Everyone is creative, even you!

Written by Tero Kauppinen and Edrish Md Abdul

This SID article integrates insights from two workshop days focused on practical Design Thinking and creative thinking, along with the book ‘Creative Confidence’ by Tom & David Kelley (2013), and two articles ‘Design Thinking’ by Tim Brown (2008), and ‘Design Thinking Comes of Age’ by Jon Kolko (2015).

The Creativity Myth

There is a “creativity myth” among many people that being creative is a fixed trait reserved for those special few in creative fields (Kelley & Kelley 2013, 1). This misconception is rapidly being changed by Design Thinking practicioners and researchers, who are spreading the word of this concept to an ever-growing and diverse group of individuals and organizations.

“Creative confidence is like a muscle – it can be strengthened through effort and experience” (Kelley & Kelley 2013, 2-3).  

At the heart of Design Thinking is creativity. The good news is that creativity is a skill that can be practiced and developed. This was the central insight from our time during the workshop. That creativity is a skill set that anyone can improve through repeated practice and experience.

During the workshops we practiced using various methods and tools with different teams and pairs. This process of learning by developing (LbD) was crucial in developing our creative confidence, which is the “ability to come up with ideas and try them out.” (Kelley & Kelley 2013, 3).

A picture of some of the iterative work produced by our multi-disciplinary group including the viewpoints of a sales manager, recruitment professional, HR manager, and management consultant from several different countries.

A picture of some of the iterative work produced by our multi-disciplinary group including the viewpoints of a sales manager, recruitment professional,
HR manager, and management consultant.

Practicing our creativity through these exercises was an eye-opening experience that allowed us to go through many iterative cycles, become comfortable with failure, and learn from each other.

So, what is Design Thinking?

The CEO of IDEO, Tim Brown, defines Design Thinking as “an idea, a strategy, a method, and a way of seeing the world… A way to solve problems through creativity.” (Brown 2008).  As a human-centred approach to solving problems, Design Thinking considers what is desired, what is technologically feasible and what is economically viable (Brown 2008). Good design considers all three aspects, and the intersection is known as the sweet spot of feasibility, viability, and desirability (Kelley & Kelley 2013, 19).

(Image by IDEO – Tim Brown, 2008)

A case example presented during the workshop that demonstrated the power of Design Thinking and human-centredness is Airbnb. Initially, the company struggled with user engagement. The founders decided to change to a user-centered approach, visiting hosts and gathering user feedback. They identified low-quality images as a key issue affecting trust. By emphasizing and improving the image quality of their listings, they immediately saw an increase in bookings. This empathetic approach aligned Airbnb’s services with their end users’ needs, propelling the company to significant growth (Ramsey 2023).

At its core, Design Thinking promotes empathy through understanding the needs of the end-user. A crucial addition to this definition was brought up in the pre-assigned reading materials and during the class is that Design Thinking needs to evolve to also having a planet-centred perspective. Alves Dos Santos and Moireira (2022, 53) establish that being only human-centred can lead to unwanted consequences with issues, such as negative environmental impact. Thus, having a sustainability focus is also important when engaging in Design Thinking processes.

Why is Design Thinking necessary?

The need for Design Thinking is growing all around us. It is a crucial skill that organizations and individuals need to develop. In today’s world, the problems and challenges we are facing as individuals, organizations, and societies are becoming increasingly complex. This is creating a need for Design Thinking to become a central part of how organizations work (Kolko 2015). As Kolko (2015) points out, “people need their interactions with technologies and other complex systems to be simple, intuitive, and pleasurable.”  

Design Thinking is a way to enable organizations and individuals to respond to problems produced by constantly changing circumstances in an empathetic, fast, and practical way. The workshops we attended demonstrated the effectiveness of Design Thinking processes in solving problems in such a way.

Tim Brown best sums it up in his statement that “these problems all have people at their heart. They require a human-centred, creative, iterative, and practical approach to finding the best ideas and ultimate solutions. Design thinking is just such an approach to innovation.” (Brown 2008).

References

Alves Dos Santos, J., Moireira, J., Marzavan, D., Kaartti, V., & Tschimmel, K. 2022. (p. 26-65) Are they or are they not? Creativity Innovation Affairs. Porto: Mindshake.

Brown, T. 2008. Design Thinking: Thinking like a designer can transform the way you develop products, services, processes – and even strategy. Accessed 30 September 2024. https://hbr.org/2008/06/design-thinking

Brown, T. 2008. Ideo: Design Thinking Defined. Accessed 30 September 2024. https://designthinking.ideo.com/

Kelley, D. and Kelley, T. 2013. Creative Confidence: unleashing the creative potential within us all. New York: Crown Business.

