Creative links & random places of interest
For anyone who follows me on Twitter the links below may be familiar as I habitually tweet articles of creative interest from across the net. For everyone else here’s some of the things I’ve been reading over the last few weeks. If you want more of the same feel free to follow me http://twitter.com/nickballdesign .
- Charming lecture by John Cleese reflecting on his creative process and encouraging us to “Create a tortoise mind enclosure”
- What comes first, product, or audience? Neither it’s the problem. Brilliant article by Tom on BrandSavant that makes a very good argument for starting with the problem when approaching a creative challenge.
- 10 inspiring quotes for when you find yourself struggling with your creativity.”Creativity is more than just being different. Making the simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity.”
- Brilliant article by Chunka Mui which discusses, among other things, if being openly creative might well be a career-limiting move.
- Telegraph article on Milton Glaser’s feel-good design and the world’s most imitated logo. “Through the history of symbolism, the things that move us have a largely unconscious effect” Milton Glaser
Making more misstakes
In order to be more creative we have to accept we are going to make a few mistakes along the way.
The fear of making mistakes, of looking foolish, undermining our claims of experience and ability is what holds us back. As Seth Godin writes, “The enemy of creativity is fear…”
The unpredictable nature of creativity is a difficult sell, explaining to a client that you want their commission yet you don’t know the answer to their problem takes a great deal of faith on both sides. Yet being open about the process is necessary, Andy Grove and more famously Bruce Mau say, “Make mistakes faster”. Although renowned for his ‘unyielding perfectionism’ Paul Arden agrees, “the person who doesn’t make mistakes is unlikely to make anything. Failures and false starts are a precondition of success”.
Malcolm Gladwell sums up the difficulties of balancing a relaxed creative approach with a developing intellect. He says. “Embracing messiness and understanding its contribution to the creative process is something that writers and creative types, artists, whatever have got to cultivate, have to learn to be comfortable with because it goes against a lot of our kind of instincts and training as educated people.”
New advertising for Genki Video Games
Soon to be featured in Games TM – some advertising I’ve been working recently. My good friend Pete is not only the founder of Genki – Importer of rare and retro Japanese video games – he is also one of the nicest blokes you could ever hope to draw an orange octopus for. More updates to follow, as the Genki rebrand rolls out.
Consistently producing innovative ideas for creative strategies is a challenging task. A well informed design brief is a good basis for creative thinking, yet we still need to generate possible solutions from somewhere.
Pasteur’s Dictum tells us, ‘chance favors the prepared mind’, so we need techniques to attune ourselves to inspiration. Idea composting is a way of describing, making use of everything we learn from every project we experience. A strong sense of curiosity and attention to the world around us helps us see the potential in diverse forms. Yet we need to do more than ‘stop and smell the roses’, we need to take note.
Most creative people grow with every project, but seeing the value in the scraps and peelings that revealed the fruit, improves the quality of the ideas we harvest in the future. As the origins and the context of the fragments we save decay over time, they combine to produce a rich, fertile mixture within which new concepts can flourish.
By composting ideas via traditional techniques of sketch books and note taking, and more contemporary methods like bookmarking and blogging, we are working, not only on our current challenges but on unknown future projects.
Whatever you can do or dream
Design presentations – fruit before the fries
It has been suggested than in school cafeterias, the fruit selection be better presented or better placed, as children will often pick what they see first. This concept is based on introducing a ‘pause point’ encouraging consideration before making a decision out of habit.
Similarly, when showing design work, creatives are often quick to launch into a visually mesmerising presentation without verbally explaining what they have done. It’s like they’re shoving chips and cake in your face before you’ve considered the value of what you’re about to consume. Once visually indulged a client may be less inclined to request the underlying creative theory and justification, if there is any.
If an idea can be described simply, without bedazzling flamboyant presentation, and still generate excitement, it will add to its value in the real world, aiding its potential for spread. So ask your creative to explain their proposals verbally first and together you can agree a solid lens through which you can view their visual presentation.
Most recently it’s been claimed that healthy eating can make you’re kids smarter. So ask for some theory, some justification, make sure you’re satisfied with ‘why?’, long before the tasty pictures come out.
You are already unique
Unique means being the only one of its kind. It is a mathematically absolute concept. There are no stages in between, no really unique or quite unique. We all possess unique attributes but a great deal more similarities. Creative solutions are much the same.
For the majority of businesses genuine uniqueness is not a viable proposition. Most consumers would be confused by a truly original concept. Forging ahead in uncharted waters, taking a gamble with a controversial message, boldly going where none have trod before, is admirable but risky. A creative strategy based on being different is more often an easy route to an appropriate solution. The alchemy of the visual elements is what gives creative communication personality, the nurturing of the project through conception, development and production is what makes a piece of design work resonate with an organisations own voice.
Many successful design solutions simply take an existing approach and deliver it better, they make it timeless. Whereas a solution based on its difference merely positions itself ‘against’ current fashion, who’s to say it will still be so in a years time.
While everyone else worries about how to be different, concentrate on being you.
What a logo means matters more
Designing logos is possibly the purest of graphic design practices.
Creating logos gives us the chance to distill all of our skills as illustrators, digital artists and creative thinkers into one single crafted form. Over the last couple of weeks, having wrestled with a couple of new identities I’ve looked to the words of Paul Rand to help me understand what it is I’m actually trying to create. Frequently quoted in reference to logo design, his opinions seem to withstand the ever changing nature of business and design.
“A logo derives its meaning from the quality of the thing it symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is rarely a description of a business. It is only by association with a product, a service, a business, or a corporation that a logo takes on any real meaning. A logo is less important than the product it signifies; what it means is more important than what it looks like.”
So if a logo doesn’t sell directly, it takes the pressure off the designer somewhat, however he also says, “It is easier to remember a well designed image than one that is muddled.”
Making business more creative
Doing more-with-less, under make-or-break circumstances means creativity is proving essential in business thinking. Yet creativity can be messy, undefinable and unpredictable. So how do you make it work? A few links to some ideas;
Creative ideas – developing creativity in business
When you’re a start-up your creative juices are flowing, but how do you keep new ideas and creative thinking at the heart of your business as it grows?
Do You Recognize These 10 Mental Blocks to Creative Thinking?
Whether you’re trying to solve a tough problem, start a business, get attention for that business or write an interesting article, creative thinking is crucial.
The 6 Myths Of Creativity
As a leader, you don’t want to ghettoize creativity; you want everyone in your organization producing novel and useful ideas, including your financial people.
How Pixar Fosters Collective Creativity
Management’s job is not to prevent risk but to build the capability to recover when failures occur. It must be safe to tell the truth.
How to be creative
The more original your idea is, the less good advice other people will be able to give you. Nobody suddenly discovers anything. Things are made slowly and in pain.
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