Mar 20, 2009
*Created in collaboration with Jack Chung, Shelley Evenson, and Paul Pangaro.*
The creative process is not just iterative; it’s also recursive. It plays out “in the large” and “in the small”—in defining the broadest goals and concepts and refining the smallest details. It branches like a tree, and each choice has ramifications, which may not be known in advance. Recursion also suggests a procedure that “calls” or includes itself. Many engineers define the design process as a recursive function:
discover > define > design > develop > deploy
The creative process involves many conversations—about goals and actions to achieve them—conversations with co-creators and colleagues, conversations with oneself. The participants and their language, experience, and values affect the conversations.
See also our [How do you design?][1] collection of models.
[1]: http://www.dubberly.com/articles/how-do-you-design.html “How do you design?”
27 Comments
Michael Anton Dila
Mar 31, 2009
9:42 am
Yowza!
Josh of Cubicle Ninjas
Mar 31, 2009
7:30 pm
These are stunning. Thank you for the inspiration!
jimkastkeat
Apr 1, 2009
3:18 am
I recently drafted a similar process (collect ideas, sort helpful/unhelpful, group ideas, connect the dots, bring it to life).
This seems to say the same thing, only the layout is much more helpful than my quick note in my moleskine!
Thanks so much!
Graham Smith
Apr 1, 2009
6:50 am
I can’t fully see this on my iPhone but totally get the gist of it and can make out the overall structure.
Looks neat, will download PDF when I get home.
Graham
chris
Apr 11, 2009
5:34 pm
just come for a check up to see if there are an new ones, loved the innovation and behold, there is creativity. quite relevant to a graphic designer will have to remember march time a new one due.
very good, thanks. lovely circles to resound with design and the creative process in a loop. great stuff.
Rick Barron
May 26, 2009
1:28 pm
Your concepts maps have always been remarkable and informative. Well done on this one! Give my regards to Paul Pangaro.
Rick Barron
justin chitakatira
Jun 1, 2009
1:47 am
Very helpfuland inpirational.
aaron
Jun 4, 2009
7:11 am
Great job, thanks for the pdf. Going to try to put this up in the office.
Gordon Mattey
Jun 12, 2009
11:40 am
you should put this into prezi (prezi.com), it would work really well.
Carlos Guarda
Jun 24, 2009
8:36 pm
Wow!
Mike
Aug 11, 2009
1:38 pm
Great work! Are you guys OK with printing these posters for use in our offices?
jax
Aug 13, 2009
6:56 am
Love it…thanks!
Love the schematic and insights…
Qin
Oct 22, 2009
10:06 am
that was so impressive! and very inspiring as well, I was actually looking for a nice form to articulate a more distributted pattern of creative process, and Bang~ here I go 🙂
Kelli
Dec 28, 2009
3:16 pm
Hanging this up at my desk as we speak.
John Merritt
Feb 15, 2010
2:27 pm
Incredible Map!
xplorer
Mar 13, 2010
1:53 pm
Absolutely stunning! Love the design, love the concept, love the layout!
What tool did you use to draw them? Illustrator?
KORANTENG JUSTICE
Aug 15, 2010
11:27 am
your comments are well discussed. you are effective and innovative in your map
Zuleika Dobson
Apr 4, 2011
11:49 pm
I was all for the concept until I tried to read the text in the two right areas.
How am I supposed to read not only upside down but at an angle?
I would issue a terse “do it over!” if I had been in charge of this project.
To call this good design is a bad joke.
mike mcauley
Jul 25, 2011
3:22 pm
You talk about the creative process and the design process as if they are the same thing. Musicians, artists and designers may well use different processes.
Mike McAuley
gary
Dec 8, 2011
9:28 am
Liked the innovation map and came back to drink from your creativity well – thanks gary
Al
Oct 14, 2012
12:28 am
Cool idea, but it’s hard to read.
kibrom
Jan 6, 2013
11:47 pm
I love the concept
Shalin
Aug 31, 2014
9:59 pm
Creativity is not a process that can keep track of I think it comes from the birth. If somebody is trained to be creative, its just practice not creativity
xlysoft
Nov 6, 2014
8:44 am
Great job – a really nice visualization of the process.
SARA
Apr 25, 2015
2:07 am
I LOVE THE CONCEPT…
TANX
Shalin
Nov 2, 2018
3:01 am
We have created useful concept mapping diagrams for learning. You can find more concept mapping templates in the diagram community of Creately online diagramming and collaboration software. There are 100s of diagram templates and examples in the community to be used freely.
Peter Hall
Mar 4, 2022
9:33 am
I still use this diagram of the Creative Process for teaching design students in London. It’s really helpful to illustrate non-linear approaches. Thanks!