Posts Tagged ‘creativity’

Creativity.

There are two kinds of creativity.

There is the creativity that you need to fill your bucket, the one that is what you use to get work done. This is the kind I talked about a few weeks ago. That kind can run out for anyone, even the most creative can reach that breaking point. This is the creativity it takes to do good work, and to create something successful. This is the stuff that can be replenished by a good night sleep, a strong cup of coffee and some revitalizing.

Then there is the innate creativity. This is the creativity to entertain at a party, to tell a joke, or to decorate a house. This is the creativity that is exhibited when someone is least expecting it, it is what happens when they do normal activities. This is the kind of creativity that most of us think of when we think someone is “creative”. And this creativity can’t be replenished, because it can’t go away. It is always there, sitting and waiting to be used. It is just part of a person. And this is what I want to talk about today.

Some people just have innate creativity naturally. But some of us don’t. Most of us don’t. Most of us get frustrated daily with the lack of innate creativity.

For those of you who are always creative (you know who you are), stop reading. Go be perfect somewhere else.

This post is for the rest of us…the ones that don’t have it naturally and need some help. The good news? Innate creativity, despite the technical definition that innate things can’t be learned, can be learned over time.

How do I know? Because I didn’t have it naturally. (trust me, I really didn’t) I had to work unbelievably hard at being creative every day.  But over time, over a lot of effort, I have been able to increase my innate creativity. And since I knew it would come in handy, I started a list of what works. So here it is…the list of many of the things I have done that have helped me to increase my innate creativity. Remember, these are things that increase innate creativity not what will replenish your creativity when it is gone.

• Create a space that stimulates you with the colors you find to be creative (I love pink, black and white in my creative space).
• Read something completely fun before bed every night (I prefer romance novels, trashy chick lit and historical fiction).
• Learn to focus on one task at a time (splitting your mind between many tasks ruins your ability to build creativity. I close all other programs).
• Take classes in different areas (trying something new will increase the space you have for creativity. I took a wine class).
• Spend time doing something different (Adding a hobby increases your capacity to think outside the box. I am working on a romance novel).
• Listen to an argument (Hearing other people discuss things can open your mind to how you can discuss things).
• Watch mindless TV (mindless TV isn’t mindless if you let the creativity in. I love Disney channel still).
• Have friends who are more creative than you (osmosis does work with creativity. I swear!).
• Go to the movies. (Movies are a wonderful form of creativity and open your mind to what’s possible. I love action and comedy movies).
• Ask a lot of questions. (The more you know about things, the more creative your mind is).

What have you done to increase your innate creativity. Or do you disagree with the thought that it can be increased?

…where they just need to stop, regroup and clear their head before attempting anything else.

Today,  I have been feeling broken, out of sorts and definitely not creative. So I was reading though old blog posts to try and stir some thought processes. I found a post that I wrote last year about reaching my creative breaking point while working on some coding. After re-reading the post, I realized that I missed something very important – that you can reach a creative breaking point while doing nothing just as easily as while you are doing something.

The post talks about the fact that in the beginning of a project, you are creative. The longer that you work on it without a break, the less creative you will be as you get more and more tired. But what if you have already hit your breaking point before you’ve even started? This is the scenario that many more of us face than we realize. Many times we don’t understand why we are frustrated, or why a  project isn’t going well. We attribute it to a bad day, or worse, just keep working and getting more frustrated.

Rather than think about creativity in a linear curve approach like I did with the first article, I feel like creativity is more like water in a bucket with a hole in the bottom. When you are refreshed and at your creative peak, the bucket is full…but as you complete projects, deal with people, work to build your business, handle finances and juggle clients, water is dripping out of the hole. Some have smaller holes in their buckets, and therefore have more time to be creative. Others, it is a larger hole and their creativity goes away faster. Either way, at some point there is just a tiny puddle in the bottom, nothing there to pull from and you are at your creative breaking point.

Once the water is gone – what do you do when you have another project to work on or need to focus on something else? You have to either slog through without the creative bucket being full or figure out a way to refill that bucket. For some of us, this task is easy. For others, we struggle with finding ways to fill it back up. For those who struggle, I feel for you. I understand your pain, your frustration and I 100% empathize with your plight.

