Comments on: Ask The Purple List: What Is Creativity?

By: csven

csven — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:56:54 +0000

Surfed back through and was immensely relieved to read the first (and subsequent) comments. Thank you for redeeming PSFK.

By: LP

LP — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 14:39:43 +0000

Amen. Somehow these “innovators” make creativity sound as dull as dishwater instead of relating the excitement that comes with the true discovery or creation of something new.

By: jason morgan

jason morgan — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 10:35:07 +0000

I was surprised and interested to see how many of the Purple List experts appeared to relate creativity solely to their own personal spheres of influence, not taking a broader – can I say more creative – view of the word. Are we lacking creativity among the very people we turn to for explanations? I also find there is much marketing speak among these varying responses and believe me, that comes from a marketer. It would be unfair to be overly critical because I have not attempted an answer myself; equally I appreciate that the subject matter is totally subjective, or at least it would appear so. But to illustrate my point, “Creative drives the entire strategy” – so its a business thing right? And what about “Strangely enough, these days, statisticians, scientists and even curators are becoming sources of creative.” Since when were scientists not creative? And how can we understand the future if we “never [look] back on previous successes”? Why should referencing the past be deemed uncreative? As for “Differentiation” – is that not simply a possible desired result of creativity? “Applied lateral thinking” would get me laughed out of a meeting were I to use it; and “not everybody is creative” I would argue: I believe that everybody is (or has the ability to be) creative to a greater or lesser degree (equally we exercise our ability to a greater or lesser degree). Ok so I’m cherry-picking but point made: creativity seems to be little understood by many who lay claim to it. Incidentally, psfk, interesting question that can give us all something to chew over. Just for me, it’s also illustrated who to turn to when in need of creativity.

By: andy brown

andy brown — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:35:25 +0000

take away all strategy, client proposals, sales, etc. what you have are creative beings, people. people are called creatives I feel because they are creating instead of following, for example, following the lines provided to people to go through life. creativity i think is recognizing your own natural reactions either to the order in yourself or the order that has been applied to you through the outside world. so, in the arena of business, its people doing what is closer to them, and as people become closer to themselves, things change, systems evolve, good results.

By: LP

LP — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 01:18:24 +0000

There is nothing creative about these comments. They sound like marketing strategies. Where is the poetry? The imagination? They read like someone was trying to come up with the “right” answer and miss the point of creativity completely. Not all creativity is produces marketable commodities or even good ideas…it is generative. Writers, or good ones, throw out ten times as much as they publish. It’s about the process, not the result, it’s about bringing ideas and fantasies into tangible form, creating chaos out of order, putting judgment aside and just making things…words on paper, art taking shape, connections between people or ideas, being creative for its own sake. I don’t think people are either creative or they are not. It’s just that most people censor themselves, their voices and their talent and don’t follow their imaginations because it seems impractical or it won’t make money or someone in the life won’t like it or they don’t have confidence in themselves and their talent. I’ve seen ordinary people bloom once they see the pursuit of creativity as an art in its own sake and stop thinking of it as a quality you do or do not have and stop thinking about the end product before they’ve even put pen to paper. Most people learned when they are very young to squelch their creativity and they have to feel free to discover it again and know that they will fail as, or more often than, they will succeed.