Creativity Archives

May 22, 2020

How to Spend More Time in Flow

Book Review: Finding Flow by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi

I’m intrigued by the idea of flow. I’m certain that I chose graphic design as a career because getting lost in my work brings me into the flow state. When I was a child, my father called me a macher, which is German for “maker.” I am still happiest when I am making something.

In his book Finding Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (me-HIGH chick-sent-me-HIGH) defines flow as moments when “there is no room in your awareness for conflicts or contradictions. When heart, will, and mind are on the same page.” After studying hundreds of people, he learned that most of us are likely to find flow at work than anywhere else.READ MORE

October 17, 2019

Become the Creative Force in Your Life

Book Review: The Path of Least Resistance by Robert Frtitz

What does a musical composer know about creativity that he can teach the rest of us? Robert Fritz knows enough to be able to say, “You can be the predominant creative force in your own life.” My own experience bears this out.READ MORE

December 15, 2015

Creative Process

“Think about it . . . deeply. Then forget it. And and idea will jump up in your face.”

—Don Draper, Mad Men

The creative process can be used to achieve any goal, whether business or personal. Once you have a clearly defined goal or problem follow these steps:READ MORE

December 15, 2015

Design Strategy

design: to form or conceive in the mind for a definite purpose

strategy: a plan for obtaining a specific goal or result

More and more companies are using design strategy as a business tool. Design is more than making something look nice superficially. It is a creative process that has a clear goal in mind, and identifies steps to reaching it. Good design is also beautiful because it is focused, unified in purpose, and easy to understand. Excellent design can excite people and even create a passionate bond.READ MORE

April 1, 2015

Creative Advertising Gets Results

Creative advertising gets more attention from consumers and fosters positive attitudes about the marketed product. Ask any marketing professional, and they’ll tell you that creative ads are more memorable, more cost-effective, and build your product’s fan base faster.READ MORE

April 3, 2014

Anyone Can Be Creative

Creativity is not a trait limited to artists and authors. Anyone with a goal or a problem to solve utilizes creativity to find novel solutions, whether in business or in their personal life.READ MORE

August 9, 2013

Designing a Logo

This is a real world example of the creative process at work. READ MORE

October 23, 2012

Generation C

From trendwatching.com

“The GENERATION C phenomenon captures the an avalanche of consumer generated ‘content’ that is building on the Web, adding tera-peta bytes of new text, images, audio and video on an ongoing basis.

“The two main drivers fueling this trend? (1) The creative urges each consumer undeniably possesses. We’re all artists, but until now we neither had the guts nor the means to go all out. (2) The manufacturers of content-creating tools, who relentlessly push us to unleash that creativity, using—of course—their ever cheaper, ever more powerful gadgets and gizmos. Instead of asking consumers to watch, to listen, to play, to passively consume, the race is on to get them to create, to produce, and to participate.READ MORE

July 31, 2012

The Agony of Creation

The creative process can be broken down into steps, followed methodically, and achieve results every time. Occasionally, the creative person has a “eureka” moment when an idea pops fully formed into the mind. Most ideas are born of agony.READ MORE

December 9, 2010

Variations on a Theme

When you have a good idea, get more mileage out of it by creating variations on the same theme. That is the foundation for ad campaigns, houses in a subdivision, a series of paintings, and a symphony. The theme itself must be strong for the variations to be successful. Some elements remain constant throughout the group, but each variant stands on its own even without the others.READ MORE

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