Archive for the 'Design' Category

Be more creative. Yes, you!

Published December 6, 2012 Copywriting , Creative Life , Creative Writing , Creativity Coaching , Design , Work Life Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , ,
Do you see that guy? He's diving off of a platform about 120' up in the air into the ocean at Rick's Cafe in Jamaica. Creative? Stupid? Brave? You be the judge.

Do you see that guy? He’s diving off of a platform about 120′ up in the air into the ocean at Rick’s Cafe in Jamaica. Creative? Stupid? Brave? You be the judge. (I jumped off the 30′ cliff and was scared to death!!)

Being in a creative profession, I live, eat, sleep, breathe and dream creativity. It’s my job to be a master of my craft. I’ve spent 20+ years working on this – and every day I learn something new. That’s what I love about this journey that I’ve chosen to pursue. Along the way, I’ve had the opportunity to meet interesting, creative, smart, cool people – and every one of them has a story. One refrain that I hear a lot is, “I’m not creative at all! How do you do what you do, especially in a short timeframe?”

I want to dispel any misconceptions right here, right now: creativity is a gift that we all have. It just looks different in everyone. I happen to make a living with my creativity, so I’ve dedicated a lot of my energy and time to understanding it. Creativity is a muscle that needs to be developed, trained and used. But the important thing to know is that we all have this muscle. Whenever someone tells me they are not creative, it makes me want to grab them by the shoulders, shake them and say, OH YES YOU ARE! :)

So if you’ve ever thought that you are not creative at all or wish to add more creativity in your life, here are 7 tips that have worked for me – and I hope they work for you, too.

1. Be curious. Creativity comes from a burning desire to understand, to know, to dive deeper than the surface of everyday life. Ask more questions. No – question everything. I drive people crazy sometimes with my questions, but if I don’t understand, how can I help? Listen for opportunities to ask questions. A great example is when someone says, No, we can’t do that, it will never work. Or my favorite: but this is the way we’ve always done it. I always ask, why? I read an analogy once, that you don’t tear down a fence without first finding out why it’s there. Maybe it is old and falling down and serves no purpose. Fine, tear it down. But if it’s there to keep the cows from wandering off into the hills, the fence needs to stay. But if you don’t ask questions, you’re missing the good stuff. I always get nervous when I am teaching a class or interviewing a creative professional and ask if there are any questions – and I get crickets.

2. Recognize your own creative passions. When one friend told me she was not creative, I reminded her about her flair for cooking and creating new dishes. I then reminded her that I have burnt hard-boiled eggs. :) Another friend who is an engineer said the same thing. I reminded him that every time he was given a problem to solve with a new design, he was being creative. Cooking, engineering and knitting may not seem on the surface to be as creative as the work that a poet or an artist does, but you are using the same creative muscle, just for different outcomes.

3. Find what lights you up inside. My good friend and neighbor recently took up knitting with her daughter. As she talked about it, her face lit up, she talked excitedly, and she was happy. Think about what does that for you. It could be tinkering with a car. Maybe it’s decorating. Whatever activity you can do and completely lose yourself in, that’s your creative outlet and you need to find a way to do more of it in your life. As we get older, it’s tougher to find time for yourself, but creativity is as essential to life as air, water, food and shelter. Without it, we are simply not whole. What you did creativity at age 9 might still suit you at 49, but if not, look for something new. Commit to giving yourself the gift of an hour a week devoted to your creative passion.

4. Listen more than you talk. This is hard for me when I am in the mood to talk, especially after I’ve had 3 extra-large Dunkin Donuts black coffees. :) It also requires that you can be comfortable with silence. When I first became a manager, I turned to a good friend with excellent business sense and years of management experience to tell me what I needed to improve. He said, “Learn how to be quiet.” (I guess I talk too much around him LOL) But I realized that this is critical not just for managers but for people. When you listen, you have more time and energy to observe and pay attention to the little details that tell you more than words ever could. That’s what creativity is about: seeing and hearing the truth below the surface – then finding a way to interpret and reflect back what you see.

Being in a group setting for me is like drinking 3 extra-large coffees. I turn into the Energizer Bunny (look! He has his own bio!). But making time to sit quietly and listen helps me understand people better. I can study their gestures. Listen for good dialogue and story starts. Another friend who is a photographer takes photo walks – she wanders Chicago on her lunch hour and takes photos of what moves her. Take time to listen and observe. It doesn’t take much time. Every morning after my workout at the local YMCA, I walk to my car and simply stare up at the endless sky of orange, blue and gray. I see mist rising above the field. The sun shines warm on my face. I close my eyes and I let it all sink in. It never ceases to fill me with joy. It takes 60 seconds. Give yourself this gift. You deserve it!

