Flow: an exploration of the mindsets and behaviours of designers in their creative ecosystem

Abstract

How Designers transcend the barriers to creativity to achieve an ideal state of flow during their creative process? Tracing parallels between Design education and industry-based practice, Flow is an article that explores the mindsets and behaviours of Designers in their ecosystems and the challenges surrounding them. The exploratory journey advanced in the manuscript is based on foundational art essays blended with different points of view from traditional designers and Positive Psychology concepts. Aditionally, it builds on the author’s previous research developed on Flow and aimed to challenge paradigms and contrast core design principles and philosophies. Its purpose is to better understand what are the tensions between the different creative processes like the individual spark of creativity, the playful serendipity, the inventor’s light bulb, the apprentice master craftsmanship model and other contemporary methodologies such as Design Thinking and Agile. Nevertheless, it inspect how all of these approaches relates to the context of the designers’ ecosystem and the challenges they face when designing. As a piece of research, Flow does not offer final crystalised answers or solutions yet instead poses critical questions and offers an open dialogue with diverse points of view.