A humblebrag (but not really, promise)
I feel I’ve already failed somewhat in my attempt to practice patience with myself by already starting the reading for the Week 2 module – creativity – while we’re still in Week 1. I’m also well aware that that sounds like an absolute embarrassment of a humblebrag, so I would like to caveat by stressing that I’m (very excited to be) bridesmaid-ing at my best friend’s wedding next week, so all I’m really doing is pre-empting the fact that I’ll have little to no time to properly study once the celebrations kick off (eeeeeeee!).
I wanted to jot down some thoughts on the concept of creativity based on a few things I’ve read and come across so far. I mentioned in my first journal entry that creativity is one of my core values (alongside empathy, which I’ll explore in another post). According to my favourite TV doctor and real-life practising GP Dr Rangan Chatterjee, “your personal identity comes from your values” (2022: 39). Given the huge impact our personal identities have on so many aspects of our lives, including how we are perceived by others and, crucially, how we feel about ourselves, I thought it was worth exploring how I value creativity and what it means to me a little further before diving deeper into the creativity course materials when they open up.
Creative definitions
When I described creativity as one of my core values, I framed it in terms of the creative pursuits that I like to engage in, such as writing and scrapbooking. I described how I enjoyed finding solutions to problems and the sense of accomplishment that comes from making something, watching it take shape, and revelling in the finished product. For me, then, ‘creativity’:
encompasses the creation of things, which may be physical or digital
can be employed as part of an attempt to solve a problem
entails enjoyment of the process and satisfaction with the final created artefact
Before exploring creativity in the academic literature, I set out the above definition of creativity based on my own understanding and experiences. It’s been fascinating to see how my definition overlaps with and differs from that of other practitioners and scholars.
One academic definition of creativity I’d like to discuss in some detail is that offered by Bateson and Martin (2013). They define creativity as “generating new ideas”, with creativity being “displayed when an individual develops a novel form of behaviour or a novel idea, regardless of its practical uptake and subsequent application” (ibid: 3).
Significantly, they distinguish creativity from innovation, which they define as “implementing a novel form of behaviour or an idea in order to obtain a practical benefit which is then adopted by others” (ibid).
Batseon and Martin explain that “creativity is simply about generating novelty and is a precursor to innovation” (ibid: 55). In other words, creativity leads to new ideas which are neither practical nor adopted by wider society or communities of practice within a given field, while innovation leads to new ideas which are adopted by others to serve a practical, useful purpose.
While I can agree that 'creativity' can lead to 'innovation', I'm not sure I agree with how innovation is defined here. I don't understand why ‘creativity’ in and of itself can't have a practical benefit. Why should practicality and usefulness be solely the reserve of innovation? And does something have to be adopted by others in order to be viewed as an innovation?
Bateson and Martin assert that ‘[playful] play behaviour’, which they define as “a motivational state that is important in creativity” (ibid: 3), “doesn’t appear to have an immediate practical goal or benefit” (ibid: 3). But I think that creativity can (though not necessarily must) have a “practical goal or benefit” too.
Creative techniques for idea generation, for example, can have concrete, practical benefits. The ideation technique crazy eights encourages participants to generate multiple novel solutions to a given problem in a short amount of time. Eight separate ideas are generated as rough sketches, with one minute allowed for each sketch. While not all of the ideas generated will go on to be developed further, each idea, as well as the process of ideating in and of itself, brings the practical benefit of enabling ideas to be explored quickly and uncritically, with the practical goal of establishing which ideas to take forward.
This, therefore, facilitates subsequent innovation(s) by enabling inadequate or unfeasible ideas to be either adapted or discarded – both very practical, useful elements of creative brainstorming.
What's more, not all 'innovations' are necessarily adopted by other people. Painters and other artists are often seen as ‘innovators’, with their ideas thought to be revolutionary in some way. This doesn't mean, though, that their work and ideas are always applied or adopted by other people (nor are the ‘benefits’ of their work necessarily always ‘practical’).
I would argue, then, that creativity and innovation shouldn’t be distinguished by whether or not they bring about a ‘practical benefit’ or whether they're adopted by other people. Perhaps innovation could be better defined as a break from the norm that has positive implications – an idea developed through creative work which is truly new and ground-breaking, without necessarily needing to be practical or adopted by others.
Honestly, I'm still not sure I'm fully clear on the distinctions between creativity and innovation, but I'm looking forward to revisiting them and developing my ideas throughout the course.
Look for the joy
As discussed above, I do think that practising creativity can and often does generate practical benefits in the form of novel ideas, which may lead to innovations which are groundbreaking and positive, but which may or may not be practical in their application. However, I’m also intrigued by the idea of creativity as intrinsically (vs. extrinsically) motivated, which may or may not lead to the setting or achievement of useful, practical goals.
There are two types of motivation. The first is intrinsic motivation, which drives us to complete something for pleasure and enjoyment, without us requiring any kind of external reward. The second is extrinsic motivation, which drives us to complete something in order to gain something or to avoid punishment (for example, getting a good mark for an assignment). Both of these types of motivation can have a significant impact on how we think and behave, and on the choices we make (Ballentine Dykes et al., 2017: 239).
Creativity which is intrinsically motivated provides its own reward and “its performance is a goal in itself” (Bateson and Martin, 2013: 3). In this way, ‘being creative’ means you don’t have to have a particular goal or outcome in mind – instead, you can create simply for fun, and for the sheer joy of doing it.
