The following is a blog by Kate Tallent, of KTD Creative.
Creativity is a funny thing. For that matter so is graphic design. It inhabits a weird netherworld of a profession where it looks really easy when done really well — I think of it as figure skating in that way — but is actually pretty demanding: requiring research, analytical thinking, discipline, constant practice, and ample amounts of intuition. All that before any knowledge of software.
Many clients have no idea, nor appreciation for, what we designers go through just to pull decent ideas out. We are an underappreciated profession, and thus our work is not valued as much say as a lawyer or dentist, but I think we are all savvy enough to know the value we creative types bring to a brand.
Nike gets it. For every item sold in a store a huge percentage of the cost of that running shoe covers design and marketing. Look at what Under Armor spends to compete with Nike in terms of marketing. Gobs of cash. A lot is at stake as brands compete for market share.
Who comes up with the design and marketing campaigns that support and promote products? Creative types such as ourselves.
The pressure to be creative on a consistent basis is hard. One week ideas are flowing and the next nada. Panic ensues as deadlines get closer and the pressure is on to stoke the creative fires. What to do when stuck? How does one feed and nurture creativity year round to keep ideas, and thus income, flowing?
I am sure anyone who is reading this article who is a creative has had moments when the Creativity. Just. Stops. It’s just that our methodologies sometimes fail us.
Design is this weird profession that for the most part follows a process such as writing the creative brief, beginning a word list, sketching ideas, getting on the computer, taking many coffee breaks, looking at design annuals for kernels of ideas that can be woven in to our design such as what we see in Communication Arts and Print magazine, coupled with intuition, whose cumulative effect will ensure a winning design. But sometimes none of that works.
If one has a tendency towards procrastination the instances of good ideas not coming to fruition are increased. Good design really does take time. No, really it does.
What happens when the ideas dry up? Thoughts cross our minds such as, my well has run dry and my damn muse has left, my ideas suck, I cannot believe anyone is actually going to pay me for this logo- I know I would not if I was the client, I stink- no really I do, I cannot believe I waited until three days before the logo was due to start sketching, and maybe now is the time to consider another profession. More self-doubt and recriminations ensue.
Thoughts of us not being able to support our families and entire lives destroyed occur. This line of thinking supports wine cellars nationwide called upon to assist at moments of creative crisis. I am not kidding here. I know of a Baltimore-based printer/designer who has wine cellar with the really aged, good stuff saved for dry times- no pun intended.
Thing is about creativity, as far as I can tell, as it has to be nurtured all the time.
I figured the summer might be a good time to write about nurturing creativity given it is the time of the year most of us take vacation and recharge those batteries. It is when I take a vacation with eleven other people I call family for a week to the Outer Banks and sleep kind of late, read, drink good wine, eat great food, swim in the ocean and watch bad television. God it feels great. When I come back to DC to design again somehow I am better able to do so.
This down time — or think time as my friend Kathie calls it — with no pressure to produce anything, save respond to a few client emails, gives my mind time to rest. This is where I think the both conscious and subconscious mind soaks up information and kind of meanders around ideas, notions, half-baked ideas, and well just plays a bit.
When I am at the Outer Banks my mind just soaks up Pop Culture such as random factoids about True Blood including the backstory behind Sookie- played by Anna Paquin- and the wisdom to insist upon the preservation of the gap between her two front teeth as a child which is a key component of her beauty, talk about the Tudors, Weeds, Angry Birds, Harry Potter, trivia about M*A*S*H including the notion that my own father was more or less the Radar of his Army battalion in the Korean War (am I dating myself here?), talk about Barbara Kingsolver’s last novel, how partying in NYC is essential — or so he thinks it is — to my young cousin’s career in art, and the sum effect of all of this absorption of the brilliant and inane is… well… filling the well of creativity.
illustration by Michael Glenwood Gibbs
I decided to ask a few local creative types to volunteer how they stay creative.
I am motivated by talking to strangers on the bus. I am inspired by being in a room of peers from across the country and discussing our work, sharing our work. Taking class with teachers from other places motivates me. I soak in as much art as possible; I seek help from friends to do this. Every few months, a group of us gather at someone’s house and watch dance on films and then discuss them. It is so relaxed and fun and stimulating. – Ilana Silverstein, Dancer and Community Organizer
Lots of concerts when I can. I also find books and comics do it for me. If I can get a good hour in that is great but rare (kids). On a day to day basis I go to the gym. It clears my mind of problems and allows me to focus on work. Lastly, I watch pro wrestling. There is something about watching an art else that people dismiss as silly and something everyone can do but in fact, they can’t. – Jeffrey Everett, Designer
To refuel and grow as a designer, I think trying new things and going to new places is probably the more rewarding way for me to expand my horizons and find new creative inspiration… going on road trips to new towns, visiting new restaurants and exhibits, participating in service work that allows me to explore new situations and meet new people, reading a book from a new author, trying a new recipe, etc. All of these new experiences give me a new toolbox of ideas, images, and thoughts. – Katie M., Designer
I go sketching and water coloring on Fenwick Island. What really charges me is going to a small Latin American city like Grenada in Nicaragua where everywhere you turn there are vivid people and colors. – Carol Higgs, Designer
Pop culture: TV, magazines, retail. Just keeping your eyes open and talking with people is a huge reference for the latest and greatest. TV believe it or not is very visually savvy these days. Production studios and advertising firms know this and are always pushing the limits not only for the awards but to attract and keep viewers interest. Social media also plays a big part. To get the audience to play along in a contest or follow a story line will create much sought after memories. A product like Doritos or Burger King has proven this “marketing dance” works really well. – Holly Morgan, Designer
To recharge my batteries I color and draw with my nieces, ages 3 and 9. I get totally sucked into the vortex of their world that I forget to be an adult for a while. I like how kids see shape, color and texture with a different perspective. And there are no rules: they are not afraid to go out of the lines, add things to the pre-drawn pages of a coloring book or color Barbie’s hair blue! – Stefani Manowski, Communications Professional
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creativity, designer, graphic design, KTD Creative