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understanding
creativity, inspiring creativity and channeling creativity are of great
consequence to our graphic design firm. too little creativity and the
work is flat. too much and the outcome is chaos. continually, at SoBeGraphics.com
we add a project to our job list that has nothing to do with strategy
or branding or added value. it's a challenge, an exercise to satisfy our
need for personal expression, a self-promotion that pushes our limits.
to many people, coming up with a creative new way to market your business or sell your company's products can seem almost like magic. especially when you are faced with coming up with an idea on a moment's notice. in these situations, pulling a rabbit out of a hat and pulling a great idea out of your head can seem equally impossible. the only real problem in most cases is that you don't know the "trick."
concept development, the way we come up with creative ideas is a bit like magic. and like any magic trick it can be learned. there are a few tricks of the trade that can be learned by anyone. nobody will confuse you with david copperfield, (the great magacian) but if you learn these tricks, you will be able to get through your next presentation, brainstorming session or crash deadline looking like an "idea person."
first of all, you must forget any preconceptions you may have about being creative. creativity is not the exclusive domain of the artist, the photographer or the writer. there are creative chemists. there are creative carpenters. there are certainly creative chefs. there are obviously creative architects.
virtually any profession has its imaginative practitioners and there would be a lot more creative types in all professions if more people saw creativity for what it really is : the ability to look at something you've seen all your life and see something new. all creative people have developed this ability to look at the familiar in unfamiliar ways. they are able to change the context of something just enough to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. although it may initially "seem" like magic, this ability to see the world with fresh eyes is a skill that can be learned by almost anyone.
the trick is, how can you be creative on command? how do you come up with a great idea when a deadline is staring you in the face? how do you put a fresh spin on a brochure, an ad, or a newsletter when you've been dealing with the same issues for year.
the secret is in changing the context in which your message is seen. not a lot. you still want to communicate. but you want to communicate with a freshness that makes your audience sit up and listen. you change the context just enough so that your message is seen with fresh eyes.
there's nothing special about getting a beer out of the refrigerator, but when your dog is the one that retrieves the brew and brings it to you, you sit up and notice.
there's nothing special about a car driving down a straight road through a field of corn, except when all the corn starts "popping" as the car passes.
all of these popular television commercials take a very familiar subject and change the context just a little to catch our attention. we immediately get the message. but somehow it seems a bit more memorable. for lack of a better word, it now seems creative.
while most business communications don't involve matters of life or death, it can certainly seem that way if you're staring at a deadline without an idea.
so, how to you develop this ability to see with fresh eyes? to come up with an unending supply of ideas on command? well, believe it or not, one of the most powerful tools you can use is the cliché.
the cliché has a bad rap. people are constantly denigrating the use of clichés in business communications. but, like it or not, we as communicators can't live without them. clichés are valuable because people already understand what they mean.
this is a cliché
clichés are by no means the only way to change the context in which your message is heard. they are just the easiest way. and using them as a creative tool is often a great way to get your thought processes started.
and so is this
before we move on, i'd just like to remind you that clichés can be visual as well as verbal. a heart shape is an obvious visual cliché. so are crosses, traffic signs and elephants. communicators often concentrate on words, forgetting that visual images are frequently the most powerful way to deliver their message.
there are many other ways to change the context in which your message is heard. the use of analogies is a popular way to make your point more memorable. contrast is also a popular tool of creative people. like any skill, your creative executions become more polished as you learn to distinguish between the wide variety of tools you can use to manipulate context and apply the most appropriate method to the job at hand.
there are no rules here, but obviously you would communicate to an audience of teenagers differently than you would to a group of senior citizens. the trick is in understanding what your audience understands and then pushing those boundaries just a little. if you change the context of your message too much just for shock value, you run the risk of not communicating anything at all. there have been some spectacular advertising failures that have done just this. the original infinity campaign that didn't even show a car in the ads, changed the context of their message too much. the whole selling premise became abstract and failed to communicate that the company actually wanted to sell you a car.
let's say you were selling the services of an insurance company. would you sell the company's services differently to men and women? to baby boomers and new college graduates. of course you would.
remember that the wheel has already been invented. an incredible amount of creative energy is wasted trying to develop something totally "new," when a fresh look at something familiar would really be the more appropriate solution. if we really want to communicate, there's got to be some common ground with our audience. the use of irony, drama, humor and fables can be as effective today as it was hundreds of years ago. you just have to understand the medium you are working in.
if you are working on a cd-rom project or an internet web site, you don't want to tell a story with an obvious beginning and end. if you are doing a tv commercial, you don't want to forget that pictures speak louder than words. every audience and every media has its own peculiarities. what ties everything together however, is your ability to manipulate the context of a message to most effectively reach its intended audience.
context is everything.
