2.

1 - The Creative Process

The “Creative Process” was created with the objective of helping people create solutions for
problems, and it does so by identifying crucial elements in what really comprises creative
thought. We are able to link both familiar and unfamiliar thoughts together, thereby turning
themes into cohesive ideas that can actually stand to work in the real world

What is the Creative Process?

5 stages of the Creative Process

- Preparation
- Research
- Consume
- Immerse
- Gather
- Incubation
- Explore
- Experiment
- Synthesize
- Insight (Illumination)
- Eureka moment
- Evaluation
- Reflect
- Criticize
- Assess
- Elaboration (Implementation)
- Work

2.2 - Phase 1: Preparation

The only way to solve a problem is to first understand what the problem is. A creative
solution demands that you first listen to what is really needed.

In the Creative Process, the Preparation phase is all about immersing ourselves in the
problem, knowing more about what the customer truly needs, so that when we provide a
solution, it will solve the problem. This can be done through empathy.
2.3 - Empathy

What is empathy?
- The ability to deeply understand the feelings and experiences of other people,
particularly from within their frame of reference. Empathy is not just putting yourself in
someone else’s shoes, but the process of actually trying to understand what they
feel is in their shoes.

“Rarely can a response make something better? What makes something better is
connection” - Dr Brene Brown

Why do we need to be empathetic when innovating?

- The reason empathy has become more pivotal for innovators is that genuine
innovation does not come from your understanding of a situation, but instead
the actual situations of the people who need your innovation.
- As creative thinkers, we aim to make things better by addressing real needs. With the
requirement that real, actual needs must be addressed, then there first needs to be
an understanding of what the problem is from the perspective of one who
experiences it.

2.4 - Empathy Map: structuring empathy

What is an empathy map?

- An empathy map is a user experience tool that helps structure qualitative data about
our intended users so that we can come to a better understanding of who they are
and how they feel.
- “An empathy map is a collaborative visualization used to articulate what we
know about a particular type of user. It externalizes knowledge about users in
order to 1) create a shared understanding of user needs, and 2) aid in
decision making.” - Nielsen Norman Group

What is the importance of an empathy map?

- An empathy map is meant to be done at the beginning of any customer-centric
exercise
- It takes you through what happens in a customer’s mindset, and in doing so map out
how they view their need in their totality
 - This enables you to pinpoint specific experiences that the user goes through, and
thereby get a clearer understanding of what it feels like to be in your customer's
shoes

How do you construct an empathy map?

- An empathy map is a tool used to condense user research
- Gather data on who your user is and what they experience
- Surveys, Interviews, and other collection mechanisms observe the qualitative
traits and keep in mind the requirements of the empathy map

Steps to creating an empathy map

1. Start with the GOAL section, by defining who will be the subject of the Empathy Map
and a goal; something they need to do.
2. Cover Seeing, Saying, Doing, and Hearing. This process of focusing on observable
phenomena gives us a chance to imagine what their experience might be like, to give
us a sense of what it “feels like to be them”.
3. Once you have made the circuit of outside elements do you focus on what’s going on
inside their head. The large head in the centre is one of the most important aspects
of the map’s design. In fact, we used to call this exercise “The Big Head” when we
first started doing it because the whole idea was to imagine what it is like to be inside
someone else’s head

The total process is completed in three main steps, which illustrates the nature of an
empathy map. You would need to understand your persona’s objectives, then assess
their experiences in pursuit of said objective, then finally, what pushes them to do it
and pulls them away.

2.5 - Phase 2: Incubation

- Generating creative solutions
- This will help us avoid developing ineffective solutions and lay the proper groundwork
for understanding the needs to be addressed
- The objective of the creative thinker is to keep on testing different solutions
regardless of how wrong they might be
2.6 - Brainstorming
- Brainstorming is a common tool when it comes to generating solutions for a given
problem.
 - There’s a trick to levelling up your brainstorming game. As with every framework or
tool, there are guidelines and best practices on how to properly brainstorm
- This will help understand the purpose of brainstorming: to generate as many
ideas from as many people as quickly as possible
- The main objective is in the volume and variety of ideas, and not quality
Guidelines to fully utilize brainstorming:
1. Set ground rules
a. Typical guidelines include notions: there is no such thing as a bad idea; no
judgment or criticism is allowed; no distractions allowed
2. Pick a facilitator to direct the session
a. Someone who can keep everyone in check or ensure that people are
participating and following guidelines
3. Define the problem
a. Ensure that everyone on the team is aligned so that all of your ideas are
directed at solving the problem
4. Have everyone ready Post-its or other substitutes
5. Time the session
a. Give a distinct limit to the amount of time you can spend. Time isn’t the most
important ingredient to a perfect idea
6. Don’t shoot anything down!
a. Don’t filter any ideas (yours or anyone), regardless of how obvious the idea
maybe
7. Categorize all the ideas given
a. Find a common theme across the different ideas and see what the group’s
ideas have in common

