Tips on Thinking Creatively to Solve Problems
By Adi Permana
Editor Vera Citra Utami
BANDUNG, itb.ac.id – We are often faced with a series of new and unexpected problems, such as the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Because of that, we need to have a creative way of thinking to solve this issue. It is the main topic that was presented by Dr. Dwinita Larasati, S.Sn., M.A. on a webinar titled "Creative Thinking on Daily Basis" on Saturday (5/6/2021). This webinar is a pre-event to Woka Voka, a series of academic exhibition events by TPB FSRD 2020.
Kak Tita – Dr. Dwinita's nickname – recount her experiences on creative thinking during her time as a student of the Undergraduate Program in Product Design at ITB and as an associate at Bandung Creative City Forum (BCCF). The changing time has forced BCCF to change its way of emulating creativity in Bandung. "We call it creative thinking because we can use it everywhere," said Kak Tita in her opening speech.
To emulate one change, Kak Tita said that we can initiate it by making a model or a prototype. A Prototype will give us a preview of whether the output of our creative thinking is feasible or not, this process is the essence of design thinking. According to her, design thinking is when the usual creative thinking is done by an artist or a designer and is applied in fields other than art and design in an aim of creating innovation.
Kak Tita explained that to successfully implement our capability to other people which already have different self-expression, we can map our potency and the public potency beforehand, and then try to connect those potencies to their respective roles. The next step is to collaborate with the public, it can be done by developing a new product, rebranding, etc. If it is ready, the collaboration output can be exposed to the public. In doing those processes, we need to keep in mind what the community really needs.
As a closing remark, Kak Tita shares her tips on how to consistently enhance our creativity. "Don't make an excuse that creativity only comes when your mood is right, or there is a sudden inspiration, or there is an offer from an institution. Yes, those factors can cause a spark, but the real deal is to find a way so that we would never hit a slump," said her.
When we start to hit a dead end, Kak Tita advises us to take some time off the project that we are currently working on, do not push your brain to keep dwelling on that thing over and over. By working on a different thing for a while, sometimes a solution can appear. Moreover, there is a time that we need to think divergently by looking for as many alternatives as possible, and there is a time that we need to stop considering other alternatives and proceed to do critical thinking to find a more convergent and focused solution.
Reporter: Ristania Putri Wahyudi (Mathematics, 2019)
Translator: Favian Aldilla (Civil Engineering, 2019)
