Developing Creativity

[MUXU]

thanks panda for the list of books. i was just thinking where i can find classes or discussions on the subject of all these rules and theory.

so when we see a fashion designer having designs that looks very similar to another designer's work or a certain culture's traditional look, does this mean the designer havent spread the net of interest far enough and end up duplicating a design that is already been done subconciously?

 

[MUXU]

last year when i was in foundation in csm, we mostly learned how to develop ideas and documenting it in sketchbook. the documenting part was a torment for me, since i cant catch up with my own internal process system.
people tell me i come up with some pretty good ideas but i have no idea where they come from. these days however i feel rather empty and vague and nothing is coming to me, i cant even hold a pencil and draw a decent line without feeling strained. i feel like sumire.

anyways. sometimes i find plainly exploring ideas on paper with various deliberate inspiration rather limiting, this applies to fashion of course.
in the bauhaus post on the previous page by gius, you said the teachers ask the students to do these experiments and see whether a certain student is good at responding to lines, shape, value or texture and im pretty sure im quite a linear person. so naturally when it comes to designs for garment, i am fascinated with the seams on the garment, the way the seams direct the flow of the eyes around the body. and a certain cut that create a silhouette.
as you can tell, im not a very textile person. before when i think of designs and shapes, i always tend to think in singular texture and tend to be bias to just a singular material but now im starting to explore more into combining different and contrasting textures and the layering of certain materials

 

[Mathewthew]

My teacher always ask me 3 question for every every stuffs of the research.
Why do you chose this photo / stuff ? What's in the picture that interested you ?
How do you tranform or use the elements that you have chosen in your design ??
And when I told her, I love the colour of the picture, she'll keep asking "that's it??"
"How do u feel about the picture ??~ What's the feeling that the picture giving you ?? What's it related to your concept and how about the structure of the photos? What Materials are you goin' to use...BlahBlahBlah.."

I think that's important, because at first my head was totally blank when she keep asking me question, since I've never think that deeply. But I think she is doing the right thing to develope better from my inspiration and creativity...

 

[dior_couture1245]

last year when i was in foundation in csm, we mostly learned how to develop ideas and documenting it in sketchbook. the documenting part was a torment for me, since i cant catch up with my own internal process system.
people tell me i come up with some pretty good ideas but i have no idea where they come from. these days however i feel rather empty and vague and nothing is coming to me, i cant even hold a pencil and draw a decent line without feeling strained. i feel like sumire.

anyways. sometimes i find plainly exploring ideas on paper with various deliberate inspiration rather limiting, this applies to fashion of course.
in the bauhaus post on the previous page by gius, you said the teachers ask the students to do these experiments and see whether a certain student is good at responding to lines, shape, value or texture and im pretty sure im quite a linear person. so naturally when it comes to designs for garment, i am fascinated with the seams on the garment, the way the seams direct the flow of the eyes around the body. and a certain cut that create a silhouette.
as you can tell, im not a very textile person. before when i think of designs and shapes, i always tend to think in singular texture and tend to be bias to just a singular material but now im starting to explore more into combining different and contrasting textures and the layering of certain materials

Loved your post, MUXU, as I feel as though I'm in a similar situation right now.

I keep a sketchbook in which I try to do at least a page a day (and on one page I can fit about 4-5 fashion sketches). I used to (like 2 or so years ago) try to be like Galliano, McQueen and Gaultier and come up with some highfalutin' far out inspiration and I found that I was never able to come up with much. I soon realized that, despite how much I admired the work of those three designers, it just wasn't me. That was a revelation. I bought a new sketchbook (the one I currently am working on) and it put me on the path of becoming me, I still have a long way to go though, in terms of my design.

As far as coming up with my ideas for my designs, I usually don't think about what I'm going to design...I just let my pen do what it wants and I think I've come up with some interesting results by using this method. I always listen to music when I design (actually, I just pick one song and put it on repeat for the entirety of sketching a page)...in a way, that's become my inspiration. It puts me in a mood and because I'm preoccupied with the sketching, I care less about the connotations of the song and more about the mood or the feeling of the song.

Still, sometimes I find it difficult to rid all of the external influence from my work and concentrate on something that is entirely me. In a way, I guess, it is impossible to ignore all external influences on your work. For example, just the other day, I was so inspired by Miu Miu's FW 09 opening coats, that in my sketchbook I just started sketching these camel coats with clear button, worn with taffeta ribbon shoes and I was pretty pleased with the results and I could see that I was able to work what I was inspired by at Miu Miu into something that felt like me.

