“Hey, you're creative. Got a minute?”

It's hard to "just" come up with original creative ideas, like—poof. It's a process.

As designers and design leaders, we interface with the assumption that magically birthing creative is essentially what designers do all of the time. I get that it's what things look like from the outside looking it. But in reality, design is a process. A process that is much more like completing Mad-Libs than maybe we care to admit.

The structure and scenario of the story come at the start of any project. It's our job to fill in the blanks and deliver.

Some of the blanks are filled in with a creative brief, others during the kick-off call. Then there are answers made apparent thanks to technology or trends. And, to be honest, a few blanks are filled with educated guesses. With experience, we get better at diagnosing and filling in all of the blanks. We start to recognize similarities in stories/projects and get to know what works, what doesn't, and how to serve and honor the ask. When it's just a brief watercooler conversation, this all happens very, very quickly.

It's an exercise in breaking the challenge down into digestible parts. Then putting it together again.

So the next time you pull the designer aside and say, "Hey, you're creative, got a minute?" These are the mental gymnastics that get performed. Maybe one day I'll share the funny Mad-Libs versions that didn't come out of my mouth? Maybe.