Category: Creativity

I read this post from Diana some time ago. It provides an excellent background on the Rosenhan experiment that looked at "being sane in insane places" … and showed how the relationships between subject and object are far more fluid than we would like to believe. (One of the things I love about Diana’s blog and those of other clever planners, is that they expose the depth and breadth of their thought processes in bringing to light the new visions of old ideas.)

Diana’s post reminded me of a time in my life many years ago. I was fascinated by Romantic poetry and just happened to have a relationship crisis (isn’t it always the way?) that tipped me over the edge. I didn’t sleep for four days, wrote and read poetry incessantly and slowly but surely felt myself slipping into a form of madness. One night, suffering from exhaustion, I reached a point where I felt I could surrender — just simply stop fighting, and allow my mind to freewheel. For me, I could see there was a choice, but I wondered also how many other people had come to this point and not been able to hold back.

And one of the things that struck me was the seductiveness of this madness … and also its proximity. I had come to the brink of madness in only a matter of days!

The writings that I had accumulated in this time are powerful … and some of the best and most harrowing of any of my creative works. The journey had allowed me to tap into a very strong creative stream, but it also meant potential danger and sacrifice. Even now, writing this, I can feel my heart pounding … remembering the excitement and the fear. I think, in marketing, we call this "authenticity" … but very few of us are able to creatively take a "message" to this deep and scary place.

Ever since that time, I have maintained an interest in the crossing point of sanity and madness. And somehow, after reading Diana’s post, I found myself here at a site called "My Topsy Turvy Life" by Letha who works in a "medium secure forensic unit". The crossover in Letha’s life becomes palpable when her work comes home with her … and she has to change her shopping habits because a patient is released and moves into her neighbourhood. There are many interesting episodes … but I particularly love this post about a patient who knitted Letha a scarf using lots of interesting knots and colours especially selected for her.

And while we can poetically consider that the eyes are the gateways to the soul, simple acts of kindness for those less fortunate … or even simple acts of humanity, reach far deeper. It is one thing to look — but quite another to DO.

A friend of mine, Andrew Howells, has an entry in this year’s Bald Archies. For those non-Australians out there, the Bald Archies is an exhibition of paintings that parody Australia’s premier portraiture prize, the Archibald Prize.

Andrew’s painting depicts Australia’s Prime Minister, John Howard, as a bride, with his Treasurer, Peter Costello as the dejected bridesmaid. This reflects recent political events and neatly puts the situation into a typical laconic Australian context. Hope you like it!

There are some people who seem to have abundant energy. Creativity oozes out of every pore. They tackle life and life’s challenges with generosity, excitement and genuine curiosity.

As I walked up the street yesterday I was presented with one of life’s gentlemen — Paul Bennett. You can’t miss him with his mane of silver hair, wide eyes and smiling face. After wishing me a happy new year he handed me a card … membership of his new Lift Club. Actually, it was more than membership — I am now a LIFT CAPTAIN.

Membership entitles you to openly converse with others while riding in a lift/elevator. On his site, you can learn the "rules" — promote friendship, create good energy, create a club environment and HAVE FUN!

Paul also provides ideas for lift games, provides questions to get people talking and engaging. AND if you are daring enough, you can take the PAVAROTTI challenge — invite your fellow lift travellers to sing with you. I am thinking of trying the Pavarotti challenge myself — but will only get a couple of bars done by the time I arrive at my destination. Probably best for my fellow lift captives (ahem … lift travellers).

All joking aside, this is a sensational way of openly breaking down some of the barriers that we allow between and amongst ourselves. Give it a go. Oh, and tell me how you went. Can you get anyone to sing with you?

The bloggers that I love are those that surprise me. They take me on a journey and then turn around and give me a whack (sort of like Roger von Oech’s Ball of Whacks) — mostly in a good way.

This always makes me think … about the way that I write, the things that I write about … and how it could all get better. Today I have an article over at MarketingProfs talking about the types of blogs and bloggers that I love. Check it out here.

Oh, and speaking of great writing, my alien friend, Mindblob, has a fantastic article on the homeless in Paris. It is a great documentary style post that combines insight, beautiful writing and some excellent imagery and video.