5. Know your own creative process. My work requires that I create something out of nothing, often with insane deadlines. It is not a 9am – 5pm job. I need time to think. To simmer. I also need a deadline – usually the more urgent the better. I work better under pressure, otherwise, I will simmer forever because I love to live in creative simmering mode. I need large blocks of time to work through a first draft. I need music at some points in my process, but silence at others. I always need coffee. Some work I can only do at 3am. Some people need to talk through a creative challenge and bounce around ideas, then go off and work it through alone. Some people need to work in a coffee shop, while others need to work at home in their pajamas (hey, it works for Hugh Hefner!). The point is, think about what you need. Then follow and feed your process. You’ll be surprised at how much more creative – and productive – you will be.

6. Seek out new experiences. Get out of your comfort zone. Try a new class at the gym. Force yourself to drive a different way to work every day for a week. Take a weekend off from life and go somewhere new. Try a new activity. I’ve gone to pottery classes with an artist friend (and have a misshapen bowl to show for it), learn a new language. Think of it as cross-training your brain. Every new activity that pushes you out of your comfort zone helps you get more comfortable with ambiguity and change – where creativity thrives. The picture in this post is from my vacation to Jamaica in 2010 – that cliff diver was a professional, but I dove off of a 30′ cliff that was made for amateurs. I am not coordinated, so I hit the water ass first, which I liken to getting spanked by God. But it was so out of my ordinary life, spent behind a desk, that it energized me for weeks afterward and I wrote three short stories in a week. Even though I couldn’t sit down for three days afterwards, it was worth it. :)

7.  Make your creativity a priority. I know, we’re all busy. I can’t remember if I ate breakfast let alone what I had and refuse to tell you how often I forget things because my mind is so preoccupied with the details of family, work and life. (Let’s just say that I often drive past my exit on the expressway because I am lost in creative thought and am on a first-name basis with my bank, as they call me frequently to let me know they salvaged my debit card, which I left in the cash station machine.) So yeah, I know, it’s tough to fit in time for anything else. But know this: you need creativity. You need to lose yourself in a creative passion, reaching that ‘zen’ state where you lose track of time and lose yourself in your creative work. You will be a better spouse, friend and employee because you are doing what you love.

I apologize this is so long, but there’s so much more I could say, I never get tired of this topic. Please share what works for you, what your creative passion is and how you fit creativity into your life – or want to. Inspire us!!

Marketing Campaign Creative: Are you guilty of these 5 subjective sins?

Published January 20, 2011 Brand , Copywriting , Creative Life , Design , Marketing 2 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , ,

Everyone’s got an opinion, but when it comes to creative work, those subjective opinions, biases and perceptions can get in the way of great creative work and hamper the whole process.

Here are 5 subjective “sins” that come up most often:

1. Anti-Feet. One client I worked with hated feet. As a b2b company in the analytics business, there was very little reason for us to SHOW feet in the first place, but his preference was so strong that it became an unwritten rule in the brand standards. If we wanted to show people, we had to show them from the waist up.

This reduces the number of images designers have to choose from and slows down the creative process.

Designer:  “LOOK! This image of a couple walking down the path conveys everything we want perfectly: warmth, joy, energy. It’s perfect!”

Marketing Manager: “No, wait. That guy’s foot is showing.”

Designer: “I’ll photoshop it out!”

Marketing Manager: “No, then he’ll look like he has no feet and then You Know Who will start thinking about his feet and it’s all over. Search again.”

Designer: &*%#$%^

2. The Purple Bias. There are some people who absolutely hate one color or another, sometimes for no good reason. Just because. In my experience, it’s most often purple. Oftentimes this hated color is in the brand’s color palette, but no one realizes it because someone has decided that they hate it and it can never be used.

What’s the point of having a palette if you’re only going to use 2 of the 8 colors? That’s like wearing only black and white every day of your life. It works for some people, but for others, it just gets boring. Sometimes a good shot of purple is just what your brand needs.

3. Real People. When there’s no money or true need for a photo shoot, stock photos from places like iStock and Getty fit the bill nicely–except when someone gets hung up on the people in the photos. Other times, people don’t realize that stock photos are just that–stock, off the shelf–and you end up throwing design concerns to the wind and focusing more on personal reactions like:

“But these people don’t look like us!” (Exactly.)
“I don’t like that guy’s beard. It’s creepy.” (Beard bias)
“I thought you were going to find an image of 7 guys in our company jerseys playing softball with the company mascot in the corner!!” (Repeat after me: stock photos)

4. The Parakeet Syndrome. Another common problem is when people like a certain subject to show up in all images–say, kids or parakeets–and insist on using those types of images, and only those types of images, for their brand.

