We have just had Design genius published by Bloomsbury Press and it has been translated into a Spanish and Chinese edition. The 352 page book explores various aspects of the creative environment through a series of interviews and conversations.

There is a myth that creativity is purely the result of inspiration, that creative ideas come to designers and other creative thinkers out of the blue. This book seeks to argue that this is not the case, that creative thinking within design is a pragmatic process with certain steps, stages and tools that are used throughout the design process to generate and explore ideas, and develop them into creative and inspirational work.

We are not claiming that inspiration does not exist; it does, but inspiration is a tool that needs to be facilitated and supported by others as part of an overall design process, rather than being the only element that produces results.

Through a series of interviews with design professionals and creative thinkers, we look at various tools that designers use to facilitate the creative process and to unlock the imagination. The discipline of design incorporates systems and processes that provide a framework for solving design problems, and we will bring them together to provide a blueprint for how designers can learn to think creatively.

In showing the variety of creative-thinking tools and methods used in the design process, we will examine a wide range of works from various sectors of design, including packaging, graphic design, signage and advertising, to unlock the thought processes behind them. In doing so, we will see that design is a pragmatic and dynamic process, as well as a creative process. This volume brings together creative thinking theories and tools, both visual and written, and demonstrates how they can facilitate imaginative design, discussing where these design tools originated and to what extent they can be used in contemporary design.

Design is not a talent that a person is born with; it can be learnt and improved through experience. Design is something that you do, and like any activity, one that you need to practice in order to improve and develop.

A key element of developing a creative mind is exposing yourself to new ways of thinking and new stimuli.

Contributors:

Ken Garland
Erik Kessels of KesselsKramer
Emma Thomas of A Practice For Everyday Life
Miha Brodaric of Multipraktik
Morag Myerscough
Miha Artnak of ZEK
Tanner Christensen
Lindsay J. Haynes
Joshua Olsthoorn of Mousegraphics
Michael Lebowitz of Big Spaceship
Perniclas Below
John Maeda
Simon Hutton of To The Point
Brett Phillips of 3-Deep
Bryan Edmondson of SEA
Ann Willoughby
Gemma Ballinger of Studio Ouput
Nacho Lavernia of Lavernia & Cienfuegos
Fabio Ongarato
Boy Bastiaens
April Greiman
Alexander Singh
BrianWebb of Webb & Webb
Vesna Pesic
Tilen Sepic
Marion Gotti
Kevin Meredith
James Kape
Krystal Schultheiss
Malika Favre
Jim Sutherland of hat-trick design
Hin
Wout de Vringer
Phil Morrison of Vast
Crispin Finn
Jean Jullien
Anthony Burrill
Brian Rea
Gabor Palotai
John P. Dessereau
Alan Dye of NB Studio
Andreas Kittel of Happy F&B
Mark Leeds of xyandz
Rachael Ashe
Chris Bigg
Pacifica
Azusa Murakami and Alexander Grove of Studio Swine
Enrica Corzani of Thomas Manss & Company
Bob Aufuldish
Daniel Meyers and Traci Sym of Second Story
Vince Frost
João Nunes of Atelier Nunes e Pã
Sophie Thomas and Alexie Sommer of Thomas Matthews
Richard Poulin of Poulin + Morris
Robbie Conal
David Kladnik of Kitsch Nitsch
James Brown
Iralo Bacci and Luciano Sanros of Estudio Triciclo
Rob Duncan of Mucho
Nicholas Felton of Feltron
Jeff Desjardins and Nick Routley of Visual Capita
Matt Adams of Blast Theory
Utku Can
Dr. Ian Bogost
Nick Jones of McKinney
Jonathan Harris
Michael Salmond
Alex Poulson of Appshaker
Julian Oliver