A method for evaluating the creativity of comic strips

Creativity evaluation is critical to product production. This study proposed a scientific-based approach for evaluating creativity. We proposed to determine objectively the creativity level of a comic strip by measuring the degree of diversity of links distribution of Linkography. In Linkography, each move recorded in a graph denotes a concept or idea, and a link represents a connection between two moves, producing a kind of undirected triangular graph. Linkography was originally invented for recording concepts in a collaborative design. Similar to collaborative design, key frames in an animation can be viewed as moves in Linkography. Two experiments were performed to test this approach. Several comic strips were chosen as experiment material and three experts were invited to participate in study 1. In a Linkography, average distance between cluster centers (AD) and the coefficient of variance of number of links (CV) were defined as two creativity indicators and determined by solving the five equations which represents the creativity level of five comic strips. The experiment in study 2 was conducted to verify the effectiveness of AD and CV. Comparing the results of questionnaires with the creativity as calculated by indicators AD and CV; over seventy percent of the results generated from the two methods were consistent. The results of the two studies confirm that the clustering method and the two creativity indicators, AD and CV, are feasible for evaluating the creativity level of a comic strip.