Enjoy!

S.

Emily and Russell talk about "creative" not being a department but more a responsibility. One that we all share. Of course, this also includes clients.

One of the often overlooked creative challenges is providing feedback on creative work. And if you are involved in any type of creative process, then you know that everyone has to provide feedback … your friends will ask you for your opinion, your colleagues will expect your input and your staff will EXPECT you to provide them with CONSTRUCTIVE responeses.

If you are on the client side, it can be difficult to provide the type of feedback that your agency would like. Clients are necessarily a step removed from the inner workings of an agency … and no matter how inclusive or engaged you may feel with an agency, there are thousands of small creative decisions that are made in the development of a piece of work … and client feedback or response to each of these is almost impossible … until things start to come together.

So as I was considering all this, looking over some work today, I found this great post by Paul Colman. He has some excellent insight into the creative review process. So in a fit of inspiration, and channelling CK, I decided to turn this into a reviewing checklist and see how it works in practice.

Hope this is ok with you, Paul. Anyone who wants it can grab it below. Please share your additions with the rest of us!

S.

Download creative_review_checklist.doc

I have to admit that I am a much better interpreter than ideator. I may be able to, on occasion, come up with something clever, but I don’t always have ideas on-tap. What I CAN do, however, is interpret … or re-interpret.

When I was at university I loved directing plays. I was fascinated by the sinewy language that playwrights would use to convey meaning, emotion and space on a stage. I thrilled at the way some writers could make words leap off the page and race around my mind. But most importantly, I found a sort of addiction in interpreting texts for performance.

As I would read, my mind would begin to race. I would find real world connections, links to events or situations, or cross-references to other texts. And the more obscure the text, the more interesting I found it. Then, in searching for ways to explain these problem texts to an audience, I would seek out new contexts that would turn the text into words that an actor could roll around their tongue and bring to life.

I was Hamlet. I stood on the shore and talked to the surf. BLAH BLAH.
— Heiner Muller, The Hamletmachine.

And when I started researching a sensational perfomance piece by Heiner Muller, I found that images and texts could collide. That there was something spectacular in a text that could do this … and that an audience could be held in thrall as it happened.

When I was re-reading Russell Davies’ post on interestingness (repaying my blog debt), I stopped on the first point. Take at least one picture everyday. Post it to Flickr. I DO love photography … but I find that I am much more interested in finding other people’s photos and re-interpreting them. For example, writing this post, I was looking for a self-portrait … and the shot above reminded me of the name of this blog and what it is like to write under a pseudonym — servantofchaos. You feel a little bit invisible — but there in the shadows.

But the best part about Flickr is that there is soooo much material ready for interpretation. And in a Web 2.0 world, where context is king, content still speaks baby … as long as you have the ears to listen.

Now only NINE more points of interestingness to work through … should be finished about March next year!

S.

As a child I was fascinated with photography. I loved the dials, mechanisms and light meter needles. I loved the exotic brand names and funky model monikers. And I loved the spools of film that were threaded through internal workings.

But most of all, I loved the idea of speed. I was absolutely intrigued by the thought that you could capture something at one one-thousandth of a second. It seemed that, at that speed, you could find something secret in the folds of the world.

One day I discovered that my uncle kept a Pentax SLR camera in a box under his television. It was never used — there were too many dials and buttons. The instruction booklet was in pristine condition and the cameras had that "still-new" smell about it. So everytime that I visited, I would seek out the box and the camera — and the instruction booklet — and learn and play.

My first camera was a Zenit SLR camera and it was the best Christmas present ever. Prior to this I had always used my mother’s camera … normally of the "Instamatic" variety that were so popular in the 1970s. But my camera was different … it had interchangeable lenses — it had a light meter and required manual focusing. There were arpetures and F-stops … and numbers and dials everywhere. And I loved the complexity of it all.

I have owned many cameras since then … and, of course, I have a digital camera now. I also have a mountain of photos that document various times in my life (it was very expensive for me to develop films as a child, so my earliest photos are smaller in number). In some instances, these photos are my only memories of distant events — while other photos will trigger whole and rambling memories. I am sure that many others feel the same — cameras and photos are intrinsically linked to the stories of our lives.

