But I’m Not Creative!
I’m not particularly creative. Oh I wrap presents quite lovely, I crochet to keep my hands busy while I watch TV and I love to play in my kitchen and garden. But I’m not a fancy “artist” or even a “designer.”
Which is why I was so pleased to find Karim Rashid’s advice regarding how non-professional designers can incorporate a design sensibility into their lives in Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind.” Visit Rashid’s website and you’re immediately aware that he knows design. He even has a poetic design Karimanifesto. Oh my.
But there is hope for those of us in the uninspired masses. In addition to the books I have listed in the Resources – Creativity Page of this blog, Rashid and Pink recommend the following (loosely quoted from ”A Whole New Mind”:
- Don’t specialize
- Before moving forward with an idea, consider whether it is original and if there is any real value in what you disseminate
- Know everything about the history of your profession and then forget it all when you design something new
- Never say, “I could have done that” because you didn’t
- Normal is not good
- Think extensively, not intensively
- Consume experiences, not things
- Experience is the most important part of living, and the exchange of ideas and human contact is all life really is
Deconstructed, I think the take home message is:
- Look around you and actually see what you’re looking at
- Try new things
- Figure out what’s unique about you and how that can enable you to bring something new into the world.
This last portion is tricky and I promise to write tomorrow about the first small steps I’ve found most useful.
Below is a water bottle designed by Karim Rashid