I am always so inspired by the great advice I see on here that I thought I would open it out - your greatest piece of creative advice?
For me - simple - you'll know when it's finished...(and when it is finished, resist the urge to add to it!)
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- Great stuff again - any more advice out there? Would anybody be interested in extending into different areas of creativity (ie, would you be interested in how I create space in a music track for example?)
- I go back to my father's advise. He was a writer, working alone for much of the time. Sometimes a task can feel insumountable, so he used to say FROM AN ACORN, AN OAK. A good reminder that it takes time to create something strong, resiliant, functional et al.
- Best piece of advice I was ever given was:"The essence of good design is when nothing more can be taken away".Basically, don't over design things that don't need it.
- Hi Mike3 from me (I love the rule of 3):1) Shit in, shit outAlways interrogate the brief and make sure your going in point is right or you’ll not make magic.2) Give me the freedom of a tight briefDon’t believe that creativity is always a fluffy, expansive process. Sometimes, like above, you need to really get tight on the brief and it will free your mind to truly create.3) ‘So What?’Ask it frequently. When you create something put yourself in the receivers shoes. Then ask ‘So What’. Helps you think harder and deeper about what you’re creating. It also kills bullshit!Stay Boom!S
- “Junk it.”This was a bit of a tongue-in-cheek comment from a colleague, but it really resonated with me. I was deep into a problem and I’d sort of cornered myself with my approach. I could’ve reached a solution if I kept going but it wouldn’t have been nice.Rather than trying to keep pushing and forcing something to work sometimes it’s better to throw away your work, take what you’ve learned so far, and start over.
- Just read all of the replies to my post here, and I am amazed by the responses, inspiring to hear the way people think - let's not finish here - keep them coming!
- @Simon Manchipp Now that's advice! Inspirational!
- 1 Work hard and be nice to people.2 Rules are great. Break them.3 Stay hungry. Stay foolish.
- “Don’t try to be original. Just try to be good.”– Paul RandNothing comes from nothing. Get good input, remix and they'll come out with your flavour = your original.
- K I S SKeep It Simple Stupid!;)
- @Elliott Starr To my first post (1, 2, 3) the third question was: "do you want your life to be meaningful, or meaningless"
- There are loads more I could post, but I don't want to spam this thread, haha
- I collected these from disparate sources a while back, I find them to be quite powerful:1you need to decide, at some point in your life, whether you’re more in love with what you know or what you don’t know. People tend to be in love with what they know, because you don’t want to have that shaken and challenged, and it’s not surprising. The problem with that is that you don’t know enough. Unless everything’s going perfectly for you, and everything around you, you set in order perfectly, your ignorance tends to outweigh your knowledge. So you should make friends with what you don’t know.2Do you want your entry into adult life, to be a warning or an example, to others? A warning of the consequences of neglect, self-pity, lack of direction, and ambition? Or an example of talent put to use? Of discipline, self-imposed? And of objections clearly perceived and intensely pursued.3Let’s go through the meaningless part first. You think, "of course, I don’t want it to be meaningless." It’s like, "yeah, just hold on a second." Nothing you do matters, so impulsive pleasures are the order of the day. No responsibility. You can do whatever you want. It’s like Pleasure Island in Pinocchio, or it’s like Neverland in Peter Pan. You’re still a kid. You can play all the time. Impulsive pleasure and no responsibility. That’s the reward for meaninglessness. You think, "well, you know, there’s something to be said about that.” Get paid. Get laid. No existential dread. No trying to make a dent in the world. None of that pressure. That sounds pretty sweet.The other side is, "OK, let’s say you want your life to be meaningful." It’s like, "OK, then what you do matters. It actually matters. If you make a mistake, it hurts you, it hurts your family, it hurts the world in a deeper way than you think. And you have to be awake to that, and you have to take it on yourself. And at the moment you admit to yourself that you have the potential to change something about the world, or your world, your life, you have to admit to yourself that you’ve always had the potential to change something. You have to go back, and it’s recapitulation of every thing that you’ve done, and actually confront what you haven’t done, and all the ways you could have done better.
- Everyone’s making it up as they go along. Everyone.I’m not saying that people should ‘make it up’ — as in Ignore education opportunities.Or Blag it.I’m saying (and the advice that was given to me) that however educated the person. Or underprivileged. Hhowever powerful or rich or poor or weak. Everyone is making the best of what they have.Trying their hardest.And in doing so, making choices that are based on wildly different circumstances.They are literally making things happen, making futures as they go along. Obama made it up as he went along. So did Steve Jobs.You probably are. I definitely am.Everyone is.I guess the liberating thing about knowing this. And saying it. Is the realisation that there is no grand plan that can’t be interrupted and changed.We can shape futures to fit better ideas as they emerge.It’s worth the effort.It’s worth getting involved in things that look tough to fix.Because everything’s changing or able to change.
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