21 creativity = intelligence?

Parsing through the article I notice Andy described creativity as an “ability to see things differently and notice”, tell me if I’m wrong but isn’t this the way intelligence is (often) defined — as an ability to quickly notice patterns and relationships that other people cannot? Therefore, could one say that designers (probably) have a higher IQ or that the job requires it?

posted at 02:58 pm on March 7, 2008 by Jonathan Doe

22 Creativity != Intelligence

15 years experience of working with a number of people described (in differing degrees) as “creatives”, “designers”, “artworkers”, “techies” and weird hybrids thereof can confirm that creativity certainly does NOT equal intelligence.

Of course, that doesn’t mean the two things are mutually exclusive. I have worked with highly intelligent creatives and those that need instructions to put their trousers on in the morning.

I guess alot of it comes down to the definition of intelligence.

posted at 08:15 pm on March 7, 2008 by Pete Eveleigh

23 Responses?

Hi –

I’m wondering why the author has been completely silent. Part of the beauty of this publication is the ability for the author to interact.

Could we hear something from you, Andy? Great, thanks…

posted at 11:07 pm on March 7, 2008 by Jack Handy

24 On Creativity & Intelligence

One belief is that creative people excel in divergent thinking and that intelligent people excel in convergent thinking.

If you are interested, other studies by Roe(1952),
Mackinnon(1976), and Getzels/Jackson (1962)provide interesting insights about the relationship between creativity and intelligence.

posted at 07:26 am on March 9, 2008 by David Royer

25 Great Article

I would love to hear even more about taking constraints of the design process, specifically web design, and leveraging them as strengths.

Print has its own unique processes, and trying to become a master (or at least a solid practitioner) of both print and interactive/web design is a difficult task that I find myself in.

posted at 05:40 pm on March 10, 2008 by John Rizzo

26

My concern is that Andy is so eager to separate wild crazy no-holdsp-barred creativity from design problem solving that he is discounting the absolute real value of the way “soft” fuzzy creative thinking works.

The space suit example is a case in point: Someone above posted a link to an engineer/designer who is developing a form-fitting “spandex” space suit which directly compresses the skin instead of enveloping the body in a sack of compressed air. This design process began with exactly the kind of thinking Andy seeks to suppress: thinking of something that is absolutely WRONG in order to redefine the problem. In this case, the problem had always been defined as “how to create air pressure around a body”, instead of “how to pressurize the skin” or even “how to make a slimmer, nimbler, and sexier space suit”. By redefining the problem in terms that may run afoul of the current thinking, designers and engineers are able to then try to solve the new problem. Maybe there is no solution and they go back to the drawing board, but maybe, instead, a better solution will emerge.

Similarly, a designer may get a kooky crazy idea to arbitrarily design his or her next web site upside down, or all in shades of yellow, or out of toothpicks, or whatever seems interesting and wacky to them. This inspiration may, further down the line, open up new possibilities in the design itself. Later, when the design’s practical requirements are revisited, as they should be, the toothpicks may be removed, but some of the ideas the toothpicks generated may remain.

I am concerned with the seemingly perpetual desire on the part of many design writers, Andy especially, to try to suppress fuzzy thinking among designers. There are two problems: the lack of structured thinking among fuzzy-thinking designers (designers being too artsy) AND the lack of fuzzy-thinking among structured designers (designers being little more than engineers). And I think the latter problem is by far a greater problem than the former: our products generally work okay, they’re just boring and ugly and depressing to use.

In short, we can introduce better structured thinking to designers without suppressing the fuzzy part. Great designers can do both. No need to knock one to build up the other.

posted at 07:04 pm on March 10, 2008 by Christopher Fahey

27 So Subjective

That is exactly why I decided to start my own site. It is risky, but to be able to have creative freedom is not something many people get to do.
http://slackerchic.blogspot.com/

posted at 01:26 am on March 12, 2008 by Kelly Mason

28 Untitled

Trying to show a client how creative you are only makes me think of Carrot Top in a boardroom trying to make balloon out of bowling ball.

posted at 11:34 am on March 13, 2008 by Steven Scarborough

29 It maybe a semantic argument but...

I’m not sure Andy’s argument is totally correct here. I believe Creativity is just that, the act of creation, whatever scale it may be on. I believe what Andy outlines here in his article is really insight. I think the distinction is a small yet important one. Insight gives us a perception of something that penetrates the surface and this is a rare talent. I also believe that Andy is wrong in saying that these things are innate and can not be learned as I personally believe this to be a skill that can be worked at. This is not to say that many people do seem to have a natural aptitude for this.

posted at 11:01 pm on March 13, 2008 by Mart Gordon

30 Don't miss the point

There is no one saying that you have to limit your creativity. This article merely points out that design is a process and a very complicated one at that. There are many things to consider and we should embrace that idea and try to get others to do the same. It is a shame if when people see websites or applications and think that we are only artists. There is so much more. Art and self expression are just pieces of the whole design experience and unfortunately the majority of people out there do not understand that. When the only thing someone can say to me after months of planning and work is, “yah it looks nice”, it is not very rewarding. Think about it.

posted at 09:23 pm on March 15, 2008 by Alex Wolfe