Creativity - Understanding Flow and Structure. Divergent and Convergent Creativity.
Often enough we get stuck in a creative rut. We have the tendency as human beings to get caught up in the emotional "Stuck-ness" of creativity. We bang our heads against the wall and try to force something out rather than let it flow.
We have divergent and convergent thinking. Think of divergent thinking in creativity as open and outward modes of thinking. It is the brainstorming if you will. The jotting down ideas on the mark-and-wipe-board.
Now think of convergent thinking as ideas that need to come together. If you are in a business, and need to pair people up in brainstorming you should have an equal balance of both in the group.
We have flow personalities and structure personalities. The flow person goes by how they feel and let all the magical ideas pop right out of them. The structure people are often those who are very regimented. It is good to put these people together.
When you are creative by yourself. It is a good idea to be divergent. Brainstorm and then force yourself to be convergent, and bring those ideas together. Some people are balanced with both traits. I myself worked hard to get there.
You need to start off divergent and use tools to be convergent as a writer. The steps...
- First brainstorm USING NO JUDGEMENT. (Divergent)
- Then collect the information. (Convergent)
- Find ideas that you can merge or combine. (Convergent)
- Putting the information together. (Both Convergent and Divergent)
The idea of “divergent thinking” pays homage to problem solving. It is the multiple ideas that you want to find.
It happens in a "flow", and result in the many creative ideas that are combined and evaluated. Evaluation is different from judgement. It is using a sense of neutrality. Rather than the harsh over bearing judgment.
It is all about discovering the underlying complexity of information.
It is important to get curious when you are looking for new information and elaborate the information when you discover it. It also takes a sense of flexibility rather than stringency. The flexibility leads to be more fluent with the information. Lofty use of the imagination is also key. You can be lofty all day. If you can't put that information together then you need to work on your ability to converge information. The information should have novelty and unqiue applicability.
Convergent thinking uses the principle of "Outlining" information as a writer. Convergent is from the word “converge” it means to come together rather than separate. Convergent thinking is when you think of multiple pieces of information and pull together a single possible answer. This would akin to doing a multiple choice exam. We may be divergent for a moment. Then finally settle on the answer and circle the correct answer. If you are a writer. Feel free to balance these two concepts. I grew up with a learning disability and found the value in both. I was divergent when I was younger and developed my convergent thinking as I got older.
As a designer and team leader, I have come to deeply understand the benefits of using both divergent and convergent thinking. We can come up with ideas all day long, but if we can't evaluate them and test the viable ones, then no problem ever gets solved. Ideas depend on execution to have any value.
Key word is evaluate..