Creative Acts for Curious People summary

Have you ever had to solve a problem without knowing what the outcome would be? Maybe you had to find an apartment in a new town or manage a team after your first promotion. Whatever the case, you probably felt a mix of excitement and nervousness.

When you’re not an expert on a given topic, the challenge can feel difficult. But actually, design is all about embracing improvisation.

Imagine you’re on a high-speed train. You look out the window and all you can see is a blur rushing by. But as the train slows down, you start to notice what’s outside. The trees in the distance, graffiti on the walls, people standing on a platform.

Similarly, modern life is so fast-paced and full of distractions that it’s easy to completely miss one’s surroundings. But observing the world around you is a key principle of design – and to get good at observing, you need to slow down.

Think of your last holiday somewhere new. What did you take home with you? Did you buy a souvenir or postcard? You probably took photos and certainly collected your own mental impressions.

But during your trip, you were too busy enjoying the sights to reflect on all of these mementos. They’re for after you get home, when you can digest everything that you missed in the moment.

Look at your smartphone for a second. How would you describe it: a product, an experience, or something else?

On one hand, it is a physically designed product that you can hold in your hand. But it also contains an invisible operating system that handles streams of data every day. That’s another layer. Yet another layer is how the smartphone impacts society, for example, how it’s led to the emergence of digital fatigue.

Have you ever seen a toddler intentionally knock over a bowl of food, over and over again? To you, it’s a mess. But to the toddler, it’s simply a learning experiment.

The first time she knocks it, she may be investigating the force of gravity. The second time, she may be conducting a psychological experiment to learn what the reaction of onlookers will be. The third time, it may be just to test her agency.

Have you ever been in a group setting, pitched an idea, and had someone shut it down immediately? Chances are, your self-confidence took a hit. When that happens, even if you come up with other ideas you want to share, you don’t want to feel stupid again, so you keep it to yourself.

In situations where people feel psychologically unsafe in this way, creativity suffers. On the flip side, when you’re designing as part of a team, amazing results can be achieved when everyone feels safe to use their voice.

So you’ve launched a creative project, brimming with excitement. But halfway through, something happens. Seemingly out of nowhere, you’re full of self-doubt. Meanwhile, your initial excitement starts to dim, and the work feels boring. You were so committed to this project but suddenly, you’re not sure if you can carry on.

Creativity can be a joyful experience, but with the highs come the lows. As it happens, it’s inevitable that one part of your creative process will feel terrible – this is what the author calls “productive struggle.”