The Innovators Studio with Phil McKinney

Creative thinking is a critical skill for personal, professional and business success. When you look at others who have been highly successful, such as Elon Musk, Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, the common skill they have is a well exercised skill of creative thinking. Creative thinking is the fuel to everything you do.

Creative Thinking

According to a TIME Magazine poll, 91% of people say that unleashing creativity is vital to our personal lives and 83% believe it’s important for our professional development. But an Adobe survey shows that only 25% of us think of ourselves as creative. That translates into 75% who do not believe they are creative.

I have a hard time in understanding the gap between knowing its important and yet claiming they don't have it. Why? While you and I are born creative, the process of going through life has convinced us that we are not creative. I believe that everyone is creative and that we just need to lean how to exercise this ability we already have. Just like any other muscle, the creative muscles needs to be exercised every day if you expect to create at peak performance.

Creative Economy

If a country is to benefit from the emerging creative economy, then the majority of its population needs to be operating at their creative potential. It doesn't matter if your an engineer, teacher, bus driver or at home parent, all can greatly benefit from creative thinking.

This weeks podcast is of a speech I gave at the Maker HUB event. In this speech, I share the three actions everyone can take to improve their creative thinking along with my daily exercises that I use to keep my creative muscle in shape.

Show Links:

*  Blog post on “Creative Thinking” that includes a transcript of the speech, the three actions to improve creative thinking and daily exercises to strengthen the creative muscle.

 

The role of designers and design thinking is impacting every product and service being created. The old days of a product being created and then tossed over the wall to a designer to "wrap it in plastic and make it look nice" are long gone. With the introduction of products like the iPhone and Tesla, customers […]

The role of designers and design thinking is impacting every product and service being created. The old days of a product being created and then tossed over the wall to a designer to “wrap it in plastic and make it look nice” are long gone. With the introduction of products like the iPhone and Tesla, customers and companies are raising the importance of design in the overall success of a new innovations. Has there been a revolution in innovating design?

This weeks guest, Seth Taylor, shares how he has seen the role of deign change of over time andhis passion in typography and logo design. Seth's firm, Stotion, is involved in a wide range of design projects where the clients are looking to transform how their customers experience their new idea.

Topics covered in today's show includes:

* What is contrast between the old role of design to the way organizations look at today?

* How does design communicate emotion?

* Why is typography so overlooked yet so important?

* How does design play a role in projects not related to 3D/physical product?

* What role does rapid prototyping play in helping you communicate to your customers the ideas?

* Is there still opportunity for innovating design?

* As a long time listener of the show, how have you seen it change?

* As a designer, what should we consider re-designing about the show?

About Seth Taylor:

Seth’s hair started turning gray at age 13; an early indication of his sage wisdom.

As the founder of Stotion, Seth has championed a powerful approach to design thinking and strategy that embraces business strategy, technological innovation, and behavioral psychology. His unique approach has proven valuable to billion dollar companies such as Google, Samsung and AmericanExpress. Seth’s work has garnered awards from AIGA and his custom fonts and imagery have been licensed by A&E Television Networks, Major League Baseball, and others. When he isn’t working, Seth likes to do even more design work —but he also enjoys collecting entomological treasures and exploring the world with his beloved family.

Show Links:

* Stotion

* Seth on LinkedIn

* Stotion Facebook Page

* Stotion on Twitter

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