Unit 3 - Creative Problem Solving Interviews
I decided to interview an undergraduate student, a product designer, and a copy writer. At first I was going to interview all professionals, but I was curious to see (because I’d like to think my problem solving skills during undergrad were pretty good) how college students/Gen Z’s problem solving routines are different than professionals. Here is what I found:
The Undergrad Student - Janet
1. How do you generate ideas?
Janet says that her ideas are generated when she’s reading books or watching YouTube. She emphasized that she is most productive when she is procrastinating - before she tackles a problem she distracts herself with cleaning her room or watching Netflix before solving the problem. When she can no longer procrastinate is when assignments are due and she is under pressure to complete her task. The pressure to preform is what helps her generate new ideas and overcome any obstacles.
2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?
First, she analyzes the problem and ask opinions/input from others. Then takes the idea that she likes the most and implements the idea. Once the implementation is done she moves on until another problem appears.
The Product Designer - Heidi
1. How do you generate ideas?
Heidi generates new ideas by looking at/buying a lot of print material, finding random cool items (printed, vintage, etc) and keeping them around for later use. Pinterest is her friend and she enjoys online shopping to look at what other relevant brands and agencies are doing. As a designer your ideas are not liked by everyone, what you think is great work may not be aligned with someone else’s vision. Sometime you can give your all only for the direction to change - that can be a huge obstacle and the way she overcomes it is to take a break from it, work on something else or just work on it again the next day - that way she is looking at the problem/obstacle with fresh eyes.
2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?
First, I need to take time to learn about the whole problem. I need to make sure I understand what it is that I’m trying to solve. I take this time to fully understand so I have enough context to effectively find solutions to problems. Then, I like talking to people and asking them their opinions because after you’ve looked at something for too long, you cant see small problems or inconsistencies like someone with fresh eyes can. After I have collected all the information that I need, I create a plan and execute on the plan. I reiterate until the final product/problem is solved and up to standard.
The Copy Writer - Kristin
1. How do you generate ideas?
Kristin says nothing inspires her - “absolutely nothing”. However, to get inspired she likes to smoke weed or do yoga to get her creative juices flowing. She finds that sometimes as a copy writer you have to really adapt to each individual person’s request and way of speaking. It can be hard and often times people’s requests just don’t make sense at first so you don’t know where to start. She faces these obstacles by just “word vomiting”, meaning she just sits there and even if what she’s writing doesn’t make sense she doesn’t stop until she has nothing else she can write. She said “never stop to edit”, once she is done she’ll step away from what she’s written and once she feels refreshed she’d come back and pick out all the good things she’s written to use for later.
2. What process(es) do you use to solve problems?
First, she just requests as much information as she can from the person that is requesting copy from her. She then just writes and writes as much as she can on the topic that she is working on. Once she’s done, she’d step away from the work and take a break so she can look at her copy again with fresh eyes. She calls this the planning stage. Once she picked out what she does like, she creates a rough draft that she then shares with a team member to hers to get input. After getting some advice from her team members and making any necessary edits, she presents her work to the copy requester - knowing that what she is about to present is still far from approval. Those who request copy from her always has input, when she gets back any input, new requests and suggestions she edits her copy according to their needs and continues to reiterate until her copy is finalized and approved by the copy requester.