Counting Creativity: Understanding the Systemization of Design Practices

创造力通常被认为包括自发性、想象力和独立思考。虽然这些都是有价值的资产，但设计咨询公司以及广告和品牌等密切相关的行业通常以高度系统化的方式承担项目。使用审计、问责制、报告、测量、评价和日常使用工作公式是共同的特点。这些通常被认为是对创造力的限制。这个工作坊计划关注的是创造性工作的“另一面”。它的理论基础是，创造力不一定是一种内在的品质，在不同的情况下是不变的。它质疑系统化可能会限制创造力的假设，并寻找如何在这些情况下重新审视其价值和意义。在这方面出现了几个问题。系统化真的对创造力有限制作用吗？它真的能产生新的、有用的创造性思维形式吗？“创造性思维”是否比“创造力”更合适？这种现象是如何受到客户需求和调试过程相关问题的影响的？公共和商业部门的趋势如何影响这一点？这些问题如何让我们重新评估创造力的意义和价值？该主题汇集了一系列具有设计专长的学者。这些核心参与者所代表的行业包括产品设计、品牌、广告、可持续发展设计、电影、平面、城市、博物馆和休闲设计。他们的背景包括社会学、管理学、文化研究、设计实践和设计史。讲习班将受益于各种观点和方法。第一个工作坊将在伦敦的设计委员会举行。在这里，将有被邀请的设计专业人士为核心参与者做演讲。这些将讨论它们工作的各种程序。全天将创建一个逐部门的“地图”。此外，将邀请对创意产业感兴趣的社会学家提供他们的观点，对与主题相关的社会，经济和文化问题进行更广泛的背景概述。通过在设计委员会举办这个研讨会，活动将确保学术界和设计专业人士之间的思想交流。在第二次工作坊中，将有更多的时间来加深对不同设计部门所涉及的问题的理解。所有核心参与者将在主题中讨论他们的具体研究领域。在这里，上面提出的问题将被更深入地讨论，设计部门之间的共性和差异将被检查。最终，这个主题将有助于揭开设计中一些创造性过程的神秘面纱，并重新审视社会中创造力的价值和意义。通过关注设计，它避免了对“创意产业”的模糊概括，并考虑了该领域的日常创意实践，他们在委托方面的专业框架以及与社会更广泛趋势的系统化关系。核心参与者将为一本编辑好的书做出贡献。这个名为“计算创造力”的项目已经在计划中。这些讲习班将允许就该主题分享观点和产生新的想法。这个主题，以及由此产生的书，将提供一个具有挑战性和专业知识的方法来了解创造力的一个小方面。因此，它将分析当前活动的专业背景下的创造力，以及产生概念化其性质的新方法。

Creativity is often assumed to involve spontaneity, imagination and independent thinking. While these are valuable assets, design consultancies, and closely related professions such as advertising and branding, often undertake projects in highly systemized ways. The use of auditing, accountability systems, reporting, measurement, evaluation and routine use of working formulae are common features. These are often typified as being constraining on creativity. This workshop scheme is concerned with this "other side" of creative work. Its rationale is founded in a position that creativity is not necessarily an intrinsic quality that is unchanging in different circumstances. It questions the assumption that systemization might be constraining on creativity and looks for how its values and meanings might therefore be re-examined in these circumstances.Several questions arise within this area. Does systemization really have a constraining effect on creativity? Does it actually produce new, useful forms of creative thinking? Is "creative thinking" a more appropriate term than "creativity"? How is this phenomenon influenced by issues to do with the demands of clients and the commissioning processes? How do trends in public and commercial sectors influence this? How do these issues make us reappraise the meanings and values of creativity?The theme brings together a range of academics with specialisms in design. The sectors represented by these core-participants includes product design, branding, advertising, design for sustainability, film, graphic, urban, museums and leisure design. Their backgrounds are in sociology, management, cultural studies, design practice and design history. The workshops will benefit from a variety of perspectives and approaches.The first workshop will be held at the Design Council in London. Here, there will be presentations by invited design professionals known to the core participants. These will discuss various procedures by which they work. A sector-by-sector "map" of these will be created throughout the day. In addition, sociologists with interests in the creative industries will be invited to offer their perspectives, giving a wider contextual overview of social, economic and cultural issues relating to the theme. By holding this workshop at the Design Council, the event will ensure the transfer of ideas between academics and design professionals.In the second workshop, more time will be given to developing a deeper understanding of the issues involved in different design sectors. Contributions will be made by all core-participants in which they will discuss their specific areas of research within the theme. This is where the questions posed above will be discussed in greater depth and commonalities and differences between design sectors will be examined.Ultimately, this theme will help demystify some of the creative processes in design and re-examine the values and meanings of creativity in society. By focusing on design it avoids vague generalizations about the "creative industries" and considers the everyday creative practices of the field, their professional frameworks in terms of commissioning and the relationships of systemization to wider trends in society.The core-participants will be contributing to an edited book. Entitled "Counting Creativity", this is already in the planning. The workshops will allow for the sharing of perspectives and the generation of new ideas in relation to the topic. The theme, and the resulting book, will provide a challenging and expertly-informed approach to a little understood side of creativity. As such it will analyze current activities in professional contexts of creativity as well as generate new ways of conceptualising its nature.