Would all the righties please excuse us lefties while we talk?
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Can you tell from the inside which hand is more creative?
There are many myths surrounding the explanation of why creativity blossoms in some of us and not others. One of the oldest is that left-handed people are naturally more creative than righties due to us lefties being right-brained.
I have first-hand knowledge (so to speak) of many righties I greatly respect who are among the most creative folks I've ever known. So, to me, there's no way to tell if someone is more creative than another by seeing which hand they use to pick up a pen.
I do think that, in general, human nature trends more toward the analytical. We want to know why more than we want to know what if. It's just how we're built. Even lefties.
Creativity itself, the act of actually creating something, is not a process. And that's what bugs people about it. While there is a starting point – a first brush stroke, a first keystroke, a first stroke of the pen – there never seems to be a final stroke that says, "Yep. Done." That completely undoes a lot of people. There's no closure.
To me, and to many others, the only process to creativity is living life with your eyes open and your head up. Observing. Learning. Digging. Exploring. Asking. Feeling. Expressing. Thinking. It's all of that, and the people who are really good at it do it all no matter where they are or what they're doing.
The ultimate goal of creating something is for expression. It's about getting other people to think about something in a way they never have before. So this requires the writer, painter, designer or photographer to think in ways that most people don't.
Some people are naturals, for others it comes as a challenge. But the reward is always the same. When something that you create affects another person in a way that they have a reaction to it (positive, negative, happy, sad, whatever), it doesn't matter how you got there. The point is that you did.
There are only two rules that I try to keep in mind:
1) Every experience has something to teach me. It's up to me to be open to learning.
2) Originality is key. If I just knock off someone else's idea, then what's the point?
John Williams and I recently had a lunch discussion about the differences between the technical mind and the creative mind. He's going to write about it soon and I'm going to as well. I hope you stay tuned to see what kind of discussion we can get started on the matter.
In the meantime, what defines creativity for you? Is it something people are just born with? Can it be practiced and worked out like a muscle group? What is creativity?
I want to hear it from you…
I think creativity is definitely an inborn trait, some people just seem to have more of it on tap than others; but I also think it’s a latent trait in most of us that can be nurtured and built. Having a open environment where you can safely trot out all your wild ass crazy stuff is a good step towards unlocking the creative process for a lot of us.
All of us have, at some time or another, had a thought or viewpoint or opinion that was different than the status quo or different from the majority view. The creative among us have celebrated it.
Posted by Pam Martin on 01/22/09 at 12:15PM
Creativity has got to be a bit of nature and nurture. It seems like steam; the more it is compressed, the more it gets hot and it finds a way to get out eventually. It’s a sad thing when creativity and talent are never actualized though.
Posted by JR Moreau on 01/24/09 at 8:39AM
JR,
Thanks for the comment. I agree that there is definitely a give and take with nature and nurture. My dad was a pretty gifted water colorist and so I always took my cues from him.
Interesting comparison of creativity as a force that just explodes out of some people. I like the visual of it.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on the discussion we’ll get going shortly regarding the differences between technical and creative mindsets.
Posted by Dave Perks on 01/24/09 at 6:25PM
“Observing. Learning. Digging. Exploring. Asking. Feeling. Expressing. Thinking.”
Well put. Web design is a very interesting and unique medium. Even while the creative process is being applied, the designer has to design with pragmatic objectives and useful information.
The painter puts the brush to the canvas and expresses him or herself in a personal and subjective way (Kandinsky comes to mind).
I think web design is a beautiful merging of the subjective and objective minds.
Posted by Glenn Sorrentino on 01/25/09 at 7:51AM
“I think web design is a beautiful merging of the subjective and objective minds.”
Good point, Glenn.
After a year at New City, I’ve come to think this is where most traditional agencies fall down when it comes to successfully integrating web design into the culture.
It’s been so ingrained for so long that the agency’s job is to just be as wild and out there as possible and it’s difficult to find a happy medium in an environment like that.
Posted by Dave Perks on 01/25/09 at 9:59AM
I thought about this again while watching (of all thinks) a documentary on the making of the Dark Crystal. The movie pushed a lot of technical boundaries, but achievements in one area would lead to difficulties in another. They’d get a particular effect on a puppet that they wanted, for example, but that would seriously restrict the way they could frame a scene.
This is one of the hardest parts of bringing a creative vision to life when it relies on technology: every decision opens some doors but closes others.
Posted by John on 01/28/09 at 9:50AM
John that might be a better way of stating one of the things I mentioned earlier that the creative mind gradually accepts limitations that pop up during the process of creation as long as the overall vision remains the same. I guess it’s a series of compromises.
Maybe the vision guides the process, but technical capabilities/restrictions help shape it?
Posted by Dave Perks on 01/29/09 at 8:26AM
Really loving this discussion!
I believe all of us are creators, it is quite unavoidable. We are constantly creating our lives through every choice we make.
I completely agree with your “eyes open” paragraph. Very well said. Awareness is directly connected to creativity. And definitely, some people seem to be able to apply this to some areas of life but not all.
And since awareness often hit one on that head later in life, thus the burst of creativity.
Dave, I don’t know if I would say that most people tend towards the analytical. I sure as hell wish that were so. I think the vast majority of people float through life rather blindly without much thought at all.
Some of us seem to have a lot more doors shut on us early in life and on throughout. I think the person who then sees (or creates) all of the new open doors is not as common place.
The door analogy hits home on an exchange my husband and I frequently have. I think he would be what you describe as a technical mind. He only sees a limited number of doors in life at any given time. I always say, “Create a new door!”
Our entire marriage could be a case stufy on technical versus creative! ha.
I wonder if originality is everything. I had this professor in college who followed some new philosophy that you should never interfere with a child’s artwork. I was royally chewed out for painting a rainbow in front of a 3 year old because the kid excitedly copied me. The implication was that I was disrupting some internal creative force.
Really? If left alone, would the child eventually come up on that on their own? It seems an impossible experiment to run. I think it is something to chew on. Do the assembly line art they often produce at school stifle a child’s creativity or act as a springboard?
When I do art with the Kindergartners once a week, there are definitely those kids who are insistent on doing an exact copy of the teacher’s mock up. There are a few who ignore it and just do their own thing.
What always strikes me most is how often a child seeks approval upon completion. I always ask, “Well, what do you think about it?” The wheels really start turning for a lot of them when I ask that. It’s just phenomenal when they really stop to think that over. Sometimes I have heard them say, “Actually, I don’t like how my snowman turned out.” Then will talk about what they did like about it and what they might do differently next time.
Awareness begets creativity but creativity begets awareness.
I am suddenly thinking about the art I did in counseling last year. (Willowbank Center, awesome place) Every session involved some sort of art time. I often did these mandalas. I would start with a large circle and be instructed to draw in it without thinking, ignoring the critical It was almost like meditating.
Then when I felt “done”, I would take my final work in and describe it with the first thoughts that came to mind. (again ignoring the inner critique) I felt ridiculous at first but it ended up being pretty neat. I walked out the door with an awareness that allowed me to create on a whole new level.
BTW, I grew up with a lefty mother who would certainly support all the stereotypes. I have a strong sense that her influence developed my right brain in a way I don’t think would have happened otherwise.
OK, should not have had the coffee tonight. Keeping me up too late with my brain a little too revved up.
Posted by Stephanie on 02/26/09 at 8:26PM