Gauntlett believes joy to be inherent within creativity, even if it is not necessarily palpably or consciously experienced at every moment throughout the creative process: “Making things is often an intense, difficult, or frustrating experience. But whether the thrilling zing comes right at the start, with an exciting idea before any planning, or right at the end, when the thing is finally done, [joy is] likely to be in there somewhere” (2018: 88).
Similarly, Petty urges those wishing to improve their creative skills to fall in love with what they are doing, and to be driven by curiosity, fascination, and the expression of their feelings (2017: 203). This links nicely to my own definition of creativity, which emphasises enjoyment of both the process and the finished artefact.
A bit of psychology: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs
In his discussion of creativity and motivation, Petty (ibid) references Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, first developed in 1943 – a psychological concept I was recently introduced to as part of my studies for the Level 2 Certificate in Counselling Skills. According to this model, all humans have fundamental physiological needs which are essential to survival (such as food, water, air, sex, and sleep). Above these essential needs come other needs, grouped into the categories of safety, love/belonging, and esteem. While not necessarily vital to our survival, these needs must nevertheless be met if we are to reach what Maslow termed ‘self-actualisation’. This is the final layer of needs in the hierarchical model. When our self-actualisation needs are fulfilled, we are able “to meet our potential and be all we are capable of being” (Ballentine Dykes et al 2017: 71).
According to Petty, the self-actualisation layer of needs is intimately tied up with intrinsic motivation, which in turn is closely linked to creativity. It is here where we recognise and embrace the need to fulfil our own abilities and talents, often by expressing our true selves through creative pursuits that are motivated from within ourselves (i.e. intrinsically) rather than by external factors such as “money, fame, promotion, beating the competition or critical acceptance” (i.e. extrinsically) (Petty 2017: 211). Maslow thus showed that “intrinsically motivated activity was…a potent motivator for creativity” (ibid: 214).
The importance of looking inwards
The notion that intrinsic motivation plays a central role in creativity interests and excites me greatly. It offers a way for me to set aside my perfectionist tendencies and enjoy the process of doing something “because [I] want to [...] for its own sake, without an external reward” (Ballentine Dykes et al., 2017: 239) In my past experiences, particularly within an educational setting, I have often been motivated by a sense of curiosity and desire to learn new things. I feel particularly motivated when learning from someone who is clearly passionate about their subject, and who is willing and keen to share their knowledge with others. This motivation can be intrinsic, as I enjoy learning for its own sake and believe that no knowledge is wasted knowledge. However, it can also be extrinsic, as I have always wanted to achieve the best possible mark, grade, or outcome I can whenever I undertake any form of learning, particularly academic. This is in part so that I can feel confident in the knowledge that I have done my best, but also partly so I don’t feel that I have disappointed my superiors, or that I have performed less well than others.
I can already see how, if I allow extrinsic motivations – such as grades and marks for assignments, arbitrary comparisons with others, or unrealistic standards and expectations I set for myself – to get in the way of my enjoyment of the learning and creative process, I may not get as much out of my MA as I would like to. This, in turn, would make it more difficult to apply what I am learning to my professional and personal life, leading to disappointment and, most likely, regret.
In my creative practice – including the individual weekly assignments, as well as the MA programme as a whole – I want to make a conscious effort to find and hold onto intrinsic motivations that align with my own values. Petty (2017: 208) recommends setting intrinsic objectives when embarking on a creative project, whether for work or in your personal life, by asking yourself three questions:
What do I think is most important?
What do I get the most enjoyment from in my work?
What do I want to achieve here?
With the caveat that all our work as user experience practitioners requires us to be extrinsically motivated to a large extent by the needs of our users rather than our own, I still think that finding my own intrinsic motivations within every project I carry out will enable me to have a much more fulfilling, enjoyable, and creative experience along the way – even if it’s something as simple as “I want to learn, because I enjoy it, and maybe that knowledge will enable me to help someone else.”
Looking after ourselves
A final note on the importance of looking after ourselves when engaging in any kind of creative practice, as well as in life in general.
Petty stresses how Maslow’s hierarchy of needs shows that intrinsically motivated activity is “a requirement for full mental health and fitness” (2017: 214).
Kellogg (2018) also states that “professionals, as with other practitioners of the creative arts, must be self-motivated [...] [and] learn to self regulate their emotions and behaviours” to avoid the pitfalls of emotional blocks, procrastination, and perfectionism.
“For the love of God, do not burn yourself out” is a direct quote from our UX MA Course Leader in our week 1 introductory webinar.
No pursuit, creative or otherwise, is worth losing your peace, happiness, or mind for. That’s something I’ll be doing my utmost to take with me throughout the course, and I’ll do whatever I can to encourage others to do the same.
💛
References
BALLENTINE DYKES, Fiona, Traci Postings, Alexis De Winter and Anthony Crouch. 2017. Counselling Skills and Studies. 2nd Edition. London: Sage Publications Ltd.
BATESON, Pattrick and Paul Martin. 2013. Play, playfulness, creativity and innovation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
CHATTERJEE, Rangan. 2022. Happy Mind, Happy Life: 10 Simple Ways to Feel Great Every Day. London: Penguin UK.
GAUNTLETT, David. 2018. Making is Connecting. Cambridge: Polity Press.
KELLOGG, R.T. 2018. ‘Professional writing expertise’. In K. Anders Ericsson, Robert R. Hoffman, and Aaron Kozbelt, et al(eds.). Cambridge Handbook of Expertise and Expert Performance. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Available at: https://search.credoreference.com/content/entry/cupexpert/professional_writing_expertise/0?institutionId=4357 [accessed 30 May 2022].
PETTY, Geoff. 2017. How to be Better at Creativity. Lulu.com.
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