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Download This Topic Previous topic Next topic	What is 'creative' for you?
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Robb Montgomery

Founder

Joined: 07 Mar 2004

Posts: 1504

Location: Chicago

Posted:
Tue Jun 19, 2007 11:21 am

Two questions to make you think.

1. What is creative for you?
2. What helps you be creative?

Please share your answers in replies to this thread.
I'll kick off things with my answers at the bottom of this post.

Answers to these questions were asked of me recently by Chris Edwards, a journalist, photographer and professor of visual journalism in Santiago, Chile who was also the moderator for the recent SND/S Stockholm workshop.
Yep, Anna had this amazing guy from Chile run the program in Sweden. A genius move.

Via e-mail he asked all the speakers these two questions and I thought they were provocative enought to ask you too.

Here's my answers.

1. What is creative for you?

1) The creative state for me exists at the nexus of inspiration, collaboration and humiliation. To embrace the creative process requires one to be open to the often guileless and occasionally radical manipulations of these forces.

2. What helps you be creative?

2) I plug my Les Paul into a really loud guitar amplifier.Â
Â

_________________
Where in the world is Robb?

Jason McGregor

Action Figure

Joined: 04 Aug 2004

Posts: 27

Location: Daily Herald/Beep

Posted:
Tue Jun 19, 2007 12:49 pm

What is creative for you?

Creative is the ability to think about things differently. It's having fun and trying to capture that feeling I had as a kid playing with Legos. Itâ€™s trying to think of something no one has thought of even though someone has probably already thought of it. Itâ€™s trying to express something in a way that gets people to think about something. Itâ€™s trying new things and trying to apply what I learned to something else completely different. When Iâ€™m feeling most creative, itâ€™s the feeling that time doesnâ€™t exist.

What helps you be creative?

Probably being well rested and relaxed helps the most. What it takes for me to get relaxed varies. I need time to not work and do things I enjoy like traveling or biking riding or going out for a nice dinner and drinks with my wife or friends. When Iâ€™m working on something, listening to music helps a lot. Having deadlines can help keep me going. I also find that a good amount of work can help. If I having too many projects going on I find the quality can suffer, but if I get on a roll and have a manageable amount of work, I find Iâ€™m more creative. And if the head of my company is reading this, I find wearing a tie does not help me be creative.
Very Happy

steve bodycomb

Tiki Lounger

Joined: 07 Jan 2005

Posts: 12

Location: Kent Messenger Group, Kent, UK

Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 3:44 am

What is creative?

The ability to create order from chaos and chaos from order. To look at things and life differently and not be limited by what's possible. To look beyond the horizon and visualise what's there. To realise that problems cannot be solved by using the same type of thinking that created them. To not believe anything whilst believing everything

What helps you be creative?

Spending time with my children. When they play they have all the above attributes. And joining in with their games keeps you young as well and fit! But also to spend time on my own on or besides the water

Nina Mehta

Secret Agent

Joined: 04 Aug 2006

Posts: 76

Location: Indianapolis, IN

Posted:
Wed Jun 20, 2007 8:29 am

Jason wrote::

I need time to not work and do things I enjoy like traveling or biking riding or going out for a nice dinner and drinks with my wife or friends. When Iâ€™m working on something, listening to music helps a lot. Having deadlines can help keep me going. I also find that a good amount of work can help.

I've been debating with myself on whether immersing myself in a project or becoming completely removed from it helps my creativity. Doing the both help me gain new perspectives on the subject. Whatever helps me think of the subject from a different angle helps my creativity.

I spent about a year removed from news design and working online more and with magazines. In that time it was nice to just be a 'regular reader' of newspapers. Stepping away and coming back in that short time helped me reconnect with the reader's perspective. I feel like I can attack my projects from a lot more angles than before. However, sometimes I really just gotta dig into it and know it forwards, backwards inside, and out.

Finding a new way to think always helps.
_________________
http://www.ninamehta.com

Robb Montgomery

Founder

Joined: 07 Mar 2004

Posts: 1504

Location: Chicago

Posted:
Mon Jun 25, 2007 8:52 am

Creative last night was hand coding in BBEdit from scratch the PHP file that renders the home page for Visual Editors.

The site should load MUCH faster and look nicer to boot.
OK - so please continue the conversations!

(See? You can be a geek and still be creative)
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Where in the world is Robb?

Joe Greco

Juke Box Hero

Joined: 24 Jun 2004

Posts: 36

Location: Chicago burbs

Posted:
Mon Jun 25, 2007 9:48 am

What is creative for you?

What is creative to me is making the common uncommon, the everyday unique. As everyone here knows, it's a daily challenge to push into uncharted territory for visual solutions â€” but that's what being creative is all about.

What helps you be creative?

In this business, knowledge helps me be creative â€” knowledge of the story, the subject, the process, the who, what, when, where, why, how. Outside this business, what helps me be creative is spending time with my 2 1/2-year-old son Dylan, Watchiing him play with his toys â€” cars, trains, blocks, whatever â€” brings me back to a time when everything is new. Innocence equals open-mindedness. For me, that's the creative challenge â€” to bring an open-minded approach to a story that is based on facts.
_________________
Something witty should go here

Jon Williams

Action Figure

Joined: 25 Jun 2004

Posts: 28

Location: Poulsbo, Washington

Posted:
Thu Jun 28, 2007 11:44 am

Every time I need something, I think about how it's made. I ask myself, can I design it, and make it myself? Can I make it different than what I can buy at the store? A chair, table, lamp, bike rack.... an illustration for the books page... creativity starts to become a lifestyle and it doesn't just happen at work (most folks have already pointed that out).

But if you think of everything in terms of, "...how can I make this, rather than buy it?" you end up saving lots of money and forcing yourself to be more creative in filling your needs.

Don't get me wrong, I do buy things such as saws and cool power tools... and lots of ingredients.... but the fun part is, you end up going to places you normally wouldn't go. For instance I went to a cobbler last month get a strip of leather. He looked puzzled and asked me why I needed a strip of leather (not a typical request for him, I guess). I got to reply, "I need the leather because my door-bell broke and I'm making a gong-bonger to hang next to the gong I hung in front of my door to replace the doorbell."
_________________
The revolution will be complete when the language is perfect.

Gabriel Utasi

Tiki Lounger

Joined: 13 Jan 2005

Posts: 6

Location: Mesa, AZ

Posted:
Sun Jul 01, 2007 5:51 pm

Now I want a gong.

What is creative to me?
What isn't creative? Sometimes the most mundane of things are the most interesting. Just combine two or three of them and it turns into something great.

What helps me be creative?
Other creative people. We're inspired by people who can get us to think about something or look at something in a different way. It's great to be one of those people.
Also, I exercise my brain first thing in the morning by drawing cartoons.
Here they are if you dare peek at what happens with minimal alertness and zero planning. Some are actually witty:

http://gabrielutasi.com/comic.html
http://pokerdoodle.com

Later.
Gabe

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