Do you get it? Well.. I am sure you did. The cartoon above tells us a lot about creativity, doesn't it? But what do you think is the true meaning of creativity? Is it just a catch/made up word for finding innovative solutions?
Creativity is a word that have been used over and over again especially in the advertising and marketing industry.
Before I get into it, let me first bring out the academic side of me (:P), to what is the definition of creativity.
From wikipedia:
Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The process involves original thinking and then producing. The process of creation was historically reserved for deities creating "from nothing" in Creationism and other creation myths. Over time, the term creativity came to include human innovation, especially in art and science and led to the emergence of the creative class.
Creativity is the ability to generate innovative ideas and manifest them from thought into reality. The process involves original thinking and then producing. The process of creation was historically reserved for deities creating "from nothing" in Creationism and other creation myths. Over time, the term creativity came to include human innovation, especially in art and science and led to the emergence of the creative class.
From Human Motivation, 3rd ed., by Robert E. Franken:
- Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others. (page 396)
- Three reasons why people are motivated to be creative:
- need for novel, varied and complex stimulation
- need to communicate ideas and values
- need to solve problems
In order to be creative, you need to be able to view things in new ways or from a different perspective. Among other things, you need to be able to generate new possibilities or new alternatives. Tests of creativity measure not only the number of alternatives that people can generate but the uniqueness of those alternatives. the ability to generate alternatives or to see things uniquely does not occur by change; it is linked to other, more fundamental qualities of thinking, such as flexibility, tolerance of ambiguity or unpredictability, and the enjoyment of things heretofore unknown. (page 394)
Interesting perspectives of creativity from the above two sources and I do feel the same. However as a person who likes to confuse things even further, here’s my attempt. Creativity is just something that I either consciously or sub-consciously create a solution which departs from the norm that tackles (or solve) the heart of the problem.
What do you think?
All ad agencies will tell you they are creative, afterall they are in the creative industry, its in their blood. Perhaps just ask them, what does creativity mean to them? And how do they measure creativity? a link to sales figures? to bottom line? cause there is a belief out there that if you can’t measure it you can’t improve it? does it apply to creativity? I wonder…and waiting to be intrigued.
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