5 Steps to staying creative

Everyone has there off days, go on admit it you’ve had a few. There’s no shame in it. Some peoples roles allow them plod on, have a slow day and it wont really matter too much, but what should us trendy, chique, cool creatives do when we hit the infamous creative rut, when we have project managers and clients hot on our heels for a radical new designs and concepts? Should we plug away at said designs or concepts for hours on end when it just isn’t working? Or should we take a step back, go off and do something else for a while and come back to it tomorrow with fresh a fresh mind?

Well in a perfect world the latter would be the best option for most of us, but unfortunately the real world brings us tight deadlines, office hours, client demands and project juggling, meaning that it is often not possible to walk away from something and come back to it another day. So what’s the solution?

Well the best solution is just not to have those ‘off’ days, now I’m not arrogant or foolish enough to suggest that what I’m about to suggest will solve the problem and you’ll be producing award winning creative every day, but I’ve found that building these few things into my working week have helped me have less of those ‘off’ days. So without further ado I bring you my ‘5 Steps to staying creative’

1. Spend an hour a day just, looking around.

Whilst I don’t advocate ripping off designs, websites or ideas, the majority of designs and the styles people produce them in are inspired by something. Which is why I make sure I spend at least an hour a day, looking around the web and seeing what other designers are up to, flicking through this months creative review, reading design blogs, talking to other creatives and just generally doing some research into what’s around at the moment and future technological advancements which may act as a medium for my designs. Here’s a couple of sites I visit regularly to keep abreast of the design trends.

netdiver.net

webcreme.com

thefwa.com

smashingmagazine.com

madspace.co.uk

hydro74.com (I don’t do a lot of work within this genre but this guy really inspires me when I need to raise my game).

2. Get a portfolio or a blog and publish your work.

One way to ensure you are always producing top notch creative is to publish as much of your work as possible amongst your peers, that way everything you produce, you will need to be proud of as it will be your name associated with it. Whether this be on a blog, within a printed portfolio or an annual reel it is a great way of seeing your work improve over time, referencing ideas, giving other inspiration and gaining some free publicity. I stumbled across this link the other day which has made to my favorites for finding good blogs and folios Adil’s 53 top blog design of 2007 and don’t forget to check out your own every now and again.

3. Playtime.

We all know kids learn through play, well designers develop through play, particularly those who work in-house or have a client base in one particular sector that doesn’t allow them to produce a varied range of work. I like to set aside time each week to work on my own projects which are totally different to what I normally produce for clients, they are fun to work on as they are my ow and I will always learn a new trick, skill or come up with an idea that can be carried across into my everyday work. So go on EXPERIMENT. This very blog is something I produce in my playtime.

4. Be part of a team.

Some prefer to work as part of a team, some prefer to work alone, it is essential for those who prefer a more private environment to be part of a team everynow and again, especially when it comes to initial brainstorming sessions, being part of a creative team is an amazing way of producing organic original ideas, where one idea feeds another. It is crucial however that there is trust within a team, particularly at initial ideas stages, where every member of the team is comfortable enough to throw out the first thing that comes into their head without fear of criticism. It is also a great way of making sure your design work is always tight, clients may not notice that 5 pixel mistake but the designer sat next to you sure will.

5. Check your surroundings.

In my previous blog the creative cubicle I spoke of how the environment that surrounds you affects the way you work and what you produce. Make sure every now and again that your physical surroundings still inspire you, if not change them. Put new pictures up, paint a wall, get some wall graphics, get a new desk, buy some new cd’s or change the radio station, do whatever is required to make you inspired and reap the benefits, stuck for inspiration? Check some of these inspirational workplaces.

As I said these 5 steps are going to ensure you will produce great creative and perfect designs every day, but they will certainly help you stay creative and not go stale and they will most certainly make you happier in what you do I promise you that. Let me know how you get on.

The Creative Cubicle

   

Question: 
Does the physical environment you work in affect your creativity and productivity?

   

Answer: 
YOU’RE GOD DAMN RIGHT IT DOES!!!!!!!! 
Some people / companies take this idea very seriously Joel Spoisky for one and having set up a ’studio’ at home I’m beginning to see the benefits myself. Let me set the scene with my two main work environments.

  

The Office
My 9-5 lead creative role sees me sat on a pretty uncomfortable chair at a pretty standard smallish wood effect office desk. On said desk is a tatty old phone, some very bleak grey dividers separating me from the people sat next to me, not high enough so I can’t see them but annoyingly high enough so I can’t see their screen when they want to show me something, it is essentially a cubicle. I have a Mr Potato Head who watches out for the security of my monster 24″ Apple cinema display which is hooked up to a G5 under the desk. I sit near a window with some grey office blinds which when opened reveal some grey steel framed windows which overlook some grey air conditioning units which some grey pigeons sometimes land on. I’m sure you’re getting the idea by now, there’s a lot of grey.

    

The Studio
In my studio at home I have a good size ‘real’ wooden desk, a comfy aesthetically pleasing chair, a laptop which I can move around with, which is soon to be accompanied by a 20″ iMac, there’s a comfy sofa where I can sit and sketch out ideas, I have a large flat screen TV which plays MTV and various other channels (on mute) for some creative inspiration, a Wii for those dull moments and creative blocks, background music with some occasional radio. And one of the most important elements, a mood wall, which is not only amazingly helpful at getting you in the right mindset when working on a project and a good source of inspiration, but also provides a change of scenery with every project worked on, (you never have to re-decorate).

 

As I’m sure you can imagine, the studio is a nicer place to be and the fact i call it a ’studio’ makes it feel instantly more creative. Whilst the projects I work on in the office tend to be larger and for more recognisable brands, in my opinion the designs  and creative work that comes out of the studio is better, more informed and stylized. I have more fun doing it and it comes so much more naturally and quickly, the only thing it doesn’t have for me and I miss is the office banter.

 

Everyone seems to work in different ways and prefer different working environments as we are all individuals, I’ve worked with designers who need complete silence and I’ve sat alongisde creatives who love working to music, but don’t have a music taste eclectic enough to hack the odd power balled and trance tune I’d throw out on occasions.

 

So what’s the point of all this rambling I hear you cry. Well I think the majority of people would agree that your physical environment affects your creativity and productivity. So why do so many employers insist on fitting office out in such a bland manner, the only reason I can come up with is cost. Most of us spend more time at work than we do at home with our friends and family, and whilst I think this is a bad thing, it’s the way it is and why it’s crucial that the work environment is a place which makes you happy and comfortable. Alexander Kjerulf has aggregated 10 seeeeeriously cool workplaces which is a pretty good list of some companies who have either got it right or at least had a go, Red Bull HQ has a slide to get you between floors for gods sake, how cool is that!!!!! (hopefully they have stairs too, scrambling up 3 flights of slides every day would be a pain in the ass). One agency which I feel should have made it to the list is Mother London who have a pretty cool open and collaborative approach, where you can end up sitting next to someone different every day.

 

So having read this, if you feel your office / studio / lab or whatever you call it isn’t really a great place to be, take some inspiration from this flickr set and do something about it, create an environment that is personalised to you or your company, there is no one solution fits all to this problem. There will always be pesimists who will say the beanbags funky desks and all the ‘cool’ stuff is a waste of money, but in reply argue that the impact on your creativity and productivity will far outweigh the costs. But most importantly will improve your daytime happiness and I defy anyone to put a price on that.