Think Creative

Thinking is a natural part of life. The development of a human being is in all intense a purposes like that of an animal. The only real fundamental difference in the mind of an animal and a human animal is the process of reason. (*mention something about problem solving) By this function we have the ability to take information and to process it and to use it for a purpose. Thinking basically is this method. The inability not to think is a simple value attributed to the fact that your brain doesn’t have enough stimulus in order for it to clearly determine a correct course of action for the necessary and correct outcome. In other more simple words, if you see the process of problem solving and thinking as a journey across a river then the opposite bank of the river is the answer. Now, firstly, depending on the creativity of your mind the river bank can either have many places to land after crossing or be limited to one spot. This is the conclusion although, so to get there we must find...

I wanted to sit here this morning and drink my coffee and discuss the idea of answers. There is a statement I tend to point out to people who seem unwilling to participate in the process of putting effort into anything. That statement being: For every problem there is a solution! This can obviously apply to any given situation and to any degree of complexity on both sides of the mark, regarding the problem and the solution. What I mean there is that there could be a very difficult problem with a simple solution or a seemingly simple problem that generates a complex and intricate solution. Either way, there is a path. Now that path is created by using the process. A process that can determine a very important factor in the end result. Whether or not you end up with the correct answer or the wrong answer. Now, you may ask yourself something here. How do you know that there is a correct answer? Especially when we are considering creative aspects of the thought process. Creativity is ...

So, I was reading up about the process of thinking. A key part of the creative process. Benjamin Bloom, in 1956 determined that there were several levels to which the human brain worked or thought. Listed here are those 6 levels. According to Bloom’s Taxonomy, human thinking skills can be broken down into the following six categories. Knowledge: remembering or recalling appropriate, previously learned information to draw out factual (usually right or wrong) answers. Use words and phrases such as: how many, when, where, list, define, tell, describe, identify, etc., to draw out factual answers, testing students' recall and recognition. Comprehension: grasping or understanding the meaning of informational materials. Use words such as: describe, explain, estimate, predict, identify, differentiate, etc., to encourage students to translate, interpret, and extrapolate. Application: applying previously learned information (or knowledge) to new and unfamiliar situations. Use words such as...

It has been a long time since I wrote something for the Creative Thinking blog, and I was talking to one of my readers yesterday, and it inspired me to blog something. Some time back I wrote a post about "association blocks". As part of my teaching I actually list some seven different variations in mental blocks that can stop the free thinking process. I call it the 'free thinking' process as  ultimately the point is, is to have an open mind to allow better thinking. One of the primary blocks that we encounter in the practice of thinking is what is referred to as 'perpetual blocks'. These are all self driven block. Things about ourselves that can hinder the thinking process. Now, some of these are genetic inflictions, some are socially induced afflictions and some are just ways we convince ourselves that we are entitled to be lazy in our thinking. What I will do here is go through the possible reasonings of the blocks and try to get a point of understanding ...

I am a great believer in the simplicity of line, of idea of look. Now, many of the failings of art and design is the notion that the more you put into an image, an icon, a design the better it is going to be. This obviously isn't correct, and there are testaments to this all around. The Nike logo, above, for instance. What does it mean? There are many simple elements to the design that have sustained its purity and simplicity. Nike is a Greek word for 'Victory'. There is a belief that the icon is simply a 'tick'. This is to represent the positive. It is true. The symbol is a representation of the tick, however, there is also a combined aspect that reverts back to the origin of the word. There is a connection that the symbol also is to represent the winged heels of Hermes. The messenger god. So, in one simply image, but through a complex thought process a very clever idea has come about. There are hundreds of these examples around in the design industry. One of the...

Continuing the theme of blocks and how they affect the working and creative attitude of many people, today this blog covers that issue of 'environmental blocks'. This is something that is external out there, but affects our mental state of mind. It can range from a number of sources and be caused by a number of things, but ultimately it has control over the way our mind works. One aspect that we never really consider in the development of work is where and how we sit. Or more precisely the environment in which we sit. Firstly, our seated position is of utmost importance to our health and our state of mind. Sitting incorrectly for long periods of time without any degree of support or relaxation is not very productive. Making our back ache is resulting in doing harm to our main nervous channel. All the stems of our bodies extremities come from the many spinal cord. Hence, any aching and numbness caused by sitting incorrectly is a direct result to the prolonged angle at which yo...

