The 5 Components of Creativity

5-components-creativity

Creativity, as a concept, is ambiguous and subjective. What you find beautiful or breathtaking, I might find confusing or mundane.

Which one of us is right? It doesn’t  matter, really. But, if you are looking for some sort of criteria to fit creativity within, these are 5 good questions to ask.

  • Does the piece perceive or evaluate new relationships between old things?
  • Does it conjure up an idea or something that does not currently exist?
  • Does it invoke some sort of emotion, positive or negative?
  • Has something actually been created or produced?
  • Did the product or creation contain a healthy dose of risk taking?

Let’s put a piece of art to the test.

798_1deserted_5

This image was shot by Chase Jarvis, a very accomplished commercial photographer and creative artist.

1. Does the piece perceive or evaluate new relationships between old things? Yes. It appears to me, that the subject in focus is back flipping off a car while a female actually looks the opposite direction. This is establishing a powerful relationship.

2. Does it conjure up an idea or something that does not currently exist? I’ve never seen anything like it.

3. Does it invoke emotion, positive or negative? Yes. It makes me think, feel, and wonder. Why is she looking the other way? Is he showing off, or does he do this every day? Is he going to land on his feet?

4. Has something actually been created or produced? A pretty cool photograph, so yes.

5. Did the product or creation involve a healthy dose of risk taking? Um. Yeah. See backflip. I would also contend there is risk in having the female looking the opposite way. It tells a completely different story if she’s looking at him–probably a safer story.

Now, the question is, do Chase Jarvis and other artists always put their work through this test, or something similar? The answer… kind of. For many creatives, much of this happens naturally. It’s a byproduct of exploring your dreams, letting out your emotions, and being vulnerable. This test becomes useful if you start to feel stuck. Or if the work you are creating isn’t fulfilling you or eliciting a reaction.

WHAT IS CREATIVITY?

Simple math would tell you that if your creation scores a 4/5 on the core components test,  it would still be 80% effective. But, this is why math and creativity have a very precarious relationship. There’s a good chance  something that’s a 4/5 could be glanced over without a second thought, whereas a 5/5 will make people stop in their tracks.

Look at it this way. If you fail to  address question #4, you physically don’t have anything, so really you’re now 0% effective. If you fail to address question #5, your piece may be interesting, but not worth a second look. See what I’m getting at? The 5 components together can make for profound work, but skip one of them and you may want to start your process from step one.

Creativity is a byproduct of exploring your dreams, letting out your emotions, and being vulnerable.

Give it a try next time you’re working on something. Don’t be rigid and allow the thinking brain to dictate the direction your work takes, but keep them in mind and be sure to ask these questions as you work through your creative process.

Note: If you have any luck or personal examples where this worked for you, I would love to hear about it in the comments below.

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