But empathy is not enough – empathy does not refill the bucket. For me, I have to step away. Go out, leave the computer, the technology and the emails behind. Shop, sunbathe, walk, run, just be somewhere other than focused on my bucket.

Unfortunately for each of us, the bucket is refilled in different manners so there is no list I can give you, no solution I can hand you that will fill your bucket too.

What I can do is open the floor to you…and we can all help each other!

So share: What do you do to refill your creative bucket?

I am not a creative snob, I don’t think it is reserved to one area of life. I love it in almost every form, the only thing I ask in creativity is that it is easily accessible to the masses. I want the world to be able to see it (even if they can’t afford to own it). I also tend to find certain pieces, designers or styles of work that I love and stick with them…so when I am looking for a creative jolt, I will look at their work, in whichever form I can, and enjoy the new focus it brings. Here are just a few of my favorites, divided by their genre.

When I want to be astonished by great websites, I always turn to Smashing Magazine. Their inspiration section is filled with designs from all over the world, and I find it so interesting to see the trends. While I would never copy someone’s work, I do often find new ideas that I can tweak to work into my clients designs. My most recent find? A new trend in fabric backgrounds…leather, silk, etc. I am looking forward to trying those out on a new clients site!

If print advertising is what I need, I love Communication Arts. It is a submission based magazine (thick enough to be a book!) of interesting pieces of work. I love their advertising series, as the photoshop work and taglines are just so incredible. I know how much effort it takes to get a design from start to finish, so to see all these completed pieces is not only inspiring creatively, but helps me to put my goals into perspective. If I get to the point where I feel that I am ‘rushing’ my designs, I can look at the work here, and realize that good design takes time…and it helps me to slow down my process to make sure it is the best. While I don’t do any print work, the freedom of expression found in many of the pieces is still motivating.

On a different side of the coin, I have many designers that I love, but only two have ever taken my breath away. In shoes, it is Christian Louboutin (his site is actually very cool as well). His designs are so clean, most are very simple, but each is so beautifully hand crafted and perfected that he has me head over heels (hahaha!) for his work. While I don’t any any of his creations (yet!), I have two pairs of his shoes that I desperately desire…a pair of simple nude pumps that make you look anything but simple (top picture) and a pair of over the top, beyond glamorous, completely impractical and oh so perfect for me, pink, sparkly pumps. Both are very simple in their structure, but their details, material and design make then anything but. Unfortunately with a combined price tag of almost $2k…I’m just dreaming right now.

In clothing, no designer for women can hold a candle to Diane von Furstenberg. I own one of her suits (in pink, of course!) and every time I put it on, I feel different. It’s powerful. Just like the rest of her designs. They are all colorful, creative, and unique (my favorite one is on that link) without being too over the top. I love to watch crazy runway fashion but it doesn’t inspire me like a piece you could actually imagine wearing. She makes women feel gorgeous without having to be scantily clad, and she never ceases to amaze me with the way she uses fabrics…

Photography amazes me. Especially because I have zero skill whatsoever when it comes to cameras. There are many great sites dedicated to photographers, but I don’t really like looking at it on the web. So when I need my photography fix, I wander into my bedroom, where this piece by Thomas Mangelson, hangs on the wall. Standing in front of the photo, you can almost feel the fur on his nose, and his eyes have about 11 different shades of colors, beautiful and intricate. The picture is so simple, but you feel something the minute you look at it. It has raw power and a cool strength that gives me motivation on a tough day.

Do you have certain places you turn for creative inspiration?

Unless you’ve been away from your computer and on a beach in Hawaii for the last week, you’ve probably seen a tweet or two showing how poorly Southern California handles “weather”. It’s true, us Southern Californian’s are pretty pathetic when it comes to wet and windy.  We are avoiding the roads, staying inside, and have been complaining about how awful all this wind/rain/etc is for days. While I agree that the rain does make driving a little precarious, and I would definitely prefer the sun, the rain does provide some interesting inspiration.

Normally, I reserve phone photos for Friday’s, but these two, sent to me by my husband were my motivation for this post. Each photo is of a grease spot on the ground of his shop (he’s a Volkswagen Tech), untouched by humans and manipulated only by the rain.

