Last weekend while I was watching television I happened upon a new series called Peschardt's People on BBC World. In this series, former BBC Senior Foreign Correspondent, Michael Peschardt spends three days interviewing a person of impact in the Asia-Pacific region.
Photo Credit: BBC World
The episode that I watched was an interview filmed in Seoul with designer Kim Young Se. This synopsis from Throng describes him as "one of the world's greatest living designers" - I think it's warranted given that the guy is working on a flying car!
In the interview, Kim Young Se explains that he thinks Korean designers are successful in how they integrate their right and left brains in design - how they use their creative/emotional right brain with their analytical/technological left brain to create holistic design.
This got me thinking about how powerful this is to design in general and how the two sides work together to create something that is not only meaningful, but also useful. Consider this example:
I have a new friend from the blogosphere, Constança from the blog Saídos da Concha. Constança designs and makes everything from ring-bearer pillows to totes to clutches. Using her creative side, she has a vision for what it is she wants to make and with her right brain matches color with pattern with shape. But in order to construct the item, she must also employ her left brain to calculate yardage, analyze construction and operate machinery.
Photo Credit: Saídos da Concha
So the more I think about it, I believe it is important that we exercise both sides of our brain to maximize its capacity in the process of design and creating. In fact, I don't know how we could accomplish this with only one side or the other. All of this should go to demonstrate that the well-rounded products you are creating come from a balance of your intellect and your emotion. What a beautiful and powerful combination.
In the process of writing this post, I received a newsletter from American Writers and Artists (their newsletters are always packed with useful information for creative freelancers) about using a mind map to work more efficiently. Here is what they say about using your right and left brain to produce better results:
Traditional note taking, where you arrange ideas and concepts in a structured manner, limits you to left-brain thinking only. It’s logical and analytical.
But a mind map’s free-flowing structure takes advantage of the full range of your analytical AND creative skills by encouraging right-brain thinking and helping you think more visually.
The result? Better and more complete, more creative, results.
Intrigued? You can read the entire article from AWAI here.
The last resource I'll mention is one we've wrote about before when talking about why your creative business will succeed. In his book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink discusses why right-brained people will prosper in the coming "Conceptual Age". But he also mentions that the left-brain is significant to this So it will benefit you to explore balancing the two sides of your brain to create more holistic, cohesive design.
Any thoughts on this topic? What ways do you use your creative and analytical sides in your design process? Which do you think is stronger for you? Which do you think needs to be developed more? How do you think your work will benefit from applying both sides of your brain?
You always know of the best resources! Thank you so much for sharing.
Posted by: Ashley Brooke | May 17, 2009 at 05:41 AM