Creativity in the Workplace

A couple of weeks ago I went to Baltimore with Dr. Greenberg and my fellow classmates to see a focus group facility. Every room/building had a different theme such as the "Hairspray Room" in the New York City building. Although each room had a different theme, the rooms where the focus groups took place were neutral in order to not distract the participants. The different themes were used in order to make the participants waiting for the focus group to begin feel comfortable and at home. If the participants are more comfortable and relaxed then their answers will most likely be better and more truthful. The owner of the building uses his theme rooms as a marketing strategy in order to help differentiate his service all of the other focus group businesses.

SCAD

     At SCAD today I saw Sarah Nanovic's poster on "Attraction Primes Do Not Cause Redness Perceptions." Her research studied if attraction concept primes would have the same effect as redness perceptions. The hypothesis was sexual attraction primes would cause redness perceptions in the participants regardless of the color presented. Participants completed word categorizations that were paired with color perceptions. Participants were asked if the ambiguous color after the word was red or blue. The results showed that priming did not affect redness perception. Sarah's hypothesis was not supported. The results did show that participants were more likely to guess red when the color was actually red. Red was also perceived more when participants were primed with attraction concepts. One suggestion for future research would be use a similar study with the color purple.

Debate: Mental Illness and Creativity

     The debate the other day in class raised some interesting points. The debaters used good examples of well-known people to prove their point that creativity was or was not related to mental illness. Vincent Van Gough was a famous artist who suffered from BiPolar Disorder and ended up taking his own life. Edgar Allan Poe was also thought to have suffered from BiPolar Disorder. Sometimes a mental disorder can allow a person to think outside of the box and come up with something great. Michelangelo created one of the most famous pieces of artwork and was thought to have suffered from a mental disorder. Picasso allowed his depression to dictate his art work. For some artists their mental disorder gave them inspiration and allowed them to create beautiful works of art. These people did not think of their mental disorder as a disability.

Creative Environments

     In November I went to the Advertising Women of New York (AWNY) Conference in New York City with Dr. Greenberg and some my fellow classmates. During the conference we visited Rocketfuel, a media buying company, and received a tour of the office. The office was brightly colored, had free beverages offered at all times and even offered the employees lunch four days a week. This office seemed like an environment that promoted creativity. The employees at the office wore casual but professional clothes.
     I think an office's environment can greatly impact a person's creativity. If a person works in a barren office then they most likely will not be as creative as someone who works in a office with bright colors and artwork. I want to work in an office that is going to inspire me to be creative.

Expert Panel

     The other day in class Dr. Greenberg talked about creativity in the world of advertising and marketing. I have taken four classes with Dr. Greenberg and his final projects always require us to think creatively. For advertising, my final project is to pitch a product that is not targeted or used by you to your "boss." To do this successfully I need to understand and think of a creative way to reach my target audience and find the key elements that will turn a person onto my product. For Principals of Marketing the final required us to create a new product that was not on the market yet. My partner and I created a NUT-tritious banana, a frozen banana coated in Nutella and covered in granola. While these projects can be stressful they are a fun and creative way to do a final and incorporate all the knowledge we have learned throughout the semester into a product or pitch.
 

Debate: Is Divergent Thinking the Best Way to Measure Creativity?

     Before the debate in class I thought that divergent thinking tasks were a pretty good way of measuring creativity but now I think divergent thinking tasks should be used in addition with other tasks. DT tests cannot measure every aspect of creativity so if it is supplemented with another test it can allow for people to show different kinds of creative thinking.  However, tests such as the Creative Achievement Questionnaire and the Runco Ideational Behavior Scale score the individual's abilities to create ideas. In class we discussed how this could be good but if a person is using their art skills as a source of income it most likely will have to be approved by an expert. I think the motivation level a person has to create a certain type of art work is very important. Personally I know the more motivated I am the more determined I am to complete a project with my best effort. I thought the TTCT test was a good example of how DT tests have been normed and how they can be applied to people of all ages and ethnic groups. However, because this test is timed it may limit some people's creativity. Some people are more creative when there is no time restraint because they do not feel pressured.
     Overall, I think both teams did a great job with the debate!

Creativity and Advertising

     In class today we discussed the Problem Solving Process used in creativity: preparation, incubation, illumination/insight, and verification/evaluation. While we were going over the process I thought about the steps of creativity I am learning in my Advertising class: immersion, digestion, incubation, illumination, and verification. These steps are used for the creative parts of advertising such as creating a TV commercial or radio advertisement. In advertising creativity of a product can increase a person's likelihood of buying the product. In order for a person to consider a product "creative" it needs to have an interesting packaging, history or result a person can get from using the product. But everyone considers different things to be creative which can be difficult when trying to market the product. Creating an advertisement sometimes requires trying lots of different ideas while other times the ideas just come naturally.
     I think the incubation period can be helpful when a person has time to step away from their work and come back later with a clear mind. I think this is an important step in the advertising and creative process. Sometimes working on an ad all day can cause a person to have tunnel vision which can limit their creativity. I think it is important to complete projects with enough time in order to allow for incubation.