The creative process refers to the phases that must be followed to apply creativity and to generate ideas based on a challenge or a problem to be resolved. The creative process consists of the three following phases:
- Analysis of the creative challenge faced and the environment for which creative ideas need to be generated. This phase features the use of tools of analysis to ask questions and analyse the causes of the challenge or problem.
- Generation of ideas, also known as the divergent phase. This phase features the use of tools to generate ideas. Ideas should not be judged in this phase, which is intended to generate as many ideas as possible.
- Evaluation and selection of ideas, also called the convergent phase, which consists in selecting the best ideas. This phase features the use of both subjective and objective criteria for assessing and classifying ideas and filtering the best ones.
The creative process should take place in different creativity sessions or workshops with teams of around six participants whose profiles are different in order to encourage diversity. These workshops should be staggered over time to encourage time for reflection among them and to foster unconscious creativity that, unlike the conscious creativity that emerges during the workshops, can arise at any time through ideas that form in our subconscious.