Have you ever been in a conversation with people who are on a higher intellectual level than you? I was involved in such an occasion several months ago; thankfully I said little and listened lots…

The topic of conversation was creativity and perceptions of creativity. I shall attempt to sum it up here, because I found the topic gave me food for thought.

For a very long time creativity has been considered the domain of artists, designers and well, creative types (something we designers are often labelled). This however is a widespread misconception. For too long creativity has been pigeonholed.

According to the learned group, creativity is looking at something, seeing it differently, and thereby acting or thinking differently.

So what does that look like in the ‘real’ world?

Picture a group of accountants and business people, going through the motions of doing their day-to-day banking, monthly financials, and so-on. As they do their work they think “there has to be a better way of doing this”. Harnessing the power of cloud-computing, good business, and good design a new way of business accounting is created (Xero for those who don’t know what I’m talking about). That’s creative.

One of our clients is an engineering firm – an industry often derided for their lack of creativity. I beg to differ though. Some of the projects that I have seen of theirs have required phenomenal creativity to get them completed. Sure the thinking has been analytical, but who’s to say that creativity cannot come from left brain thinking?

Creativity can take place in an office, at home, in hospitals, in fact wherever people do anything!

The point is simple: don’t pigeonhole creativity. Don’t assume that people do not have the capacity for creativity; celebrate it, encourage it and most of all be creative.