bad banana blog

Motivating Creative People

If you're responsible for managing and inspiring creative minds, you need to download this amazing free resource: How to Motivate Creative People (Including Yourself).
    This isn't some feeble e-book written by a wannabe looking for attention. This is an exhaustive and valuable 58-page resource written by Mark McGuinness. If you're not familiar with Mark through his Wishful Thinking blog (go subscribe), Mark has spent more than ten years coaching creative professionals in all types of media, including novelists, actors, film directors, architects, and visual artists. He has a master's degree on the subject and a passion for inspiring creative professionals and organizations to reach their full creative potential. He's also a poet, so he knows full well the highs and lows of a personal creative journey.
    As a creative professional, this e-book will help you understand your creative process, develop your talent, and find more satisfaction in your work. As a manager or leader, you'll learn how to get better work out of creative people, how to facilitate creative collaboration, and how to understand and influence many different types of people. And, most importantly, why offering rewards can actually harm creative performance.
    If you're a creative director like me, it's a must-read. And did I mention it's free (with no registration required)?

Photo via.

Open

 

Eight years ago today, my creative partner and I left our agency jobs to establish our own studio.
    Creating a business from scratch (which we have helped others do since) is a very liberating exercise. From establishing philosophies, to setting up billing, to determining the types of clients we hoped to attract, every decision was made fresh with the overall goal of doing the best possible work.
    Which is why we decided to create an open studio environment.
    Without a doubt, that decision has been one of the largest contributing factors to the success of our studio over the years. Although there have been some challenges and frustrations along the way.
    Last year, for our seventh anniversary, I wrote a post offering up seven lessons we learned about starting our own business. This year, I offer up eight lessons we've learned about setting up an open work space.

Be prepared to hate it at first.

It took six months for us to get used to it. During that time, we felt every eyeball on us. We didn't know how to take private phone calls. We didn't know what to do when someone walked into the front door. Trust us, you get over it.

Go wide open and go big.

In our studio, the smaller work area (also open) is separated from the rest of the studio with a cardboard screen. All that extra studio space provides some privacy for those times when one must take a private call or get some alone time. The ability to get up, move to a quiet corner, or walk away from the group, is key.

Create little areas for a little privacy.

Set up your space with little pods. Tables. Chairs. Thinking areas. Meeting areas. And supply people with nearby tools for capturing creative ideas. Pads of paper. Nearby pencils. Chalkboard or dry erase boards on wheels. Heck, we even have chalkboard walls in the restroom.

Cut the cords as much as possible.

Everyone needs a workstation as a home base. But with WiFi, laptops, and mobile phones, your people should have the ability to truly use the various privacy areas around the studio. We've gone eight years operating entirely on mobile phones. Which means when we absolutely need privacy or a change of scenery, we can work from a park, coffee shop, or even home.

Understand that it's not for everyone.

Make sure you recruit accordingly. In our experience, the best creative people crave this type of an environment and a spirit of teamwork will prevail. On the other hand, manipulative, project-hoarding, non-collaborative, and dishonest people will not last long. That's the best part.

Create face privacy, not monitor privacy.

With work stations, we try to set it up so nobody is looking directly at someone else. On the other hand, we try to make it easy to see monitors. It's not that we're keeping tabs on people. It's that all projects are ultimately studio projects, and if anybody can tip in an idea or offer a suggestion, they should do so. Often, you can see the body language of someone struggling with a project. Instead of having to ask for help, people can walk by and offer it. 

Build music into the environment.

Our studio is wired for sound in zones. We can adjust each zone's volume, or even turn off a zone (which we do for meetings). But for the most part, our studio is jumping with an eclectic mix of music. Music adds energy to the environment, but also provides noise to cover close conversations or some phone calls. It eliminates accidental eavesdropping. And if someone doesn't like the music, they can always put on headphones.

Embrace the chaos.

At times, it's going to be loud, chaotic, and hard to concentrate. Turn on your radar and see if the creative solution you're looking for is really floating around in the chaos around you. You'll be surprised how often it is, which is the greatest creative benefit of all. Walk around. See what other people are working on. Tip in an idea on someone else's project. In our experience, your work will get better as a result.

