July 28, 2022 • 25 mins
Gareth Loudon's interest is creativity, combining ideas from anthropology, psychology, engineering, and design, and he has led international transdisciplinary research projects in academia and industry. Gareth is a Professor of Creativity and Head of Programmes at the Royal College of Art for the MA/MSc Innovation Design Engineering and MA/MSc Global Innovation Design, which is run jointly with Imperial College London. Previously Gareth was Associate Dean of Research at the Cardiff School of Art and Design. He has also worked for Apple and Ericsson Research designing and developing new software and computer-embedded products. Gareth is a Chartered Engineer, a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology, and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Roy Sharples (00:06):
Hello, I'm Roy Sharples, welcome to the unknown
origins podcast. Why are youlistening to this podcast? Are
you seeking inspiration? anindustry expert looking for
insights or growing your career?
I created the unknown originspodcast to provide access to
insights and content fromcreators worldwide with
(00:26):
inspirational conversations andstorytelling, about art,
architecture, design,entrepreneurship, fashion, film,
music, and pop culture. Gardenslogans interest is creativity
combining ideas fromanthropology, psychology,
engineering, and design. And hehas led international
(00:50):
transdisciplinary researchprojects and academia and
industry. Gareth is a professorof creativity and head of
programs at the Royal College ofArt for the me MSC innovation
design engineering, and me MSCGlobal Innovation design, which
is run jointly with ImperialCollege London. Previously,
(01:13):
Garth was Associate Dean ofResearch at the Cardiff School
of Art and Design. He has alsoworked for Apple and Ericsson
research, and designing anddeveloping new software and
computer embedded products.
Garth is a chartered engineer, afellow of the Institution of
(01:35):
Engineering and Technology, anda fellow of the Higher Education
Academy. Hello, and welcome,Gareth. So what inspired and
attracted you to innovationdesign in the first place?
Gareth Loudon (01:47):
I guess it crept up on me really, I mean, I think
there's a kid I've always lovedthat I would sort of think of it
in that formal phrase, but Ithink in reality, I've always
been interested in that world,you know, as a kid growing up.
So you know, for example, Ialways loved making and creating
stuff, whether that be physicalcrafts, or drawing or authentic.
(02:13):
And Wales, we had what's calleda nationalized, Stafford. So I
was just trying to thosecompetitions for art and craft.
And I also used to do singingand music and stuff. So creating
in the broadest sense, and thatwas always a love. And so I
think that was naturally there.
But I guess, balanced againstthat. Another thing that was
always something I reallyenjoyed was, was how things
(02:35):
worked. So I guess that's themost of engineering mean. And I
know I was sort of annoyed myman various times by
disassembling stuff and notworking, there had to be
assembled things and things likethat. So yeah, that sort of,
sort of world growing up wasalways, always there. And I was
important to me. And so I thinkI was always naturally attracted
(02:58):
to innovation design, eventhough I wasn't aware of it. But
I think as I sort of got olderthrough to school, I mean, my
main strength, I guess, inschool was maths, and I love
solving problems, math problems,mainly, I guess. And yeah, I
think I just got a sort of feelfor sort of that space. And that
(03:19):
sort of gradually morphed intoinnovation designs, maybe talk a
bit more afterwards in, in mycareer, but that's how I started
out. And that's how I sort ofwas this combination of those
things, really, that that drovemy interest initially in
engineering, but it's prettymuch around creativity and
innovation in engineering. Andit was only a bit later on that
(03:42):
I sort of moved into, into thatdesign space. Who,
Roy Sharples (03:47):
what, how, and why were you inspired and attracted
you to the domain
Gareth Loudon (03:52):
when I was an apple, I would say as I was
doing purely techie stuff. Butthen, as we had success in the
technology research, they sentover a key designer interaction
designer from from the Cupertinoheadquarters to join us in
Singapore. And he asked he wasthe main person who convinced me
(04:15):
to move from purely a techiebased world to this broader
innovation design space so thathe was quite an important person
in my sort of awareness of theimportance of this topics that
we've been talking about,
Roy Sharples (04:32):
what is your creative process, Gareth, in
terms of how do you make theinvisible visible by dreaming up
ideas, developing them intoconcepts and then bringing them
to actualization? I don't
Gareth Loudon (04:45):
probably follow a process and in any to stripped
away and I guess deliberatelydon't do that. But there's
certainly definitely aspectsthat are important. So in my in
my career I've sometimes taken avery techie experiment driven
approach to creativity,certainly in the early part of
(05:09):
my career that probablydominated the way I tackled
creative process. And probablyover the last 20 years or so
I've balanced that more with themost of human centered design
process, and sort of being morehuman needs driven. So I guess
my creative process is beingrecognizing that those both are
(05:31):
important and and both canproduce interesting results. I
guess one thing from I guessfrom a techie side, which is
where I started from, initially,in my PhD, I guess in terms of
me, the first time I did properresearch was in I always had the
