Creative design

Without creativity, design is just a process.

Once the conditions for creativity have been established, the process of meeting expectations and achieving a useful, intended creative outcome begins.

The project team needs to hold that space for creativity – with its necessary non-linear churn of ideas and subconscious thought – while also channelling activity toward milestones and providing evidence, consistently enough, to stakeholders so the project continues to have enough independence for success to be achieved.

“The creation of something new is not accomplished by the intellect but by the play instinct acting from inner necessity. The creative mind plays with the objectsit loves.” - C.J. Jung.

Resources are always constrained. Those constraints are important to the creative process and output. The key resources are:

• Time. Don’t redo what has come before. Question it, get behind the outcome to the context, but don’t redo the work. Find and adapt tools, models and processes rather than make new ones. Timing is important, such as when to report on outputs or release outcomes.
• People. There is no hierarchy to creative people, but role definition and responsibility aligned to natural talent, expertise and influence need to be established, agreed and supported. A culture of rigorous, transparent, brave and safe dialogue and engagement should be created and fostered.
• Financial. Financial investment pays for physical infrastructure requirements, salaries, data, remuneration and technology. It is usually fixed; if not, evidence will be required for further investment. Understand the fixed mindset of financial controllers and define the project through a positive-risk lens.
• Political capital. Creative projects needs endorsement and support from business case through to outcome. That requires influence supported with capabilities such as communication. This de-risks the project, and sets the outcome up for next stage investment and impact.

We need to always remember to put people at the centre of our work. People inform the creative process: their life experiences, diversity of needs, and willingness to adopt or use whatever we create. Even a scientific process, such as a physics experiment, needs the right people to understand it and to have value for human life if it is to be supported and promoted.

Furthermore, we need to remember that what people say, is not always what they will do. We are not the rational beings we think we are.

So, creative design is human centred design augmented with behavioural science.

The Pivot Playbook Creative Design PlaySpace aligns with theoretical definitions of the creative process: Preparation, Incubation, Insight, Evaluation and Elaboration.

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1. Set-up for success.

Preparation

• Establish terms of reference for all participants.
• Clearly state premises and assumptions.
• State and agree the philosophy and culture necessary to progress.
• Co-create a project vision and destination from the perspectives of users, stakeholders, beneficiaries, etc.
• Visit the Ellis Jones Miro Hub and other resources to assemble possible models, tools.
• Define the project journey and assess tools as fit for purpose.

2. Discover.

Incubation‍

• Divergent thinking.
• Broad capture of data and thinking related to the problem/s.
• Play.

3. Create.

Insight‍

• Convergent thinking.
• Execute the creative process.
• Run the models and tools.

4. Evaluate, communicate, and innovate.

Evaluation and elaboration

• From experimentation to testing.
• Investment to scale, operationalise, or go to market.
• Project milestone and stakeholder reporting.
• Communicating the journey and outcomes.

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Visit the first Creativity PlaySpace, Creative Mindset.

Visit the second Creativity PlaySpace, Creative Conditions.

Learn about Behaviour and Identity.

View case studies.

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