The Lion, The Witch and The Imagination
My family and I were reading one of C.S. Lewis' books from the Narnia Trilogy when it hit me--what happened to my imagination? I mean, I know I had one at one time…I think. A quick glance across the landscape of design and you'll find a lot of creativity, but closer examination reveals the same patterns and movements used time and time again with little or no imagination. Most of us are pursuing a style (usually at the behest of a client that insists on "make it like ____") that we've seen somewhere else, but very few are coming up with truly creative ideas. Why is this? I have some suspicions.
I believe one of the culprits that holds our God given imaginations prisoner is our schooling. Let me give some an examples to illustrate the point. Is daydreaming in the classroom encouraged by teachers? No. Yet the very act of daydreaming is an exercise of the imagination and an opportunity to develop creatively. How about free time? Is there a lot of that during the school day for our children? No. They are herded around from room to room all day like rats in a maze with barely any time to do real thinking. Free time is a pre-requisite for creative thought to grow. It is now a well documented fact that our schools are based on the Prussian military model of learning. The early Prussian state wanted to produce soldiers for their army who would follow orders at all costs without thinking. So, they developed a compulsory schooling system to prepare their citizens. Educators in America like Dewey and Rockefeller saw the potential of this model to produce masses factories workers (and later corporate workers) who would work without real thinking…thinking that challenged the system. They adapted this model in the United States, and thus formed the basis for our modern education system. If you think I'm crazy, check out John Taylor Gatto's Underground History of American Education. My point is that schooling dumbs us down and blunts our imagination.
Another culprit is the client. Most clients, like your teachers in school, don't want you to be creative--no matter what they say in the initial briefing. They just want you to execute their ideas. Any creative deviations from what's already in their minds or the industry norm is unacceptable (does this sound like a school test?). After a few projects like this with a client, you quickly find the escape hatch. Clients have bosses and bosses have a master they are serving called profit. With a few exceptions, they're only interested in creativity and imagination when they think it will serve this bottom line. Recently, I interviewed for a design position at a well-known, established Christian organization. My question to the head of the communications department was "How much creativity is allowed of your designers?" Her response was "we have an established brand, and your expected to stay within it." Yikes. Needless to say I didn't pursue the position.
Let's imagine (come on, you can do it) a world where there was a lot of free time; where deviations from the "norm" were expected; and where designers weren't ultimately slaves to profit (either internally or externally). No, I'm not talking about becoming an artist! Seriously, could we then begin to produce creative ideas that touch the heart of something eternal. When I was reading the C.S. Lewis' book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I was struck by Lewis' level of creativity. How did he come up with this stuff? In the epilogue, Lewis' step-son mentioned that the world of Narnia was actually created in his imagination as a child, and grew over the years as he got older. Somehow Lewis' imagination (as did Einstien's) escaped the confines of schooling and matured to the point where he was able to write one of the great classics in literature.
Imagination is the spring of creativity. It is holy and God-given. We need to set it free from years of schooling and the constraints of others to truly touch the heart with design. How have you opened the wardrobe of imagination?
I believe one of the culprits that holds our God given imaginations prisoner is our schooling. Let me give some an examples to illustrate the point. Is daydreaming in the classroom encouraged by teachers? No. Yet the very act of daydreaming is an exercise of the imagination and an opportunity to develop creatively. How about free time? Is there a lot of that during the school day for our children? No. They are herded around from room to room all day like rats in a maze with barely any time to do real thinking. Free time is a pre-requisite for creative thought to grow. It is now a well documented fact that our schools are based on the Prussian military model of learning. The early Prussian state wanted to produce soldiers for their army who would follow orders at all costs without thinking. So, they developed a compulsory schooling system to prepare their citizens. Educators in America like Dewey and Rockefeller saw the potential of this model to produce masses factories workers (and later corporate workers) who would work without real thinking…thinking that challenged the system. They adapted this model in the United States, and thus formed the basis for our modern education system. If you think I'm crazy, check out John Taylor Gatto's Underground History of American Education. My point is that schooling dumbs us down and blunts our imagination.
Another culprit is the client. Most clients, like your teachers in school, don't want you to be creative--no matter what they say in the initial briefing. They just want you to execute their ideas. Any creative deviations from what's already in their minds or the industry norm is unacceptable (does this sound like a school test?). After a few projects like this with a client, you quickly find the escape hatch. Clients have bosses and bosses have a master they are serving called profit. With a few exceptions, they're only interested in creativity and imagination when they think it will serve this bottom line. Recently, I interviewed for a design position at a well-known, established Christian organization. My question to the head of the communications department was "How much creativity is allowed of your designers?" Her response was "we have an established brand, and your expected to stay within it." Yikes. Needless to say I didn't pursue the position.
Let's imagine (come on, you can do it) a world where there was a lot of free time; where deviations from the "norm" were expected; and where designers weren't ultimately slaves to profit (either internally or externally). No, I'm not talking about becoming an artist! Seriously, could we then begin to produce creative ideas that touch the heart of something eternal. When I was reading the C.S. Lewis' book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, I was struck by Lewis' level of creativity. How did he come up with this stuff? In the epilogue, Lewis' step-son mentioned that the world of Narnia was actually created in his imagination as a child, and grew over the years as he got older. Somehow Lewis' imagination (as did Einstien's) escaped the confines of schooling and matured to the point where he was able to write one of the great classics in literature.
Imagination is the spring of creativity. It is holy and God-given. We need to set it free from years of schooling and the constraints of others to truly touch the heart with design. How have you opened the wardrobe of imagination?
posted by fivemcclungs at 10:08 AM
3 Comments:
have you seen this nytimes article? it's on disney and the lion the witch and the wardrobe. there's a big issue on how close the movie is affiliated with it's spiritual roots.
GW,
Funny how NYT squirms on how to present a well-loved book series without the embedded Christian spirituality yet never seems to have a problem with witches (Harry Potter). The "offensiveness" of Gibson's "Passion" drove them nuts. LOL
Here's a facinating discussion on FastCompany of how lack of imagination among government leaders led to blindness in the 9/11 attack.
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/91/gospels.html
Post a Comment
<< Home