ethical designers would want to tackle stem from the
way greedy and unethical companies conduct themselves
around the world, following the mantra that ‘we are only
going to express our values when we’re communicating
but when we’re manufacturing and doing all these other
things, we don’t have to worry about it, because those
things aren’t visible’(Warren Berger 2009). It is this attitude that
has led to the problems we face in the world today. However
the public is certainly now more aware of and concerned
about how companies conduct themselves both ethically and
environmentally. There is now a sense of urgency within
large corporations that a change in their behaviour is a
must if they are to survive and progress under the scrutiny
of today’s society. This is where designers can contribute to
tackling contemporary problems. But precisely how can they
use there creatively in this?
Bruce Mau is at the forefront of a movement that
embraces new ways of thinking in graphic design. He believes
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that everything in the world today is ready for reinvention
and recombination, and that creative thought can be applied
to businesses to not only communicate the values of the
business, but to actually redesign a business to become
more sustainable. In this way Mau sees design and creativity
having a broader role in engaging with pressing issues today.
One of his mantras is ‘design what you do’: companies should
now not just design their product but design the way the
business works as well.
Mau helped create a global green platform for one of
the world’s best-known brands, one that has a reputation
for being environmentally irresponsible and promoting
poor health among younger people. Bruce Mau Design
transformed Coca Cola through a global sustainability
programme called Live Positively. ‘Live Positively represents
Coca-Cola’s commitment to making a difference in the world
by redesigning the way they work so that sustainability
is part of everything they do. Working with Coke’s top
executives, we pulled together efforts scattered across many
divisions into a cohesive strategic vision and a framework to
guide future development, articulating broad sustainability
goals across all categories of their business and culture.
Then we communicated this message to Coca-Cola’s 700,000
employees and to the world’ (Bruce Mau Design) . Interestingly Coke
were doing a number of things to become more sustainable
before Mau got involved but the public did not know about these, as they weren’t
part of a larger visible coordinated effort. Mau’s approach is to see the overall
operation of a company as a creative design problem. He believes that companies
should demonstrate their values through their actions and should now be looking
for ways to be more sustainable and focused on being more ethically and socially
aware. If Mau can get a huge global brand like Coca Cola to redesign the mindset
of its corporate structure, this could convince smaller companies to follow suit.
RIGHT
COCA COLA LIVE
POSITIVELY WEBSITE
SHOWING SUSTAINABILITY
INITIATIVES
BELOW
COCA COLA LIVE POSITIVELY
MESSAGES ON BINS
COCA COLA LIVE
POSITIVELY
LOGO
BRUCE MAU DESIGN
CREATIVITY IN TODAY’S SOCIETY CREATIVITY TODAY
56 57
CONCLUSIONThe challenge for creativity in society today is to find
ways of applying creative thought to tackling the issues that
face the world today. I believe that for creative designers
it is no longer acceptable to be creative purely in terms
of aesthetics or formal considerations. Designers are
now actively taking on board considerations beyond those
relating to a brief, considerations that relate to factors
that affect the world, whether this be through being more
environmentally conscious, like Non Conform, or approaching
projects with the Bruce Mau ‘design what we do’ approach.
As designers have to continuously think of ways to do things
better and more conscientiously, this is the direction that I
see creativity and design taking in the future.
The general public recognises the importance of
good design, which shapes their whole world around them.
Designers should now be focused on design’s potential to
solve problems and change lives. Creative designers have
the ability to communicate the importance of tackling broader
global issues. Maybe it is time for designers to collectively
encourage substantial change by utilising the creative skills
at their disposal. It is creative design that communicates the
essence and values of a company, and yet many of the larger
companies and corporations have brought about dwindling
natural resources and climate change. So now instead of
helping to encourage high levels of consumerism, which
contributes to global capitalism, designers should be looking
more ethically at ways to question the underlying principles
of large companies and also question how advertising
manipulates to negative effect for the globe, fuelling the
desire to consume. This is very much how Bruce Mau
approaches creativity and design.
