Edward Prince Furniture Design - Creativity - How to be more creative - Perception
Creativity - Perception
“The voyage of discovery lies in not finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes”. Marcel Proust
Two people can look at the same thing and see completely different result. How you perceive depends upon many different elements.
When you look at the cube do you see it rising up with the bottom showing or dropping down with the top showing?
In psychology and the cognitive sciences perception is defined as the process of acquiring, interpreting, selecting and organising sensory information. This is achieved through your senses, your state of mind, your mental model of the world, (are you guided by the spirits or is the government out to get you) beliefs and values. So is the glass half empty or half full? The answer of course is it depends on your perception. A perception can give rise to a multiple construct for example in the illustration is a tiger but do you see a proud beast, a savage man killer, an endangered specie, a good circus act, memories of Indian mogul painting or a cute cat. The other side to this is If you have no experience of something there is a strong likelihood that you will simply not perceive it and it will not exist. For example two people discussing a game of rugby would see things quite differently if one has never played and has only experienced watching their local schoolboy club whilst the other is a single ex all black.
Perception is the way we look at things. Processing is what we do with that perception. The ability to consciously and creatively direct our attention and thinking towards our surroundings, people and events in a creative way encourages mental playfulness and choices in how to experience the world Perception is possibly the most important element in creative thinking before technical matters. So some ways of broadening and changing perception are needed to stimulate creativity.
Perception is the way we look at things. Processing is what we do with that perception. The ability to consciously and creatively direct our attention and thinking towards our surroundings, people and events in a creative way encourages mental playfulness and choices in how to experience the world Perception is possibly the most important element in creative thinking except for technical matters. Information is organized in our brains into patterns and almost all errors of thinking are the result of flawed perception. In order to stimulate creativity so some ways of broadening perception and changing perception is needed.
The purpose of perception is to allow patterns to form in the mind and then to use them. The mind is very good at recognising whole patterns, abstracting or identifying hidden patterns. Pattern formation relies upon the way we choose to look at something, by classifying things and identifying points of difference we make certain predictions and judgments. These predictions and judgments are the essential building blocks upon which ideas are formed, therefore the richer these building blocks the richer the potential of the ideas.
We choose what to focus attention on interpreting or thinking about whatever is focused upon. There is far more happening in the environment than can be given attention at a given moment. Designers constantly select what they need to be aware of, the majority of the time this is done subconsciously and depends upon the demands on our attention. Take time to build awareness observe how the mind is working and notice what is being perceived and adopt some of these strategies:
- Briefly notice and classify the things that surround you
- Think of personally meaningful associations to those things
- Evaluate what you notice
- Formulate questions about items or events noticed
- Think about personal goals or tasks
These forms of awareness are limitless and will shift with a mood, situation, goal or the influences upon the way we think and perceive. Invariably the form of awareness is not conscious, therefore developing perceptual awareness will break our perceptual ruts.
The two basic perceptual modes involved in problem definition and solving; making the familiar strange and making the strange familiar. The natural tendency of a person when faced with a strange situation is to reduce it to categories, fitting it into an accepted pattern. This process is economic but leads to stereotyped thinking. Basic novelty demands a fresh viewpoint, a new way of looking at the problem. Most problems are not new. The challenge is to view the problem in a new way.
The link between perception and the creative process is closely related to habituation and saturation. Over-familiarisation with an idea, method, or object is a trap. The irony is the more adept you are at something, the less likely you are to appreciate a variation in interpretation, then generate new approaches. Therefore consciously placing yourself in another’s shoes or forming a team that includes others with differing skills will provide a greater degree of potential insight
Perception lies at the root of all creativity, learning how to see is the start of creative thinking. Edward De Bono advises a process of restructuring perceptions in many different ways. This involves trying alternative initial approaches and avoiding repetitious solution patterns. Then re-conceptualising the problem and identifying new perspectives. Once a perspective is adopted only rarely are new lines of thought opened, by consciously thinking of a completely unrelated subject it is possible to break these trains of thought.
“The eye sees only what the mind is prepared to comprehend.” Henri Bergson
Part of what we perceive comes through our senses to form the basis of how you perceive the world and your particular reality. Another part (and it may be the larger part) always comes out of our mind. The model illustrates this concept.
Stimulus – This can take many forms like light, sound, mechanical or chemical energy.
Sensory Receptors – the stimulus is processed by receptors and processed in the relevant part of the brain.
Cognitive processing – The brain links the signals turning the stimulus into a recognisable image, colour, sound, texture, or taste. This processing forms links with information stored in the brain as memories that are associated with the stimuli e.g. Shape – mammal, colour – tiger, sound – roar, danger – high etc. You are now in possession of the facts
Perceptual Stimuli – depends to a large extent on your knowledge, experience and imagination. This is very much an individual element as we all have varying beliefs, values, conditioning, biochemistry and emotive states in the here and now.
The Perceptual Process
We need to understand this because in order to become more perceptive we need to recognize which perceptual filters we view the world through.
