Work In Colour - Work. Think. Live. In Colour
Wednesday 20th April 2011 | 2 comments
There's a perception sometimes that creative expression (whether at work or play) demands huge canvases, few constraints and large dollops of freedom.
It's not necessarily so.
Some people and some projects do benefit from an unconstrained environment, where anything goes and any result is possible.
But other situations and people need a tight brief, and a sense of the framework and parameters. I'm one of these types - my ideal creative set-up is a fairly tight framework, clear edges and total freedom to play within it. That way I feel both safe and stimulated, bounded and unbounded together - a heady mix for me, though it won't suit everyone. It gives me a place to head, a sense of momentum, and creative traction. It stops my ever-present tendency to spin my wheels...
That's why I like having clients and corporate projects to give my work an edge. I like journalism for the same reason, writing to a brief (but only if I have rapport with the editor and a licence to play!).
If you're one of the tribe who like to know where the boundaries are, often your environment or creative context will provide all the edges you need. If not, it can be fun to impose some artificial constraints on your project. Here are some random suggestions to get you thinking:
So, what is your preference? Boundaries, or none? What would happen if you reversed your usual preference, and tried it the other way?
Tag: creativity
Thanks Joanna! I am definitely better within a tight framework. Will now apply these ideas to a project I've been 'spinning my wheels' on. Maybe I'll get some piscatorial inspiration ;)
Thanks Deb...it's so good when you can apply a new idea straight away, isn't it? It cements it a bit and defeats the Ebbinghaus Forgetting Curve (that's a real thing, you can find it in Wikipedia...) which says that you will forget half of what you learn in 6-9 hours if you don't apply it...