Being an academic and a creative I tend to read and put into practice a lot that I look at. Recently I have been doing a good deal of research into 'inspiration'. Inspired as you could say, to motivate the students into getting their act together. It is a complex subject. Never is it easy as to say 'switch on' and get productive. So many variables fit into the complex motions of getting the brain to turn those gears. However, one of the great aids is the ability to see possible hurdles that could combat or challenge your creativity. There are too many to name here as possible blocks and remedies, but I will attempt to tell you some and hopefully this will aid in the process of getting your act together. The first and most easy to achieve is attitude. Again, that is easy to say, but having a late night, not getting your coffee in the morning, missing the bus, etc., can all contribute to making the daily attitude seep a little. However, one thing that you should and nee...

Decided to finally get through the last bit of 'Blink'. Malcolm Gladwell's book on the spontaneity in human nature. On reading one of the final chapters I came across a very interesting section covering the concept of what can be called 'Consumer association'. This was an original concept founded by Louis Cheskin. See his website  here ! He moved to the USA from the Ukraine and found great delight in the development of the American culture. However, he discovered a desire to want to analyse the system by which consumers related to their choice in products. One of his achievements was to aid Coco-cola in their understanding in why Pepsi was beating Coke in the race for customers in the late 1970s. Coke was under the assumption that the rival was true in their statement, in that in the taste test ( something I remember as a child ) Pepsi was better than coke. So Coca-cola spent time and money in the development a new taste. They even called it 'New Coke'. Wh...

As humans we look at things with different degrees of analysis. We are in fact the only living creature that has the cognitive ability to analyze things, event, problems and try to come to a conclusive result. The advantage of this analytical brain is to help resolve these problems in a more effective manner. Our closest relative, the chimpanzee, when faced with a termite nest wont look at it holistically and see the potential aspects to which a solution to get a termites out. Instead they are limited to their surrounds and their capabilities. They generate simple tools to approach the most convenient solution. Saying this, it is wrong to take away from the chimpanzee the ability to fashion tools and use them. For many years man has deemed himself the only manipulator of his environment, is such a way as to physically alter and fashion elements to create tools. This is not so. What this has to do with creative thinking is a little more deeper than termites in a nest. Holistic knowled...

So once we have our list of terms and derivations, the next stage is to convert them into visual ideas. Mainly, as this is a creative project then all the elements need to be presented in a graphic form. What I tend to do is to develop via sketching. Saying this though, there is a disparity in what can look good in a sketch and what can look good in a final design. This understanding can come with a great deal of experience in how things look in rough and complete form. I tend to so all my logo designs via illustrator, and so when sketching I tend to keep simple lines and blocking that I note will be colour or shape. Anyway, what happens depending on the list of words, is I try putting down any idea that pops into my head based on the initial visual I see. This can usually populate an entire A3 sheet of small thumbnails. Like the one I added above. Another thing that is hard to describe, as a necessary part of the process, is the need to have gestation time. For example, I have tree ...

What usually tends to take place next i the depth process is to define the images I like the most as fully rendered icons. This tends to be done in illustrator. Illustrator is great for icons and logos, many as you can resize the objects without loosing quality or clarity. So what I tend to do, is whilst designing and thinking about logos, I tend to image how I will achieve them in illustrator. Its hardly worth trying to think of a great logo that can only be made in photoshop. Not saying that you can't use photoshop for doing logos. The issue there is that you have to make a very large version and then hope the resizing wont degrade the image too much. So, for the sake of all that hassle, it is best tho construct the whole image in illustrator. There are a great deal of effects now available and with some training it is possible to make the image look almost as good as a photoshop file, if that is the look that is required. For these logos, it was important to maintain a clean a...

After two weeks of working and tweaking and convincing the final logo has been decided on. In some senses it is still my second choice, although I was very pleased that the concept came in a 'eureka' moment one night as I was feeling desperate about the clients insistence on doing something different from the original design and close to the original. This pays dues to the notion that good ideas come when you are horizontal, sleeping or consciously resting. It has a great deal of gestalt aspects to the design as well. Making the 'sigma' appear from a negative shape that reflects the 'kappa'. What was then part of the process is to deliver the several variations that may be needed by the client for print. This includes black on white and the reverse out against black. Also included are several adaptations of the logo with text positioned differently. I managed to convince the client that the use of PF Archive Pro was better than the original Sans Serif font ( M...