Creative navigation

Creative Compass

Not a project-management stage. The Compass is the creative navigation used as something moves toward purposeful work — four directions to be faced, not steps to be completed.

Original artwork by Linda Stanley Sewell.Tap to view larger.
Direction 1

Imagine

Let the material arrive without judgement.

Ideas, sketches, wandering, collection.

Direction 2

Design

Study, arrange, and choose the approach.

Studies, research, decisions, materials.

Direction 3

Create

Make the work with sustained attention.

Projects, tasks, sessions, revision.

Direction 4

Share

Release it and let it be seen.

Gallery, publication, teaching, exchange.

Imagine → Design → Create → Share → and around again.

Thresholds

● Decided

The four crossings on Linda's original artwork: Choose, Commit, Release, Reflect. Held loosely, not final doctrine.

Choose

Something is taken up rather than merely noticed.

Commit

Attention and time are actually given.

Release

It leaves the hands and goes into the world.

Reflect

What happened is looked at, learned from, and folded back in.