Page 203 - Design meets Business:An Ethnographic Study of the Changing Work and Occupations of Creatives

5. Discussion 191
artifacts not only to trigger creativity and play, but also to differentiate their workspace from the corporate offices of clients. In these chapters it is also suggested that creatives do tasks they previously relate to business activities and are not oriented at triggering creativity, such as competitive analysis, presenting for clients and making business models. Finally, in Chapter 4, it is suggested that for creatives it is important to build a broad network and so that they cannot only get access to better funding oppor- tunities but also to connect their clients to a group of like-minded others.
While this dissertation research highlights the importance of stud- ying mundane activities of creatives, I do not suggest that creatives do not involve in creative processes at all. In fact, various studies in this dissertation highlight the importance for creatives to be creative them- selves. For example, Chapter 2 suggests that for designers it is important to be involved in creative processes, as this helps them connect to their craft. Also, Chapter 4 suggests that when creatives strongly disengage in projects, their clients can feel lost instead of encouraged, and the benefits of liminality can be hampered. Taken together, this dissertation empha- sizes the importance of studying activities of creatives other than those oriented at generating creativity, and in particularly shifts attention to how creatives take distance from creative processes and put others at the center of creativity as they offer ‘creativity as a service’ to their business clients.
5.2.2. Illuminating the link between creativity and liminality
Adopting a broader definition of what creatives do, also helps deve- loping a more comprehensive understanding of creativity. Creativity is commonly understood as ‘idea generation’ or collaborative practices that lead to the birth of new ideas (Amabile 1996; Hargadon & Bechky 2006) or to bring such ideas to fruition (Lingo & O’Mahony 2010). This disser- tation research adds to such explanations, by building on existing studies (Howard-Grenville et al. 2013; Swan et al. 2016) and defining creativity as a process of liminality, a transformative process in which people move away from what they know and explore alternative realities. In Chapter 4, I show that creatives can act as ceremony masters and help their clients become creative through facilitating liminality. It is here suggested that their clients are ‘liminal’ when they experience ambiguity, community and freedom, elements that are also necessary to kickstart creativity and think beyond existing structures.
Further, this dissertation adds to theory on liminality by showing how liminality can be facilitated. While attention for liminality in the creativity literature is increasing (Howard-Grenville et al. 2013; Swan