sort of view that, you know, I'doften do a sort of review of
(05:52):
what's the current approach to aproblem. And obviously, if that
problem hasn't been solved, Iguess my first strategy, I
remember thinking quite clearlyat my PhD was Well, if that's
how they're doing it, and it'snot working. And obviously, I
need to take a differentapproach have, I tended not to
follow the crowd. And that wasalways a sort of strategy that I
had, in terms of then looking todifferent disciplines. So even
(06:14):
in my PhD, it was in BiomedicalEngineering, I do at least
started reading around sort ofsocial science type approaches
to give me ideas how to analyzesignals, and data's in different
ways. So as a simple example, Iguess of something I did quite
early on. And I sort of followedthat a little bit. In my career,
(06:36):
and in other things, I worked atApple in the 90s. At Apple, I
assess Research Center ofSingapore, looking at Chinese
speech and handwriting,handwriting recognition and
similar approach for thehandwriting recognition that
everybody was tackling in asimilar way. And I thought, I
need to take a differentapproach because they weren't
solving the problem. And I havea lot of success with that. So
(06:58):
that was been sort of philosophyand sort of element type, I've
thought to sort of come up withnew ideas and new concepts and
then translate those intosolutions. So but yeah, in in
more recent years, in fact, atmy time at Apple, I started then
working with designers, for myfirst time, this isn't that 95.
(07:18):
And then I got really sort ofinsights into the role of design
and design, ways of thinking,and sort of more social science
and anthropology and these typesof skills got I got exposed to
and I realize how powerful, theywere both generating new ideas,
too. So in the late 90s, Iworked for Ericsson, and we
really had a sort of mixture ofdesign, and phonology and sort
(07:42):
of technical team, that I lead,to look at new ideas, and it was
really that mix. So again, itwas still bringing that techie
roots that I had, but reallybringing it and I was blown
away. When I went out withanthropologists on field
studies, that blew my mind theideas that were being generated.
In that type of space, combinedwith sort of my knowledge of new
(08:05):
tech that we could do, thatcombination really sort of made
me excited. So yeah, I'm not anover fan, I guess, going back to
your broad question of being toorigid on a process. And, you
know, I know there's variousdesign processes out there human
centered design, and I'm veryfamiliar with them. And I use
them quite a lot themselves. ButI'm also I don't want people to
(08:27):
follow them blindly. I thinkthat, you know, that creativity
and play in that experimentationthat could just come from that
love and interest could be thespark for it to and of course,
purpose is a huge driver of, ofcreativity, because it makes you
pay attention. So over the lastfew years, I created my own
(08:47):
model, which I call the LCDmodel. And its idea that you can
do all those different things.
So you can move through thatcreative space. And that was
creative processes in theloosest sense of the term in
different ways in the quite sortof nonlinear dynamic way, in a
spontaneous way. But I guess theother key factor that I felt in
that model that I proposed wasthat it's not just that there's
(09:11):
processes that are important,but it's your sort of state of
mind or state of being withwhich you link with those
processes. It's an absolutelycruelty, not going to dream up
ideas, just by following aprocess. So it's your your
attitude, your mindset, yoursense of purpose of leadership,
those types of things, as wellas that interdisciplinary
(09:32):
collaboration and into that, tome is key. So so so so so I
guess, even though I came fromthe techie world, I guess my big
sort of understanding of thecreative process to do that
whole sort of route from ideasto actualization, you know,
really does need thatinterdisciplinary approach.
(09:53):
There's usually not onediscipline that can do all that
work to do it, too. The highlevel. So this mixture of arts
and sciences to me is veryimportant.
Roy Sharples (10:04):
For sure. Every creative will tell you, there is
no ON and OFF button forcreativity. It is a constant
that happens naturally, bydesign or by accident in our
everyday lives. Through thecreative process may seem
magical, especially where ideascan come from and how they are
brought to form in life. Thereare proven techniques, tools,
(10:27):
methods, frameworks, andapproaches to both the art and
science of applied creativitythat make it happen. But it does
not mean being fooled intobelieving that it is simply
about following a process andexpecting creative results as an
outcome. It is all about peopleand the execution because people
(10:48):
with a vision combined with apassion and drive, make things
happen was multiple points youmade within that as well,
Gareth. And I'll pull a few ofthem out that really resonated
especially around theapplication of anthropological
and ethnographical techniquesand tools to help observe and
understand people's behaviors intheir natural situations to
(11:12):
capture what they actually do.
And this approach can help usunderstand cultural trends and
lifestyle factors throughcontext, norms, routine, and
daily life habits, withincommunities and societies,
ultimately, informingorganizations about social
context that influences theirproduct creation and marketing
(11:35):
process by informing the designpositioning messaging, and
packaging, what are the keyskills needed to survive and
thrive? As an innovationdesigner?