Anyway, like MUXU, I find it extremely difficult to put together inspiration books and work with lots of visual images. My inspiration book is in my head! Putting that all in a book is a waste of time! I come up with all my ideas in my head...I imagine the model walking down the catwalk and I sort of construct the clothes on her as she walks.

But, I am sort of feeling like I'm in a rut now...I think the best remedy would simply be changing up the format of my sketchbook and by starting to use color (since up until this point I've only been using fine point black pens..I, too, am I very linear person, MUXU)...it really is time for a change in my sketchbook now...I've done almost 100 pages so far, so that equals almost 500 designs!

Very interesting thread and I look forward to contributing more and hearing more about other's inspirations and ideas and methods of creating and designing! Extremely interesting!

 

[panda_escurrido]

Hi Muxu thanks for posting, i would love to study in csm one day . About your question i think theres three options, you saw the design and you dishonestly replicate it, you may see the design and you catalogue it in your subconcious mind (forget that you saw it) and replicate it or mmm well theres something called the collective unconscious and with this theory you can "explain" some bizarre similiraties in design around the globe But, i do not believe in this theory cause it hasnt been proven yet. I rather suspect about sociological issues, the globalization, the similar path -history- of clothing, the similir way people think etc. You cannot create something with nothing, you need to have basis you need to have information -visual or theorical- so the conclusion would be maybe nothing is original, but this is the way humanity evolve and in art and design we have the purpouse to make the human culture more rich. So when a designer copies something else (im not putting a value judgement in it, is not about it) you can check if the design fulfill the purpose that had.

As you said, we also need to develop a curious mind, im still afraid of using too much textures in one garmet or combine too much colours maybe without fear i would be a better designer but this only can be beaten with experience....

Mathew wrote something interesting, the design has been seen like something divine (that came from god) or some sort of inspirational-genial-good ideas pop up machine thing but its time to also use in this areas what we know about our brains, use the scientifical knowledge to desmystifi the creativity process. Your teacher tried to teach (sigh) you the critical way of think in order to develop your creativity. If you organize your concious mind, if you can put words in what you think you like its more easy to get ideas.

And Gius Im not too familiarized with typography but maybe you can check the Non designer Design book by Robin Williams.

 

[gius]

wow this thread suddenly became so full of life lol


does anyone feel guilty when they get inspired by a designer?
like all of what i've posted in the previous page
i do think it is possible to create designs using only the elements, principles and if fashion, ideas in construction and pattern making..
but i find using another source, such as a garment or painting or anything, adds that extra kick.. a kind of driving force.. it reminds you of what your goals are in a design.. gives more direction


and also,
it has been SO long since i've used a sketchbook
i think they become systematic and in the end it's more something you show to someone to describe your idea, a presentation
rather than something that actually helps you discover your ideas.
(but after all the work, i do use a binder to house all of the experiments i have done on separate different papers...)

 

[panda_escurrido]

I will not lie, i used other designers to get inspired when i was on first grade, and this was just because i didnt know other resources of inspiration. Suddenly i realized that i need more information to create new things i started to study more and more about creativity. My actuall sources of inspiration are the nature, the astronomy, physiscs, mathematics, the books (novel), technology and of course the music!!! but ive never ever used a piece of art as a source of inspi...

what kind of sources do you use for your inspiration???

 

[Crying Diamonds]

I'm starting my final major project for my course, which will have a show at the end and everything and it's very exciting. I'm getting my inspiration together and I just want to go on the internet and into the library and print out/photocopy hundreds of images that I could use to inspire me and then stick them all to a wall.
There's such a lack of space at college/home and there are other things I need to be doing apart from this, but I feel I need to be doing it now or the inspiration will begin to fade.

I have a constant urge to turn every idea I get into a straight-lined, cornered, sharp-edged design but at the same time I feel like that urge is restricting the variation in the designs, so no matter what inspiration the drawing comes from it always turns out to look like a pillar of cement.
I love the cement look but it doesn't convey my ideas.

When I look back at successful projects in the past (pre-cement era) it looks like my ideas and imagination are conveyed in the drawings, and that is what I want - I need to get back to that.

I want this final project and show to be successful and I want the piece displayed on the mannequin to be shockingly good.
But the exciting part comes from the development of the inspiration into ideas to sketches and then to the mannequin.