Creative seeing, uses the imagination to re-center different viewpoints. Re-centering is characterised by the flexible ability to change from one imaginative filter to another. The re-centered perceiver may see the illustration as a proud beast, a dangerous killer, an endangered species, cute and fluffy, a potential rug, a national symbol or a mythical figure. Most people can all see imaginatively, not all see creatively. The key concept is flexibility. The person, who can use his imagination flexibly to re-center his viewpoint, sees creatively.
- Challenge desire to change.
- Information correct and board.
- Flexibility easy access to subconscious as well as conscious levels of thinking.
- Proficient using a variety of mental operations and moving freely from one to another.
The process of re-centering is fundamentally a process of unlearning. For most people breaking lazy, category hardened, fear-induced habits of seeing is an un-educational task of considerable magnitude. R. D Lang defines the depth of the problem. “Our capacity to see, hear, touch, taste and smell is so shrouded… that an intensive discipline of unlearning is necessary before one can begin to experience the world afresh, with innocence, truth and love”.
Clearly perceiving the problem or the information needed to solve the problem requires conscious awareness of perceptual barriers. Too often, we look at a problem expecting to see something, then respond to the first thing we think of. Common perceptual blocks are: Inability to identify the right problem, stereotyping, assumptions, inappropriate problem solving strategies.
Patterns give us the power to understand the world and consequently, they rule our thinking and become the rules according to which we live our lives. The mind is very good at forming patterns; we recognise sequences, cycles, shapes, processes, similarities and probabilities. A common problem is becoming locked into one particular approach, method or strategy without acknowledging that other approaches may be more appropriate
Creative thinking involves not only generating new ideas but escaping from obsolete ones as well. Periodically inspect your ideas and beliefs to see if they are habit bound and contributing to the effectiveness of your thinking. Firstly ask “Why did this concept, project, idea come to exist” Then “Do these reasons still exist”?
Assumptions about the problem should be studied as they will affect the perception you have of the problem. Often a label is attached to an object or problem and it becomes difficult to see beyond that label. Inadequate clues or information also obscures problems, if the problem is not correctly identified it will not be properly solved. When stating or analysing a problem there is a tendency to delimit the problem area too closely by imposing too many constraints, not looking at the problem from various viewpoints or considering the interests of those affected.
Exercises
Visit an interesting site museum, gallery craft\gift shop etc.
Look at the exhibits as you normally would.
If you are with a friend Talk with your partner as to what you tend to see and how you think of the exhibits as you normally experience the exhibits (see mostly sculptures, colours, materials, age, feelings, ownership)
Swap awareness plans so you see the exhibits from your partner’s perspective and view more of the exhibition.
Now pretend you are a team of famous artists whatever type you like you have worked together on internationally successful projects with great recognition. You have a commission to produce a magnificent public work of art with unlimited budget or location. You have only 30 minutes to create your concept. Use the objects around you to as sources of inspiration for planning your work of art (plan it out)
Experience the world of the topsy-turvy. Stand with your back to whatever you want to look at bend over and look between your legs at the scene that you want to contemplate. Try having a conversation with someone in this position. Look at the world through a distorted surface like a polished metal bowl. Reverse habitual behaviors like eating dinner at breakfast, wearing your shoes on opposite feet. Imagine your room with the colours and surfaces all reversed. Reverse functions imagine wearing dishes, eat from your hat, sleep in a lily pad, fish fly, cars walk, reverse roles be another object, a different person an animal or insect.
Colour grouping. Instead of grouping things as you would normally see them label them with different qualitative categories like colour, material, function. Instead of looking for furniture look for all things red ‘rediture’, look for ‘squareiture’ (all things angular), Look for ‘smoothiture’ ‘softiture’, ‘plasticiture’ etc. etc.
Visual similarities. Viewing an object ask yourself “what does it recall” for example. describe a fire as a 'glittering bouquet'. Make sure that your simile makes a substantial imaginative leap a flower should not be another flower or even another plant but perhaps a dinner plate, a explosion of lace, living perfume.
Imagine new uses for things that surround you. Find different uses for an object you would not normally consider. How can a pair of shoes be more functional, educational, could it be a toy, what sort? What about a musical instrument, a communication device, a hobby, what is the silliest idea or the most practical thing you can think of?
View everyday objects as if they were art exhibits. Ask what is interesting or beautiful about this object, what does it communicate, feelings, moods, associations with life or society, why was it chosen, why is it valued, what can be learned from its aesthetics, balance, harmony, materials, form, surprise, expressiveness, what skills, energy was used.
Noticing things you normally wouldn’t. How would things look if you took on the opposite gender role, a gay man or a transvestite? Take the role of another profession or occupation, Deliberately provoke yourself to closely observe ordinary things, find common materials in an environment, colours, human and animal behavior, sensory stimulation, patterns, forms, ideas, processes.
Imagining improvements in problem spots around you. What area or object bugs you how can you improve it so it looks, works, behaves the way you would like it to. How can it be improved for other people, tourists, disabled, children or dogs. How would you go about making these improvements what sort of expertise would be needed?
Thinking of things you can learn from whatever you encounter. Open you mind to the learning opportunities around you. How can your encounters with objects, situations, places, people or ideas be used to teach you something that is of use for your job, hobby, family or friends, how could this stimulate a conversation, what would someone else in a different circumstance gain from it?