inspiration during work
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- bigboobslove
How much inspiration do u need when you work ?
how much time spent looking at other people works, ideas ?
do u often 'rely' on this source of creativity ?
if u had to work on something with just a pen and a piece of paper : do u think u would be as good (i mean, do u always need your tools ?)
be honest on your answers ! ;)
- unknown0
By: Chad Rea
There's a saying that goes something like this: Give a monkey a typewriter and enough time, and he'll eventually write a Shakespeare play. After reading Sally Hogshead's article “Work Ethic, Ugh” [A&C, Sept. 16], I'm beginning to wonder if that monkey wouldn't make “a brilliant ad” instead.
I don't know any agencies that are hiring typing monkeys these days (although there are bound to be a few), nor do I know any clients willing to pay for the time it would take for them to achieve such brilliance. So, when it comes to work ethic and talent, I'll take talent, please. Because you can count on talent to consistently hit more homers for its clients, and at the end of the day, that is the only thing that matters—not how many "A for effort" stickers you get.
Yes, talent is still king, and even more so today. And although talent might make everything look easier, it doesn't work any less than someone without it.
“Sitting down and working. Hard. For a long time. Long after the night crew has stopped vacuuming the hallways,” the kind of behavior Ms. Hogshead admires, might earn a person brownie points and/or carpal tunnel syndrome, but it doesn't mean anything more than he or she is physically in the office. (Hell, I attended most of my math classes, but I still can't balance my checkbook.) The real question is: Is this person thriving in that type of environment? If so, great. Perhaps typing monkeys are the future. But what if the gods of creativity are claustrophobic? What if someone's muse decides to have an affair with the boy next door? Do we really think that pounding one's head into a sweat-cubical is going to do any good?
Perhaps now is the perfect time to switch the mind to autopilot and let the subconscious take over. Run that neglected errand. Get a massage. Go to a bookstore. Visit an art gallery. Work from a park or café. See a movie. Go for a run. Make smoothies for everyone. Just switch mental gears for a moment. Change your scenery. Be brilliant by any means possible. And repeat as necessary. As long as you're responsible enough to make meetings, you're reachable by cell and you're consistently knocking it out of the park, there's no problem. Changing the way you work might even create opportunity.
The idea that you can advance your career by staying in the office makes me sad. What industry are we in again? Is it 1984 already?
Talent does not stop thinking when it leaves the office. It does actually come up with great ideas in the shower. And while lying in bed. And while driving to work. And while playing games. And while scanning through books and magazines. Talent is always working. Just check out the level of work done in London or Amsterdam by people who go home earlier and vacation longer.
Talent is the cursed consumer who studies, questions, deconstructs and reassembles the world—from beer-bottle labels and billboard ads to street fashion and architecture. It knows what it likes and what it doesn't because it has to live with it. Talent makes life its work, not the other way around.
Long live talent.
- stewart0
* yawn *
- Chip0
all this shite on the web makes it impossible to get creative sometimes, and then on other days you see a few really cool sites or ideas and think "Oh shit, I'm no good..." and then get depressed.
I get my best ideas on the train, and I'm in Tokyo where the Trains are damn crazy and crowded.
I dunno. I always start on paper nowadays, I have a web browser window drawn out in trace and thats where things start.
- pascii0
good article jg!
- unknown0
i copied it from the QBN editorial!
:)
(less is more)
- bigboobslove0
yes, i think being 'disconnected' is the best to get creative and let simple things bcome great ideas..
i mean toom uch information , too many visuals, too much inspiration turn your work down soon or later..
i'll get inspiration when i wait for the bus, when i drive solo without music.. when i read some book..but les s and less from people website
- unknown0
Well I agree with jg but...it is very important to track web sites and other designs but after you do the rough drafts. Why? Well simply because it happened so many times that I came up with a great idea and then found out that it was already done (not exactly the same but similar) before thus making me a copycat. Get my point? Research is one of the most important things before you actually get down to design. The trick is to stay on your own path.
- bigboobslove0
i understand boz. but i think resaearch and realisation are two different things.. and they shouldn't be mixed up together.. on the same day for example..
- unknown0
difference between copying and looking for inspiration?
a teacher in the university told us:
if you have only one source you are copying.
if you have more than one source then you are having inspiration.what a crappy reasoning
- bigboobslove0
that's not the topic : copying. so many people started threads on that..
- Fload0
Music as i sketch or play in Photoshop/illust
- dsmith70
I used to spend a lot of time worrying about what other designers would think about my designs, but that was also because I had never studied design nor taken an art class in my life.
Now, I have been progressing my skills, studying under a Senior Designer and just leanring to experiment and brain storm before I even open up the computer.
My only problem now is that I have so many ideas and not enough time or money to do all of them.
- atomica0
I must say when it comes down to inspiration I tend to not visit others sites, unless I remember a style I'm trying to go for or an effect I just can't get right.... Then I look for help. Best inspiration for me is to go outside with my camera or go for a ride in my car windows down music up kind of thing. Sometimes comic books inspire me too.... oh and knowing that other designers are out there doing bigger and better things than me, lots of em... that inspires me a bit... and motivates me... yup. Happy 4th.
- paulrand0
with just a paper and pencil a monkey would do better than me
- unknown0
me too
- Anetalaya0
I do some research aboput the subject, go around some websites that I like and inspire me, that's day one.
In day two, I forget everything I saw the day before, take my pencil and my scketch book and start working. If I need some more inspiritation i look for thing not related to the design I'm doing, images, movies, anything can be used. Sometimes a color an abstract figure give me a new idea.
- Anetalaya0
great article jg, that's pretty much how I feel right now and why this is my last day at this job.
- konception0
i used to look at all the sites linked on newstoday looking for inspiration, but that usually just sends me down an endless spiralling void where I realize i just lost about 4 hours of work time.
The best way for me to be inspired is to turn off the comp, get my sketchbook and sit down with a joint and some music playing. Perfect recipe. And if i need to get out i go for a walk with my camera.Your own mind and the world around you ar the best inspiration. Look to other art forms. Look to life.