 

[MUXU]

dior_couture -
i think right now it's not exactly that i can't come up with designs but i tend to hate them though i was encouraged that they are not bad. i feel like something is missing.
but yea, haha i feel quite similar to you. i keep a mental inspiration book. not deliberate inspirations just a faint scent of what i saw and smell and heard and felt and turn that into this energy. it's so funny, cause when i close my eyes and think of a design, it is a photographic image on the runway.

the curious mind thing remind me of this quote karl said once about how designers should be curious about everything even if that something has nothing to do with anything. you never know when that will creep up into your concious mind and give you a spark.

i find almost everything inspirational but i realize it's hard to figure out just what type of garment certain inspirations work best with.

what do you guys think of designers using ethnic dressing as inspirations?
most of the time i dont like it. since i find a lot of the designs are wee-bit too obviously linked to a certain or various cultural dressing that i feel ripped off.
i dont dare to bluntly use another culture's traditional dressing as an inspiration for the sake that it looks pretty. but to the people of that culture might find it offensive because maybe that certain style has a religious or cultural meaning

 

[dior_couture1245]

does anyone feel guilty when they get inspired by a designer?
like all of what i've posted in the previous page
i do think it is possible to create designs using only the elements, principles and if fashion, ideas in construction and pattern making..
but i find using another source, such as a garment or painting or anything, adds that extra kick.. a kind of driving force.. it reminds you of what your goals are in a design.. gives more direction

I do feel really guilty when I get 'inspired' by what other designers do/ have done. It's actually really hard on me, because it makes me feel like I'm not creative or talented at all. I look at these designers...Miuccia Prada, Nicholas Ghesquiere, Alexander McQueen, Galliano, Theyskens, etc. and I just am so blown away with their work and their ideas and I always end up feeling inferior.

The thing is, though, I know I have talent when it comes to design (I really don't mean that in a conceited way...). So even when I do feel guilty and inferior to the designers I mentioned, I just have to tell myself that...these people are all at least twice my age, have experienced far more than I have, have studied pattern making, draping and tailoring and are skilled in those fields, they're exposed to cutting edge techniques and not only are they exposed to it, they have the freedom to make up their own cutting edge techniques. They're surrounded by creative people (which is always inspiring and motivating), and they also can design something and then see it realized in a relatively short amount of time...and I think that actually is very important in designing, for fashion especially. I can sketch all I want, but when I never see anything realized, it's a bit limiting. It's like, once you know what you can do in real life, you become more inspired and creative in your mind, and then the clothes that come of that are better, and so on and so forth.

MUXU, in response to your question about being inspired by ethnic dressing...I see no problem in it really. I'm a strong believer in everything and anything having potential to be inspiring...nothing should be off limits because, really, you don't have much control over what inspires you...it just happens. I just think what matters is how it's interpreted.

 

[MUXU]

i dont feel that guilty when i get inspired by designers. to be honest, lately im not satisfied with looking at designer collections. no collection makes me go 'yes! that is exactly what i feel im all about and it is the most fantastic collection, im so inspired!' i think im looking for something in their collections but it's not there. i admire them to a certain extent. what really impress me the most is looking at some of the designer garments in life, the techniques used and the material etc etc.
sometimes i find a certain technique or way of cutting used on a garment more profound and interesting than say this dress was inspired by my trip to an african zoo and than throw in some animal print on a dress and add a bit of fur here and there and maybe pin here and tuck there to make the dress a say...tiger shape or something. i find sometimes just purely exploring different ways to piece together different fabrics or way of cutting the fabric more...exclusive and fundamental to the design of the garment. not saying i dont like the styling part of the design, that is what make the design more flamboyant if flamboyant is your cup of tea, but too much of that and too little of fundamental exploration will just become gimicky. because when it comes down to actually buying a garment, the individual piece count, not the collection.

i asked the ethnic question because a couple seasons ago, matthew williamson had a couple dresses send down the runway that looks almost like a replica of Ethiopia's national dress and got harsh criticism for it. of course not only did he not consider or did enough extensive research into how him taking the design may affect another culture's religious/national values, but his dress is going to be selling at 10 times more than an authentic Ethiopian dress.
that's why i said i wouldn't bluntly use another culture as inspiration, or too obviously interperate it into my own design.
man, i babble too much, i think i should go make my okonomiyaki now

 

