DannieG

First of all, everyone make sure you vote and make a difference ////

Awh what’s a wonderful day to look out the three panels of bay window and be inspired by the environment… oh crap Is my car getting towed!!!… false alarm, ‘Boston Public works’ - whatever that means. As I was saying, I’m in the middle of redesigning and developing all day today and tomorrow, all the fun aside, it’s time to lock myself in the house, turn off the cellphone, order some pizza, bring out coloring pencils plus everything else that might inspire me and do some serious work.

A creative mind, as more people starts to realize the importance of design, the more wants to be creative, they want to learn, how to create. Lots times on the net // in person, many often wanted to know what tools I’ve used, what steps I’ve took, I can’t explain it. Sometimes it seems I have a system, I go do it step by step, so I write a tutorial, then the next time — I found myself stepping out of my own tutorials, I guess the thought of trapping myself in one set of creative system scares me, makes me feel I’m enclosed in a tiny box. To me the end result is what matters. I can cook and clean all day, when something sparks, then I’ll get on the computer to produce the work in 20min. — it’s the years of experience of what’s right and wrong, what works and don’t, that I’m fighting in my head — when looking at a creative problem, the tools aren’t important: I came from a traditional art background, I can say this now(tho, have lied on my resume), it took me exactly one month to master Photoshop, another month, Illustrator, and self taught, Fireworks, Lightroom + InDesign. You see, I can make a list of every single tool that I use for design, it’s not going to help the process, the solution isn’t the latest whatever, but the way you approach a problem — don’t get stuck in a wrong direction, brainstorm, then walk away, do something else, play, laugh, cook a meal, surf the net with no goals in mind, go to six flags, take out your camera take some pictures or do a puzzle — when you start to look at things from another perspective you will have the solution to your creative project. Then again, creative people are just born lucky, it takes equally amount of luck to be creative.

I was on Maschmeyer blog earlier and found a pretty interesting - older - post about the creative mind:

On Creative People
Highly creative people have an independence of judgment.
They are questioning of authority.
They make fewer quick decisions, fewer black and white decisions.
They’re prepared to entertain irrational impulses.
They place great value on humor.
They cannot be rigidly controlled.

On Their Loyalties
Their first loyalty is never to the company, but to themselves and their profession.
They’re true to their own talent, their environment and its challenges

On Their Orientation to Problems
Their prime motivation is never money.
They simply spend all they can get and want more.
They are motivated by the task.
They work harder, longer without external pressures if the task attracts them and the environment excites them.
With the creative person, in the exploratory stages, there is great interest in the problem at hand, perhaps commitment to its eventual solution, but certainly not to any particular approach.

On Their Approach to Work
Creative people spend more time sifting alternatives not appearing to “get on with it.”
They make irregular progress.
Not step-by-step, but in unpredictable leaps.
This is lateral thought.
There is an open mindedness, a willingness to pursue leads in any direction, a relaxed and perhaps child-like, playful attitude that allows a disorganized, undisciplined approach to the point of putting the problem aside entirely.

On Their Judgment
Creative people are frightened of early commitment to an idea. (They are still sifting)
They need undisciplined exploration including artificial disorganizersh as drugs, alcohol, brain storming, games and anything but direct pressure.

On Managing Them
Management has to learn how to distinguish incubation from laziness suspend judgment from indecision boundary expansion from drunkenness.

On Their Big Ideas
Creativity is characterized by a willingness to seek and accept relevant information from any and all sources; to suspend judgment and defer commitment until The Big Idea.
Once finally arrived at, it is held to with bull-headed conviction and defended vehemently.
There is great conviction, dogged perseverance, strong ego involvement,
longing for praise and dogmatic support of the new way.