The photos above represent phase two of our open space experiment. We moved into this new, slightly larger space in March of this year. You can see more photos here.

Silly Walks and Creative Ruts

Comic genius John Cleese sat down for an interview a few years ago and had a lot to say about creativity and the creative process. I keep coming back to this passage, where he discusses the importance of whim...

I knew a wonderful teacher once—a tutor. He tutored my stepsons and my elder daughter. He said to me, "Always start where the energy is."
    People make an awful mistake by starting where the energy isn't. If you're feeling very world-weary—and sometimes we're all in that boat—you have to sit down with something that's going to engage you. That doesn't mean you just switch on the TV and watch a cartoon, but it does mean asking, What would be fun? Maybe take a piece of paper and a pencil and start drawing silly things. Go for a walk. Just sit very quietly watching your breathing. Anything. Just allow the whim to get you going.   
    Now, you can't do this all of the time; it's too disconnected. But I think in that particular frame of mind, when you run out of energy and motivation, I think you have to go right down to the instinct, right down to a whim.
    I'm coming up on 60, and I'm wondering where my life will begin to go. I need to take a slightly different direction. I talked to a very wise man, and he said, "If you're trying to find a new direction, don't plan it, because this [pointing to his head] has been planning your life up to now. You can't plan something new with the same old apparatus." He said, "Leave a gap. Leave a space, and just do things on auto for a while. Just see where these whims take you."
    It's like creativity. You have to follow it without knowing where you're going. If you try to control where you're going, you're back in the same process. It's like asking a piece of machinery that's broken to mend itself.

Via Creative Creativity. Image via.

What An Artist Has To Say

There's a nice little interview with Pixar's Andrew Stanton over at Groucho Reviews. Of course, he talks about his latest directorial effort, Wall-E, which opens this week. But as the individual who oversees the development of all Pixar features and shorts, it's his view of testing movies that really caught my eye. Or, more accurately, not testing movies...

We never think of who are audience is. We always just made the movies we want to see. And I'm just immature enough. And everybody else here is just immature enough that we figure that anything silly and juvenile, you know, is probably gonna cover for the kids.
    ...But frankly, if I started to try and guess what other people want, i would make a bad movie. One of the things that was a revelation to us in Toy Story is that we hit a real wall...because we were constantly trying to second-guess or give what the executives wanted at Disney. And when we...almost were threatened to lose the whole job, we spent a couple weeks alone and just said, "Screw it. We have nothing to lose. Just go with what we want to see." And that became what you know as Toy Story now.
    So we've learned ever since then: "I'm just gonna go with my gut. I'm going to trust it." That's why I go see other filmmaker's movies. I don't go to see them to try and guess what my demographic is and what I want. I'm not a pollster. I'm not someone—I'm not a number. I'm a person. And I want to go see what an artist has to say.

Check out the whole interview here.

How to Get Bigger Ideas

I'm the guest blogger over at Drew's Marketing Minute today. Drew McLellan is one of the top marketing bloggers around (his blog is currently ranked 11th in one such ranking) and I feel honored to be invited to help out while he's on vacation. My post offers some very concrete steps one can take to generate bigger and better ideas. So take a moment to visit Drew's blog and read 15 Steps to Bigger Ideas. Please feel free to leave a comment over there with any tips or suggestions you have, as well.

Food, Sleep, and Big Ideas

Back in April, I wrote about a new scientific study linking "big picture" thinking with a good night's sleep. As part of the post, I gave six tips for how to use downtown in general, and sleep specifically, to let your subconscious help you generate bigger ideas. You can read the full post here.
    I received a lot of great feedback.
    Quite a few people, however, wrote me and explained that a good night's sleep is almost impossible for them. They stare at the ceiling all night. Their minds won't slow down. They experience vivid, exhausting dreams that leave them feeling tired in the morning. The stress of not sleeping well was only compounded by the idea of missing out on potential big ideas.
    The key to overcoming these sleep problems just may be a small snack before bedtime. This Yahoo Food article (hat tip haha.nu) identifies ten food items that are scientifically proven to quiet your mind and produce sleep-inducing hormones. Here are some of the most surprising (at least to me):

• Bananas
• Almonds
• Whole-wheat Bread
• Oatmeal
• Honey
• Flax Seeds

    Best of all, these food items can be combined to create an extra-potent sleep inducing snack. A little honey on your wheat bread, perhaps. Some flax seeds on your oatmeal, for example.
    The next time you're working on a big project, remember to avoid the allnighters. Prep both your mind and your stomach before heading off to bed. Inspiration may visit you while you slumber.

