Recently I spoke with a client of ours about creativity. He said to us: “It’s very hard to find a good creative that can do what you do.”
Recently I spoke with a client of ours about creativity. He said to us: “It’s very hard to find a good creative that can do what you do.”
Being part of a company that delivers one-of-a-kind products through creative designs seems like a normal thing when you founded the company. Though I’ve only been in the industry for a little over half a decade, I’ve learned that as my experience grows, my creativity grows. I use this creativity in both my personal and professional life.
Personally, I’m allowing my mind to drift and wander, and to be open to new ideas. Professionally, I’m using my creativity to enable a future for not only myself but the people and companies that we work with.
But what is creativity?
I usually don’t give it much thought, nor have I ever tried to deeply explain it. At its most simple, I feel that creativity is an ability to relate.
Let me elaborate.
Too often, creativity is misunderstood and singularly perceived as physical (i.e. logos, graphics, art, etc.), but creativity can be applied conceptually too. The ability to act creatively must go hand-in-hand by maintaining openness to all around you.
Every person has a preference towards one design or another. Do you prefer wood or tile floors? Or more specifically bamboo or slate? It can be a certain color scheme in clothing or an architectural style in buildings. It can be anything. The point is that every person has a preference.
The ability to create in terms of relating or “building a relationship” with someone, is the ability to provide an idea and to extrapolate a creation based around the emotions, message, and imagery around that idea or concept. That may sound complex, but doing this effectively is easy if you know how to approach the situation.
When someone approaches me and shares an idea about their company they typically share three main things:
I use this information to now develop a creative direction. I place myself in the end-users point of view and apply the design to their perspective. I think of the relationship that will create with them.
When you creatively approach a situation and develop designs, you must develop a variety of designs. Every destination has multiple roads that lead to it. You just have to find the one that relates the best to your client and/or end-user.
So think outside the box when you’re being creative. Ideas can cross-pollinate when coming up with a design as long as you stay open to it. An important factor to consider in doing this is to always provide options.
Too often designers provide a singular solution to a multifaceted problem. Your initial design may be great, but sequential designs may spawn that have the potential to be even greater. By applying this concept to delivering creative content, it makes the process of selling your ideas much smoother.
Whether you’re selling your creativity or just doing it for yourself, remember to always have fun with it and provide multiple options, even for yourself. It will make the decision towards your final product much smoother and it will be easier to sell your creativity to a client. Or to yourself.
