STEREOTYPES AROUND CAMPUS

Typecasting TEKO University. Let Me Give You a Tour!

Innovation. Inspiration. Creativity. We toss those words around daily. Are they just fancy ways to say ‘I’ve had an idea?’ Those of us who are marketers, designers and engineers are often labeled as creative. But what do people mean by that? There’s a widely-held and poorly-articulated image of the stereotypical creative person floating about in our culture. Is it Daniel Libeskind? Albert Einstein? A fellow student who I sat next to yesterday?

After meeting and interacting with many creative types over the years, I’ve had to continually expand my definition of what creativity looks like. Sure, sometimes it manifests itself in the traditional way: creating something out of nothing. That lightning bolt of inspiration, or ideas from out of the blue! But other times, being creative is a slogging, noodling process that develops at a snail’s pace. This isn’t to denigrate the classical creative mold, or to lower the bar in defining what we see as creative. It just means that there are different types of creative people and methods out there, and that we don’t all fit into the same mold.

To sow the seeds of discussion, I’ve identified, with the help of my awesome student friends and colleagues, eight unique types of creativity, knowing full well that these people exhibit multiple facets and bleed into different categories. But given the stereotypes our school departments custom, tell me, have you found yours yet?

The FASHION DESIGNER

While good fashion design will never bring about world peace, it can make a person feel better and empowered. It was only obvious that fashion and appearance would be a logical progression from these descriptive words. The Fashion Designers are able to keep one foot firmly planted in the real world, while poking their heads through the looking glass of fantasy. They crane their necks to see beyond the boundaries of reality, and then snap back to the world as we know it and share their fashionable insight. This creative type’s output has a focus in detail, high quality, possibly bordering on perfectionism. Moreover, when they feel like their creative juices are drying up, or when they’re prevented from expressing themselves artistically, they may fall into a deep introversion. Always caught in sown-at-the-crack-of-dawn personal designs, they are the ones who people want to be friends with and share ideas with. Hell, some even want to be like them! But not all of us are able to, I’m sorry. Not everyone can tell the difference between lawn and cambric.

The BRANDER & MARKETER

A mobile game that has topped the charts, tests whether brand recall exists without a brand's defining characteristic - its name. It poses an interesting question for marketers, too: Is your brand identity so strong that people can identify it merely from the trade dress, without seeing the name? What about the people studying Branding and Marketing? Can they be identifiable without any book titles, like ‘Building Strong Brands’ peaking out of their bags? It seems so, by only with their look of I-can-make-you-rich-let’s-run-a-business-together after only seeing your napkin doodle. It seems that fashion research and marketing, and creating unique brand identities that are recognizable and desirable to the public, is what Branders and Marketers do best. They compile their findings, opinions and ideas into graphs, charts and written explanations like no other, and can pursue you into doing something, even if it doesn’t benefit them personally. They are progressive, stubborn and supreme idealists. And also the CEOs of their own company: Me Inc.

The PATTERN DESIGNER

When you look at one of these people, you might not see a traditional creative type. There’s no genre-inventing or trendsetting happening in front of them. Instead, the Pattern Designer is someone who draws on the knowledge, styles, and thoughts of others - remixing, reworking, and building them into better structured things. But make no mistake about it! These creative minds combine playfulness with antithesis of endurance, doggedness, and perseverance. Having as a second mother tongue programs like Gerbers Technology Accumark, Pattern Designers can immediately picture the high-level design in their heads, after referring to the name of a particular pattern. Being the technical backbone to the manufacturing process that goes around in design, they are also great at maintaining a more efficient communication between designers. They show a tendency for being both conservative and rebellious, traditional and extraordinary. They recognize that failing to stretch one’s boundaries causes stagnation, leaving the world unchanged, while at the same time, knowing that constant risk-taking rarely fosters novelty or improvement.

