When most people think about creativity, they picture actual works of art like fictional novels, architecture, films and TV shows, movies, paintings, and maybe even culinary masterpieces. But what often is overlooked is the logical side of the equation. Things like how to find space for all the new people you're hiring, figuring out guest flow when master planning a theme park, or coming up with a solution that no one imagined.
Our latest podcast episode of Experience Imagination explores different aspects of the creative process with helpful tips to keep the creative spark going from special guest, President and Lead Innovation Catalyst of Magical Dude Consulting Lee Kitchen, as well as our Creative Director Mark Spencer and Concept Designer III, Christine Arnold.
Read on for some of the big ideas from the podcast that can help get your creativity flowing and be sure to listen to the full episode to hear even more tips to spark your thinking.
Meet the Creativity Experts
Lee Kitchen
President and Lead Innovation Catalyst of Magical Dude Consulting
Mark Spencer
Creative Director
Christine Arnold
Concept Designer III
How to Break Through a Creative Block
Lee: I'm a very big proponent of making sure that people get freshness in their lives, so whether it's listening to something different, it's driving home from work a different way, or it's reading a different a book or a different style of book, find something that kind of stimulates your brain. Because when you're in that right mode to create ideas, that's how your brain puts those strange things together in order to get to the next idea.
Mark: Give yourself unstructured time for research and thinking independently of any billable project you're currently working on. Because when we come to work, you know what you're doing, but you also need to give yourself some time to not be thinking about that project, and just thinking about something else. And so, I think unstructured time is very valuable.
Which leads to another strategy which is consulting with children and kids. I think one of my favorite professional development moments that I've had is every year I go to my kids' school for career day and give them a plan of their school. I give them some little cutouts of attractions and I ask them to turn their school into a theme park. And I just watch their excitement and their ideas of what this could be or what that couldn't be. And when you try to think of things through the eyes of a child. You realize there's a lot of untapped knowledge out there. There's a lot of untapped creativity that as adults we tend to just hinder ourselves with our own filters.
Christine: A lot of the time I’ll draw something completely different. I'll have another screen open and I'll take 5 to 10 minutes to just put whatever I want on the page, whether it be characters or little illustrations or something else. Just something that is completely different and then sometimes that kind of gets that weird little energy burst out of me where I just don't know what to do. And then I can finally be like, okay, take a breath and then you can draw it.
I'll also look at some of my favorite artists and I'll get inspiration from them, or I'll go take a walk or go to a place that calms me and I’ll just think. I'll listen to music if there's any sort of music that reminds me of my project, so that way I can get into the zone again. But a lot of the time, I'll look at other people's work or I'll read something, or I'll just do something different that can inspire me to want to be creative and usually that gets me out of my rut.
What Leaders Can Do to Help the Creative Process
Lee: And it also depends on the leadership. Usually, it's because you've had an experience in life where you've had a really great idea and you've mentioned it to somebody and they gave you the “idea look”, I call it “the look”, it's like the stink eye.
Lee Kitchen gives his best impression of "the look"
If somebody gave you that look, most likely you would judge yourself next time and you might not say your idea. If you as a leader specifically, if you're killing people's ideas right out of the gate, you're totally squelching potential over the course of that person's employment, right? So, figure out a way to accept those ideas upfront, figure out a way to make sure collaboratively people can do that, and you will elevate your whole organization because of it.
It's really important, if you're a leader, to make sure you project that because somebody from the bottom is going to come up with your best idea that's going to save your business. And you, you have to let them. Actually, Walt Disney was a big proponent of that, he has a quote that says, “I would take an idea from anyone, an architect or a janitor. I want everybody's ideas. Everybody's ideas are equal.”.
Mark: The early stages are really just throwing darts at the board and seeing what sticks. So, I think you can't shoot down any idea too soon. And I always turn back in my head to if anyone takes an improv class, they’ve heard the phrase, “yes, and...”, when you want to keep the scene going. Saying no it hits stop. There's a wall. When you say yes, you transition the scene somewhere else. I think that same mentality works really well in the creative process.
How to Thrive in a Creative Role
Mark: One of the biggest lessons, and I try to share this with new people as I see them getting into the industry, is learning how to be creatively attached to your work, but then be emotionally detached from your work. This way you don't take things personally; when your idea isn't selected it doesn't mean you're a bad designer.
Christine: Yeah, I definitely know that firsthand because I'm very new to the industry. I'm very young for our industry, but I personally have learned that lesson. And I've learned it the hard way multiple times. You cannot be attached to your work; you can love it and you can appreciate it, but you've got to know when it's just not going to work. You can't take that to heart. You have to move on to the next steps; I know I'll be very happy if it moves forward, but also if it doesn't, I'm not going to be heartbroken. And then I'll just move on to the next exciting thing because I know there is another exciting thing around the corner.
Can you learn how to be creative?
Lee: Yes and yes. So, what I tell people is, okay, somehow when you were going to college, you made that Top Ramen sing all week long because that's all you could afford. And that stuff tasted different every time you ate it, right? Somehow you got to work all week this week, and you might not have got your clothes dry cleaned or done your laundry, but you're still looking good. And you found some way to dress, right?
So, most people are creative and they just don't realize it. I find that people say that because they directly relate creativity with artistry. I'm not a guitar player. I can't play the piano. I can't write a poem. And yes, those people are very creative. And like I said, they are what I call practice creatives because they are practicing their guitar all the time. You know they are writing a lot of stuff. They are drawing a lot. But the people who aren't doing that say, oh, I'm not creative. Well, you are because of these other reasons. It's just a matter of thinking differently. And you have to make a habit of doing something different. And what you should do is actually put it on your calendar. So one hour out of every week you're going to go look at a different article in a different genre. Or this weekend you're going to watch a different television show and you're going to do something spontaneous that's outside of your comfort zone and that will help you be more creative.
Is it OK to Use AI in the Creative Process?
Lee: I'm a big proponent of what I call stimulus. It’s hard to go into a conference room and say, “Okay, don't come out of this conference room until you solve this challenge.”. And when you get into the conference room, you’ve got nothing, you're looking around at a bunch of white walls and there's nothing.
Stimulus starts with a conversation, so if you and I are brainstorming something, just our back and forth is going to ignite our brain to think a little bit differently. And when you roll something through an AI generator, I'll just use ChatGPT as an example, it kind of propels you forward because it is sometimes really difficult to take that first step. AI just acts as stimulus to get to something even better. I mean rarely do you use the first iteration of what comes out of AI, it’s used as a jumping off point, and to me, we all need jumping off points. We all need that stimulus in order to move through ideas.
Bonus Tips to Supercharge your Creative Process
- Utilize cross functional teams. Put people from marketing together with people from operations together and see what they come up with.
- Implement a monthly inspiration report with innovative examples of what others are doing. Learn more about this technique at 17:31 of the podcast episode.
Podcast: Sparking Creativity
In this episode of Experience Imagination, we chatted with a group of themed entertainment design creatives about how they keep the creative spark going. Listen for some tips on finding inspiration, unleashing your creative potential, overcoming creative blocks, and more.