New Study: Big Ideas Linked to Sleep

Want bigger ideas? Want to be more creative? Then skip those allnighters and go to sleep. According to a Science Daily article published yesterday, researchers have finally linked increased "big picture" thinking to getting a good night's sleep. It seems the brain continues to mix and match pieces of information together, like a big jigsaw puzzle, while you sleep.
    Many brilliant people—from artists to scientists—have long advocated the idea of "stepping away from the problem" in order to let the subconscious work on a solution. When Einstein got stuck, he took a nap. He often awoke with the solution to his problem. Salvador Dali often credited his dreams for inspiring his fanciful ideas. Many of the world's great inventors and innovators, in fact, have experienced that sudden "eureka!" moment while showering, sleeping, or taking care of the most mundane task. In other words, while not actively looking for the solution.
    That's not to say you can just go to sleep and come up with big ideas. You first need to feed your brain with the right pieces of information. Then you need to actively search for a solution. When the answer doesn't come, you might instinctively walk away in frustration. In my experience, that's the time to let the subconscious go to work. Go to a movie. Move on to another project. If you can, go to sleep.

    Here are some more tips I often pass on to young, aspiring creatives:

• Manage your project timeline accordingly. Build in the time for sleep.
• Keep a pencil and pad nearby during your "downtime" since you never know when your subconscious might spit something out. Always keep a pencil and pad near your bed.
• Feed your subconscious with new stimuli. Take a walk somewhere new, listen to music you don't have on your iPod, watch a TV show you've never seen. Something you experience during your "downtime" just might nudge your brain into a new, profitably direction.
• Walking away means walking away. Don't think about the project at hand. Of course, that's even easier to do if you go to sleep.
• If you're up against a deadline and time is precious, move on to another project if only for a few minutes (ideally a totally different kind of project).
• Don't feel guilty. Einstein was unapologetic about his midday naps.

Be a Question Mark

Neil Postman once said: "Children enter school as question marks and come out as periods." Picasso noted: "Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up."
    Here's education expert and creativity guru Sir Ken Robinson speaking at TED. He believes "we are educating people out of their creativity." Based on personal experience alone, I couldn't agree more.
    Despite going to a very good public school in a top-ranked school system, my elementary years were especially rough. I was restless, imaginative, and easily bored. I questioned authority. Loved to make people laugh. Refused to accept obvious answers when others were available. And, not surprisingly, ended up in trouble quite often. If I was a teacher trying to make it through the day as easily as possible I probably wouldn't have had much patience for me, either.
    Those very same traits that got me in trouble way back then, however, puts dinner in front of my family today.
    I had some very good teachers, don't get me wrong. Some even inspired me. But the school system itself tried to break me. Just like it tried to break you.
    My guess is there are a lot of creative people out there with the exact same story.
    Do watch this video. It's an entertaining and infomative twenty minutes. And if you have kids, or work around kids, or ever plan to have kids, it's important stuff.

Creative Input, Creative Output

I once read somewhere that Ray Bradbury makes a point to read one short story, one essay, and one poem a day. He has done this every single day since he was twelve. According to Bradbury, he never knows when something he read years ago would "collide" with what he is reading today to produce an original idea for his own work. Instead of searching for inspiration, which many of us do when we are stuck for ideas, Bradbury has followed a lifetime, disciplined routine of creative input. His amazing creative output validates his approach.

Is there something you can do daily to increase your creative input?

(By the way, one of my uncles gave me a set of Ray Bradbury books when I was nine. I still have those books and return to them from time to time. His short stories, especially, are amazing.)