As set designers, creativity is part of our every day activity. We are called upon to be creative and be creative on the spot. It’s OK, its part of the gig and we thrive on the intellectual exercise.

Here are a couple of other thoughts on creativity. In some ways, they sum up our days.

When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people.

Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem.

The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.

– Steve Jobs

And there is always a deadline.

You don’t get into the mood to create – it’s discipline.

-Twyla Tharp