What is creative process and why does everybody talk about it?

In a very few words, you could resume this as: going from A to B, A being the brief, B being the final project. As simple as it seems, it’s particularly difficult to identify the good way to go from A to B when you’re a starting young and dynamic designer.

On the top of that, there are several types of graphic designers flying around coming to creative process — and they all go a different speech when you ask them about it. I’ve identified 5 of them by now, but I guess there can be others…

1. The mathematician type. Who can’t create without using the golden ratio, constructed grids, and pre-defined creative schemes. That’s to say, he is probably a sucker for type, which must be kern perfectly and for constructivist, geometric and bold layouts. He is more of an architect, and has no real place for funny stuff. And, he is a perfectionist.

Profile: Leonardo Da Vinci (but without the mere genius, mostly just the monomaniac behavior)  
Strengths: His creative process is well-defined, with automated scripts, well constructed templates, and probably an extreme respect for typographic rules.
Weaknesses: He sometimes lacks creativity, because he’s so bounded in his own rules. He difficultly adapts to a new job, because he needs to re-create everything from start.

2. The Über-creative type. More of an artist, he can be very messy. He considers his creativity as an uncontrollable flow, that can’t be directed by any method. Type rules and grids? Fuck off! He prefers to be inspired by the spur of the moment, and all of his incredible talent explodes at the face of the world. 

Profile: Basquiat. 
Strengths: He definitely is creative, and he’s sometimes very good and talented. He can be a real plus if he come across a great idea, as there are no limits to his imagination.
Weaknesses: Sometimes, he doesn’t have ANY ideas. Plus, not having any method, you sometimes need a lot of interns to finish his work in time.

3. The copyist type. His creative process consists in copying what is trendy now. Or what was trendy 2 years ago, as that’s what a client want. I don’t know if it’s a creative process in itself, but it makes creation a lot easier. So I guess you can see this as a method.

Profile: Warhol in some ways.
Strengths: Pleases the clients easily, and can do a work quite quickly.
Weaknesses: Can’t revolution the graphic design world & is not always up-to-date.

4. The methodic type. He needs to get everything right before starting a new work. Researches, references, everything is written down and explained. The creative process needs to be intellectualized, even if the work is itself spontaneous. There is a serious need to justify yourself here, even if you’re talented. Every task is assigned a defined time period and is scheduled. I fit here personally.

Profile:  Michelangelo (as in “nothing will never be good enough”)
Strengths: Can easily explain his work to a client, and never forget what was first.
Weaknesses: Need to justify everything, from every small insignificant detail. It slows you down, and somewhat makes you feel vulnerable if you don’t achieve a task in time.

5. The fake-lazy type. Creative process? We’ll see that next week. People who fits here are the kin of always relaxed persons that never really care about a deadline. They never give a work on time, and make you think that it’s perfectly normal. Most of the time, they’re only people that are overwhelmed by their lack of method and can’t get anything ready by the deadline.

Profile: I don’t know any artist that had a real deadline, but I’d say Picasso (trying hard to make something look easy when working like a fool.)
Strengths: Always seems cool and relax, and always manage to have more time to work on a project.
Weaknesses: Can’t manage his schedule, and is not really sure about what a creative process should be. 

So, all of them give you different advices toward what should be your “creative process”. Of course, the ideal thing is to find a good balance between all of the above. But you can find help all round the web for that.
I suggest Actionmethod, by the creators of Behance Network for that (many task management resources here, offline and online.) and OmniGroup if you ever need to optimize you workflow and task management during you creative process.
A great article on AListApart, about rational and logical thinking during the creative process & a rather interesting one on demystifying it here. 
All of this is supposed to help you in gaining time with less glamorous tasks and free your mind during creation itself. I guess you have to adjust your own process during you whole life to make it right… It’s pretty difficult at first, because none of this is really taught, it’s supposed to be natural. But no anybody is able to be methodic, and a little help is often welcomed.

I’d be curious as to what is you creative process? 
Have a great week, prepare yourself for christmas craze, and do not forget to ask santa for a good dose of creativity this week!
Cheers,
Zélia.