The PURCHASER

The majority of this creative type is exceptionally passionate about what they do, while at the same time, they can display an extreme degree of objectivity. Without passion, they lose interest in difficult creative tasks, and without objectivity, the task lacks credibility and may end up not very good. Those combining education in fashion merchandising and business are needed to held accountability and profitability of stores, negotiating with suppliers and orchestrating the sales force, back office support staff and security departments into a cohesive and successful team. ‘Oh, hello! In need of a supplier? A statistic? A pat on the back?’ The Purchasers are viewed as little brainy accountants, the glue that holds everything together. They give, they struggle, they find a way to make it happen and they keep their head focused no matter what. So whenever there is an important project that ends with finances and budget plans, we can all admit to the craziness that is revolving around finding an available purchaser. Don’t take it the wrong way; is it only that you are so much better than the rest of us?

The RETAILER

The only creative type drawn a little bit more into interior design than the rest of the fashion pack, The Retailers are those engaged in the sale of goods and services directly to the ultimate consumers; they are those also in charge with designing the stores windows and plan the layout of it in order to appeal customers in, and who are determined to communicate their design skills, education and business acumen as professional visual merchandisers. Drawing by day and carving wood by night, as some would say, this creative type is expected to learn the views of what the design process entails and how to justify the selection of a variety of finishes, taking into awareness the value of the field of interior design. Always on the watch for innovative interior aesthetics, from wall colors, window treatments to pillow patterns, that would be just scratching the surface of what a retailer can add to the designer-customer relationship. They go beyond cosmetic concerns to ensure that a space feels harmonious through and through, as much in retail channels as they do in life, for the people around them.

The BUSINESS ECONOMIST

Well, well, don’t these Business Economists look very dapper indeed in their fancy little suits and shiny shoes as they head to these big important business meetings? Ahem, not really, because these are still infants-businessmen and women, still running around from lecture to lecture and class to class in their frumpy little sneakers, with no appearance of any cufflink whatsoever. But their strong presence surpasses any fashion rule. Economics is not a collection of facts to be written down and memorized, in the same way as they cannot be judged on the basis of the right shirt and trouser. They have the ability and knowledge to combine economic analysis with the practical aspects of business, while working daily with high-levels of calculus and linear algebra. Business Economists study the ways that society distributes scarce resources and conducts research and learn how to advise all sorts of organizations and trade associations, on issues such as inflation, employment level and interest rates. So yes, if you are looking for the ones who walk with numbers and equations above their heads, it’s them. But if he tells you to get tea instead of coffee in the morning, you should better listen. They are the people of tomorrow after all.

The MULTIMEDIA COMMUNICATOR

Master writers and communicators 3.0 for print, online, social media and multimedia – a person to grab someone’s attention for a change nowadays. Multimedia Communicators and Creators use digital communications methods to create any variety of entertainment, graphic design, or artistic productions. You may not see them in a museum if there aren’t any video installations and interactive works of art, or devouring hardcover paper volume of obscure French philosophy, unless it’s on an e-book. They see beyond what’s normal and regular, everything is a 3D virtual reality for them. This new, exciting and continually evolving field is nearly impossible to define or set bounds for it, as it is the land of creative ideas and experiments. And who is best at connecting the creative message and technology, with a strong dose of vigor, discipline and passion, than the ones who are trained to combine aesthetics, user-centered design and social interactivity to come up with something so spectacular?

The MANUFACTURING ENGINEER

Admit it. From the day you peered into Steve Job’s frameless spectacles, you’ve ached to look more like him, as if ‘I’m brainy and brilliant and you’re not.’ Well, luckily this stereotype has already mapped the essential strategy to be considered hip, innovative and a tad more intelligent than the rest of the crowd, by only with their look of angst, as if the technological fate of the world lay in their not-so-moisturized hands. The Manufacturing Engineers combine mathematics, science and economics to solve technical problems facing society, while baffling maintaining a deep fascination and love for Star Trek. For them all that matters in the universe can be placed into one of two categories: things that need to be fixed and things that will need to be fixed after they’ve had a few minutes to play with them. They like to solve problems. If there are no problems handily available, they will create their own. Other people don't understand this concept; they believe that if it’s not broke, don't fix it. Well, Engineers believe that if it’s not broke, it means that it doesn't have enough features yet. For them, the world is a box full of sub-optimized and feature-poor toys.

Again, these creative categorizations are not hard and fast representations. Many of us exhibit multiple qualities in lesser or greater amounts, but these creations might be a helpful visualization for every individual to acknowledge how she/he may be perceived from outside.

Focus Student Magazine

Published Spring 2013