Paste your essay in here…Raphael Koh
W1563015
Thinking about the lectures you've heard in class, and the seminars you've participated in, what creativity practices will you take with you into the field as you pursue your career? Give multiple examples, predicting the future to some extent, and explain why you feel the practices apply to you.
The word ‘creative’ is in itself, a fiercely debated topic, and I often struggle to define what exactly constitutes being creative. Creativity has a broad definition, and Raymond Williams (1976) divides creativity into two aspects: innovation and novelty (p84), which he describes as having both serious and trivial connotations that has become difficult to distinguish. Mark Runco and Garrett Jaeger (2012) defines originality and effectiveness as fundamental to creativity but one or the other is not sufficient enough to consider something creative. Yet, to explain what creativity is requires a lot of understanding as it seems to come naturally most of the time, as if the process of creation stems from nothing or being plucked out of thin air like most of us believe. But that isn’t necessarily true as creativity is a thought process, and as humans we take inspiration from the environment around us all the time, even if we are not aware of it. For example, Channel 4 TV series Black Mirror highlights the problems of our obsession with technology, marrying the threat of future technologies with human behaviour that forms this dystopic view of the world not too far in the future, using an extreme portrayal of how we view technology and our continued dependence on it in our daily lives, making it a manifestation of both originality and effectiveness and thus gaining critical acclaim for its storyline, with The Telegraph calling it both “brilliant” and “audacious”. As a creative individual myself, it is important to be continually inspired by what surrounds me, and instead of waiting for ideas to come round, we should actively seek the answers to our questions, and that is why creative practices theory is important to me, although Albert Einstein once said that “creativity is the residue of time wasted” and that it comes naturally as a result of being in a relaxed state of mind. In this age of digital innovations especially, authenticity and ideas are in woefully short supply even though opportunities to express oneself are aplenty, and the ultimate aim is to produce or create something different, new and original, and like many others, I struggle to achieve that a lot of the time. In this essay, I will explain what creative practices I’ve learnt that I will take away with me as I pursue my career. For the purposes of this essay, I will focus on flow and enjoyment, the things that influence creativity and how I will apply all this into my career.
Creativity is never limited to a single form, it encompasses everything we do in our lives, therefore creativity is by definition, something that is meant to be endless. Renowned psychologist and author Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi regards the concept of ‘flow’ as an essential aspect of creativity in his book The Psychology of Optimal Experience (1990). While humans seek pleasure to maintain a physiological balance, it is not the same as the feeling of joy, and enjoyment helps us see past material gain and reward. This sense of achievement helps in our self-growth, and become more complex as a result of it (Csikszentmihalyi, 1990, p46). In addition, personal growth rarely is a consequence as a result of pleasurable experiences. Too often than not, I find my passion and motivation dented by the amount of material I stand to gain and while extrinsic reward is no doubt important, it takes away some of the joy I feel when doing something creative. In some way, monetary gain measures the amount of success and progress one has achieved in their pursuit of ideas, and enhances the feeling of joy as it gives a purpose to being creative. However, too much emphasis on the material aspect can be counter-productive as the expectation and pressure to deliver creative ideas becomes more of an obligation and thus people make the mistake of trying to force ideas out which results in the excitement gradually wearing out. Life without enjoyment can be endured, even pleasant, but requires an element of luck and cooperation with the external environment. Achieving enjoyment requires personal control over the quality of experience that needs to be built over time (p48). While a slice of good fortune may occasionally bring about a flow of creativity, it is not sufficient enough when one has to be creative at work because there is an expectation to deliver in a stated period of time and the element of luck is difficult to predict which proves rather unreliable. Thus if we all relied on luck to spark our creativity, deadlines would not definitively be met and presents a risk of running the wrath of clients and superiors, diminishing the enjoyment of doing creative work. Children in particular, experience enjoyment as the reward of learning or making, while not limited to, is intrinsic in nature and does not present a consequence as a result of an extrinsic reward. A notable point that Csikszentmihalyi brings up is that excitement gradually slows when schooling starts. David Gauntlett (2011) similarly blames the ‘sit back and be told’ culture in school environments which are standardized and formulaic in nature (with exceptions) that makes it so disruptive to creative thinking and Csikszentmihalyi’s concept of flow. Over time, people will feel that the work they do is worthless and is only justified by the paycheck they get at the end (Csikszentmihalyi, 1975, p3). Thus, it is important to build or surround ourselves in an environment that sparks creativity which is conducive to optimal experiences whether it be place, people or activity so that enjoyment can be felt when practicing creativity.
