Creative Problem Solving Methods Interviews
Industry: Associate Branded Content Editor at Who What Wear (4 years of experience in the digital media industry)
As an editor, it’s AM’s job to keep an eye out for the latest fashion and media trends. Almost all of her writing is done for specific fashion clients so she usually has to take their direction and transform that in a way that meets their criteria and echoes WWW voice.
It’s so important for her to know what's popular to the WWW audience so she often gets inspired by her very own readers. “Instagram is such a huge hub for inspiration because there is such a huge variety of people, shoppers, and readers all in one app. My coworkers also inspire my writing and point of view so much. They’re seasoned writers with such compelling approaches to storytelling so I always look to their pieces as sources of inspiration.”
2) What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?
This is typically a seasonal issue that she faces as an editor, but oftentimes clients will ask for stories surrounding the same exact theme which puts her in a creative rut. For example, a major theme this fall has been denim and she has had to write eight stories about denim while making them all sound completely different to avoid contradiction within her writing or competition on the Who What Wear website. When this happens, she turns to the branded content team for advice because a second or third perspective is always helpful when brainstorming. She also reads other publications to get an idea of what is being talked about in the industry at the moment. She says it could even be as simple as scrolling on Instagram and reading the comments on major denim brands to find that one distinguishing factor. “Usually, these techniques work well either alone or all together when overcoming a creative rut like the one I mentioned!”
3) What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation)
Problem-solving is an important part of her role as an editor because there are several teams and shared responsibilities that allow one single story to be published on the website. She’ll receive a request from the client services team to create headlines for a story focused on particular products or themes. Once a headline is approved by the client, she has full control of how the story looks and sounds. “I read the latest articles on the site to get my creative juices flowing and then I build out the story including priority products and key phrases. Because I’m not in direct communication with the client, it takes a bit longer for me to receive approval or links which can affect the intended timeline. When I can sense this happening, I turn to a coworker for assistance.” If they cannot help, she then takes it upon herself to make adjustments to the schedule. She makes sure she communicates with everyone involved to make sure that she’s not creating more problems as she attempts to solve the current ones. “Whether I’m in the inspiration or implementation phase, I truly value collaboration. Of course, I can solve problems on my own but I find that my solutions are more effective when I can get the experts involved.”
Industry: Business Consultant at Protiviti
1) How do you generate ideas? How, when, and where are you inspired? What inspires you?
JB generates ideas in several ways depending on the situation. She believes the primary mediums that inspire her or help her in creating a solution to a problem are through her network, research, and spiritual methods such as praying and journaling. She described even simple issues such as finding an outfit she will draw inspiration from others such as Pinterest. Professionally, she believes her process is the same way concerning her project-based assignments in which collaboration from her network/team is crucial.
2) What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?
The obstacles she faces would be fear in sharing new ideas and thinking it may not be good enough. In her role, it requires a lot of brainstorming and ideation in order to improve business processes for international clients. Questions that sometimes rack her mind are is this idea already taken, is it innovative enough, will it be feasible to implement in the given time frame. Also, timing and a lack of resources are impending obstacles in her day-to-day operations. In order to overcome these obstacles, she believes in stepping back and taking a break while also asking for help.
3) What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation)
Lastly, JB described her process as such:
Brainstorming/Information Gathering
Industry: Freelance Designer, Curator, and Musician
1) How do you generate ideas? How, when, and where are you inspired? What inspires you?
KD draws inspiration through sensory experience such as her daydreams, touch, and thoughts in her head. Through actively engaging herself in these day to day sensual activities she grows more in tune with the art she feels led to bring to life. For example artists such as Beyoncé and Lauryn Hill show her the power of storytelling and how the effective use of art, music, design and talent can create something magical. By studying the artists she loves, she is constantly learning and leaving inspired. She also finds herself inspired when she steps outside of her comfort zone and delves into differing stylistic expressions. This process helps her push back her normal creative parameters and issues her to create something fresh and new each time but still staying true to unique style and self.
2) What obstacles do you face in coming up with a new idea and how do you overcome those obstacles?
Personal: when designing she gets caught up in the technicalities. Her desired vision is not coming to life on the screen.
Difficulty 2: classification naming in her industry. Harder to access and figure out where go
Working with others when normally she has to work on her own, it sometimes gets hard trying to ensure the different designs and aesthetics can come together to create something even better than what the team tmshined. Hard to fuse the differ viewpoints
She has learned to overcome them by reaching out to her network in the design field. She finds this most helpful and helps her quicker than google would.
3) What process(es) do you use to solve problems? (Describe the steps of your problem-solving process. Explain your journey from inspiration to implementation)
Personal: KD first begins to write it down and talk through it as she is a visual processer. She tends to have so many concepts / ideas and never wants to forget so she writes every detail no matter how minute it may seem. Next, she steps away from the actual problem or idea right at the beginning and then she assessed what her prior idea was and now has a better perspective to tweak it. A fresh mind.
Key Takeaways & Final Thoughts:
After speaking with JB, AM, and KD about their processes, collaboration and teamwork are a huge factor in their success. I was interested in how JD incorporates a lot of design thinking and how frequently she has to work with others in her workspace. In my work, I spend a lot of time individually solving problems, which has led me to not really interact with others. Some of the things that stood out to me were AM’s processes and verbiage she used during the interview. Although we work in similar industries she focuses more on copy and editing while I focus on design construction and design concepts. It was cool to see how we connected but also the parts that differentiate us. KD’s rices was pretty interesting because she immediately steps away from the problem as soon as she writes an idea down. She would rather step away in the very beginning then come back and grind. I found it cool because normally people step away once they are stuck, age steps way right before she gets stuck. All three rely on sensual experiences, but some rely on spirituality/intrinsic motivations vs research/ public opinion. All these conversations were valuable as it gave me insight on the secret sauce that has helped my friends be successful in their careers and learn how to tweak my own problem solving processes.
