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Creativity Tip 22 - Classic Creative Methods Explained
Many methods have been identified for producing creative results. Here are the five classic ones:
- Evolution
- Revolution
- Reapplication
- Changing Direction
- Synthesis
1. Evolution. This is the method of small step development. New ideas stem from other ideas, new solutions from previous ones, the new ones slightly improved over the old ones. Making something a little better here, a little better there gradually makes it something a lot better - even entirely different from the original.
Many of the very sophisticated products we enjoy today were developed through a long period of continual incremental improvement. For example, look at the modern automobile. With each new model, improvements are made. Each new model builds upon the collective creativity of previous models, so that over time, improvements in economy, comfort, and durability take place. The creativity here is in the refinement, rather than in something completely new. The philosophy is that "there is no such thing as an insignificant improvement."
This is the practical approach of one of the principles of creativity: Every problem that has been solved can be solved again in a better way.
2. Revolution. Sometimes the best new idea is a completely different one. While an evolutionary improvement philosophy might cause a teacher to ask, "How can I make my lessons better and better?" a revolutionary idea might be, "Why not stop lecturing and have the students teach each other, working as teams and presenting reports?"
For example, the evolutionary technology in fighting woodworm has been to develop safer and faster pesticides and gasses to kill them. A completely new way has been developed, abandoning gasses altogether in favour of liquid nitrogen, which freezes them to death. Perhaps another revolutionary creative idea would come from asking, "How can we prevent them from eating houses in the first place?" Where a new woodworm bait that is placed in the ground in a perimeter around a house could provide one answer to this question.
3. Reapplication. This is about looking at something old in a new way. It means going beyond labels, removing: prejudices, expectations and assumptions. A creative person might go to a junkyard and see art in an old bicycle. He takes the seat and the handlebars and turns them into the head of a bull, and hangs it on his wall (you may recognise Picasso’s approach here). Another creative person might see in the same bicycle the necessary pieces for combining home exercise and charging up batteries. He puts it on a stand, adds a belt attached to a generator and pedals away against the resistance to charge a car battery. The key is to see beyond the previous or stated applications for some idea, solution, or thing and to see what other application is possible.
Some examples: a paperclip can be used as a tiny screwdriver if filed down; paint can be used as a glue to prevent screws from loosening in machinery; dishwashing powders can be used to remove the DNA from bacteria in a lab; general purpose spray cleaners can be used to kill ants.
4. Changing Direction. Many creative breakthroughs occur when attention is shifted from one angle of a problem to another. This is sometimes called creative insight.
A classic example is that of the highway department trying to keep kids from skateboarding in a concrete-lined drainage ditch. The highway department put up a fence to keep the kids out; the kids went around it. The department then put up a longer fence; the kids cut a hole in it. The department then put up a stronger fence; it, too, was cut. The department then put a threatening sign on the fence; it was ignored. Finally, someone decided to change direction, and asked, "What really is the problem here? It's not that the kids keep getting through the barrier, but that they want to skateboard in the ditch. So how can we keep them from skateboarding in the ditch?" The solution was to remove their desire by pouring some concrete in the bottom of the ditch to remove the smooth curve. The sharp angle created by the concrete made skateboarding impossible and the activity stopped. No more skateboarding problems, no more fence problems.
This example reveals an important principle of problem solving: the goal is to solve the problem, not to implement a particular solution. When one solution path is not working, shift to another. There is no commitment to a particular path, only to a particular goal.
5. Synthesis. With this method, two or more existing ideas are combined into a third, new idea. Combining the ideas of a laser and the long playing record gave the idea of the CD and DVD. Another example is the combination of radio and telephone to give the mobile phone. Using random combination of objects is just one of a host of techniques in creativity. Creativity is also used to create new creativity techniques, in a circular process that can synthesis an explosion of creativity.
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