The Process of Creativity
On this page 5 headings
Start here Cooking, driving, applying for a job: each has steps. Creativity does too. It is not a lightning bolt that strikes your head. It is a step-by-step process anyone can follow.
Process means step by step. You already know the first step (find the problem) and the last step (the solution). This page fills in the middle.
Watch how a team does it
Lecture example — IDEO redesigns the shopping cart The lecture shows a video of IDEO, the design company that made the term design thinking popular. Their team redesigns a supermarket shopping cart.
Question What the team did Is there a problem? Yes — redesign the shopping cart. Are they collecting information? Yes — from security guards (carts get stolen), store managers and shoppers. Are they collaborating? Yes — they work as a team. Are they generating new ideas? Yes — lots of them. Are they making a prototype? Yes — they build a test model.
The 7-step process of creativity
| Step | What you do |
|---|---|
| 1. Define the problem | Decide which problem you want to address. Don’t shy away. |
| 2. Collect information | Understand the problem fully before you try to solve it. |
| 3. Redefine the problem | Use the information to make the problem sharper or more doable. |
| 4. Generate ideas | Come up with many ideas to address the redefined problem. Don’t judge them yet. |
| 5. Design the solution | Choose an idea (because it is exciting or practical) and shape it into a solution. |
| 6. Evaluate feasibility and refine | Check what could go wrong, and fix each issue. |
| 7. Implement the solution | Put it into action. Without implementation, there is no creativity. |
Skip any step, and you can’t call yourself creative. Creativity is discipline: step by step.
What “redefine” means: the hunger example
- Problem: world hunger. It is too big to solve directly.
- Information: about 100 million children go hungry; malnutrition means people don’t get enough nutrients from their food.
- Redefined problem: “How can I add nutrients to the food people already eat?” This is a smaller problem that you can actually work on.
Full worked example: “I want my children to learn English”
| Step | What the professor did |
|---|---|
| 1. Define | “I want my children to learn English.” |
| 2. Collect information | They are 15 and 17. They love movies and like English. They have 3 months’ holiday (April–June) and 15 days in December. He is willing to spend some money. |
| 3. Redefine | “I want my children to fall in love with English.” This leads to different ideas from just “learn English”. |
| 4. Generate ideas | Watch English movies; read books; speak English at home; move to an English-speaking neighbourhood; send them to England. |
| 5. Design | He chooses “send them to England for a summer course”. |
| 6. Evaluate and refine | No money? Borrow from a bank or friends. Allergic to cold? Go in summer. Nowhere to stay? Call old colleagues living in England. |
| 7. Implement | Book the course and the family stay, and put them on the plane. |
Note: creativity has no guarantee of success. Will they fall in love with English? He doesn’t know. But he followed the process and implemented a solution.
Everyday example — cooking follows the same process Problem: “What’s for dinner?” → Collect information: open the fridge (dosa batter, fruit, vegetables) → Ideas: dosa, salad… → Choose, cook, taste and adjust → Serve.
In one line: Creativity follows 7 steps: define, collect information, redefine, generate ideas, design, evaluate and refine, implement. Exam words: process of creativity, IDEO, design thinking, prototype, define, collect information, redefine, generate ideas, design solution, evaluate feasibility, implement, no guarantee of success.