Gareth Loudon (11:52):
Resilience, I guess the first one comes to
mind. I think curiosity probablyis the most important one and
this, you know, and, andunderstanding what matters to
you and, and what contributionyou can make. And you know,
where you want to make adifference? I think, you know,
when you look at David bone, thefamous quantum physicist talks
(12:16):
about in his book on creativitytalks about attention, awareness
and sensitivity, you know, andthat links, the sort of
curiosity I just mentioned, thatsort of willingness to always
look at things and alwayswanting to learn, you know, and
being playful and disruptive,these types of things are very
important. I guess it's sort ofsome of the points I was I was
(12:39):
making earlier, but also thenthat sort of analytical and that
thoroughness, and that thatquality of work, to me is very
important, too. Because, youknow, to me, it is that mixture
of perhaps that more sort ofclassical analytical skills
combined with that creativeskills and those combination, I
think it's probably allows youto survive and thrive. I mean, I
(13:03):
guess then linking back to thisthing I mentioned earlier about
arts and sciences. And, youknow, I don't think any one
discipline can do this. So thatrespect for others from
different disciplines is alsoabsolutely crucial. And often, I
don't see that in that. So Ithink that I mean, I see it
amongst innovation designers, Iwould say, I think that's pretty
(13:23):
core skill there. But morebroadly, I think that's not as
common. So yeah, and I guess ifyou're going to be doing
something new, somethingdifferent, and going against the
crowd, sometimes you got to bebrave to so I guess those are
the things that springs to mind,in terms of key skills to sort
(13:43):
of survive and thrive as aninnovation designer,
Roy Sharples (13:46):
not to going against the crowd. If you follow
the crowd, you'll never getfarther than them. purpose and
passion, drive innovators toimprove the world. In the
pursuit of greatness. Remember,that you don't need permission
from anyone, and the spirit ofMuhammad Ali. Impossible is
nothing. He was a beacon andsignpost for change, who shook
(14:09):
up society, especially inAmerica during the Civil Rights
Movement, rejecting what hetermed his slave name, Cassius
Clay, converting to Islam, andrefusing military service to go
to war with Vietnam, a sacrificethat cost him the heavyweight
championship and a ban fromboxing at the pinnacle of his
(14:30):
career. And this was during aconservative time in history.
These were courageous actions totake a moral stand that helped
push society forward. Even afterAli's Oregon's had stopped, laid
to rest on his deathbed, hisheart continued to beat for
another 30 minutes, which isscientifically unheard of, and a
(14:53):
further justification that theheart is the soul as you reflect
back upon your life I and careerto date, what are your lessons
learned, in terms of thepitfalls to avoid, and the keys
to success that you can sharewith existing, and also aspiring
innovation designers.
Gareth Loudon (15:13):
It's not a race, I guess, is the first thing. So
you know, in, enjoy, enjoy thatlife. And don't try and force it
to be something. Let let it letit unfold, I think, for me was a
key lesson for my life. I mean,I started out, you know, even
(15:34):
though I've talked about myearly life, in terms of my
interest in terms of my career,I saw myself as an engineer and
signal processing, patternrecognition being my core
skills, and I didn't really seemuch beyond that I didn't really
see myself as the sort of, youknow, innovation designer in
that sort of formal sense. But,you know, I also had my antenna
(15:59):
up, I was always looking for,you know, I was aware of what
was happening around me morebroadly, I guess, in terms of
trends and opportunities, I wasaware of what interested me what
excited me at that time, andthat changes. So what I was, you
know, my sense of purpose is nota fixed thing, but I was always
paying attention to what, what Iwanted to do at certain time, so
(16:22):
I was open to new directions,and when new opportunities came
along and presented themselves,then I usually went for it and
took those. So, you know, lifeevolves in surprising ways. And
I think allowing that to happenand not be overly strategic, I
think it's, it would be my sortof reflections on, on my
(16:45):
successes, in terms of specificapproaches, but also more
broadly, I mean, I'm very happywhere I am now. And that
wouldn't have come about, Iguess, in terms of my work and
innovation design, if I hadn'tallowed myself to move off. So
for example, I became quitesuccessful in handwriting
recognition technology, and inChinese and Japanese languages
(17:09):
in particular. So it could bevery easy for me to stay in that
world and stay the expert for along period of time. But that
didn't appeal to me. And and andI wanted to move into this more
broader innovation design space.
So I sort of stepped away fromwhere I was good, something that
maybe I wasn't as goodinitially, but that allowed me
to sort of develop. So thosetypes of things, I think, would
(17:31):
be my reflections on sort of,you know, being successful in
innovation design, as well asall the things I've talked about
earlier in terms of those sortof skills. Yeah, in terms of
pitfalls. When I talked aboutnot being too process driven, I
think that's quite important.
