The value of creativity

By Bob Mytton

This article is based on a talk I gave in Bristol at The Marketing MeetUp on 15 November 2023, looking at the impact of creativity and tips on how to be more creative.

I’ve always believed creativity can have a significant positive impact on society, business and community. But being creative is not always easy or encouraged.

First, what is creativity? One way of summing it up –?is that it's the process of having new ideas that have value, and by value I don't just mean financial.

As well as impacting the bottom line, creativity can shift behaviours and perceptions. It can make the built environment a much more pleasant place to be. It can bring joy, make things memorable and improve wellbeing.

Creativity can come through in all walks of life – from design to mathematics. It’s a way of thinking and doing.?

To some extent, we’re all born creative. When we’re very young we create crazy things, weird worlds and so on. And we do it without feeling as though we're being judged. We have fun. But then things change as we get older. We go to school. We do worry about being judged. And somehow often lose that sense of play –?of being creative.

And yet, as many studies show, the world needs more creativity, not less. According to one report by McKinsey & Co, 70% of companies that engage with creativity had above-average returns for shareholders. And another I read recently talked about the impact of creativity on well-being and experiencing a better quality of life.

In our studio, when we start any branding project, our initial online research involves looking at competitors and other websites to understand the market. Too often I see so much similarity and conformity. Creativity can create real stand out and help organisations be remembered – which in business is half the battle.?

So, how can we be more creative? Here are 5 things that might help, based on what I've seen in our studio and when I've been teaching students.

1. Play

Start with allowing yourself a space to play. As the American author Joseph Chilton Pearce said, ‘To live a creative life we must lose the fear of being wrong’. Creativity is about making mistakes and learning from them. It’s about exploring different ideas, not worrying where those ideas are going to go – just to see what happens –?not worrying about solving the problem straight-away. This can feel a little uncomfortable, but I’ve noticed the people who are most creative are those who tend to be comfortable being uncomfortable for longer. So, create a culture or space that celebrates experimentation. And whatever ideas come out of the process, no matter how crazy, write them down or draw them. With no judgement. That comes later. Don't play and edit at the same time – they're two different processes.?

2. Give it time.?

Once you've created that space, give it the right amount of time to be creative. To allow yourself to play, without distraction. For me, I’ve found about 1.5 to 2 hours works well. This allows time for the mind to settle and to really focus on the project or the problem in hand and to allow the ideas to come out. Then you need to stop, to let your subconscious take over. In fact, I'd encourage taking a walk. Research has proved that you're more creative going for a walk than when you're sitting down – especially walking outside, in nature. And one of the greatest killers of creativity can be interruptions, so switch off the mobile phone. Turn off the email.

3. Connect

Creativity is essentially about connecting – about finding unexpected connections. Look outside your sector and your normal frames of reference – something different from your unusual working environment. Seek out different experiences. Keep looking, keep being curious, note things down to help generate more connections.?

But it's not just about connecting things and ideas – it's also about connecting with users and other people. Discussing ideas with others helps you break out of the same patterns and ways of working –? something I noticed about myself when I did my Jazztypes project (jazztypes.com). Different people, different viewpoints, different ideas – the power of diverse thinking,?

4. Don’t stop

Don’t stop with your first idea. I read recently the story of a photography professor who, when starting a new beginning photography course, tried an experiment. He split the group of students into two. He told Group A? he would grade them on the excellence of their?work – so even if they handed in only one or two photographs, that would be fine because he was marking the quality of work. He told Group B he would grade them on the quantity of photographs – the more the better. At the end of term he was surprised to find that the best work came from Group B –?the quantity group. Quantity had led to quality – because the quantity group were constantly experimenting, making mistakes, learning from them and then trying something different. So, even if you come up with an idea early on that ‘answers the brief’, often the best thing is to keep going, looking for more ideas. You may come back to the first idea, but with a different perspective. As Samuel Beckett once said, ‘Try again. Fail again. Fail better”.

5. Craft

And lastly, Craft. Ideas can be fragile. You need to develop them and craft them to make them work. If the first stage is generating lots of ideas to find the right idea, the second stage is about getting that idea right. You need to nurture that idea and make it the best it can be. Often that involves talking to others, listening to users and testing, iterating, refining and getting the details right.?

Finally, there are many books on creativity, but one I read recently that I enjoyed was ‘The Creative Act: A Way Of Being’ by Rick Rubin, where he splits the book – and subject –?into 78 short chapters reflecting on every aspect of creativity.