Music, Mood and Creativity

Music is part of our daily lives, and it has great impact on us and our emotions. Our creativity on the other hand is influenced by music and our mood as well. Especially people working in creative fields rely on their creativity to function but yet do not use music as a tool to enhance their creative experiences intentionally. This thesis aims to understand the connections of music, mood and creativity and develop possibilities for a contribution from a design perspective.

Research

This thesis investigates the connection between music, mood and creativity and how they influence each other. The following questions will guide this research project:

How can music and mood regulation enhance the creative experience?

How can music help creative practitioners overcome challenges throughout the creative experience?

The framework

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Music, mood and creativity are interconnected, and they influence each other. With the help of music, we can guide our thoughts, imagine freely, and get into an inspirational state, while it also regulates our mood, so we are emotionally able to be creative.

We can pick music according to our current mood or to change it on purpose. However, our mood influences our creativity, as certain levels of arousal and positive moods enhance creativity, while other emotional states counteract it. Creative blocks occur frequently in the creative process and usually lead to negative emotions such as fear or anger.

Music can help to lift our mood, so we become more open to new ideas and more motivated to start working, because dopamine is being released when we listen to music we enjoy. Especially during phases when creatives use divergent thinking, music can provide additional support. On the other hand, we need a certain degree of creativity to process and understand music cognitively.

Enjoyment is a major factor in this constellation. It is important to use music that is enjoyable in order to evoke positive emotions and seek inspiration. But also, being creative, being in the flow, provides joy to inspired creators, which then produce works that inspire others.

Listening to music enhances the creative experience, by regulating moods, inspiring new ideas and providing enjoyment. As a tool it can be used to overcome creative blocks and reduce frustration during the creative process.

Design Process

The following steps were part of the design process:

1. Personas, Journeys, HMW-Questions

2. Ideation & Concept Development

3. Moodboard & Sketching

4. Illustration

5. Prototyping, Shadowing & User Testing

6. Screendesign

The Creative Cosmos

In this concept you travel from one planet to the next and discover new music, ideas and methods to enhance your creativity. The planets symbolize parts of the creative experience like creative blocks, fixation, focus and so on.

When visiting a planet, the user enters a landscape to explore. There, users will find hidden objects that reveal either information, creative tasks, or music.

Each planet also offers a reward to the user when they finish it and after they discovered all objects. They can download it and use it as background image on their computer or smartphone for example.

The design part is now completed though some content is still missing for the final website. All components have come together to build the creative cosmos and provide a playful experience with detailed illustrations, a good mood and fantastic music to enjoy.

You can explore the cosmos yourself:

https://xd.adobe.com/view/4625c6e2-841c-44c4-b10e-74330e06c82c-1376/?fullscreen