For example, if you own a pet store, then sure, images of parakeets or dogs are fine. If you’re going for a concept that conveys, say, working like a dog or feeling caged in, OK, there’s a connection there between the concept and the visual. Note: This is not like choosing a brand mascot, such as the Geico Gecko (nice alliteration there, by the way).

But be wary of anyone who wants to feature parakeets on every ad  just because they like parakeets, especially if it has nothing to do with their business or the big idea driving your campaign. There should be a reason, or method, behind the madness.

5. We Want to See Real People! There are times when using “real” people works–say, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty or casual YouTube videos. And then there are times when using “real” people screams cheesy and low budget. If you’ve ever seen a TV commercial where a car dealership owner speaks in a monotone at the screen or an athlete is clearly fixated on the teleprompter, you know what I’m talking about.

If you want to use real people in your photos or videos, ask yourself why. If it’s because that’s all you can afford, that’s OK. But you must choose employees or customers who have good presence–they speak clearly and articulately, have energy, and look natural there in front of the camera. It’s important to find someone who fits the part. That’s why there are talent agencies–it’s all about finding the right fit.

Just remember, all art and creative is subjective. But when it comes to marketing, staying true to your concept and your brand is what’s most important–leave the Purple and Beard Bias at home.

Be your own muse: one secret to being more productive in your creative work

Published October 1, 2010 Copywriting , Creative Life , Creative Writing , Creativity Coaching , Design , Freelance Writing Leave a Comment
Tags: , , , , , , ,

In my MFA program, there was one phrase that came up over and over: “Go with whatever is most taking your attention right now.” This was usually said in a serious Obi Wan Kenobe-voice to us just before we began an in-class writing assignment or when being coached through an impromptu verbal narrative in front of the class.

At first, it’s strange to be told this let alone think this way. But the up side to this creative directive was that it helped me generate lots of story starts and ideas. My brain never shuts up so there is ALWAYS something taking my attention.

The challenge became, how do I tune out the other distractions and focus on the one, most pressing scene or moment that was most strongly taking my attention right NOW? This directive helped me train my brain to focus with laser precision on the moment or scene that I needed to tell right now.

While having many story starts and ideas is great, the down side was that I rarely finished any of my story starts because something else is ALWAYS taking my attention. How to finish a piece of writing…that’s the bane of my existence when it comes to my own personal creative work and another blog post for another day.

As a writer and someone who always has multiple projects going on at once both at home and at work, I’ve found that going with what takes my attention helps me instinctively, intuitively juggle my priorities better. It’s an exercise in active listening. I ask myself (either in my journal or literally), what is taking my attention right now? And then I listen to what my mind says, what it pushes forth. It requires patience. It requires quiet. It requires honesty.

The payoff is that the priority or project I need to focus on first or that I am most enthusiastic about at that moment bubbles up, drowning out everything else. I am much more productive this way. As a professional writer, my ability to juggle many different projects hinges upon my ability to quickly and easily switch back and forth between clients, dipping in and out of different brands, voices and subject matters. I work faster when I focus on the project that I am most excited about at the moment–the one most strongly taking my attention.

This helps me get down to business quickly and manage my time so much more efficiently. But this doesn’t just pertain to writing. It pertains to life.

Don’t wait for the muse to find you. Try it now.
Ask yourself, what is taking my attention right now? Then listen to what your intuition says. At first, this may be uncomfortable. Your brain might get snarky and say stuff like, “Piles of laundry! Bills! The bathtub grout is moldy!” Let the snark come out, then push it aside. Listen again.

In the beginning, this may feel like listening for a pin to drop in a crowded football stadium. Wait for it. Eventually you will push everything else aside and focus your mind’s eye on one thing, the important thing, that you need to get to right now. You will hear the pin drop. You will see it. Write it. Paint it. Design it. You will work despite the laundry, the bills, the grout.

Be your own muse. Go with what’s taking your attention right now.

