Creativity and Design

Tudor Rickards

What connects creativity to design?

“Design is about doing things consciously and not because they have always been done in a certain way”

Margaret BruceCompanion to Creativity (2009)

Creativity

Design Innovation

The Design of a Chess Set

We will take the design of a Chess Set To explore how creativity and designinteract

Part 1: Assessing the consumer appeal of A chess set

Part 2: How ‘structured techniques’ can supportDesign and creativity

Consumer Appeal of a Chess Set

Take a closer look at the choices open tosomeone wanting to buy a chess set …

The choice will be dictated by the variedpreferences and decision-processesOf potential customers

The designer (team) draws on knowledge of theuser needs and on skills at creating a product that appeals to those needs

Put yourself in the place of awould-be ‘consumer’

You have found a catalogue offeringeight chess sets, all of similarbut competing designs

Which sets do you like best?

Which pieces do you like best?

How do these considerations interact?

Which set will you chose for yourself?

Chess Sets (Designs A –H)

Chess Sets (Designs A-D)

Chess Sets (Designs E-H)

Ratings  Set A Set B Set C Set D Set E Set F Set G Set H Code Chess 1-3 Design 1-3

Overall                      

King                      

Queen                      

Bishop                      

Knight                      

Rook                      

Pawn                      

What does the exercisetell us about creativity and design?

Use Benign Structures to get BetterIideas

To get better ideas regularlyyou need new structures to help your idea awareness and skills in improving implementation potential

These are so-called benign structures which supportcreativity

A benign structure supports creativity by overcoming personalhabits which arerestricting idea generation

Simple forms of benign structure

Tip No 4: Reverse thinking (‘Let’s turn that idea upside down’)

Tip No 5 Add-on thinking (‘Yes and …’)

Tip No 6 Blue sky thinking (‘If only…’)

Tip No 7 Positive thinking (‘What’s good about it..?’)

Tip No 8 Inside-out thinking (e.g. ‘Go from technical means to user needs’)

‘Hybrid Composite For Root Canal Treatment’

Think ‘Food products to meet different needs’

The role of leadership in design teams

Creative leaders help reconfigure the structures under which team members operate.

Team-building structures overcome inter-personal barriers and establish team norms

In a ‘dream team’, leadership provides structures which transcendestablished norms

Conclusions

Design and creativity are more closely linked than has previously been believed

Benign structures help individuals andteams achieve unexpectedly creative results