At first glance, while these are very cool images – they’re only that, just images. But, if you take some deeper analysis, you start to uncover some new opinions.

The first image is not just a “spot”, it s a flying meteor aiming towards earth, the edges slowly burning up as it enters the atmosphere. And the second picture – an young Phoenix, its head facing down, tail plumage beginning to show the colors of adulthood, and growing in strength.

Or, for those of us in the design world, we can can look at the images and pull out some colors.

(image 1 colors)

(image 2 colors)

What could you do with these colors? Website design? Email advertisement? Twitter background? New bedroom theme? A clothing line? Office decor? The usage of color is unlimited, and with unique palettes, you know it will turn out beautifully.

One of the most important things I try to remember when working on a new project is that we are only limited by our own creativity – if you looked at the photos and saw grease spots, that would be all they ever were. But, if you could separate yourself from what they are and instead, figure out what they could be, you have opened an entirely new world for you to play with.

What can you be inspired by today?

The fortunes that come in the cookies with Chinese food are rarely thought provoking or beneficial – however the one from my dinner last week was fabulous and I thought was all too appropriate for this blog.

New ideas are what made me create this site – what started my business – and what will start you thinking about the next steps in your life.

Today, I want you to take a few minutes and pause whatever you are doing to think about some of the ideas in your head – and share them with the audience. Let’s work together and maybe we can make some of these ideas a reality!

Ready…GO!

We all have hundreds of great ideas that come to us – while we’re sleeping, while we’re working on other projects, or just sitting and relaxing. Unfortunately, most of these ideas will simply be passing thoughts, forgotten about as soon as they were thought up. This can be very frustrating down the road when you are looking for great ideas but don’t have any put away.

This is where all those extra ideas come in handy. Rather than allowing yourself to let an idea tickle your brain and then disappear, find a way to translate the idea into something usable for the future, even if it’s just a simple note in your idea book.

What? You don’t have an idea book? Okay, step 1: Get an idea book (anything that you can write on will do). Step 2: Keep reading.

“Idea” does not mean fully developed plans of action, “idea” means random titles for a blog post, websites that would be fun to create, a picture you want to take or a type of person you would like to meet, etc. These are all quality ideas, and need no more than a couple words to remember them. Then, you can come back through your idea book when you are looking for inspiration and poof! tons of already started ideas for you to develop further. I know many people who love their moleskine notebook’s and use those for their ideas…I am not a fan. Why? Because I feel like a book that pretty requires pretty notes, complete thoughts and shouldn’t get scribbled in. My notes (no, I will not be sharing) are messy, random peices of paper, partially ripped, all put together in one folder. I like it messy because ideas are messy, and deserve to be free to change, grow, move and be re-arranged….moleskine doesn’t move pages and recombine. Although, I may just be biased because I also have trouble rationalizing spending $10 on paper-in-a-binding. But, much like ideas are your own, the way you choose to keep them is too, so if moleskine, a computer or the back of matchbooks work for you, then use them.

Your ideas are like tiny little pieces of gold, one or two may not be worth much now, but if you can gather hundreds of them, well, that’s worth a lot. (wow, that’s really cheesy, but too true not to type!). Anyway, keeping your ideas somewhere that they can be built upon allows your mind the freedom to jump from one place to another, without concern of forgetting your thoughts. You can always go back and look at something later, add to it or get rid of it. Although, I caution throwing ideas out too quickly, I recommend keeping them for a month or two before giving them the heave-ho. This gives you a chance to really see if you can use it or build on it before just getting rid of it.

Let’s take an example…my sister-in-law got engaged at the end of August and wanted a website that she could update with details of the wedding, the wedding party and of them as the wedding got closer (for all the out of town guests). So, I designed a site that was fun, colorful and really captured her and her fiance’s personalities. Unfortunately, I caught the wedding bug, and all I could think about after designing their site was the designs for other bridal sites (either for the bride and groom or for a wedding planner). Instead of brushing off the idea, I started jotting down notes, what would go where, the styles, fonts, etc. Pretty soon, when I had a few extra minutes to spare, I was working in photoshop to create a mockup. Finally, after 3 months of tinkering with this random idea, I created a complete mockup, ready to code and deliver to some lucky bride or bridal consultant. (oh! you want to see it? Oh okay…here it is; my bridal or bridal consultant wordpress theme!)