Kolko, J. 2015. Design Thinking Comes of Age: The approach, once used primarily in product design, is now infusing corporate culture. Harvard Business Review, September, 66-71. Accessed 30 September 2024. https://hbr.org/2015/09/design-thinking-comes-of-age 

Ramsey, I. 2023. From Shaky Airbeds to Soaring Success: Design Thinking Takes Airbnb to New Heights. LinkedIn Pulse Article. Posted 9 April 2023. Accessed 30 September 2024. https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/from-shaky-airbeds-soaring-success-design-thinking-takes-isaak-ramsey/

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Comments

8 responses to “Everyone is creative, even you!”

  1. judytakontoniemi Avatar
    judytakontoniemi

    Hi Tero and Edrish! Your take on creativity and Design Thinking is really interesting! 

    It is great you connected your reading with the lectures and exercises we practiced together at Laurea campus. My personal favorite was the one in which we were individually writing down the ideas for the wallet design – I realized I had quite many out-of-the-box solutions and, as you wrote, it really helped me to find and start building my creative confidence.

    We can practice our creativity, but for it to flourish, the environment in which we operate should encourage and promote it. The organizations should create space for experimentation and risk taking (Brown 2008). Only then such organizations can say they have adopted design thinking as a business model. 

    I agree with you that Design Thinking is good approach for solving problems today’s world is facing. The more Design Thinking oriented organization we have, the more complex issues we can tackle and the better solutions we may find. 

    Reply
    1. youngthing335184d2d8 Avatar
      youngthing335184d2d8

      Hi Judyta,

      Thanks for your comment.
      I’m glad you feel like you were able to grow your Creative Confidence muscle.
      It can be bit scary at first, but as you pointed out, the right environment can help it flourish. I think this SID class is exactly that kind of environment!

      Reply
  2. satumuratte Avatar
    satumuratte

    Thank goodness! The topic of this blog resonates with me a lot. I’m relieved and encouraged to know that everybody can be creative, and it is a skill that can be practiced. Creativity, creative thinking and creative problem solving are also important future meta-skills as Alaja describes (2021).

    I think we had fun exercises in the contact classes to prepare our creative mind before ideating by listening to music, stimulating the left side of the brain with mathematical calculations, the right side with artistic questions, and the front with movements. These are useful exercises for the future to get prepared for ideation sessions.

    The Airbnb case is a great example of showing the power of user-centric way to develop business. For a company having the courage to give time, space and money for employees to do research, ideate and experiment is crucial because the culture of efficiency makes imagining and ideation difficult (Brown 2009, 34, 71).  

    Planet-centred perspective is an interesting point and important now that climate crisis and biodiversity loss are evident. This has to do with the customer and user perspective too as Solovjew-Wartiovaara, Aspivaara & Nyman (2023) states that sustainable lifestyles are a precondition for comprehensive well-being, because the well-being of people is dependent on the well-being of nature.

    References

    Alaja, K. 2021. Jatkuvasti muuttuva työelämä vaatii uudenlaisia metataitoja, mitä ne ovat? Accessed 7 October 2024. https://telma-lehti.fi/jatkuvasti-muuttuva-tyoelama-vaatii-uudenlaisia-metataitoja-mita-ne-ovat

    Brown, T. 2009. Change by design: how design thinking transforms organizations and inspires innovation. 1st Edition. New York: HarperCollins Publishers. 

    Solovjew-Wartiovaara, A., Aspivaara, C. & Nyman, S. 2023. Megatrends 2023: these are the trends we cannot ignore. Accessed 2 October 2024. https://www.sitra.fi/en/news/megatrends-2023-these-are-the-trends-we-cannot-ignore/

    Reply
  3. katjaraisanen Avatar
    katjaraisanen

    Thank you for the positive and encouraging approach on your blog post! As a professional from creative industries the approach to creativity from different ankle is refreshing and relevant. The role and importance of creativity in general in different industries and also what we could learn from creatives have interested me for long. As Kelley & Kelley state that creativity is much broader and more universal than many people think in general and that it comes to play when we have a possibility to generate something new (2013, 3). In psychologist Sternberg’s wide and long-term research something interesting was found: The creative people had DECIDED to be creative, e.g. in the forms of tending to redefining problems, taking sensible risks, accepting failures and continuing to grow intellectually(Kelley & Kelley, Creative confidence). This in encouraging and this kind of approach can be well found in your blog as well.

    I’m thinking, especially with AI, new tools are emerging and the value of human creativity can or needs to be seen in a new light. What do you think of that?

    Reply
  4. sahanasanka1978 Avatar
    sahanasanka1978

    Hello Tero and Abdul- Interesting insights connecting the dots of the class with literature.