Creativity has the power to encourage substantial
change in the way people think about and view the world. In
challenging perceptions and attitudes, innovative design I
believe has the capacity to make us see the possibilities of a
better world.
CONCLUSION CONCLUSION
58 59
REFERENCE LISTSECTION ONE - THE CREATIVE PROCESS IMAGES
SECTION TWO - CREATIVE STRATEGIES
SECTION THREE - CREATIVITY IN TODAY’S SOCIETY
Adrian Shaughnessy. (2009) Graphic Design: A Users Manual. London: Lawrence King. pp.148, 154-155, 235
Brian Eno Interview in: The Oblique Strategies Available at: http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/OSintro.html
Bruce Mau (1998) Incomplete Manifesto For Growth, and
Bruce Mau Design(2008): Accessed on 2nd December 2010 Available at http://www.brucemaudesign.com/#115688/
Edward De Bono. (1982) De Bono’s Thinking Course. London: BBC Books. pp.62, 63
James Webb Young. (1965) A Technique for Producing ideas. New York: McGraw-Hill . pp.22
Michael Beirut in: A Smile in the Mind, Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart (1996). London: Phaidon. pp.172-173
Ralph Caplan Cited in: A Smile in the Mind (1996) London: Phaidon. pp.76
Stefane Sagmeister Interview: Available at: http://www.sagmeister.com/students.html and Book (2008) Things I have learnt in my life so
far. Harry N Abrams
Saul Bass in: A Smile in the Mind, Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart (1996). London: Phaidon. pp.17
Adrian Shaughnessy. (2009) Graphic Design: A Users Manual. London: Lawrence King. pp.110-111
Bruce Mau Design Website. http://www.brucemaudesign.com/112916/Coca-Cola
Accessed 2nd December, 2010
Patrick Burgoyne (2007) God and the ethics of advertising. [online] Available at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2007/
january/god-and-the-ethics-of-advertising Accessed 2nd December, 2010
Warren Berger 2009 Meet Bruce Mau. He wants to redesign the world, Wired Magazine
http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/01/features/meet-bruce-mau-he-wants-to-redesign-the-world Accessed 2nd
December, 2010
Evolution Of Man. The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher (2001) London: Phaidon Press.
The Econmist Poster celebrating Asia Pacific’s 100,000Th Subscriber, Ogilvy & Mather 2004. Available at: http://www.adverbox.com/
media/campaigns/2006/05/theeconomist_brain.jpg
Oblique Strategies Card Deck, Available at: http://www.gourmet.com/images/food/2009/06/fo-oblique-strategies-608.jpg
The Human Brain Can Only Generate 30 Watts, Illustration, Bob Blechman. The Art of Looking Sideways, Alan Fletcher (2001) London:
Phaidon Press.
A Technique For Producing Ideas Cover, James Webb Young. Available at: http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_bW0i1eWTElw/S_r7rFJOOCI/
AAAAAAAAAEE/JJ96v8epRBE/s1600/IMG_0135.JPG
Begin Anywhere Billboard, New York, Bruce Mau. Available at: http://www.brucemaudesign.com/#112942/
Things I Have Learnt In My Life So Far Cover, Stefane Sagmiester. Available at: http://www.metropolismag.com/
webimages/3393/REV_1_06_08rev2_t346.jpg
Things Are Fine Campaign, BORDERS PERRIN NORRANDER. Available at: http://www.jazarah.net/blog/wp-content/samer/2008/10/
dontvote.jpg
The White Rabbit Alice In Wonderland John Tennial, 1865. Available at: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/83/Alice-
white-rabbit.jpg
Jeep Husky And Camel, Gary Lim, 2008. Available at: http://adsoftheworld.com/files/images/jeep2_0.jpg
Adolf, The Superman Swallows, Gold And Spouts Junk, John Heartfield. Available at: http://www.towson.edu/heartfield/art/superman.
