After Graham Wallas · The Art of Thought, 1926
The five phases of creativity.
Every good idea goes through the same five phases. Here’s what each one looks like, and where we can help.
Creativity is a process
Good ideas rarely arrive like lightning. They move through phases, and knowing which one you’re in tells you what to do next.
- Where it comes fromGraham Wallas, The Art of Thought (1926).
- Five phasesPreparation, incubation, insight, evaluation and elaboration.
- How we use itTo shape every project, from the first call to launch and beyond.
At a glance
Five phases, one process.
They don’t always run in a straight line. Most projects loop back a few times, and that’s fine.
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Phase 01
Preparation.
Research & brainstorming
Every idea starts by filling the well: the brief, the audience, the competition, the constraints. And a lot of ideas, most of them bad. That’s the point.
What it looks like
- Research and competitor audits
- Mood boards and references
- Brainstorms with no wrong answers
- A clear brief everyone agrees on
How we help
We start every project here, before anything gets designed.
Creative DirectionResearch, positioning and a brief worth building on. Domain AcquisitionFind the right name and domain, and secure them before anyone else does. -
Phase 02
Incubation.
Stepping away
Then you step away. The problem keeps working in the background while you do something else, which is why the best idea rarely shows up on schedule.
What it looks like
- Time between rounds, on purpose
- Sleeping on it
- Working on something unrelated
- Letting the research settle
How we help
We build the gap into the schedule instead of rushing from brief to final, and we hold the problem so you can get back to running your business.
Creative DirectionThe big picture stays with us between rounds, so ideas get time to settle. BrandingConcepts get a night (or a week) before you see them. -
Phase 03
Insight.
The aha moment
The pieces click. It almost never happens at a desk, and for us it usually happens when we’re moving.
What it looks like
- The concept suddenly feels obvious
- A name, a mark or a layout that just works
- Usually mid-walk, mid-workout or mid-shower
How we help
This is where the concept arrives: the idea the rest of the work hangs on.
BrandingA name, a mark and a visual language that feel obvious once you see them. Creative DirectionThe big idea, and the art direction that carries it everywhere. -
Phase 04
Evaluation.
Criticism, testing & feedback
Not every aha survives contact with reality. Ideas get tested, criticized and pushed on, honestly, before anyone builds on them.
What it looks like
- Prototypes and clickable mockups
- Feedback from real users and your team
- Hard questions about what isn’t working
- Cutting a favourite idea when it has to go
How we help
We find the problems while they’re still cheap to fix.
Product DesignPrototypes and testing on real flows, before a line of production code. Web DesignReview rounds on real layouts, not abstract descriptions. -
Phase 05
Elaboration.
Iterating, building & refining
The longest phase, and the one most people try to skip to: building, iterating, refining, shipping, then refining again.
What it looks like
- Building the real thing
- Round after round of refinement
- Launch day
- Measuring what works, then improving it
How we help
Launch isn’t the finish line. We keep refining after you go live.
Web DesignThe site, designed and built, then kept fresh after launch. Product DesignIteration on the real product, screen by screen. Local VisibilityLocal pages and a monthly report that keep improving how you’re found.
Where it comes from
A hundred-year-old idea that still works.
In 1926, the English social psychologist Graham Wallas, a co-founder of the London School of Economics, published The Art of Thought. It was one of the first attempts to describe the creative process step by step, drawn from how inventors, scientists and artists said their best ideas actually arrived.
Wallas named four stages. Later writers, most famously the psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, split the last one in two, which gives the five phases most people use today.
Wallas, 1926
PreparationIncubationIlluminationVerificationThe five phases
PreparationIncubationInsightEvaluationElaboration
Your move
Which phase are you in?
Tell us where your project is, or where it’s stuck. We’ll tell you how we’d help, what it costs and when we could start.