The First 10 Creative People Who Come to Mind (in no particular order of importance or stature)

1. Albrecht Dürer

2.Douglas Coupland

3. Dave Eggers

4. Edward Tufte

5. Nicholson Baker

6. Chris Ware

7. Hergé

8. Nick Bantock

9. Bruce Mau

10. Liam Lynch

This list was created very quickly and reveals more about me than it does about creativity. After a quick review I realize how highly I view authors and designers. 9 out of 10 on this list are authors, designers, or a combination of both. And then there’s Liam. I still can’t decide whether I truly like his work or am just fascinated by his ability to create volumes of material, without seeming to worry if it’s good or bad.
These people create more than they consume. Albrecht and Herge are dead, but the rest are probably working on something right now instead of watching American Idol. I would love to make a list of the top 1000 creative people in the world. We’d all need to agree on the criterion together: would it have to do with volume over time? Or based on the average critical review (like RottenTomatoes.com)? Or judgement by peers? Would we want to segment by category? Can you compare Jimmy Hendrix to Woody Allen? Would you want to?

Who are the first ten creative people to pop into your head?