Janice Creative Process

Ross Hunter and I formed Graven Images Limited when we left Glasgow School of Art almost ten years ago. Forming the company was an alternative to going on an industrial placement while on the MA Design course. We had both been offered employment elsewhere but decided to see if we could make a go of it in Glasgow as we had nothing to lose and it was an opportunity to see if a multi-disciplinary, European design consultancy could work. It did and we brought in other people to work with. We have graphic designers, interior designers and an architect all working together.

Central to my belief, and all we do at Graven Images, is a shared understanding of what we mean by the term ‘design’. Most of the problems designers have, our current lack of power and achievement, stems from our inability to understand what we do and how we can help make the world a better place. We, as designers, fail to explain this to the wider public, who are subsequently right to distrust us.

I believe that architects and fine artists are also designers as we share the same creative process before we are named after a specific specialist skill such as sculptor, architect, graphic designer.

The creative process is about the ordering, interpretation and manipulation of ideas – the process of designing a train, a book or a building is essentially the same, except that the technical constraints differ. The creative process is essentially the same as the process an artist uses to produce art, this process is made up of ‘intuition’ or ‘taste’ and qualified or underpinned by analytical method, such as colour theory, psychology or sociology.

The production of art sometimes involves more intuition and less analytical method than architecture and design, but not always. I firmly believe that artists, architects and designers would find it easier to explain to other people, our clients, what it is we do if we would only recognise the common ground we share rather than pigeon-holing ourselves according to our preferred specialism.

Design, as well as being a clearly understood and well documented process is a powerful tool for revealing change. The ‘creative process’ is also described as ‘the controlled evolution of ideas’, bringing order out of apparent chaos, creating cities out of a confusion of dust and ritual. The creative process helps us make sense out of the world around us and presents information in a structure which we can understand and manipulate. It makes magicians out of all of us and allows us to wield powers which can evoke change. We have the power to reveal only the things we wish the rest of the world to see. I think it’s really important that designers understand that design is a political activity and that we can create wealth and enhance peoples lives.

Scotland is a poor country and it desperately needs to manufacture …  director, Graven Images: “A big part of being successful is to remind yourself of what you’re best at and what makes you happiest.”