Customer Reviews

The Creative Process Illustrated: How Advertising's Big Ideas Are Born

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I just finished reading this book from front to back. It was very interesting and a lot of fun.

One thing you'll learn is that the creative process, as described by James Webb Young in his 1965 book A Technique for Producing Ideas, is the same for all the people who contributed to The Creative Process Illustrated. They all just quote Young in illustrated format, using fish or networks or ink blots, and some of them don't even seem aware that they're using Young's technique at all. This was probably the most profound insight in this book.

In short, The Creative Process Illustrated is the long scenic route through Young's technique. Young's book is the shortcut. Some people like long, scenic drives, and others don't. If you're in doubt, get both books and go from there.

I love this book. You can see how different a creative mind thinks compared to another. There's an irreverent and very human side of the designers revealed through their sketches/notes/explanations of the creative process, and you can tell by the cover. The only thing I don't love about this book is its size. The pages are too large and I cannot carry it around without bending its corners. Other than that, it is an excellent book. If you're looking for a more serious, text-only book I recommend Millman's How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer.

This book falls into the category of, "Why didn't anyone think of this before?" Griffin and Morrison asked rock stars of the advertising industry to draw the process of how they come up with the ideas that influence popular culture through advertising. It's incredible to see how so many exceptionally creative people think, and it's nothing short of amazing that they can conceptualize the process for us in pictures. The authors' analysis of the process behind creativity is thought-provoking and inspiring.

A great read for anyone who's in the advertising field or studying advertising as a major, but also entertaining and informative for the intelligent layperson.

I predict that this book will be talked about for years to come and will establish itself as a staple of advertising education.

full disclosure: I am in this book. But if you cut out the 4 pages I'm mentioned on, this book still offers some amazing insights into the creative process. It's full of genuinely interesting insights, peeks into the minds of some of advertising's most brilliant and successful minds, moments of fantastic humor (I love David Horridge's photo) and is just a wonderful pleasure to look at. But the book's real value to anyone in a creative industry is knowing that others out there are suffering with you and getting their advice on how to keep trying and get to great work.

Full disclosure: I am not in modern advertising in any way professionally. I do spend a lot of time in the arena of creativity-for-money.

In the knitting world, E. Zimmerman taught me to calculate the value of a book of knitting patterns by the cost of the book divided by the number of patterns I would actually knit. Applying that math to The Creative Process, Illustrated yields 35 pages of fabulous information, and 35 interesting portraits. At the cover price, that works out to somewhat less than $0.71 per useful-to-me page. I think it's a pretty good value, and of course, you can get the book for less than the MSRP.

Unfortunately, some of the illustrations are reproduced at a size that's too small for my old eyes to read comfortably. Perhaps that's ok. They're not really intended to be read, exactly, as much as "looked at."

Maybe if I were an advertising professional, I would have found the text--both intro, about the process of teaching advertising students, middle--about the contributors (feels like RFP bio material), and end--different slices through the creative process as presented by the contributors--more engaging. As it is, I bought the book for the illustrations, and secondarily for the portraits. Skimmed the text to find it not very helpful, and likely won't look at it again. Would have loved more illustrations, printed on a bigger spread.

In many other creative fields, ideas are easy, and implementation / execution is the hard part. It would appear that in professional advertising, it's the "generating ideas on demand" part that's harder, or at least, more mysterious. While there are one or two specific approaches I may try out for myself, most of the value for me is in reinforcement of the huge amount of mystery behind good ideas. It is possible to fertilize and care for the field, certainly--but the eventual harvest is almost always a surprise.

Although this was an assigned text for my Graphic Design course, I did find it both informative and entertaining. The process for each of the professionals was detailed in their own illustrative and written form. Really, anyone who couldn't find something in common with at least a few of these talented designers shouldn't be in the creative field at all. Definately worth reading for anyone who plans to go into the advertising or graphic design fields.

As a young teacher in creative advertising, my students and I both have one thing in common. Every time we find ourselves stuck we ask the same question of our mentors. "Help me figure out how my brain works and how I can use it better to do something I love." What are we trying to do better? The art of Creativity.

Griffin and Morrison don't try to teach you how to be creative. And they shouldn't - creative advertising isn't a science that can mastered with empirical knowledge. Instead, they take a fresh approach and observe how industry gurus get the job done.

Griffin provides insights from some 30 odd professionals in the field. This isn't another best of book that lets creative examples run the show. Instead, this book provides fresh focus on accomplished practitioners and their creative processes. Why? Well personally I feel anyone can Google and find thousands of great portfolios. If you're looking examples of creative work, they're not hard to find. What you will not find in a portfolio is candid discussion on that artist got the job done.

What makes the light bulb go off? What ignites good creative? I feel there is no answer to this question. What sparks the most creative of people? This answer can be found time and again in "The Creative Process Illustrated."

This collection gives those outside of the advertising industry a look into the incredible, odd, wonderful creative process that goes on while making those damn advertisements. It gives those INSIDE the ad industry a look at how the leaders and members of some of the biggest and best agencies do their work. I recommend this book for INSIDERS, OUTSIDER and anyone looking to be inspired, inside and out.

A place for inspiration, ideation and raw creativity. Griffin and Morrison bring together some of the greatest creative brains of this generation and let us wander around inside their creative processes. Simply brilliant. I've bought copies for everyone in our creative services studio.

It is unusual to find an in-depth summation of major creativity theories embedded in a text focused in a related discipline. Not only does the Griffin text accomplish this, but the design and industry suggestions are awesome!

Fredricka K. Reisman, Ph.D.
Professor, Goodwin College of Professional Studies
Director Drexel/Torrance Center for Creativity and Innovation
Drexel University