Creative Juices Flowing
by Alex in General, Life and Learning / 08.18.08
There is a fantastic article in The New York Times this morning about technology companies that are starting to ‘train’ their employees by allowing them to tinker - not digitally, in some sort of CAD or design software, but with their hands. And, they’re not always creating something that is particularly relevant to their jobs. The importance of creating using real-world materials and our hands is making a resurgence in our culture, and I, for one, am both thrilled and relieved.
I easily recognize the difference that hands-on creativity makes in my life. After a long day staring at a computer screen, it energizes me to come home and work on a craft project, or a home renovation project (of which there are many in my house), or even to go out and dig in the garden. And, when I fall into those ruts of coming home, day after day, and checking-out in front of a computer screen, I can feel how drained and uninspired I feel the next day. I am a creative tinker-er at heart, and always have been. Even as an adolescent, I always had something in my hands as I sat in front of the TV with my parents.
It is now easy to recognize that I am not the only one who feels this revitalization from using my hands. The popularity of magazines like Craft and Make, as well as a groundswell in the DIY, handmade, and craft movements seem to be a widespread recognition by our culture that life is not as fulfilling spent solely in front of a screen, be it a computer, TV, or video game. Our minds are fed by the movement of our hands and the learning we gain through senses that go underutilized with digital technology-in particular tactile, but also olfactory, auditory, and even our sense of taste. Let’s face it, there is a huge difference between typing out a recipe for a blog, and actually baking a pie.
And employers, too, seem to be taking notice of this fact. While there is still a question as to the productivity of allowing designers and engineers to ‘tinker’ on the job, some companies, like Adobe, are starting to recognize the benefits. Several universities, such as MIT, recognize the fact that engineers very often don’t have real-world experience making things. MIT has started a class called How To Make (Almost) Anything to give its students the hands-on experience creating what they crave and need. This just makes sense to me… How can an engineer effectively design without having his or her hands on the materials? Having a conceptual understanding of a materials’ properties is vastly different than holding it in your hands, feeling it, drilling it, manipulating it. This is true for almost any industry. Productivity is always increased when the left hand communicates and understands the right (and vice versa). Take MindBites, for instance. If the marketing team doesn’t understand the process our production team goes through with filming, editing, and uploading videos, then we set unrealistic expectations for when we can promote certain lessons. And if we spend our days coding and sending emails instead of getting our hands dirty making our own MindBites, then we certainly can’t understand what our authors go through when filming, editing, and publishing on our site.
Wow that is really interesting. For me hands on creativity breaks is essential in keeping my sanity. I’m glad that companies are starting to recognize this!