(17:52):
And also, being aware of yourown state of being, I think, is
very important. So payingattention to yourself. And those
signals that are coming throughto you of what you want to do,
and not necessarily fall in thecracks. And I was always
questioning and reflecting onthings is going to help you in
your career, that would be mythought. And working hard.
(18:13):
Obviously,
Roy Sharples (18:14):
what you do, is shaped by the values and
attitudes, internal and externalto the world you live in, the
people you engage with, and theactivities you do to achieve
self actualization, andultimately, happiness in life,
it is important to keep movingforward and experimenting with
and trying out new experiencesby maintaining a modern mindset,
(18:38):
and having a global and holisticview, which will help you solve
problems with an open mindovercoming prejudice, and having
more diverse and better ideas.
Because when you lose touch withits with your creativity, it you
become insulated and imprisoned,and can become close minded, or
pressed and lost in time andlife. So navigating into the
(19:00):
future. Gareth, what's yourvision for the future of
innovation design, and the roleof creativity?
Gareth Loudon (19:10):
I think creativity needs to be central
more to the future in we've gotall these problems we need to
tackle in the world. There's somany complex problems and to me,
they are really beyond any onediscipline in solving this
problem. So thisinterdisciplinarity to me, is is
crucial and creativity as partof that it talks about that art
(19:34):
sciences before and I thinkthat's, that's so important. And
there's a lot of researchshowing how creativity links to
well being as well. So if you'redoing you know, one of the most
common, she sent me a high wason a famous sort of research on
creativity and looked at one ofthe most common factors across
successful people in this spaceand it was the doing what they
(19:56):
love, you know, so and that'sgood for your happiness either.
A lot of study on happiness,there's a strong link between
creativity and, and happiness.
So I think that is important inits own right, that's coming
back to me being as a kid andloving making and taking things
apart. It's just naturally whatwe want to do. And so I think we
need to encourage that morestructurally in society. And
(20:17):
that goes straight to the sortof curriculum in schools. I
think the structure that in manycountries, which is driven
certainly from sort of the age11 onwards is becoming quite
discipline specific, where youlearn just maths or physics, or
chemistry, or arts or design orhistory, all in isolation, I
think is, is not the way to goforward. And creativity comes by
(20:39):
looking at these problems moreholistically, and taking a more
holistic approach. And thereforeunderstanding the importance of
these range of skills iscritical if we want to be more
creative and make innovationdesign more powerful and more
effective in the world. So I'vedone some work back in Wales
(20:59):
over the last few years, there'sa new curriculum for Wales
coming out and face comes out, Ithink, in September, and it's
actually for ages four to 18.
And it's quite interestingbecause it has really changed
the structure of the curriculum,and put creativity quite at its
heart and this moreinterdisciplinary project based
(21:21):
approach. And I thinkcurriculums around the world
need to sort of move into thisthis mode more generally,
because then I think, then wewill create the next generation
of people with more naturallythose skills. You know, what,
what frustrates me at themoment, I mean, I'm a techie,
and I'm very STEM based in ascience, technology,
(21:42):
engineering, maths type,background. And I'm obviously
very pro it but it doesn't meanI'm anti arts and humanities
were designed. In fact, I'm veryproud of that, too. And we need
to have a strategy, thegovernmental level, which comes
through to the curriculum comesto an attitude of businesses,
and people in general, that ifwe're going to six need, we need
(22:04):
to recognize both are absolutelycrucial. And we're not going to
solve these technical problemsthat are often human centered by
just looking at technology orscience. So that's my my wish.
And my vision is that thecurriculums change, there's a
change of mindset, and a respectand, and a support for the arts
and design, as well as thesciences and technology, so we
(22:27):
can really make a difference. Sowe need that for leaders with
that mindset. And thatunderstanding. And we we've had
that in the past Steve Jobs, Ithink it's a perfect example of
that, where he has had thatbroader understanding and made
major shifts in in the way theproducts and services are
created, but also the way morebroadly how we can do
(22:49):
innovation, design andcreativity. So we need to see
more of that. And I think thatcomes from a sort of structure
that would support that morereadily. Rather than having the
rebels like Steve of having todo it all on them by themselves.
Roy Sharples (23:02):
Education is the key to success. And this means
modernizing an education systemthat instills creativity as a
core discipline at thegrassroots, and is nurtured
throughout the educationalsystem, which recognizes
intelligence as beingmultifaceted and embracing
emotional and socialintelligence, critical thinking,
(23:25):
and practical problem solvingthat integrates science, arts
and humanities as equal parts ofthe learning Jigsaw that
encourages learning that zigzagsacross disciplines and domains,
with continuous learningpathways that are open to anyone
willing to invest effort andtime to advance their knowledge,
(23:46):
values and skills.