The day the webmaster died: 9 crazy deadline personalities

Published September 10, 2010 Business , Copywriting , Creative Life , Design , Freelance Writing , Marketing 113 Comments
Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve seen a lot of crazy in my 20+ years in the marketing biz as a creative professional. But when a conversation begins, “Hello, our webmaster died,” you know you’re looking at a whole different level of crazy. Here’s how it went down, according to my design friend Susan:

“True story 1:30pm yesterday, a client I haven’t heard from in months calls up out of the blue and says, ‘Our webmaster died last year. How much would it cost to take down our site, create a new one and add e-commerce before our event in 10 days?’ I ask, what’s your budget? The client replies, ‘We don’t have one but we need to spend as little as possible.’ “

No matter how much you love your work, we could all do without the deadline nightmares. While there  are those tough people are very good at saying no to unreasonable requests, many of us are afraid to say no lest we be labeled “uncooperative.” Frankly, nowadays it feels a little nuts to say no, no matter how crazy the deadline.

I have compiled this list of the worst deadline personalities because, as much as we may like our clients or colleagues, they drive us insane by the insanity of their deadlines. Whether you freelance or work full-time, you’ll recognize them–hopefully they are not you.

The Five O’Clock Shadow. This client or colleague waits until 4:58 sharp, right as you’re packing up to leave, to call or stop by and “give you a heads up” on a new project or the revisions you’ve been waiting for all day long.

The Bait and Switch. This project starts out small, quick or easy and before you know it, it evolves into a full-blown campaign with multiple components, themes, versions, viral videos, t-shirts and billboards. which means you would have approached it completely differently from the start. And it’s all still due tomorrow. This can also happen when the two-week due date flies out the window when you get the call, “We need it tomorrow.”

The Bargain Hunter. Budgets are tight these days, but these folks have come to think of creative work as “Let’s Make a Deal.” Your estimate is merely a starting point in the negotiation. Others think you are trying to rip them off. No matter what you charge, it’s always too much.

The UnderEstimator. To these folks, your job doesn’t require time, effort or expertise–perhaps you could be replaced by an intern or a monkey. Or they don’t quite understand what is entailed to execute a particular creative project. So they see nothing wrong with asking you to complete a six-week project in six days. When you explain exactly what is entailed in the scope, they are genuinely shocked–then they blink and say, “So, tomorrow then?”

The DIY. The do-it-yourselfer is convinced that they don’t need to pay someone to do something they can do themselves. These folks have not come to appreciate that while yes, everyone can use photoshop, not everyone is a graphic designer. Or that just because you can write doesn’t mean you can write a compelling sales pitch.

The Fiddler. They can’t leave well enough alone. They fiddle with the colors. Question the shape of the text box. Pick and fuss at the logo until it looks like a cat ate it and coughed it up as a hairball. They are endless “tweakers” of copy, changing words and phrases here and there, and there, and here, then making wholesale paragraph changes, or worse, rewriting everything on the final review, until suddenly you realize you are on Round 18 of revisions and you only budgeted for three.

The Spontaneous Genius. These are the creative sparks that pop up the day before an event or meeting that was humming along UNTIL…someone has an absolutely brilliant idea that, in normal people time, would require a team, equipment and a class or two. Instead, all you get is a “go for it!”, a mad search of how-to videos on YouTube and one all-nighter. When the clock is ticking and you hear things like, “Hey, I know!” or “Here’s an idea!”, RUN. You’re about to be hit with spontaneous genius.

The Mystery Meat Special. The conversation goes something like this: ”We need something designed, we don’t have the details yet, but how fast can you get it done and how much will it cost?” Huh???

Brain Freeze. Whether you’ve had the project for 5 days or 5 minutes, sometimes your brain just…dies. Every idea you manage to come up with sucks and you start to wonder if it’s time to consider a career change. Ditch digger and Walmart Greeter comes to mind. This can happen because of any of the crazy deadline personalities above, but sometimes it just happens for no damn good reason. That’s when you call a trusted cohort and vent until you are laughing again and then the idea comes and you are relieved because you still have “it.” Until the next brain freeze.

Go ahead. Vent. What’s your worst deadline horror story?

Share

Everything I need to know I learned on Google: Confessions of a Google addict

Published June 23, 2010 Copywriting , Creative Life , Design , Marketing , Social Commentary 11 Comments
Tags: , , , , ,

When I needed to learn the best way to videotape an informal interview, I Googled it. When a relative was diagnosed with cancer, I Googled it. When I needed to learn more about using social media marketing for b2b marketing, I Googled it. How to take great photos? Launch a blog? Get my kids to make their beds? Googled it. Nike might want you to  ”Just do it” but why bother when you can “Just Google it”?

I was starting to feel as if there wasn’t anything I couldn’t do, learn or become an expert at in minutes–or at least the first few highly ranked articles in Google search. Whether I needed a recipe to whip up a tantalizing blog post or a succulent pork roast, I had every resource, every answer right at my fingertips. It was intoxicating. I was drunk with power and knowledge. I was addicted to Google.