[gius]

for myself ^ i don't like it when the inspiration is obvious.. Sometimes it's nice in furniture and kitchenware design, it's amusing but maybe not fashion.. but you never know

i find i am more interested in ideas
and that my inspiration comes from anywhere
Usually getting the idea is the easiest for me. I often collect pictures I like and I will find they all have a similar theme.. The biggest thing for me is in interiors and architecture, random pictures, and then also old photos and designers' work, snippets of materials, but the point is they all have a similar theme and I can break down the picture and analyse it, get what I want from it.. So in the end the inspiration object/picture is probably not important anymore.

but the trick for me is what do I do with this design idea..
I can make a coat or shirt or whatever
The "form" is the hardest part for me.
i can have a design idea but i need MEANING.. i don't want to just say, decide to add a raglan sleeve with a cuff and then a flare and add it to ...an empire waist something (@_@);; i really need a reason to put the raglan sleeve with the flare, you know? and i don't want to do it because it's "pretty" XD

panda_e and dior_couture
it's totally true, design becomes easier when you have more information
after studying drafting and then next week i can sew a complete garment on my own.. it's become so much easier to play with ideas
pattern making and sewing knowledge just becomes another source.
so, when i do find a picture that inspires me, esp a work from another designer, that is only a starting point.. it's not enough to work from it.. i need to find for example colours and fabrics, but more importantly for me a reason to design

i don't know about everybody else in the thread
but i design mainly for myself (for now at least)
and the clothes i want have to fit certain rules i need..
i have to consider how a colour might not complement my skin tone and if the colour will change depending on the weather (white looks whiter in the sun for example)
and also if there is too much detail i feel just stuffy...

so i wonder if it can be easier if you design only for yourself because some of the "questions" are already answered. no, i can't wear baggy pants, can't wear red or dupioni, no i can't wear a raglan sleeve. lol and so on....

 

[gius]

-How Designers Think, The Design Process Demystified, Lawson
-Explaining creativity Oxford press R. Keith
-Brainstorming principles, Rossiter
-Scientific american, 16-1 how brilliance arises creativity
for fashion specifically would be:
-research and design simon seivewright
-studio et produits olivier gerval

by the way another thank you for these
i had been searching for these kinds of discussions for some time,
often i like to record designers' own ideas on my blog, ie. their choices for using colour, etc
but i never thought of books and articles about it...


the ones i have highlighted there^ you can find online !!
i spent the morning reading both
i like "how brilliance arises creativity"
this article, the link is here but if you find the download, you get other articles and a few nice pictures.
it is about what happens when you get brain damage, the left brain in bad shape,... the right brain thrives. creativity thrives uninhibited. it doesn't really give you a prescription to solving design problems though, just interesting to read



How designers think has quite a lot of text, theory
I might try to find the book version of it.


here are the table of contents

What is design?
-changing role of designer
-route maps of design process

Problems and solutions
-components of design problems
-measurement,criteria & judgement in design
-model of design problems
-problems, solutions, design process

Design thinking
-types,styles of thinking
-creative thinking
-guiding principles
-design strategies
-design tactics
-design traps
-designing with others
-design as conversation and perception
-towards a model of designing

 

[panda_escurrido]

Hi Gius, hope you liked the books. Its weird but i dont design for myself.. but today i went to Zandra Rhodes conference and she said something about it, - if i dont wear my own clothes who else will gonna believe in my work?- and its kind of thruth, so i`ll have to make things that i would wear and like more. At the end of the day i think thats the most important thing, if you like or not what you`ve created and how much do you love the fashion. Im impressed how fast you looked for the books, heres some more:

Serious CReativity Edward de Bono I kind of hate this guy cause hes a real douche who made money with the lateral thinking technichs but the book is usefull
101 activities for teaching creativity and problem solving its a little bit childish but if you use it for create your own cretivity methods is also usefull
Cross-Train Your Brain Stephen Eiffert

 

[gius]

so that's something interesting to see in female designers who design for men or male who design for female...
in my class i have to make women's clothes and i usually don't think about any person.. i just think of the shape and what i like. it's more for practice...


i really like de Bono's article, thank you
(for anyone interested, it is here http://www.debonogroup.com/serious_creativity.htm )
the method's/technique's straightforward and simple.. also kind of amusing! the different "colour hats" to represent different types of thinking. i totally understand now, i think i have been wearing the White Hat all this time and some Green

i was hoping to have learnt to finish a complete garment by this week's class but i will have to wait till next class (i only have to learn how to do the hem and set in the sleeve). i am going to use deBono's technique for design this weekend
i get so inspired just by doing
the act of working...
i get ideas by how things are stitched or faced, etc.

