On the process of creativity in puzzles, inventions, and designs

The most common means of identifying creativity has been through its products. In architecture, music, writing, art, even puzzle solving and scientific discovery, the prerequisite for considering creativity has been the presence of a creative product. Alternatively, anecdotal descriptions have been used to identify processes that are considered creative. Many scientific discoveries have been linked to a sudden realization or unexplainable revelation punctuated with the AHA! response. Outside of the creative product itself and the AHA! response, the kinds of concrete evidence that point to the process of creativity are precious few. Our purpose here is to further examine these phenomena and develop hypotheses about the nature of the creative process. Our ultimate aim is to develop a general theory of creativity. We intend to base this theory on a set of conditions that are necessary for the creative process to take place in a number of domains: puzzles, scientific discoveries, and design, with special emphasis on architectural design.

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