Creative Constraints

If you have ever shuttered at the sight of a blank screen, it is likely you were feeling the effects of unlimited possibilities.

We all hold the myth that creativity is the product of free-thinking, no rules, and unlimited options but the reality is, that is just not true. Barry Schwartz’s book and Ted Talk "The Paradox of Choice", explains that more choices can lead to greater ineffectiveness. Designers believe in embracing constraints, viewing them as necessary and identifying constraints as a key component to the creative process. Constraints can serve as a starting point for the creative process, as a way to pencil sketch the boundaries of a problem. They can provide focus and a creative challenge that motivates new thinking by creating and connecting new dots from different sources.

When faced with constraints, we tend to use resources in less conventional and effective ways. This stands in contrast to how we approach work without restrictions, where we tend to get stuck in our old ways of thinking and feel the pressure of the blinding white blank page. Below are a couple of examples of how creativity can emerge in midst of self-imposed or unexpected constraints.

A famous example of embracing self-imposed constraints is the (unsubstantiated) story from Ernest Hemingway. Allegedly, while meeting friends for lunch Hemingway bets the table that he can craft an entire story in six words. A story, complete with character and plot development. Hemingway writes "For sale: baby shoes, never worn”. Those six words, carefully chosen, flawlessly executed, does the job of a chapter worth of writing. We can get the sense of a sad situation, hopes and dreams unrealized – all done with extreme brevity and limitation.

Another example of creative constraints comes from one of my all-time favourite movies. In this example we can see how a creative mind can turn unexpected constraints into possibly, one of Hollywood’s most important films. In 1975, Steven Spielberg set off to prove himself as an up and coming director by taking on an ambitious project - Jaws. It is largely agreed that one of the movie’s greatest strengths is that we don’t get a good look at “Jaws” until the end of the movie. What is not so well known is that the original concept for the movie saw “Jaws” the shark, as a main on-screen feature. The mechanical shark kept malfunctioning and kept driving production costs up. Malfunctions, the re-shooting of scenes and the juggling production scheduling forced Steven Spielberg to find creative ways to represent the antagonistic fish without actually showing it. Spielberg relied on the amazing theme music, a plethora of POV shots, and simple props like yellow floatation barrels vigorously bobbing in the water as way to connote the presence of the killer shark. All of these techniques were used to help build suspense - arguably in a more effective way than would have been possible if the the mechanical fish was functioning properly and flopping in the water.

As the two examples demonstrate, constraints can add extreme value if opportunities are realized and subsequently maximized. Learning to embrace creative constraints is more important now than ever, as we find ourselves in the midst of the most restrictive time of our generation. Daily, we are being challenged to find new ways of working and thinking. So the next time you are confronted with the cliché "do more with less" you will have an appreciation of how to actually pull it off. Especially since less is quickly becoming the norm.

To end this entry I would like to share a creative exercise/game that I used to play with a life-long friend and amazing designer, Raja Sandhu. Raja and I would play this game during many-a-boring math lesson or during art class or in the caf in-between classes. Try it, have some fun with it and if you feel up to it - try sharing it here in along with your thoughts in the comment section below.

What can you create with the shape drawn below? Using the shape as a starting point, how might you add to it to draw something unique and creative? Constraints: You are restricted to using a continuous line and you cannot have any lines crossing over each other. You can however, lift your pencil/stilo to add details once you have completed your main shape with your continuous line. Have fun!