jpg
Paul Wenman Business Card, Abi Stones, 2004. Available at: http://www.dandad.org/awards/professional/2008/categories/grpd/
graphic-design/23936/paul-wenman
Cartoon Of David Cameron, The Guardian, Steve Bell. Available at: http://strai.typepad.com/.a/6a00d83455c15069e20120a867ff1597
0b-pi
Coca Cola Live Positively Messages On Bins, Bruce Mau. Available at: http://blog.mytemplatez.com/wp-content/
uploads/2010/02/cocacolaLivePositivlely.jpg
Fedex Logo, Lindon Leader, 1994; Bunny Lake Is Missing, Film Poster, Saul Bass, 1965; IBM Logo, Paul Rand 1991;The One Hundred
Show Of American Center Of Design Poster, Michael Beirut 1992; Jif Lemon Packaging, Edward Hack, 1956; A Visual Rundown
Of The Film The Last Of The Mohicans, Atelier Works, 1994; Protest Poster, Unknown Designer, 1970; Slogan For New York, Milton
Glaser, 1975; Telecommunications Plessey Logo, Norbort Dutton, 1959; Shell Logo, Raymond Loewy, 1971; Trickett & Webb Brochure
Title, Designer Unknown, 1991; Posters From The Series Of Thirty Five In The ‘Greetings From Sarajevo’ Exhibition In Zurich, Trio
Sarajevo, 1994; Poster For Jack Gold’s Film Red Monarch, John Gorham; Boots Dishwasher Powder, Robinson Lambie-Nairn, 1991;
Fukuda Exhibition Poster, Shigeo Fakuda, 1975; Book Illustration, Shigeo Fakuda, 1984. All Available at: Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart
(1996) A Smile in the Mind. London: Phaidon Press.
REFERENCE LIST REFERENCE LIST
60
PRINTERS
Print Factory
TYPEFACES
Foundry Gridnik Regular
Foundry Gridnik Bold
BIBLIOGRAPHYBooks
Adrian Shaughnessy. (2009) Graphic Design: A Users Manual. London: Lawrence King.
Alan Fletcher (2001) The Art of Looking Sideways. London: Phaidon Press.
Beryl McAlhone & David Stuart (1996) A Smile in the Mind. London: Phaidon Press.
Bruce Mau. (1998) Incomplete Manifesto For Growth,
Edward De Bono (1982) De Bono’s Thinking Course. London: BBC Books.
Francis Crick (1994) The Astonishing Hypothesis London: Phaidon Press.
James Webb Young. (1965) A Technique for producing ideas. New York: McGraw-Hill.
Stefane Sagmeister. (2008) Things I have learnt in my life so far. Harry N Abrams
Websites
Bruce Mau Design Website. http://www.brucemaudesign.com/112916/Coca-Cola
Chris Sharrock (2008) : What is Creativity? Accessed on 2nd December 2010 Available at: http://sharrock.wordpress.com/tag/
understanding-creativity/ and How to be creative on demand Available at: http://sharrock.wordpress.com/2008/11/19/how-to-be-
creative-on-demand/
John Cleese in: John Cleese WCF Available at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGt3-fxOvug
Brian Eno Oblique Strategies http://www.rtqe.net/ObliqueStrategies/
Articles
Warren Berger (2009). ‘He wants to redesign the world’, Wired Magazine http://www.wired.co.uk/magazine/archive/2010/01/features/
meet-bruce-mau-he-wants-to-redesign-the-world Accessed 2nd December, 2010]
Patrick Burgoyne (2007) God and the ethics of advertising. [online] Available at: http://www.creativereview.co.uk/cr-blog/2007/january/
god-and-the-ethics-of-advertising
http://www.dandad.org/
Lectures
Chris Sharrock: How to be creative on demand
BIBLIOGRAPHY