Situational Creativity

I’ve been sick for the past few weeks and struggling to stay creative amidst the coughing and wheezing. When you’re sick, it’s tough to just get by, much less do anything “extra” like “being creative”. All that energy to take pictures, sketch, write, and “notice things”…it just seemed like too much.

But everything flipped around when I looked at my sickness as an opportunity to observe a new experience. All of a sudden everything to do with being sick was interesting–the pills, the tissues, shopping, eating, sleeping, and more. It was a fantastic opportunity to do experiential research on “being sick”.

There are always a bunch of ideas floating around in the design community about what tools and environments you need in order to be the most creative. Whiteboards, post-it notes, video cameras, “whack-packs” and other products have had their days in the sun as “the essential creativity tools”, and they really can help. But the biggest boon for creativity is always observing and viewing every situation as a creative outlet.

Scott Adams [said it well](http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2006/11/nearly_funny_th.html):

> As a professional humorist, I read the news differently than you do. I’m mining it like the old guy on the beach with a metal detector. You see miles of sand and sea shells and used condoms, but I see a potential windfall of 35 cents in coins plus half an earring. That’s why my life has more meaning than yours. But my point is not to brag. I’m just saying.

So as I’m trying to be more creative in the new year, I’m quickly realizing that it can’t happen just in my idealized creative environment. It’s got to happen everywhere, at all times, in every mood, with any company, for any cause. The tools and methods to make this happen need to be very general, and universally available. Any wonder I’ve started with my [cameraphone](http://flickr.com/photos/bobman/tags/noticed), a [sketchpad](http://flickr.com/photos/bobman/tags/drawing), and writing [notes](http://ryskamp.org/brain/writing)?