On Curiosity, Dieter Rams, and Brian Eno
Three short essays on curiosity and creativity.
On Curiosity
You'll often find the word curiosity in close proximity to the word creativity—the two attributes are related, but they’re not the same. The Oxford dictionary defines curiosity as “a strong desire to know or learn something.” There are many types of curiosity, but two are particularly relevant to creativity: specific curiosity and diversive (or general) curiosity.
When creatives talk about their work, they’ll often say a project was motivated by their desire to answer a specific question or problem. This type of curiosity is referred to as “specific curiosity” because it’s focused on learning a specific skill or solving a specific problem—it’s outcome based.
Diversive (or general) curiosity is more expansive. It emphasizes breadth rather than depth: it’s about wandering, the joy of learning new and different things. These mental excursions refresh our thinking and help ward off boredom.
Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the author of Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, writes:
We have seen that central among the traits that define a creative person are two somewhat opposed tendencies: a great deal of curiosity and openness on the one hand, and an almost obsessive perseverance on the other. Both of these have to be present for a person to have fresh ideas and then to make them prevail. (From Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention)
Diversive curiosity is essential to ideation, and specific curiosity is essential to execution. Curiosity is not creativity, but it is an essential element of creativity. Curiosity provides the raw material and know-how that creativity transforms into something new and interesting.
Socrates said “Know thyself”—and it’s pretty tough to argue with Socrates… Typically we are more comfortable with specific curiosity or diversive curiosity. It’s rare to find someone equally comfortable with and adept at both forms. Which type of curiosity do you gravitate towards? Whichever type it is, practice the opposite type! Your goal is to complement your ability to come up with fresh ideas with your ability to figure out how to bring them to fruition.
Dieter Rams' Ten Principles of Good Design
Chances are you’re familiar with the influential German industrial designer Dieter Rams’ work, even if you don’t know his name. Rams was the lead designer at Braun, the company behind many of the most iconic household products of the 60’s and 70’s. His aesthetic lives on in the design of Apple’s products and stores. Both Steve Jobs and Jony Ive have openly acknowledged Rams’ influence.
Radio designed by Dieter Rams and the first Apple iPod
Rams is also known for his adherence to the design principle “less is more” and his ten principles of good design. He developed these principles so he could answer a very important question for himself: “Is my design a good design?”
According to Rams, good design:
Is innovative
Makes a product useful
Is aesthetic
Makes a product understandable
Is unobtrusive
Is honest
Is long-lasting
Is thorough down to the last detail
Is environmentally friendly
Involves as little design as possible
I’m fascinated by design and could happily write at length about Dieter Rams’ aesthetic and design principles. But I won’t do so today! Instead, I want to call out his clarity of purpose, his humility, and his curiosity about his own work. Rams approached design like a scientist: he created a design, built a model, then tested it using a set of clear and consistent evaluation criteria. If the design didn’t measure up, he revised it and ran the test again.
Rams’ clear, concise list of objective evaluation criteria inspires me to do a better job of clarifying and documenting my evaluation criteria for my work. My thought is that evaluating my work against a consistent set of documented evaluation criteria will help me silence my inner critics. They’ll no longer run amok, interrupting my creative work at will. Instead, they’ll be contained, objectified, and consulted when appropriate. They’ll be more like guardian than gargoyles!
Do you have a way of stepping back and objectively evaluating your creative work? If not, start by listing the attributes you admire in the work of other creatives in your field. Then gauge your work against those attributes. Keep and refine the attributes that best express your values and aesthetic—drop the ones that feel foreign. Your goal is to develop a list that you want to measure your work against, not a list you think you should measure your work against. It’s a compass, not a gate.
Check out this article if you’re interested in learning more about Dieter Rams, his design philosophy, and the thinking behind his ten design principles. I also recommend watching Gary Hustwit’s excellent documentary Rams on the life and work of Dieter Rams.
The Double Life of Brian Eno
Part of my life of course is being an artist, but the other part, just as interesting to me, is wondering what it is I’m doing.
— Brian Eno
The goal of a creator is to lead a double life. I know this idea sounds counter-intuitive. Isn’t the goal of an artist to dedicate their life to their art? Doesn’t the notion of an artist living a “double life” suggest deceit, dishonesty, and artifice? The answer to both questions is “No.”
A work of art begins with curiosity, with questioning, and evolves into investigation. As you create a work of art, you discover an answer to a question, but not necessarily the complete or definitive answer. Unresolved aspects of the question persist. Completely different ways of answering the question linger in the shadows.
When Eno talks about his “other life,” when he says it’s “just as interesting” to him as his life as an artist, he’s acknowledging that part of what makes life interesting to him is being both an artist and a curious observer of his own art and creative processes. Stepping back from time to time for reflection is an exercise in both specific and general curiosity: it’s a way of gauging the success of individual works and processes that generate the work.
Leading a double life as an artist—being fully committed to and immersed in your art—and a thoughtful, inquisitive observer of your work is something to aspire to. Are you leading a double life? If not, what would it take to give yourself the time and mental space for meaningful reflection on your creative process and your creative works?