Christopher Meyer

How does creativity play a role in "design strategy"?
Creativity in nature proceeds by the recombination of diverse inputs (if your cells have a nucleus, you call this "sex") followed by selection, red in tooth and claw.  Leaving meatspace, the same applies: genetic algorithms create innovative designs for jet engines (at General Electric) and for individuals in art museums (Karl Sims) using binary code in silico instead of the four-valued GATC code in vivo.

So: the role of creativity in design strategy is to generate the "requisite variety" of possibilities, — some very far from the ultimate solution — but nonetheless contributing to the recombinany process. And the role of strategy is to provide the rules of selection, an evaluation of the "fitness" of each possibility. To be effective, the two must relate through a process that welcomes both the divergent and convergent activities, and the personalities that thrive on each.

—    Christopher Meyer, Chief Executive, Monitor Networks

 

Comments

[beats headphones]

how lovely and timely to have come upon the lwa! just yesterday i posted the charles and ray eames stamp sheet on my blog and uncovered my stash of commemorative sheets and scanned them all intending to post them.