Innovation and Creativity: Innovate by evolution

Innovation through Evolution

By Jonathan Halls

IN THIS ARTICLE:

Creativity often occurs as an evolution
The driving force is creative discontent
To evolve an idea, always ask, "how can i do this better?"

New ideas can grow out of old ideas. The motor car is a great example of this because while it never really changes its purpose, it constantly evolves.

Cars have always been used to drive us from A to B; however, over the years, the car itself has evolved. The original Model T Ford is a far cry from today’s Ford Explorer.

Even if you compare the advances between cars in the 1950s and today, you'll see how they have evolved to better meet the needs of motorists.

The contour is more streamlined, seats more comfortable and it drives faster. But guess what? Both models still get us from A to B.

Since humans began driving, new needs for comfort have evolved. Today, many cars are sold with air conditioning because passengers disliked the heat on long journeys.

Cruise control was invented because drivers found it tiring to keep their feet on the accelerator during long journeys.

Today GPS satellite navigation systems provide electronic maps and directions.

Creative Discontent

Creative evolution is driven by a sense of creative discontent. This sense is not driven by a belief that something is inherently bad but because we believe we can always do it better.

Visual design is often the recipient of evolution. Our television networks change their logos over time.

Even websites evolve their look and feel as executive producers and graphics designers work to make the site look even better and become more functional.

Television programs have evolved considerably over the years also, and some may argue that this is the result of us understanding our medium better.

When TV started, producers presented television on a step, treating it as if it was a theatre show.

Question the way you do things

As TV producers constantly questioned the way they made television, they started to incorporate interesting production methods.

TV stopped being about staging drama on a theatre stage. Producers incorporated outside broadcasts, satellite feeds, telephone inputs and video phones. This is evolution of the TV program.

Big Brother, broadcast all around the world, is a good example of a television program that has evolved from a traditional story idea into something far more complex and interactive.

In Big Brother, cameras watch a group of people live in a house together for some weeks. The audience votes to expel one or two people every week. The last person left becomes the winner.

The format uses television in a traditional non-linear way but expands the delivery and enriches the story by telling it on other platforms.

The other platforms include the Web, mobile phone text messages and interactive buttons on set-top boxes.