Was it sold already? Nope. Do I have someone to sell it to now? Nope (unless of course you know someone looking?). Will it make a good piece for my portfolio and hopefully entice someone to purchase it or hire me for something similar because of it? Absolutely!

…now what if I had just let the idea pass through my mind without a note to spare? I wouldn’t have a gorgeously fun new design to show off, and I certainly wouldn’t remember my idea should someone come to me desiring a beautiful wedding site.

So what do you think happens when you let your ideas slip away? Exactly.

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

In 2007, I left the first job I had out of school (sales…yuck!) and took my first steps into the marketing world (yay!). But, those first steps were not easy ones. When I realized that I was not enjoying the company I was working with, I sat down with my husband and we talked about what I wanted to do (marketing) and the options I had (companies, etc). The problem was, while I didn’t like the sales job I had, I was good at it, and making really good money for just graduating. We had just gotten married, I had my appendix taken out and we needed the strong income. But he also knew how miserable I was coming home from work every day and wanted me to be happy. So, he gave me the green light to take the risk. After that, I spent a couple weeks sending my resume and information to every marketing firm in Orange County. Most didn’t respond, a few gave interviews, and one wanted to hire me. Unfortunately, they could only take me on part time at first, but it was still worth the opportunity…and quickly it became full-time. It was scary, intimidating and I was in over my head from the start, but I knew I had to make it work. And thank goodness I took the risk, since this was the company that made me realize how much I loved social media, blogging and working with others to build a message for their business. While I was only there for a year, that year changed the way I saw business and gave me the drive to start this blog and put myself out there (this blog will be covered in tomorrow’s post!).

In the media world, the final Harry Potter book, which sold more copies than any other book ever into a 24 hour period, released on July 21st, 2007. I spent from 1am-9am on that day reading the entire book, crying through the ending.

Which job did you have that changed your future?

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

In 1993 my creativity took off, it was the point that I realized I wanted to try everything, test out tons of classes and figure out how things worked. I chose to go after the GATE program in my school district. The program allows a select group of students to take special classes of their choosing. The classes include languages, acting, performance (very different than acting!), creative writing, story telling, science, dissection, and more. I was accepted into the program and was so excited to get to take 3 classes this year. During those classes, I discovered how much I loved creative writing (not just writing in general) with a story telling class, that I would never be a vet (I took a dissection class…it didn’t go well), and that I may be a bit of a ham (I took a few performance classes). While those classes only lasted a couple summers, the lessons I learned about myself stuck with me forever.

Today, rather than sharing a marketing/ad event from 1993, I want to know what you remember most from that year?

And to make it even more fun…one person will win an invite to Google Wave!!

To win, think about 1993: Where were you? What were you doing (school? College? Working full-time?)? Do you have a favorite memory or a great story to share? Anything you want…Comments will be open until 12pm tomorrow, and I will pick the winner via random number generator….so get commenting!!

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

While my goal of this post series has been to uncover where my creativity, personality, writing and finally this business first came from…1992 takes us in a different direction. Why? Well because in 1992, I had my first crush. And as anyone can tell you, a crush is life changing. A crush takes all your focus away from anything else. A crush means everything at that age. So, during 1992, I am pretty sure the only creative thing I did was doodle his name* in my trapper-keeper repeatedly.

Luckily, not everyone was as distracted as I was in 1992, and NBC once again proved that they have some skills in the TV department and hired Jay Leno to fill the late night shoes left behind when Johnny Carson retired.





*By the way Mom, I know you’re reading this and I know you know who it was. Please refrain from torturing me by telling the world who it was in the comments as my blog posts are linked to my Facebook account. Thanks.

Over the next 25 posts, ending on my birthday, I will be covering an incredibly creative moment or idea from a year of my life AND one creative moment in either the marketing, advertising, technology or media world.

My two words: American Girls

Advertising’s two words: The Thighmaster