Remember when your manager asked you to come up with a creative solution for an issue you had been struggling with? She judges an innovation as the only solution. But what is it she actually wanted? Creativity? Innovation? Both? What’s the difference anyway?
As a society we have become obsessed with these two terms, however vague they tend to remain. Clear definitions are scarce and never concise, implying we can but share our own humble perception.
Creativity as a capacity on its own is the pure act of putting something in the world that didn’t exist before. It’s not a coincidence that the outcome of creation in our industry is named a production. Creativity also means to look at things in a different light, from an unexpected angle, which may lead to imaginative problem solving and innovative trains of thought. Creativity thrives were imagination lives, and welcomes the unexpected, the divergence phase where research, free association and discovery is key.
Innovation is all about applying that creativity with a converging focus on change. That’s why studies like design and advertising are considered “applied visual arts”. Creativity is here used to solve a communication or design problem: share a message, convince an audience, make an easier packaging, improve ux … Creative ideas are only innovative when they carry a value that is new and different, something that was not previously perceived. This makes innovation measurable against the pre-existing situation.
Desire and realization
Creativity becomes tangible in the innovation: they are a power couple. And they have a lot in common. A desire, a dream, a purpose. The beauty about this is that none of the two terms are dependent on wealth, status, gender, age or any other characteristic, which means they can come from all places in society.
Examples? Take David Hockney. The English artist already switched to making artwork on his iPad in 2009. Not because he was looking to innovate but because he wanted to draw in the dark and as a creative person he was open to try new techniques. It was a creative desire that made him an art world innovation.
Another good example of how creativity drives innovation is the renowned Michelin-star chef, Ferran Adria, who kept on looking for new flavours and different taste experiences. By the use of science, he realized his creative culinary fantasy and gave cuisine a new, unique edge. His kitchen resembles a science lab where experiment is always a step in the process to excellence.
Tony Naudts-Ducène & An Rietjens
Creative Leaders of Serviceplan House of Communication Brussels
With the help of Koen Coonen, Copywriter