So I was fascinated to read this post by Dina. In India, the mobile phone camera is the first exposure that many people have had to photography. And as the shots are digital, there is no cost to snapping … no film or development costs. It made me think back to my first camera and my excitement and pride (yes I was proud of that little Zenit). It made me think of those old photos that I took — and the way that I started viewing the world differently (I am still drawn to ready-made compositions through doorways and architectural angles).

But most importantly it made me think about imagery and history. With millions of Indians now starting, for the first time, to experience the joys and wonders of photography, there is bound to be an explosion of imagery, imagination and history. We live in wonderful times indeed.

Thanks to Diverzify for the image via Flickr.

S.

I have always believed that there is a link between creativity and chaos, and the more I embrace the chaos of the world, of life and my work, the more doors open into a creative world.

When I first started using the name "Servant of Chaos", it was simply to create a new Yahoo Messenger ID. I was there at work looking at my office with piles of paper (who said computers would lead to less paper), stacks of brand and style guides reaching up to the ceiling, row after row of Corbus photo sample books and three computers lined up ready to go. And the more I thought about it, the more I realised that FAR from being the MASTER of my own destiny, I was a servant of the chaos that comes into, and forms part of, my own world.

Realising this was great. It allowed me to let go of any sense of control. It allowed me to focus on the end result of my work, not on my ability to MAKE something happen. It made me think about my customers, my colleagues and my friends. Well, I am still pretty pushy, but I am not as bad as I was!

I was reminded of this by this great post by Tara. She is talking about embracing chaos … from a different perspective, of course, but the lessons hold true (you can read them all) — embracing the chaos prepares you for ANYTHING. Precisely because you don’t know what to EXPECT, you don’t exclude possibilities. You are open to, and are able to respond more nimbly to, unexpected events.

Unfortunately, this is not for everyone. Some people DO like a more predictable life. How about you? Bet I know the answer 😉

S.

Why do you do the work you do? Why put the effort in?

Do you want to be famous? Do you want to change the world? Do you want to help someone see their world just a little differently?

Google have a mantra, "do no evil". The Staufenbergers have laid down a challenge to designers to "do good things". I really like this approach … and I like the philosophy behind it.

In the past, I’ve managed to ease my conscience by reminding myself that marketing has the power to do good and doing the odd bit of COI work can help as well. In the ongoing task of conscience easing, Staufenberger have joined forces with two doctors, Dr Kanwal Kalim and Dr Geraint Lewis. The aim is to marry specialist medical knowledge with communication understanding with the intention of working together with the public and private sector to promote public health. Think about something like Jamie Oliver’s school dinners as great example of the communication of public health.

What they are doing is calling on the graphic designers out there who may have an image, a design or photograph locked away gathering dust … and asking for donations. Sure there may not be any money in it, but a little love goes a long way.

So if you feel you have some love to spare … drop by and help the guys out.

S.

I laughed when I saw this picture the first time. And I laughed when I saw it again today. It was in an article on consultants over at HorsePigCow.

As I read through the article and thought about the picture, I started to also think about this article by David Armano. David encourages us all to get out into the world and mingle … walk and talk with the people we design and create for. And then it struck me … the thing that was missing from the picture was the customers. Here was a picture of a park, but there was no one there … no kids, parents or even dogs.

Of course, it is easy to think that your CLIENT is always right … they are the ones paying the bills after all. But what happens when you create your work … a consultant’s report, a website, an ad campaign (whatever it is) and no-one buys, watches or engages with it? What if you imagine, design, manufacture and install the BEST swing in the world but it is in a park that no one visits? It is important to keep your focus on your CLIENT’S customers … because long after the project closes people will remember (and perhaps continue using) your work. And then no one will remember the brief, the challenges or the implementation.

They will only know how YOUR work affects their life now. Is it easy? Nooo! Is it worthwhile? It is if you want to proudly stand by your work.

Stand up for the customers. It might hurt at first, but it is good pain. Go on … you know its true.

S.