Creative Hyperbole

The more I get into this subject, the more I believe it’s important for you to stay focused on who you are. You can be slapped around trying to keep up with everyone and everything that appears to be creative. It’s obvious that creativity is all around us. We are so saturated with it we don’t even have the time to mentally edit out the bad stuff. There’s the young girl who dyes her hair silver pink, an African artist with very little formal training, a six year old drawing pictures of a family, adults making protest signs, musicians working with tech, every artist trying to create the next movement, movie people making the next big blockbuster and/or designers trying to better your life through design. It’s all out there. So don’t get confused, concentrate on your own form of creativity. Make it have meaning in the world if you can, and make it both smart and beautiful.

Creativity for creativity sake.

There are also many people out there claiming to be so creative, when in fact, they have no idea who they are and have no idea what a creative idea is. As I said, you don’t have to be the most creative person out there, just be the smartest. My idea here is to help you understand why it’s important to measure your ideas against a methodology or criteria. Of course there are tons of stuff out there that look like they never had a criteria to start. It’s merely “creativity for creativity sake.” I hate to even use the word creativity. With a little effort you can rise to the top of the smart design chain. The real challenge is getting yourself and your creative ideas seen by the right audience.

McDonald’s or Apple?

I find it interesting to find art that you like, only for someone else to hate. When you are dealing with an audience filled with the lowest common denominator it will happen. It happens with creative ideas as well. You have to know whom you want to talk to. Do you want to create ideas for McDonald’s or Apple? The closer you get to Apple the smarter and more creative you have to be to compete. Do you want to add to the design clutter out there? If you don’t care and only see creativity as a means to an end, then you need help.

Creativity is a competitive sport.

Whether you like it or not, competing to be the most creative person in the group generally reaps the rewards. Steve Jobs had left Apple in 1985 and formed NeXT, Inc. I had been working with Steve developing the new Mac logo starting in 1982-3 and when he left, I thought that would be the end of our business relationship. Jobs did call again soon after he started NeXT and asked me to have lunch with him to discuss a new assignment. We had lunch at the Stanford University cafeteria where he told me all about NeXT and asked if I would like to take a shot at designing their new logo. He told me that he would pay me a development fee and if I was successful he would then pay me my normal design fee for the solution. He could tell by the look on my face that I wasn’t sure what was going on. Steve said, “…trust me I will tell you more later.” As I remember, we made a date for the design presentation and I went back to the studio to begin work. I made the presentation to Steve and he was very positive about my work. He paused and said, “ I like what you did, but I’m going with Paul Rand’s solution.” I was totally blind sided, I had no idea I was in competition with Paul Rand, whom I always admired. Steve showed me Paul’s solution along with the book he had designed to back up his concept. Steve was very quick to tell me that it cost him $100,000 for Rand to do it. Rand’s fee was way more than what he had announced he would paid me for the same work. He was also quick to add that Paul deserved his fee because he was the best graphic designer in the world and I was the second best. I had never lost a design competition before, so needless to say, I left pissed and it took me a long time to get over it.

 One of the sure ways to improve your creativity is to develop a competitive spirit.