Creative Process

I found these questions over at Our Creative Community and thought they would be a great way to explore this topic a little bit.

I’m a little bit behind the game for their challenge, but it’s better late than never :)

I’ve never been creative in the traditional sense, at least how I see it.  I find that it’s hard for me to make things that are aesthetically pleasing, I’m more the functional type of person.  I enjoy creating things that are functional, that accomplish a goal, and hopefully do it efficiently.

What ignites that flame inside you to create?

It would have to be the feeling of accomplishment that is felt when the job is done. Sometimes the project may be long, tedious, and stressful, but in the end when you type the last command, layout the last piece of the design, or play the last chord in a period of just playing music there is a great sense of accomplishing something.

What sparks that passion inside you?

Right now it is the things that I learn as I work through the process of working with different tools, learning different coding techniques.  It is also the release that happens during a period of just sitting down and playing whatever comes into my head when I press the piano keys.

How do you channel your creativity into a finished product?

This is most likely the hardest aspect of creativity for me.  The times when I am actually able to work with the ideas that I have are very few, so when I get an idea I have to at least write it down, or sketch the design.  Designing is not one of my strong suits by any means, but I enjoy creating things that are functional and work, that seems to be where things go.  When I play the piano I usually don’t write down the things that I come up with, it isn’t really the purpose for why I play.  Playing piano is more of an intimate time for me, just being able to play.

What do you do when you struggle to create?

To be honest this happens quite a bit, since I am not a creator by trade I usually just put whatever I am working on down, and then when I have the motivation or the desire I will come back to it with a fresh look.  A lot of times I will get distracted by something else, or just have a block, but leaving and coming back usually allows me to continue where I left off.

How do you celebrate your wins?

There isn’t usually a lot of celebrating when I finish something.  Yeah, sure, I may show it off to a few people but that is about the extent of it.  I am quite content with the feeling that I get when I complete something.

Do you enjoy your creative process?

Most of the time yes, but a lot of the times it is frustrating.  The process of getting from the initial idea to the finished product is usually a series of trials and errors as I learn things about what I am doing.  I have not been programming tools, or designing web elements for very long and everything that I do is a learning process.  The learning is the part of the process that I enjoy, I enjoy learning and the knowledge that comes from it.  I’m not sure if that answered the question or not???

How do you share your creative elements with others?

I’ve just recently gotten in to designing for the web, so there has not been much room to share there.  I make a lot of tools and utilities for my job which I share with my coworkers.  These tools are usually nothing that is ground breaking, but I try to make them things that will make the job easier, whatever it is.  I am lucky to be someplace that I able to do this.

That’s where I’m at right now with the whole creativity thing, hopefully I will continue to learn, and in the process find more creativity.  Head over to Our Creative Community and check some of their stuff out, there’s some great people talking over there.

Filed under: Life , challenge, creativity, functional, process