{"id":1332,"date":"2018-08-02T13:23:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-02T13:23:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/?p=1332"},"modified":"2018-08-02T13:36:17","modified_gmt":"2018-08-02T13:36:17","slug":"where-do-creative-ideas-come-from","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/where-do-creative-ideas-come-from\/","title":{"rendered":"Where do creative ideas come from?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u2018All designers probably say the same thing, that inspiration is everywhere and in everything. We study the work of great mathematician and designer, Buckminster Fuller and others like him \u2013 it leads to new ideas.\u2019 So says lighting designer Ian Cameron.
\nhttps:\/\/camerondesignhouse.com\/collections\/collection<\/a>
\nThe source of ideas can be fairly general. For example, the Inspiration for the architect Michael Graves\u2019s range of Alessi homewares was the components of ships \u2013 indentations on the teapot, sugar bowl and spoon are like ship\u2019s rivets; the parts of Alessi\u2019s famous bird-whistle kettle are coloured blue for cold (the insulated handle) and red for hot (the bird whistle); a large wing nut-shaped handle is the winder of the clockwork kitchen timer; and so on.
\nhttps:\/\/www.michaelgraves.com\/portfolio\/alessi-9093kettle\/<\/a>
\nOr the inspiration can be more specific. For example, architects David Marks and Julia Barfield, designers of the London Eye, had previously won an engineering competition in 1989 to design a Bridge of the Future. Their proposal was for a single span across the Grand Canyon, designed to be constructed from one side only, based on the structural principle of a dinosaur spine. The design was inspired by seeing dinosaur skeletons on the couple\u2019s visit to the Natural History Museum in London.
\nhttp:\/\/www.marksbarfield.com\/projects\/bridge-of-the-future\/<\/a>
\nAlmost all highly creative people say that they have experience or knowledge of, or are interested in, many different things and it\u2019s often the combination of ideas, technologies, etc. from the different fields that provide the new ideas. For example, eco-architect and interior designer Oliver Heath says \u2018we do a lot of research into images, looking at what\u2019s going on around us, taking inspiration from what\u2019s going on in the world, reading architects magazines and homes journals, searching on the internet. I go to exhibitions. I go to markets quite a lot where I see a lot of trends coming back, but seeing things coming back but in a different way, or in a different way of putting things together. I\u2019m always looking out for things, or different ways that things go together.
\nhttps:\/\/www.oliverheath.com\/projects\/<\/a>
\nAn excellent (non-technical) example of the various sources of ideas comes from those that inspired the Beatles to create the songs and music on their pioneering album, Sgt. Pepper\u2019s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Members of the band were interested in a very wide range of musical styles, techniques and ideas from Stockhausen and John Cage to J.S. Bach and these sources led to specific compositions on the album, such as George Harrison\u2019s classical Indian-music influenced \u2018Within You and Without You\u2019.
\nThomas Edison\u2019s old adage that \u2018Genius is one percent inspiration, ninety-nine percent perspiration\u2019 also holds true. Almost every highly creative innovation, which goes beyond an initial idea or inspiration, involves long periods of hard work, changes in direction and often failure and frustration. Modelling and experimentation, usually working with other people, are crucial elements in translating ideas into novel and worthwhile innovations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018All designers probably say the same thing, that inspiration is everywhere and in everything. We study the work of great mathematician and designer, Buckminster Fuller and others like him \u2013 it leads to new ideas.\u2019 So says lighting designer Ian Cameron. https:\/\/camerondesignhouse.com\/collections\/collection The source of ideas can be fairly general. For example, the Inspiration for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":1338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-design-comment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1332"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1337,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1332\/revisions\/1337"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.open.ac.uk\/blogs\/design\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}