Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention

This week, the lecturer gave a lecture about these 4 words - novelty, creativity, innovation and invention. The first is novelty. Novelty is the quality of being new or unusual. According to wikipedia, the term novelty can have pejorative sense and refer to a mere innovation.

Example of Novelty

A chair in the shape of a hand

source : http://www.furnitureinfashion.net/images/blue-novelty-chairs-fu126bl.jpg



Second is creativity. Wikipedia states that creativity is a mental process involving the discovery of new ideas or concepts, or new associations of the existing ideas or concepts.

Example of Creativity :

An ad for the "Zen" mp3 player

source : http://www.creative.com/images/products/mp3/zenvisionm/wallpapers/wp800_zenvisionm_1.jpg



Third is innovation. Innovation is the act of introducing or doing something new. According to wikipedia, innovation may refer to an incremental emergent or radical and revolutionary changes in thinking, products, processes, or organizations.

Example of innovation :

A billboard ad

source : https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbC1bP1apfFyyhhm2ZqG7bp29IypQ-QoiZa875GO69HzpdOOvZyuuFFjQT2dlI5pP5uuM9c4RJy2RP3eekbCSjGS7ng56Eo3VX3U3fBOOhaQVRcjtAnL9LucDKtBi0XF8geOxTgEmSbRqi/s400/billboardAd.jpg


Fourth is invention. An invention is a new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation. Inventions often extend the boundaries of human knowledge or experience.

Example of invention :

An invention of a tea-bag holder

source : http://www.dailycognition.com/content/image/8/MakingTeaInvention.png


The lecture is basically explaining the importance of novelty, creativity, innovation and invention. We must not miss out these 4 important "concepts" in our works (as a designer).