And then my power went out. Literally–no electricity. For three days.

No Continue reading ‘Everything I need to know I learned on Google: Confessions of a Google addict’

Are graphic designers hard to work with?

Published May 14, 2010 Creative Life , Design , Marketing 4 Comments
Tags: , ,

Once upon a time, I was helping a company with a website project. I contracted a new freelance art director to help with the design. We met a few times in person in the beginning, but most of our business was conducted over email. Things were going pretty smoothly–until I had to ask him to change something in his design. Twice. When he neglected to make the change the first time, I didn’t notice it until the end of the project and the client was not happy. The conversation went something like this:

Me: “Hi, everything looks great, but I noticed that the blue door icon on the landing page is still solid. The client wants some white added, similar to how you treated the other new icon.”

Him: “What?!”

Me: “Well, remember, I told you that they prefer the lighter icon over the solid blue.”

Him: “The design is meant to be like that.”

Me: “What?!”

Him: “It is the only connection to the other page.”

Me: “Okay…makes sense. They still want it to have white.”

Him: “This is the way it was designed.”

Me: “This is the last thing we need to change so the site can live on schedule. The web developer is waiting on this graphic.”

Him: “But that’s not the way I designed it.”

Me: “Look, we can go around and around about this, but at the end of the day, this is what the client wants.”

Him: “Fine. I’ll get you your ‘white door’.”

I understood the designer’s point of view. Really! I appreciated that Continue reading ‘Are graphic designers hard to work with?’

Corporate vs. Agency: who’s more creative?

Published March 24, 2010 Copywriting , Creative Life , Design , Marketing 2 Comments
Tags: , ,

Everyone talks about how great it is to work in an agency: cool atmosphere, cool people, big-name clients. But there are only so many agencies, so many big clients, so many designer and copywriter spots out there, and every year it seems like there are less and less as shops lose accounts, lay off staff or shut down altogether. That’s why I was surprised and delighted to run across “How to be corporate and still be creative” by Jason Bowden.

A mantra on how to survive being a creative professional in a corporate job, this post offers suggestions that anyone–not just art directors, graphic designers, writers, media folks–can use to infuse more creative thinking into what can be a mundane, rote job if you do it long enough and do it exactly like the Human Resources template tells you. Bowden argues, in essence, that you make your own creative life–you can let the job define you, or you can inspire yourself, inspire others, and make the job into something unexpectedly enjoyable, fulfilling and meaningful.

Don’t get me wrong–corporations are no strangers to reorgs and layoffs. But they need creative minds today more than ever simply because they do have boundaries and corporate templates and guidelines and rigid ways of doing things. Thinking outside of the box is what helps any company get started in the first place, but it’s creative thinking, among other things, that helps companies grow and stay ahead of the competition. With a global economy, creativity is one of the few differentiators we have left.

Of course, if you’re just not into corporate life, these suggestions won’t convert you. But I love Bowden’s perspective because it’s so unlike the millions of rants out there about the evils of corporate life and how it kills creativity. Jason’s strategies can work and he’s living proof, but a company’s culture can stifle even the most creative thinker with the best intentions–it drains the creative spirit and enthusiasm right out of you, leaving you too depressed to take any step in a positive direction.

While these suggestions can’t change the culture of a company–no one person can do that, no matter how many positive thoughts you send out–it can definitely change how you as an individual can approach the company, the problems, the job and your career. It’s a refreshing reminder that people who work in corporate environments should not be perceived as “less creative” than our agency counterparts, or that we couldn’t “hack it” in an agency environment.

I would argue that creative folks in corporate environments are just as creative–if not more than–agency creative professionals because they have more limitations and barriers to overcome and that is where true creativity is born. The creative life is what you make of it, no matter where you work. What will you make of yours?

Get creative: Think of one aspect of your job that you dislike, perhaps intensely. What is one attitude adjustment or creative action you can take today to change how you feel about it?

Go bananas with your brand: the secret ingredient to fun creative executions

Published February 24, 2010 Design , Marketing 1 Comment
Tags: , , , ,
Who hasn’t peeled off the sticker from a banana and placed it somewhere, anywhere else? That was the starting point behind this fun Chiquita banana campaign created by Neff Ink. It reinforces two important points to keep in mind when looking for fresh ideas: think about how people use your product or service–or don’t use it–and have fun with it. Wish I’d worked on this one!

 

Archives

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 39 other followers