street art

This pedestrian crossing sign has an added design from a street artist. I believe that this piece of street art is creative in that it is new, different, and relevant. The person dressed in Egyptian attire is relevant because the shape behind the individual is shaped like a pyramid which the Egyptians are famous for. Also, it shows a willingness to take risks on the part of the artist (street art is illegal) and a sensitivity to aesthetic characteristics. All of these characteristics are consistent with creativity.

social creativity

Creativity can be a useful tool in navigating different social situations. I was on a mission to change some of residence life's policies and talked to two different staff members about it. Residence Life has a policy in which all students, except the freshman, are allowed to move rooms anytime during the semester and can even move the same day they talk to residence life about switching rooms. An individual with a double room does not have the right to tell Residence Life that they do not want a specific person to have the other half of their room. My goal was to have Residence Life change the policy to say that they will make a judgement call on not having someone move into the room if they deem the situation extreme enough to warrant this. The first one was direct with me and explicitly stated that the policy was not going to change because it was effective in 99% of cases and has only had a small handful of people ever come in and immediately complain that they cannot live with the specific person who has moved in with them. Being told directly that nothing was going to change did not sit well with me and I kept trying to argue my case further to the point that I was repeating myself and she eventually told me that she was not going to continue having that argument with me and basically kicked me out of her office. Next, I made an appointment with the person a step higher on the ladder in Residence Life to talk about the same issue. When I talked to him he let me completely get out my entire argument and said that I made some good points and that although it was too late to change anything for this semester it would be considered for the policies for next year. Furthermore, he complimented me on taking the initiative to help other students even though I am a senior and that the issue would no longer affect me. I believe that the strategy of the second higher up staff member to be a lot more creative. He made me feel listened to by hearing out everything I had to say before his input. Next, he seemed to realise that I was looking for my suggestion for change to at least be under consideration before I would leave the meeting. I think he was trying to tell me what I wanted to hear without go so far as to make a promise he could not keep. He very strategically toed that line with me. In the end I did not end up staying with him very long or really arguing with him. This was creative in that it was useful for him to reach his goal of getting me out without so much of a fuss by having me feel heard and respected.

collage

During class when we saw the Power of 10 experiment in which ten collage artists received all the same materials and were asked to make a collage. In the end the experimenter looked at how different each collage was although the same materials were used. It was amazing how you wouldn't even notice that the 10 collages were made from the same materials. This got me wondering if every collage is creative because it is new and different from every other existing collage. Or does it require something more such as aesthetic characteristics to make it a creative collage?

coffee maker

While I was setting my coffee maker to go off when in the morning by using the delay brew button, it occured to me how creative this invention is. It is new in that previously people did not have the option to delay brew and useful in that it can automatically go off when it is convient for you. I like to use it in the morning sometimes to wake me up. It works great because the smell of the coffee gets me out of bed. The fact that this invention is new, differernt, useful, and relevant makes the delay brew button a creative product.