    The blog provides an insightful reflection on the power of Design Thinking and, more importantly, the power and potential of design Thinking to dispel the mystery that has been built around creativity. Bothe authors Tom and David Kelley questioned in their books of 2013 the idea of ‘Us versus Them’, which was also strongly corroborated during the workshop where participants experienced first-hand that creativity can be honed by practise. This may be the most empowering idea: that ‘creative confidence is like a muscle’. because it democratizes creativity to all, not just traditional creative professions.

    I also welcome the emphasis that empathy is a core constituent in design thinking, especially using the example of Airbnb. That indeed shows how knowledge of user needs, with the integration of feedback, will lead to meaningful changes in product design for eventual business outcomes. The case of Airbnb just perfectly sums up how design thinking principles can lead to real-world impact by aligning business goals to user-centered solutions.

    Finally for me most paramount in my view was the call to move design thinking from human centeredness to human planet centeredness. The integration of sustainability within the design process is an evolution necessary to ensure that the future solutions improve the lot not only the people but also of the planet.

    Reply
  5. maritaruotsalainen Avatar
    maritaruotsalainen

    Hi Tero and Edrish! This was a great take on creativity and design thinking based on the course materials and learnings. I am also one of those people who grew up in an environment where creativity was something you had or you didn’t. No other options. So it has been a relief to understand that everyone has creativity in them, it just needs to be “fatigued” to improve.

    I wanted to build on Katja’s comment regarding creativity being a much larger concept than traditionally thought (fine arts, music etc). I’ve always loved “Everything is a remix” idea from music (Kirby 2010-2012). I think this translates to other fields of human activity as well. Therefore having a curious outlook into wide area of human activity gives you larger and larger pool to draw creative ideas from. It requires risk taking and getting out of the comfortable, of what you already know.
    This is how novel synthesis is born, as a remix.

    Creativity is in us all, but it does need regular practice to really flourish.

    Kirby “Everything is a Remix” 2010-2012.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X9RYuvPCQUA&t=1s

    Reply
  6. namratasethi Avatar
    namratasethi

    Hi Tero and Edrish, the blog really resonates with me, especially the idea that creativity and design can be strengthened through effort and experience, as suggested by Kelley & Kelley. 

    In my past experience as an interior designer, I learned that creativity isn’t just a natural talent but something that grows through regular practice and working with different clients and projects. Now, as a project manager, I use the same approach, understanding that design thinking is a process to solving problems while focusing on people’s needs.

    The reminder that good design should balance feasibility, viability, and desirability is so relevant  today(Kelley & Kelley). The example of Airbnb’s transformation by focusing on user needs through empathy shows just how impactful design thinking can be. With technology and customer behaviors evolving so quickly, businesses must be adaptable and open to change, always keeping a human-centered approach at the core of their strategies.

    The focus on empathy has resonated with all of us, as we’ve discussed in our blogs. In today’s world, it’s important for designers to put themselves in the user’s shoes, let go of assumptions, and approach challenges with fresh eyes. We need to dig deeper than surface-level observations to uncover real insights. As designers, we have the power to shape behaviors and solve complex problems, and in your blog, you highlighted how essential it is to keep empathy at the heart of our work.

    As you mentioned the case example of Airbnb, here’s another example that I found which might interest you: the Nike FlyKnit shoes. Nike applied design thinking by focusing on the needs of athletes, creating a lightweight, durable, and eco-friendly shoe through this innovative process.

    Ref Blog: https://medium.com/@omgitssashai.55/tinker-hatfield-and-how-he-used-user-centered-design-to-create-the-nike-flyknit-bd362879b5bb

    Reply
  7. atlasriatson Avatar
    atlasriatson

    Great job Tero and Edrish! This is a very inspiring post. This blog post provides a clear and engaging overview of Design Thinking, blending theoretical insights from workshop experiences. Your emphasis on the universality of creativity and the debunking of the “creativity myth” is especially powerful. Brown (2009) emphasizes that creativity is not limited to a select few, but rather a skill that can be cultivated through the iterative process of Design Thinking, much like the practical exercises you describe from your workshop.

    The exploration of Design Thinking as a human-centered approach is well-articulated. Brown, in Change by Design (2009), similarly highlights the importance of understanding human needs when solving problems, which you’ve demonstrated effectively through the Airbnb case study. Your mention of empathy as a cornerstone of the process reflects Brown’s ideas on building products and services that resonate with users on a deep emotional level.

    Overall, your post effectively conveys that creativity is a learnable skill and that Design Thinking can transform problem-solving across disciplines.

    Reply

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