Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Creative Flow
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi identifies the following nine characteristics of creative flow:
1. There are clear goals every step of the way. Knowing what you are trying to achieve gives your actions a sense of purpose and meaning.
2. There is immediate feedback to your actions. Not only do you know what you are trying to achieve, you are also clear about how well you are doing it. This makes it easier to adjust for optimum performance. It also means that by definition flow only occurs when you are performing well.
3. There is a balance between challenges and skills. If the challenge is too difficult we get frustrated; if it is too easy, we get bored. Flow occurs when we reach an optimum balance between our abilities and the task in hand, keeping us alert, focused and effective.
4. Action and awareness are merged. We have all had experiences of being in one place physically, but with our minds elsewhere often out of boredom or frustration. In flow, we are completely focused on what we are doing in the moment.
5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness. When we are not distracted by worries or conflicting priorities, we are free to become fully absorbed in the task.
6. There is no worry of failure. A single-minded focus of attention means that we are not simultaneously judging our performance or worrying about things going wrong.
7. Self-consciousness disappears. When we are fully absorbed in the activity itself, we are not concerned with our self-image, or how we look to others. While flow lasts, we can even identify with something outside or larger than our sense of self such as the painting or writing we are engaged in, or the team we are playing in.
8. The sense of time becomes distorted. Several hours can fly by in what feels like a few minutes, or a few moments can seem to last for ages.
9. The activity becomes ‘autotelic’ – meaning it is an end in itself. Whenever most of the elements of flow are occurring, the activity becomes enjoyable and rewarding for its own sake. This is why so many artists and creators report that their greatest satisfaction comes through their work. As Noel Coward put it, Work is more fun than fun.
1. There are clear goals every step of the way. Knowing what you are trying to achieve gives your actions a sense of purpose and meaning.
2. There is immediate feedback to your actions. Not only do you know what you are trying to achieve, you are also clear about how well you are doing it. This makes it easier to adjust for optimum performance. It also means that by definition flow only occurs when you are performing well.
3. There is a balance between challenges and skills. If the challenge is too difficult we get frustrated; if it is too easy, we get bored. Flow occurs when we reach an optimum balance between our abilities and the task in hand, keeping us alert, focused and effective.
4. Action and awareness are merged. We have all had experiences of being in one place physically, but with our minds elsewhere often out of boredom or frustration. In flow, we are completely focused on what we are doing in the moment.
5. Distractions are excluded from consciousness. When we are not distracted by worries or conflicting priorities, we are free to become fully absorbed in the task.
6. There is no worry of failure. A single-minded focus of attention means that we are not simultaneously judging our performance or worrying about things going wrong.
7. Self-consciousness disappears. When we are fully absorbed in the activity itself, we are not concerned with our self-image, or how we look to others. While flow lasts, we can even identify with something outside or larger than our sense of self such as the painting or writing we are engaged in, or the team we are playing in.
8. The sense of time becomes distorted. Several hours can fly by in what feels like a few minutes, or a few moments can seem to last for ages.
9. The activity becomes ‘autotelic’ – meaning it is an end in itself. Whenever most of the elements of flow are occurring, the activity becomes enjoyable and rewarding for its own sake. This is why so many artists and creators report that their greatest satisfaction comes through their work. As Noel Coward put it, Work is more fun than fun.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Friday, January 21, 2011
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Worldbuilding and New Ways to Imagine
Play is the forgotten art of human creation, a process that acknowledges the creative chaos inherent in developing the logic of storytelling worlds.
The digital tools of our time form a unique creative laboratory: a toy box of ideas. How do we use these digital tools to create narrative play-spaces in which audience and creator can be immersed in collaborative experience, be it virtual or real, passive or interactive?
-5D
The digital tools of our time form a unique creative laboratory: a toy box of ideas. How do we use these digital tools to create narrative play-spaces in which audience and creator can be immersed in collaborative experience, be it virtual or real, passive or interactive?
-5D
Friday, January 14, 2011
T-Shaped Creativity
T-Shaped Creativity is a way of looking at a type of creative process situated at the intersection of Interactive Marketing+Experience Design. This visualization looks simplistic—but in fact is difficult to pull off. It entails getting the likes of Storytellers, Brand Strategists, and Experience Designers to coordinate activities. Take away just one "building block" of the "T"—and the Interactive Experience is incomplete.Read More @ Marketing Profs
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Ask Better Questions
Dunning-Kruger effect: people who don't know much tend not to recognize their ignorance and so fail to seek better information.
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. So said French philosopher -Voltaire
Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers. So said French philosopher -Voltaire
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Monday, December 6, 2010
Wednesday, November 24, 2010
Tuesday, November 23, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
What We Can Comprehend, We Can Create
What We Can Comprehend, We Can Create
The idea is simple,
Some people will look at or listen to a piece of art and think it is incredible, or amazing. They will appreciate the art but they will also seem to believe that they couldn’t create something just as good or even better.
I am arguing that they can. Here is how:
Since you have acknowledged in your mind that this piece of art is good. You have all the tools necessary in order to create it. No matter how complicated the piece of art may be. The tool you use to analyze a piece of art is the same tool you use to create a piece of art. Ability is simply the distance between start and finish. The standards for beauty are not external but internal, they are your own.
You have the capacity to create anything you can comprehend!
The idea is simple,
Some people will look at or listen to a piece of art and think it is incredible, or amazing. They will appreciate the art but they will also seem to believe that they couldn’t create something just as good or even better.
I am arguing that they can. Here is how:
Since you have acknowledged in your mind that this piece of art is good. You have all the tools necessary in order to create it. No matter how complicated the piece of art may be. The tool you use to analyze a piece of art is the same tool you use to create a piece of art. Ability is simply the distance between start and finish. The standards for beauty are not external but internal, they are your own.
You have the capacity to create anything you can comprehend!
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