CREATIVE ELEMENTS

A UNIFIED THEORY OF CREATIVE ELEMENTS

Hypothesis: There are ingredients and catalysts of creative works that transcend different disciplines. (For example, concepts like symmetry, focus and contrast exist in design, music and the culinary arts, even though they appeal to different senses.)

If we can catalog and organize these core elements, we believe they can be used to better understand why certain works resonate more than others, and to inspire new creations that are original and successful. 

(Click for Interactive PDF)

This Periodic Table of Creative Elements is an early prototype (v2.0, ©2019). Like the actual Periodic Table, each item represents a simple building block that can combine with others. They are organized into columns that follow different categories such as emotions, perspectives and mathematical relationships.

We evolving this table all the time, as some concepts merge or split from others and new elements come to light. We're also exploring how to best organize these, for example whether creative ingredients (aspects of the work itself) should be distinguished from creative catalysts (things that activate and advance the creative process).

CREATIVE ELEMENTS IN ACTION

We're researching examples of creative works that reflect these elements in different combinations. We applied it to a variety of creative fields. Here are some select outputs in our initial pass:

The works given as examples for the Creative Elements are owned by, copyright, and / or trademarked by their respective owners and presented for educational purposes. The Creative Periodic Table itself is copyrighted by Gregory A. Cohen.

Got something to add to the Unified Theory of Creative Elements? Please share! Contact greg@distillingcreativity.com