2.7 - Morphological analysis

- “How can I morph different aspects of a product or service to create something
better?” The morphological analysis aims to produce new ways of seeing how
products and services are made or used
- Morphological analysis forces us to think of more concepts of the product/service by
dissecting it into attributes then reassembling it based on the attributes’
variations. This analysis is all about generating as many combinations of a certain
thing as possible

1. List the attributes of the product/service

2. Draw up a table using these attributes as column headings
 3. Write down as many variations of the attribute within these columns
4. Select one entry from each column
5. Put these entries together and form the product/service
6. As a guideline, even if the product doesn’t seem to work, make it work!

The objective of morphological analysis is to expose unlikely combinations that might not
work at first glance, but a bit of creative thinking and perseverance might help turn into a
creative invention.

In doing so, you create various versions that diverge from your original concept. Do note that
the objective is not to create the perfect product, but instead to come up with possibilities
that you might eventually shootdown

2.8 - Virtuous Procrastination

- Productivity is not the fastest route to creativity because it isn’t something that you
mine steadily towards. Instead, it’s something that you take intentional care in
fostering, and that could come by stepping back and letting your ideas develop on
their own
- Creative people have a way of procrastinating that enables them to generate better
ideas

2.9 - Phase 3: Insight

- Aha! Moment
3.0 - Mind Mapping
- A mind map is used to map out whatever ideas you may have in your mind
- Practice both sides of the brain: the left brain to organize thoughts and ideas,
and your right brain to creatively map them out
- The benefit of mind mapping is being able to see your ideas all together in however
way you choose to organize them
- You are able to synthesize your insights in a more connected way. Doing so
helps us see connections with the different elements, which can help us
develop insights into the central theme of the mind map
- The objective of a mind map is to synthesize your ideas into distinct themes

How do we create a mind map?

1. Think of a central theme or subject. Write or draw it on the centre of the page
 2. Think of sub-themes relating to your central theme. Draw branches from the central
theme to the sub-themes. Use keywords and/or images to note down your thoughts
3. Per sub-theme, come up with main points using keywords or images and draw
branches connecting them to the sub-theme

3.1 - TOOL: Six Thinking Hats

Creative thinking tool that is designed for us to broaden our perspectives by forcing us to
deepen a specific frame of mind
- Tend to facilitate the entire discussion
- See the positive side of things
- See the negative side of things
- Input based only on intuition and feelings (“I feel”)
- Argue based only on facts and figures
- Build on ideas by giving suggestions on how to make them better?

Each hat represents a mental state similar to the personas above and is represented by a
colour symbolic of that mental state. The Six Thinking Hats model identifies key roles in
any group discussion and assigns them strategically to facilitate a group discussion

What are the Six Thinking Hats?

1. Blue - manages the discussion and ensures there are next steps and action plans
that emerge from it
2. Yellow - focuses on why something will work and suggests its values and benefits
3. Black - anticipates
4. Red - responds to the situation based on the feelings, hunches, and instincts brought
about by the situation, either on a personal level or in consideration to what other
people may feel
5. White - argues purely based on logic and backs up input with data, facts, and figures
6. Green - suggests solutions, alternatives and ideas on how to make things work

How do we use six thinking hats?

