June 2018 Lighting Journal
Lighting design
Creativity is perhaps the most nebulous and abstract of all ‘commodities’ in the workplace. Understanding creativity, what it is that makes you ‘creative’, but also how creativity can be sparked, nurtured or (sometimes) diluted by the project ‘process’ is a key part of unlocking your effectiveness as a lighting designer. By Daniel Blaker
T
he expression ‘Thinking Sideways’ was coined by a group of leading strategists and logistical thinkers during the Second World War. Their aim was to create a series of elaborate counter intelligence ‘plans-withinplans’ as part of ‘Operation Bodyguard’, or the intricate deception plan implemented in the run-up to the Normandy D-Day landings of 06 June 1944 to confuse and mislead their German opponents. Through the use of double agents, misleading radio traffic and visual deception, this team’s approach was not simply to think laterally but in truly unorthodox and creative ways; they wanted to create a ‘weave’ of deception so ornate and complex that even those implementing the decoys and deceptions would only be able to see some of the threads, never the complete tapestry. This led to the use of startlingly unorthodox, and yet effective, deceptions, including the use of giant inflatable tanks and planes, so that to German air reconnaissance it appeared allied re-
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