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Home > Design and Technology > Innovation and Emerging Technologies > Creativity > Creative problem solving

Design and technology

Innovation and emerging technologies

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Creative problem solving

Creativity is often a misunderstood term. To be creative is not to have a blinding flash of inspiration which has come from nowhere. It is more likely to be the result of thinking broadly about an issue and giving yourself time to ponder the problem. This tutorial explores the creative processes designers may use and gives you techniques to try. You will apply your knowledge of creativity and your creative problem-solving skills when completing your innovation case study and in the development and realisation of your major design project (MDP).

Outcomes

This material addresses aspects of the following syllabus outcome:

H3.1 The student uses creative and innovative approaches in designing and producing.

Source: Board of Studies NSW, Stage 6 Design and Technology Syllabus, Preliminary and HSC Courses (2007)

What is creativity?

"Creativity is the solving of a problem with a solution unknown to the solver upon initial confrontation with the problem." (Gehlbach, p. 37)

Creativity involves two types of thinking:

• Divergent thinking: developing many solutions to a problem.
• Convergent thinking: clarifying the problem and making logical informed decisions.

Without decisions being made and carried out, your creative idea is just that, an idea.

Thinking skills

You may have heard of Edward de Bono. He has written a number of books on thinking and teaching thinking. Some of his techniques are quite widely used in schools. Here are just a couple of techniques you can try when you are making choices.

Activity

Divergent thinking
Brainstorming
While brainstorming can be done alone it is most effective with a larger number of people, that way there are many different perspectives to record. No response in brainstorming is wrong, suspend your judgment. All responses should be recorded. At this point there is no need to draw links between ideas or apply ideas directly to the problem. Brainstorming generates lots of ideas.

Write the key idea you want to explore on a sheet of paper and record all the ideas that pop into your head and/or the people you are working with.

Convergent thinking
Plus, minus, interesting (PMI)
Let's say you've come up with a couple of different ideas and you need to decide which option to take. List the ideas in the left-hand column of the table below then record the positive things about that idea in the plus column, the negative things in the minus column and anything particularly interesting about the idea in the interesting column. By the time you have done this for each idea you should have a better understanding of which one is the best option, or at least be able to cull one or two options.

Idea	Plus	Minus	Interesting

Take a look at the brainstorm and PMI completed by a winner of the Minister's Young Designer Awards (MYDA). Remember this student was in Year 8.

Transferring knowledge

Creative people are able to transfer what they learned in one situation and apply it to another situation. In design and technology you have the perfect opportunity to do this. If you plan well the research you conduct for your innovation case study for example, can be applied to your major design project (MDP).

Depending on what stage of the course you are at, reflect on your innovation case study or a designer or product you have examined and identify any information you can apply or transfer to your MDP.

Blocks to creative thinking

People are creative because they make a conscious effort to think and act differently (to think outside the square).

One of the blocks to the creative process is fear. Have you ever been in a situation where you've thought of an unusual or creative way of looking at a problem but felt uncomfortable about stating your ideas? Was it because you were afraid of making a mistake or seeming foolish? Were you afraid of being criticised or not fitting in with everyone?

Don Koberg, in his book The Universal Traveller, identified these types of factors which block creativity.

So what can you do about the fear? Be brave. If someone laughs at your ideas, have a laugh back but stick to your idea and explore it further. When you have more research or more drawings or a prototype which will show the merit of your ideas you will feel more confident about it and others will take it more seriously.

Reference

Koberg, D (1976) The Universal Traveller, William Kaufman Inc.

A creative environment

Think about the type of environment where you feel able to be creative. It may be your room, a seat beside the sea, a table in a noisy coffee shop, the kitchen table or the library.

Wherever it is, think about what you need to have with you to think broadly about an idea.
Do you need:

• large sheets of paper
• a variety of pens and pencils in different colours
• music
• a sticky note pad
• a pin board
• creative notebook
• materials to build things
• a tape recorder to record your thoughts while you think out loud?

People learn in different ways and they think creatively in different ways. Give yourself the best possible chance to come up with creative solutions.

Here are some examples of how other people get inspired:

Whenever I need to come up with lots of ideas I spread everything out on my bed or the dining table or the lounge room floor. Then I physically place things in different patterns or I draw big mind maps. I seem to need space to think creatively.

I like to have a conversation with myself and tape whatever comes out of my mouth, a bit like a verbal brainstorm. I walk around my room trying to convince someone of my ideas. Afterwards I rewind the tape and jot down the ideas on paper, sometimes as a list, sometimes as a mind map.

I always carry a notebook with me. I just let the problem I'm thinking about just sit in the back of my mind. I get the most amazing ideas while I'm on the bus, crossing the road, watching a movie. Wherever and whenever.

I have a pin board at home and I write ideas on sticky notes or scraps of paper and just keep pinning them up and shuffling them around. Sometimes I use string to join ideas.

If I need to work on a 3D solution I muck around with cardboard and other recycled materials. I also have a sketchpad and pencil. I've set myself up with an old table in our garage. It feels like my own design studio. I bring the radio out with me and I'm set.

Stating the problem

Creative problem solving involves:

• recognising the problem
• defining the problem
• generating alternative solutions
• testing alternative solutions
• selecting the best solution.

Recognising the problem can occur in two ways:

• the individual discovers and specifies their own problem
• a problem is set by someone else.

In design practice for example, an architect is unlikely to be asked to design a building. The architect will instead be given a brief which has constraints. As the constraints increase so too does the creative and intellectual skills required to solve the problem.

If the problem is too open the possibilities are too broad and too complex, if it is too constrained there is little opportunity for creativity and innovation.

Activity

The issue of stating the brief is very important for your MDP. Your brief needs to give you scope for creativity and innovation. For example, a very specific brief, which would allow very little creativity or innovation, would be:

• Design a strapless, short, black, satin evening dress
  or
• Design a teak outdoor dining setting.

The alternatives offer much greater creative freedom:

• Design an outfit suitable for summer evening wear.
  or
• Design equipment for outdoor entertaining.

For more information on developing your brief see Activity 3 in the tutorial: Getting started: How to begin your major design project (MDP).