Creative thinking and how I’ve applied it to my design journey.

Creative thinking is a skill that lets you consider things from a fresh perspective and different angles. It’s an inventive thought process that results in surprising conclusions and new ways of doing things. Creative thinking can be aided by brainstorming or lateral thinking to generate ideas. Creative thinking is indispensable in the world we live in today for every job required and it’s a toolbox I’ve come to rely on heavily in my journey to being the best designer I can be. I’ve come to realize creative thinking covers a range of skills that I’m learning to apply in each and every stage of my design process to solve problems I come across in a way that is authentic to me. Throughout my journey, I’ve relied heavily on these particular creative thinking skills:

Problem Solving

Tackling unexpected problems requires a lot of creativity. After all, employers want to hire creative thinkers, not because of their creativity as such, but because they can use it to solve problems in an innovative way.

Creative Writing

One of the most typical yet in-demand creative skills. If you are able to write in a compelling, creative way, it has helped me a great deal in marketing myself and being able to translate experiences into captivating reads. But it also comes in handy in all other positions that require writing — even if it's just drafting emails, reports, and presentations.

Open-Mindedness

When you’re open-minded, you oppose stereotypes and look for new solutions and methods of doing things, instead of sticking to good old ways which might be no good after all.

Analysis

If you can gather information and data, that’s great but without creative thinking skills, you won’t be able to analyze it properly. Creativity in analytical thinking helps you extract meaning from sets of raw data.

Communication

No matter how great your ideas are, if you’re unable to communicate in an engaging and creative way, you’ll never get to implement them.

Active Listening

How can listening be considered “creative?” Well — through active listening you process ideas better so that you can challenge and refine them later during a creative brainstorming session.

Sales and Marketing

Selling and marketing require a great deal of persuasion. But first, you need to put together a creative message that will enhance your sales pitch.

Graphic Design

Where creative thinking meets art. Artistic craftsmanship is important in graphic design but without fresh, creative ideas, even your most beautiful sketches and projects will be dull and lifeless.

Leadership

Leadership is all about inspiring others. But when you have great leadership skills based on big and creative ideas and visions, you are able to connect teams and motivate them to work together towards the end goal.

By using the neverending tools of the creative thinking toolbox, I have managed to overcome failure and obstacles enabling me to create some of my most positive designs and through neverending practice, I’m sure that my designs will only get better over time. One more important thing I learned is that it's mainly important for a designer to be in a stress-free mood when working so that one can tap into “constructive creativity” rather than destructive. Constructive creativity offers solutions to problems instead of focusing on how big the problem at hand is. Only constructive creativity can help push a designer (or any worker in their respective jobs) to new heights by creating a positive state of mind necessary to accomplish tasks successfully.

In his book On Becoming a Person, Carl Rogers wrote the following set of conditions for “constructive creativity” (rather than destructive creativity.)

1) Openness to experience, which he called “extensionality.” This is the opposite of psychological defensiveness and it implies tolerance for ambiguity.

2) An internal locus of evaluation. “The final evaluation lies in the person’s own organismic reaction to and appraisal of the creation.” In other words, it is “right” when the process is satisfying and you feel authentic in what you’ve done.

3) The ability to toy with elements and concepts. For example, the ability to play spontaneously with ideas, colors, shapes, relationships; to translate ideas and principles from one form to another; and so on.