if you know your mother goose, you'll remember an imaginative old woman who made a house out of a shoe. in her own way, she was quite creative and used some of the same principles we are talking about here. there's no reason why you can't do the same.
to many people, coming up with a creative new way to market your business or sell your company's products can seem almost like magic. especially when you are faced with coming up with an idea on a moment's notice. in these situations, pulling a rabbit out of a hat and pulling a great idea out of your head can seem equally impossible. the only real problem in most cases is that you don't know the "trick."
concept development, the way we come up with creative ideas is a bit like magic. and like any magic trick it can be learned. there are a few tricks of the trade that can be learned by anyone. nobody will confuse you with david copperfield, (the great magacian) but if you learn these tricks, you will be able to get through your next presentation, brainstorming session or crash deadline looking like an "idea person."
first of all, you must forget any preconceptions you may have about being creative. creativity is not the exclusive domain of the artist, the photographer or the writer. there are creative chemists. there are creative carpenters. there are certainly creative chefs. there are obviously creative architects.
virtually any profession has its imaginative practitioners and there would be a lot more creative types in all professions if more people saw creativity for what it really is : the ability to look at something you've seen all your life and see something new. all creative people have developed this ability to look at the familiar in unfamiliar ways. they are able to change the context of something just enough to make the ordinary seem extraordinary. although it may initially "seem" like magic, this ability to see the world with fresh eyes is a skill that can be learned by almost anyone.
the trick is, how can you be creative on command? how do you come up with a great idea when a deadline is staring you in the face? how do you put a fresh spin on a brochure, an ad, or a newsletter when you've been dealing with the same issues for year.
the secret is in changing the context in which your message is seen. not a lot. you still want to communicate. but you want to communicate with a freshness that makes your audience sit up and listen. you change the context just enough so that your message is seen with fresh eyes.
there's nothing special about getting a beer out of the refrigerator, but when your dog is the one that retrieves the brew and brings it to you, you sit up and notice.
there's nothing special about a car driving down a straight road through a field of corn, except when all the corn starts "popping" as the car passes.
all of these popular television commercials take a very familiar subject and change the context just a little to catch our attention. we immediately get the message. but somehow it seems a bit more memorable. for lack of a better word, it now seems creative.
while most business communications don't involve matters of life or death, it can certainly seem that way if you're staring at a deadline without an idea.
so, how to you develop this ability to see with fresh eyes? to come up with an unending supply of ideas on command? well, believe it or not, one of the most powerful tools you can use is the cliché.
the cliché has a bad rap. people are constantly denigrating the use of clichés in business communications. but, like it or not, we as communicators can't live without them. clichés are valuable because people already understand what they mean.
this is a cliché
clichés are by no means the only way to change the context in which your message is heard. they are just the easiest way. and using them as a creative tool is often a great way to get your thought processes started.
and so is this
before we move on, i'd just like to remind you that clichés can be visual as well as verbal. a heart shape is an obvious visual cliché. so are crosses, traffic signs and elephants. communicators often concentrate on words, forgetting that visual images are frequently the most powerful way to deliver their message.
there are many other ways to change the context in which your message is heard. the use of analogies is a popular way to make your point more memorable. contrast is also a popular tool of creative people. like any skill, your creative executions become more polished as you learn to distinguish between the wide variety of tools you can use to manipulate context and apply the most appropriate method to the job at hand.
there are no rules here, but obviously you would communicate to an audience of teenagers differently than you would to a group of senior citizens. the trick is in understanding what your audience understands and then pushing those boundaries just a little. if you change the context of your message too much just for shock value, you run the risk of not communicating anything at all. there have been some spectacular advertising failures that have done just this. the original infinity campaign that didn't even show a car in the ads, changed the context of their message too much. the whole selling premise became abstract and failed to communicate that the company actually wanted to sell you a car.
let's say you were selling the services of an insurance company. would you sell the company's services differently to men and women? to baby boomers and new college graduates. of course you would.
remember that the wheel has already been invented. an incredible amount of creative energy is wasted trying to develop something totally "new," when a fresh look at something familiar would really be the more appropriate solution. if we really want to communicate, there's got to be some common ground with our audience. the use of irony, drama, humor and fables can be as effective today as it was hundreds of years ago. you just have to understand the medium you are working in.
if you are working on a cd-rom project or an internet web site, you don't want to tell a story with an obvious beginning and end. if you are doing a tv commercial, you don't want to forget that pictures speak louder than words. every audience and every media has its own peculiarities. what ties everything together however, is your ability to manipulate the context of a message to most effectively reach its intended audience.
context is everything.
if you know your mother goose, you'll remember an imaginative old woman who made a house out of a shoe. in her own way, she was quite creative and used some of the same principles we are talking about here. there's no reason why you can't do the same.