Do you want to learn more abouthow to create without frontiers?
Then consider getting CREATIVITYWITHOUT FRONTIERS? How to make
the invisible visible by writingthe way into the future. It's
(24:08):
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information go tounknownorigins.com Thank you for
listening!
Hello, I'm Roy Sharples, welcome to the unknown
origins podcast. Why are youlistening to this podcast? Are
you seeking inspiration? anindustry expert looking for
insights or growing your career?
I created the unknown originspodcast to provide access to
insights and content fromcreators worldwide with
(00:26):
inspirational conversations andstorytelling, about art,
architecture, design,entrepreneurship, fashion, film,
music, and pop culture. Gardenslogans interest is creativity
combining ideas fromanthropology, psychology,
engineering, and design. And hehas led international
(00:50):
transdisciplinary researchprojects and academia and
industry. Gareth is a professorof creativity and head of
programs at the Royal College ofArt for the me MSC innovation
design engineering, and me MSCGlobal Innovation design, which
is run jointly with ImperialCollege London. Previously,
(01:13):
Garth was Associate Dean ofResearch at the Cardiff School
of Art and Design. He has alsoworked for Apple and Ericsson
research, and designing anddeveloping new software and
computer embedded products.
Garth is a chartered engineer, afellow of the Institution of
(01:35):
Engineering and Technology, anda fellow of the Higher Education
Academy. Hello, and welcome,Gareth. So what inspired and
attracted you to innovationdesign in the first place?
Gareth Loudon (01:47):
I guess it crept up on me really, I mean, I think
there's a kid I've always lovedthat I would sort of think of it
in that formal phrase, but Ithink in reality, I've always
been interested in that world,you know, as a kid growing up.
So you know, for example, Ialways loved making and creating
stuff, whether that be physicalcrafts, or drawing or authentic.
(02:13):
And Wales, we had what's calleda nationalized, Stafford. So I
was just trying to thosecompetitions for art and craft.
And I also used to do singingand music and stuff. So creating
in the broadest sense, and thatwas always a love. And so I
think that was naturally there.
But I guess, balanced againstthat. Another thing that was
always something I reallyenjoyed was, was how things
(02:35):
worked. So I guess that's themost of engineering mean. And I
know I was sort of annoyed myman various times by
disassembling stuff and notworking, there had to be
assembled things and things likethat. So yeah, that sort of,
sort of world growing up wasalways, always there. And I was
important to me. And so I thinkI was always naturally attracted
(02:58):
to innovation design, eventhough I wasn't aware of it. But
I think as I sort of got olderthrough to school, I mean, my
main strength, I guess, inschool was maths, and I love
solving problems, math problems,mainly, I guess. And yeah, I
think I just got a sort of feelfor sort of that space. And that
(03:19):
sort of gradually morphed intoinnovation designs, maybe talk a
bit more afterwards in, in mycareer, but that's how I started
out. And that's how I sort ofwas this combination of those
things, really, that that drovemy interest initially in
engineering, but it's prettymuch around creativity and
innovation in engineering. Andit was only a bit later on that
(03:42):
I sort of moved into, into thatdesign space. Who,
Roy Sharples (03:47):
what, how, and why were you inspired and attracted
you to the domain
Gareth Loudon (03:52):
when I was an apple, I would say as I was
doing purely techie stuff. Butthen, as we had success in the
technology research, they sentover a key designer interaction
designer from from the Cupertinoheadquarters to join us in
Singapore. And he asked he wasthe main person who convinced me
(04:15):
to move from purely a techiebased world to this broader
innovation design space so thathe was quite an important person
in my sort of awareness of theimportance of this topics that
we've been talking about,
Roy Sharples (04:32):
what is your creative process, Gareth, in
terms of how do you make theinvisible visible by dreaming up
ideas, developing them intoconcepts and then bringing them
to actualization? I don't
Gareth Loudon (04:45):
probably follow a process and in any to stripped
away and I guess deliberatelydon't do that. But there's
certainly definitely aspectsthat are important. So in my in
my career I've sometimes taken avery techie experiment driven
approach to creativity,certainly in the early part of
(05:09):
my career that probablydominated the way I tackled
creative process. And probablyover the last 20 years or so
I've balanced that more with themost of human centered design
process, and sort of being morehuman needs driven. So I guess
my creative process is beingrecognizing that those both are
(05:31):
important and and both canproduce interesting results. I
guess one thing from I guessfrom a techie side, which is
where I started from, initially,in my PhD, I guess in terms of
me, the first time I did properresearch was in I always had the
sort of view that, you know, I'doften do a sort of review of
(05:52):
what's the current approach to aproblem. And obviously, if that
problem hasn't been solved, Iguess my first strategy, I
remember thinking quite clearlyat my PhD was Well, if that's
how they're doing it, and it'snot working. And obviously, I
need to take a differentapproach have, I tended not to
follow the crowd. And that wasalways a sort of strategy that I
had, in terms of then looking todifferent disciplines. So even
(06:14):
in my PhD, it was in BiomedicalEngineering, I do at least
started reading around sort ofsocial science type approaches
to give me ideas how to analyzesignals, and data's in different
ways. So as a simple example, Iguess of something I did quite
early on. And I sort of followedthat a little bit. In my career,
(06:36):
and in other things, I worked atApple in the 90s. At Apple, I
assess Research Center ofSingapore, looking at Chinese
speech and handwriting,handwriting recognition and
similar approach for thehandwriting recognition that
everybody was tackling in asimilar way. And I thought, I
need to take a differentapproach because they weren't
solving the problem. And I havea lot of success with that. So
(06:58):
that was been sort of philosophyand sort of element type, I've
thought to sort of come up withnew ideas and new concepts and
then translate those intosolutions. So but yeah, in in
more recent years, in fact, atmy time at Apple, I started then
working with designers, for myfirst time, this isn't that 95.