To answer the question that begs to be asked, creative ideas tend to be one that is narrative-driven or requires problem solving to give purpose and flow that audiences can relate to. I found this to be important because the cultural and social aspects of the creative process give recognition and criticism that forms a significant part of the creative process. If the audience or critic did not exist, how can an idea be considered creative? In fact, based on Csikszentmihalyi’s systems model of creativity, creativity is the result of the interaction between three aspects: a culture or symbol called the domain, the individual who brings novelty to the domain and a field of professionals who validate and recognise the innovation. These three work and interact together to form the creative process. As I have a strong interest in startup culture and entrepreneurship, market disruption is currently one of the most popular methods to bring an idea into the market, revolutionizing the mental models of several traditional fields like transport and food delivery. A basic definition of a startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious and success is not guaranteed (Parker, 2014). Companies like Uber and Deliveroo have made their mark by disrupting markets, leveraging on the popularity and convenience of smartphones to change the way people make use of these services at the touch of their fingertips.
In the case of Uber, the idea of using an app on a smartphone to hire a taxi was based on a night where founders Travis Kalanick and Garrett Camp had trouble flagging down a taxi, inspiring them to solve this problem and changing the way people used ride-sharing services (Uber, no date). As a result, this has gradually brought a change to the way people hire taxis, with the individual having brought the idea to the domain, which was well-received and as a result, gaining recognition and plaudits from the industry, with others using a similar business model to enter the market and thus bringing a creative idea into an already saturated and stable market, creating new opportunities for the community and solving a huge problem for consumers. Market disruption, or disruptive innovation, is not new by any means, but the fact that disruptive innovation initially destabilises an industry or field means there is likely to be resistance to a change in the status quo and is likely to have an effect on the creative process as those who thrive on the stability of the system may find themselves losing their sense of security. Uber’s introduction in several cities and nations has sparked protests from normal taxi drivers, especially in Jakarta in 2016 where taxi drivers have formed a roadblock on the streets twice in a month as a form of protest, even causing damage and panic to property and people. Thus, creativity may not always be well-received by the field, which houses the gatekeepers to the field, and therefore does not only depend on the individual’s willpower or innovation. However, limitations are not always an end of the creative process, but merely serve as a guiding light to a different approach, and one must internalize of the domain and opinions of the field to focus on the most promising ideas that people can accept and benefit from (Csikszentmihalyi, 2006, p15). The relationship and interaction between the cultural/symbolic, field and individual is central to the creative process as ideas don’t appear out of nowhere, and is a result of how each group influences each other to create new things. I would consider creativity a participatory culture, which we can see in Web 2.0 where it is not just a sender-receiver model like we see in traditional media but one where everyone can play a part in.
So in order for me to find ideas for a startup business, I should be looking at the problems that surround the current mental model of a particular industry. Sergei Eisenstein (1997) regards montage, a sequence of shots, as a problem solving method for cinema, helping audiences to correctly interpret and understand a depiction that act as building blocks. In the same way, adopting a framework or overview will help act as building blocks in solving a problem. During this time, I would no doubt experience some loss of joy trying to formulate the perfect ideas, going through prototype after prototype, but once optimal flow is achieved, the sense of accomplishment makes all the difference, and like an adrenaline rush, is what spurs one to keep going. As I mentioned earlier, the key to maintaining a creative mindset, according to Csikszentmihalyi, is to build the environment to stimulate optimal flow as much as possible. Once the idea is set in stone, the next shot in frame is to analyse lived experiences, from self and from others, to get a feel of how best my idea can solve the problems of people with different historical, social and cultural backgrounds that helps me empathize with the intended audience. Observing their backgrounds would allow me to understand the users’ semiotic mapping and the way they interpret and view their surroundings that will help me formulate an approach. Using Eisenstein’s theory of montage once more, the correct approach will guide the audience to solve problems in the same fashion and once it works, it is ready to be assessed by the field. The ultimate goal of my creative idea then, is to change the symbolic domain in the culture, and in this case, the idea that changes the way people work and interact in that particular field.
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