Eiffel Over

Tag: PatternMixing

  • Not leaving good ideas to chance

    If we are trying to make the world better, then we need a creative strategy. Design involves two modes of thought: divergent and convergent. The divergent part helps us figure out what might be possible. The convergent part turns that possibility into a plan for action.

    A bad idea well executed is still a bad idea. We need creative thinking in the divergent mode to generate new possibilities, so we can choose the best available idea in the circumstances. 

    Some ideas do come about by accident, but leaving the groundbreaking thinking to chance is not a plan for success. 

    If we don’t have a creative strategy for solving a client’s design brief, then we might lose a client. But if the problem we are trying to solve is much bigger, like how do we bend the construction industry into being an ecological force for good, then we have much more to lose if we don’t have a creative strategy. 

    Yesterday’s riff on beer brewing gives us some clues about what that strategy might involve: 

    • We need to understand the existing system.
      We need to connect to patterns of the past. Ways of doing things that have worked before. 
    • We need to connect to patterns of the future. As the expression goes, the future is not evenly distributed. If we look, we can find examples of the future already in the present.
    • We need to learn from patterns that work – for example, understanding how living systems thrive within their ecosystem limits. 

    Above all, we need to give structure to this creative work. Because if we don’t design our creative process, then we leave change to chance. 

  • Pattern mixing lessons from Bristol’s brewers

    Bristol’s craft brewers are constantly experimenting – mixing patterns to create something new. Over the years I’ve been fortunate to facilitate workshops for teams from local breweries, which has given me some insight into their creative work.

    This flair for invention shines through in the descriptions of their attention-grabbing brews: espresso martini stout; gluten-free pale ale; or even key lime pie IPA. Each of these is a fusion of existing patterns to create something that sounds fresh. 

    But there are other versions of this creative process at play beyond mixing unusual flavour combinations.

    Forwards to the past

    Another mode of creation is to bring back something from the past and make it fashionable again. 

    A recent trend is for craft brewers to resurrect from obscurity the ‘mild’, a largely forgotten-about old-man beer. Here the mix is to take a pattern from the past and put it into the pattern of the modern-day tap room.

    Continuous remixing

    Sometimes, the creative mode is to continuously evolve and update an existing product. 

    When I arrived in Bristol 6 years ago brewers Wiper and True ran a beer called Quintet, which was intended to be a continuously evolving blend of five hops chosen on the basis of seasonal availability. With each creative step, the existing blend of hops is one pattern, the new hop is the other pattern and the new mix is the new pattern.

    Creatively staying the same

    Finally, there is a mode of creation that aims to keep things the same. 

    Many microbreweries strive to have a core beer that they can sell to the supermarkets. The large orders that the supermarkets make  give these small businesses a reliable revenue stream that enables them to grow. But one thing these large retailers don’t want is for the product to change. 

    So if a brewery wants to introduce new processes for reducing the carbon footprint of their core beer, they have to do so in a way that doesn’t change the product. In this case, they might have to change their pattern of ingredients and pattern of brewing with the aim of creating something that was the same as before.

    In these examples we have seen four creative modes:

    • Mixing previously unconnected patterns. 
    • Mixing patterns of past and present. 
    • Continuously remixing to update the present. 
    • Or creating new mixtures that keep things the same.

    Whether we are fermenting or cementing, the key to creativity is pattern mixing.