(07:18):
And then I got really sort ofinsights into the role of design
and design, ways of thinking,and sort of more social science
and anthropology and these typesof skills got I got exposed to
and I realize how powerful, theywere both generating new ideas,
too. So in the late 90s, Iworked for Ericsson, and we
really had a sort of mixture ofdesign, and phonology and sort
(07:42):
of technical team, that I lead,to look at new ideas, and it was
really that mix. So again, itwas still bringing that techie
roots that I had, but reallybringing it and I was blown
away. When I went out withanthropologists on field
studies, that blew my mind theideas that were being generated.
In that type of space, combinedwith sort of my knowledge of new
(08:05):
tech that we could do, thatcombination really sort of made
me excited. So yeah, I'm not anover fan, I guess, going back to
your broad question of being toorigid on a process. And, you
know, I know there's variousdesign processes out there human
centered design, and I'm veryfamiliar with them. And I use
them quite a lot themselves. ButI'm also I don't want people to
(08:27):
follow them blindly. I thinkthat, you know, that creativity
and play in that experimentationthat could just come from that
love and interest could be thespark for it to and of course,
purpose is a huge driver of, ofcreativity, because it makes you
pay attention. So over the lastfew years, I created my own
(08:47):
model, which I call the LCDmodel. And its idea that you can
do all those different things.
So you can move through thatcreative space. And that was
creative processes in theloosest sense of the term in
different ways in the quite sortof nonlinear dynamic way, in a
spontaneous way. But I guess theother key factor that I felt in
that model that I proposed wasthat it's not just that there's
(09:11):
processes that are important,but it's your sort of state of
mind or state of being withwhich you link with those
processes. It's an absolutelycruelty, not going to dream up
ideas, just by following aprocess. So it's your your
attitude, your mindset, yoursense of purpose of leadership,
those types of things, as wellas that interdisciplinary
(09:32):
collaboration and into that, tome is key. So so so so so I
guess, even though I came fromthe techie world, I guess my big
sort of understanding of thecreative process to do that
whole sort of route from ideasto actualization, you know,
really does need thatinterdisciplinary approach.
(09:53):
There's usually not onediscipline that can do all that
work to do it, too. The highlevel. So this mixture of arts
and sciences to me is veryimportant.
Roy Sharples (10:04):
For sure. Every creative will tell you, there is
no ON and OFF button forcreativity. It is a constant
that happens naturally, bydesign or by accident in our
everyday lives. Through thecreative process may seem
magical, especially where ideascan come from and how they are
brought to form in life. Thereare proven techniques, tools,
(10:27):
methods, frameworks, andapproaches to both the art and
science of applied creativitythat make it happen. But it does
not mean being fooled intobelieving that it is simply
about following a process andexpecting creative results as an
outcome. It is all about peopleand the execution because people
(10:48):
with a vision combined with apassion and drive, make things
happen was multiple points youmade within that as well,
Gareth. And I'll pull a few ofthem out that really resonated
especially around theapplication of anthropological
and ethnographical techniquesand tools to help observe and
understand people's behaviors intheir natural situations to
(11:12):
capture what they actually do.
And this approach can help usunderstand cultural trends and
lifestyle factors throughcontext, norms, routine, and
daily life habits, withincommunities and societies,
ultimately, informingorganizations about social
context that influences theirproduct creation and marketing
(11:35):
process by informing the designpositioning messaging, and
packaging, what are the keyskills needed to survive and
thrive? As an innovationdesigner?
