World Creativity & Innovation Day: Where a Creative Path Can Take You in Life

“Curiosity about life in all of its aspects, I think, is still the secret of great creative people” - Leo Burnett

World Creativity & Innovation Day is a day which encourages every individual to reflect on how much creativity surrounds them and their daily lives which often goes unnoticed. Whether that is through the medium of problem-solving, idea generation or even possibly invention, the day is an opportunity for everybody to harness their inner creator and innovator.

To mark the day, we want to celebrate the in-house expertise of creation at Wrexham Glyndŵr University with Daniel Knox, lecturer in BA (Hons) Product Design. With a colourful background across the retail sector and a huge passion for designing, Daniel tells us all about his perceptions of creativity and where a creative path can take you in life.

- What does creativity mean to you?

For myself as a Product Designer, creativity is at the heart of everything I do. It’s the ability to be curious, be different, be better and to use my imagination. It allows me to unlock the ideas from inside my head and express them on paper, CAD (computer aided design) or through prototype modelling using a range of different materials.
This process ultimately leads me to a design solution, sometimes more refined than others. The outcome of my piece of creativity may be used in the form of a product or idea for a company I am working for at the time, or may be banked for future use. Sometimes my ideas don’t go any further than my sketch book, but the process is always fun and exciting.

- How has being creative helped you in your career so far?

Creativity has given me the ammunition and ability to express myself and my ideas in ways I wouldn’t have been able to unless I studied Product Design. As quite a shy person when I was younger, I found it difficult to express myself verbally, so I used design and sport to do this. My creativity has helped me to generate some solutions that have helped companies save millions of pounds. Most recently, my creativity has helped save millions of tonnes of plastic by changing and improving an existing design, which has been a great thing to be part of.

- What do you think is your most creative idea or piece of work?

My most creative pieces of work are probably the simplest of ones. One of my designs, the Tabluka Table, was born from a need for a simple table that I could have to the exact specifications I wanted, and not ones which were dictated to me by other manufacturers. The creativity within this piece is quite simply how it can be constructed without any tools or fixings, and then can be disassembled and used over and over again, reducing the need for waste and repurchasing.

(You can follow or check out Tabluka here on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram.)

- What is great about BA (Hons) Product Design ?

We have carefully created the BA Product Design course so that it offers a practical programme of study with design, creation, entrepreneurial and employability skills at its core. The course focuses on the high-quality practical skills needed to be a professional product designer, whilst having the key knowledge and skills to understand how a design can be produced and manufactured. We have also ensured that we employ Product Designers with a strong industrial background from global companies such as Dyson and Unilever, so the course has up to date industrial knowledge and backing.

Feeling creative and innovative? Explore the course page, to find out more about what our BA (Hons) Product Design course has to offer.