The blue hat initiates the discussion and chooses in what sequence the other hats’ inputs
will be given.
3.2 - Phase 4: Evaluation
- This phase demands that you evaluate your ideas to help you make better decisions

3.3 - Decisions Matrix

- Acknowledges that there are different factors that are considered in decision making,
with some factors weighing more than others
- We break down the decision into the relevant factors, assign a weight to each, then
assess each option based on how they fare on the quantitative matrix
- The matrix enables us to guide subjective points into objective weights for
decision-making

Step on how to create a decision matrix:

1. List all options in the first row of the table
2. List all criteria in the first column of the table
3. Provide each criterion with a rating (1: least important to 5: most important or any)
4. Rate the options based on the criteria listed (0: poor to 5:excellent)
5. Multiply the ratings with the weight ratings
6. Add all of these per rows
7. The option garnering the highest total

Sample Decision Matrix

Buying a Phone Alternatives

Attribute Weight Apple Samsung OnePlus Huawei

 Price 30% 1 3 5 4

Quality 30% 5 3 4 2

Customer 10% 3 5 4 2
Service

App Ecosystem 20% 5 4 3 2

Design 10% 5 4 3 2

Final Weights 100% 3.6 3.5 4 2.6

3.4 - Consider before deciding

The decision matrix needs to be made with subjective assumptions at the start and through
such, might be causing us to make decisions completely wrong. It is important to recognize,
identify, and account for our personal biases in decision making so that can be more
critical and level-headed in assessing our decisions

Biases:
1. Circles of Competence
a. Each individual tends to have an area or areas in which they really, truly know
their stuff: their area of special competence
b. You don’t have to be an expert on every company or even many. You only
have to be able to evaluate companies within your circle of competence
c. In making decisions, it is imperative that we know what fields we are good at
and where the boundaries of our circles of competence are
i. Knowing when you are qualified to talk and being humble
enough to admit that you don’t know enough to form a valid
conclusion. When we play to our strengths and rely on others to
bolster our weaknesses then we can make smarter and more critical
decisions
2. Echo Chamber & Algorithms
a. Algorithms are designed to show us what we like
b. Echo Chamber: a room with sound-reflecting walls used for producing hollow
or echoing sound effects. We only see the reflection of things that are similar
to our beliefs. This leaves no room for us to see contradictions or other
perspectives
 c. How do we make sure we are receiving diversified and objective information
not based on our interests but based on the most relevant information of the
day?
i. Twitter: you have the option to see the latest/recent feed rather than
just a personalized Home feed. This makes your feed based on the
most up to date tweets that are more likely to be diverse than a
personalized one which is mainly catered to your interests
ii. Sometimes follow those who you disagree with and topics that you are
disinterested in. Even though it may not interest you, it helps with
diversifying your information streams
iii. Follow something new each day! - things you don’t know about
iv. Look for opposing news sources, especially on political topics.
Sensationalized headlines are common, so it's best to see things from
different perspectives
v. Actively engage with friends on topics that you believe in, to challenge
your worldview
3. Our Assumptions
a. Assumptions allow us to learn from past experiences. Assumptions help us
anticipate what to expect from encounters every day and respond
appropriately
b. However, assumptions throw our decision-making in the wrong direction.
Personal decisions might be thrown off. Assumptions may influence the
way we solve problems, relate to people, and view the world at large
c. How to keep assumptions in check?
i. Are you challenging the assumptions around you?
1. Assumptions the system makes about you:
a. A more bureaucratic mindset typically assumes that
their system is correct and may have a hard time
admitting errors. They assume that they can get away
with decisions as long as the boss approves it not
taking into consideration the possible detrimental
effects to customers or other stakeholders.
b. A creative person will always aim to challenge these
traditional systems in hopes of bringing about positive
change. Could the inconvenience the system is causing
you be made into a public message where you could
rally other opinions as well?
 2. Assumptions that you make about the system:
a. When we are against huge systems that have been
there forever, we have a tendency to assume that all of
them are as rigid and closed-minded. A creative person
will always struggle to find those outliers or groups
embedded in the system
3. Assumptions that you make about yourself:
a. We assume that we have no say or credibility if the
boss is around. In a larger context, we feel as if we are
powerless to make valuable changes in a system. A
creative person will challenge this assumption because
he/she knows that the best insight comes from a
collaborative discussion.
ii. Are my assumptions current?
1. “It’s easy to come up with new ideas. The hard part is
letting go of what worked for you two years ago, but will
soon be out-of-date.”
2. A creative person will always take the time off to see if his
assumptions are still current

3.5 - Phase 5: Elaboration