Gareth Loudon (11:52):
Resilience, I guess the first one comes to
mind. I think curiosity probablyis the most important one and
this, you know, and, andunderstanding what matters to
you and, and what contributionyou can make. And you know,
where you want to make adifference? I think, you know,
when you look at David bone, thefamous quantum physicist talks
(12:16):
about in his book on creativitytalks about attention, awareness
and sensitivity, you know, andthat links, the sort of
curiosity I just mentioned, thatsort of willingness to always
look at things and alwayswanting to learn, you know, and
being playful and disruptive,these types of things are very
important. I guess it's sort ofsome of the points I was I was
(12:39):
making earlier, but also thenthat sort of analytical and that
thoroughness, and that thatquality of work, to me is very
important, too. Because, youknow, to me, it is that mixture
of perhaps that more sort ofclassical analytical skills
combined with that creativeskills and those combination, I
think it's probably allows youto survive and thrive. I mean, I
(13:03):
guess then linking back to thisthing I mentioned earlier about
arts and sciences. And, youknow, I don't think any one
discipline can do this. So thatrespect for others from
different disciplines is alsoabsolutely crucial. And often, I
don't see that in that. So Ithink that I mean, I see it
amongst innovation designers, Iwould say, I think that's pretty
(13:23):
core skill there. But morebroadly, I think that's not as
common. So yeah, and I guess ifyou're going to be doing
something new, somethingdifferent, and going against the
crowd, sometimes you got to bebrave to so I guess those are
the things that springs to mind,in terms of key skills to sort
(13:43):
of survive and thrive as aninnovation designer,
Roy Sharples (13:46):
not to going against the crowd. If you follow
the crowd, you'll never getfarther than them. purpose and
passion, drive innovators toimprove the world. In the
pursuit of greatness. Remember,that you don't need permission
from anyone, and the spirit ofMuhammad Ali. Impossible is
nothing. He was a beacon andsignpost for change, who shook
(14:09):
up society, especially inAmerica during the Civil Rights
Movement, rejecting what hetermed his slave name, Cassius
Clay, converting to Islam, andrefusing military service to go
to war with Vietnam, a sacrificethat cost him the heavyweight
championship and a ban fromboxing at the pinnacle of his
(14:30):
career. And this was during aconservative time in history.
These were courageous actions totake a moral stand that helped
push society forward. Even afterAli's Oregon's had stopped, laid
to rest on his deathbed, hisheart continued to beat for
another 30 minutes, which isscientifically unheard of, and a
(14:53):
further justification that theheart is the soul as you reflect
back upon your life I and careerto date, what are your lessons
learned, in terms of thepitfalls to avoid, and the keys
to success that you can sharewith existing, and also aspiring
innovation designers.
Gareth Loudon (15:13):
It's not a race, I guess, is the first thing. So
you know, in, enjoy, enjoy thatlife. And don't try and force it
to be something. Let let it letit unfold, I think, for me was a
key lesson for my life. I mean,I started out, you know, even
(15:34):
though I've talked about myearly life, in terms of my
interest in terms of my career,I saw myself as an engineer and
signal processing, patternrecognition being my core
skills, and I didn't really seemuch beyond that I didn't really
see myself as the sort of, youknow, innovation designer in
that sort of formal sense. But,you know, I also had my antenna
(15:59):
up, I was always looking for,you know, I was aware of what
was happening around me morebroadly, I guess, in terms of
trends and opportunities, I wasaware of what interested me what
excited me at that time, andthat changes. So what I was, you
know, my sense of purpose is nota fixed thing, but I was always
paying attention to what, what Iwanted to do at certain time, so
(16:22):
I was open to new directions,and when new opportunities came
along and presented themselves,then I usually went for it and
took those. So, you know, lifeevolves in surprising ways. And
I think allowing that to happenand not be overly strategic, I
think it's, it would be my sortof reflections on, on my
(16:45):
successes, in terms of specificapproaches, but also more
broadly, I mean, I'm very happywhere I am now. And that
wouldn't have come about, Iguess, in terms of my work and
innovation design, if I hadn'tallowed myself to move off. So
for example, I became quitesuccessful in handwriting
recognition technology, and inChinese and Japanese languages
(17:09):
in particular. So it could bevery easy for me to stay in that
world and stay the expert for along period of time. But that
didn't appeal to me. And and andI wanted to move into this more
broader innovation design space.
So I sort of stepped away fromwhere I was good, something that
maybe I wasn't as goodinitially, but that allowed me
to sort of develop. So thosetypes of things, I think, would
(17:31):
be my reflections on sort of,you know, being successful in
innovation design, as well asall the things I've talked about
earlier in terms of those sortof skills. Yeah, in terms of
pitfalls. When I talked aboutnot being too process driven, I
think that's quite important.
(17:52):
And also, being aware of yourown state of being, I think, is
very important. So payingattention to yourself. And those
signals that are coming throughto you of what you want to do,
and not necessarily fall in thecracks. And I was always
questioning and reflecting onthings is going to help you in
your career, that would be mythought. And working hard.