Everything that is absorbed and registered in your mind adds to the collection of ideas stored in the memory: a sort of library that you can consult whenever a problem arises. So, essentially the more you have seen, experienced and absorbed, the more points of reference you will have to help you decide which direction to take: your frame of reference expands.

by Herman Hertzberger
book: Lessons for Students of Architecture

from How Designers Think

 

[gius]

breaking down inspiration

I really like this book
It's called Architecture in detail: Elements

Like when I say I'm inspired by architecture it's not really what I see that I am inspired by, like looking at a the shape of a building or anything. It's more like this...

This section in the book is about DOORS

"What should I turn to, lighting upon days like these? Every door is barr'd with gold, and opens but to golden keys," wrote Alfred Lord Tennyson. ❚ As an architecture element, the door suggests entry and opportunity, but also solidity and protection. ❚ Today's architects are intent on exploring varied ideas on ingress and egress. ❚ When or where is that gateway, that moment of entry or exit? ❚ Can or should the dichotomy between outside be blurred, even erased? ❚ Robert Frost: "From the door I shall set forth for somewhere. I shall make the reckless choice."

 

[prehuman]

It's hard to draw a clear line between inspiration and imitation.

A lot of thought, research and planning goes into art. It's very easy to skip all that, to not think, and just copy something you like. This could be based out of laziness, maybe, but I think more often the artist doubts his or her own ability to create... or, furthermore, he doubts his or her own self.

I think if you're brave enough to put a piece of yourself into your art, whatever you build out of that inspiration is your own and therefore transcends imitation.

I truly believe that the mixing of ideas--not copying someone else's--drastically progresses our minds and our art. With each experience, each new bit of information learned, we take what we need from it to further our own ideas, opinions, and understanding of the world we live in. And what is art but an interpretation of the world we live in from countless angles?

 

[ilaughead]

Thanks for the link to de Bono's article!

Sadly I don't quite get the whole 'hats' thing, but I love the concept of random words. The example of the cigarette and the traffic light seemed particularly inventive. Recently I've actually been trying a similar approach, if a little formulaic. (And it really only works for fashion design.) I would put together a list of materials, concepts, eras, adjectives, etc. and then a list of articles of clothing. Next, I would connect a few items out of the first category and a piece of clothing and see how they could work together. (Does that make any sense?)

I don't know if it works for others, but for me, at least, it gives me ideas. Some good, some bad.

Also, since I've been a lurker on here for the past couple of weeks, here's some of my other impressions from this thread.

Reading is really a great tool for getting visual inspiration. While novels with copious amounts of imagery are the most useful, even reviews of the latest collections work. (While not the most original, the reviews thing can at least get some ideas going.) For example, the camel coats with clear buttons dior_couture was talking about earlier in the thread could be interpreted in a zillion different ways. Just reading something makes the reader envision the subject, and unless the text is specific, several ideas could be drawn out of it.

And on the inspired-by-designers problem, I cannot, cannot, cannot draw until a week or so after Paris fashion week. Otherwise, all of my designs end up looking a little to Balenciaga, or the styling is way too Prada. Once I was drawing soon after the new collections were shown, and when I went back to the sketch to put it away an hour after, I started picking up on all of these little details I had taken from each show. So, me being me, I got out my markers and made little arrows and circles showing exactly where that sleeve length came from, the heel of the shoe, etc.

 

[panda_escurrido]

I found and interesting article in Digg. http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/PSEUDOSC/WhyAntiInt.htm
cheers

 

[gius]

not really sure what the article was trying to say.. isn't tinkering a form of creativity? to even come up with ways to do variations of the same thing.

ilaughead the hats is for when you are designing.. you put on each hat. like in the beginning of a project you may put on the white hat to determine what your goals are. say if it is for clothing, where will it be worn, does it have to keep you warm, does it keep you cool, how do get inside the clothes, etc. and then after you move onto the next hat...

prehuman thanks for the earlier karma i agree that creating ideas is kind of like forming your own opinions and thoughts. art to me wouldn't necessarily be how i see the world but rather the kind of world i live in myself (or the world i want to live in)
gasolinerainbow posted this blog in another thread: thesnailandthecyclops.blogspot.com
i thought it was really amusing, she seems to live in her own little world and even her environment becomes a reflection of that, her fashion sense, etc. the old books and tapestry and lace fabrics adorning the walls... I had two classmates like this in my class. One wore green almost everyday and had these sort of foresty things growing out of her bag and scarf. It was made of felt.