(18:13):
Obviously,
Roy Sharples (18:14):
what you do, is shaped by the values and
attitudes, internal and externalto the world you live in, the
people you engage with, and theactivities you do to achieve
self actualization, andultimately, happiness in life,
it is important to keep movingforward and experimenting with
and trying out new experiencesby maintaining a modern mindset,
(18:38):
and having a global and holisticview, which will help you solve
problems with an open mindovercoming prejudice, and having
more diverse and better ideas.
Because when you lose touch withits with your creativity, it you
become insulated and imprisoned,and can become close minded, or
pressed and lost in time andlife. So navigating into the
(19:00):
future. Gareth, what's yourvision for the future of
innovation design, and the roleof creativity?
Gareth Loudon (19:10):
I think creativity needs to be central
more to the future in we've gotall these problems we need to
tackle in the world. There's somany complex problems and to me,
they are really beyond any onediscipline in solving this
problem. So thisinterdisciplinarity to me, is is
crucial and creativity as partof that it talks about that art
(19:34):
sciences before and I thinkthat's, that's so important. And
there's a lot of researchshowing how creativity links to
well being as well. So if you'redoing you know, one of the most
common, she sent me a high wason a famous sort of research on
creativity and looked at one ofthe most common factors across
successful people in this spaceand it was the doing what they
(19:56):
love, you know, so and that'sgood for your happiness either.
A lot of study on happiness,there's a strong link between
creativity and, and happiness.
So I think that is important inits own right, that's coming
back to me being as a kid andloving making and taking things
apart. It's just naturally whatwe want to do. And so I think we
need to encourage that morestructurally in society. And
(20:17):
that goes straight to the sortof curriculum in schools. I
think the structure that in manycountries, which is driven
certainly from sort of the age11 onwards is becoming quite
discipline specific, where youlearn just maths or physics, or
chemistry, or arts or design orhistory, all in isolation, I
think is, is not the way to goforward. And creativity comes by
(20:39):
looking at these problems moreholistically, and taking a more
holistic approach. And thereforeunderstanding the importance of
these range of skills iscritical if we want to be more
creative and make innovationdesign more powerful and more
effective in the world. So I'vedone some work back in Wales
(20:59):
over the last few years, there'sa new curriculum for Wales
coming out and face comes out, Ithink, in September, and it's
actually for ages four to 18.
And it's quite interestingbecause it has really changed
the structure of the curriculum,and put creativity quite at its
heart and this moreinterdisciplinary project based
(21:21):
approach. And I thinkcurriculums around the world
need to sort of move into thisthis mode more generally,
because then I think, then wewill create the next generation
of people with more naturallythose skills. You know, what,
what frustrates me at themoment, I mean, I'm a techie,
and I'm very STEM based in ascience, technology,
(21:42):
engineering, maths type,background. And I'm obviously
very pro it but it doesn't meanI'm anti arts and humanities
were designed. In fact, I'm veryproud of that, too. And we need
to have a strategy, thegovernmental level, which comes
through to the curriculum comesto an attitude of businesses,
and people in general, that ifwe're going to six need, we need
(22:04):
to recognize both are absolutelycrucial. And we're not going to
solve these technical problemsthat are often human centered by
just looking at technology orscience. So that's my my wish.
And my vision is that thecurriculums change, there's a
change of mindset, and a respectand, and a support for the arts
and design, as well as thesciences and technology, so we
(22:27):
can really make a difference. Sowe need that for leaders with
that mindset. And thatunderstanding. And we we've had
that in the past Steve Jobs, Ithink it's a perfect example of
that, where he has had thatbroader understanding and made
major shifts in in the way theproducts and services are
created, but also the way morebroadly how we can do
(22:49):
innovation, design andcreativity. So we need to see
more of that. And I think thatcomes from a sort of structure
that would support that morereadily. Rather than having the
rebels like Steve of having todo it all on them by themselves.
Roy Sharples (23:02):
Education is the key to success. And this means
modernizing an education systemthat instills creativity as a
core discipline at thegrassroots, and is nurtured
throughout the educationalsystem, which recognizes
intelligence as beingmultifaceted and embracing
emotional and socialintelligence, critical thinking,
(23:25):
and practical problem solvingthat integrates science, arts
and humanities as equal parts ofthe learning Jigsaw that
encourages learning that zigzagsacross disciplines and domains,
with continuous learningpathways that are open to anyone
willing to invest effort andtime to advance their knowledge,
(23:46):
values and skills.
Do you want to learn more abouthow to create without frontiers?
Then consider getting CREATIVITYWITHOUT FRONTIERS? How to make
the invisible visible by writingthe way into the future. It's
(24:08):
available in print and digitaland audio on all relevant book
platforms. You have beenlistening to the Unknown Origins
podcast, please follow subscriberate and review us. For more
information go tounknownorigins.com Thank you for
listening!
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