The magic of association

Much has been written about creativity and creative thinking. From all that I’ve read, it seems that “successful” creativity most often comes from looking outside the area you’re working in. For example, the bestselling toothbrush in the world came from scientists at the Gillette company who decided to look outside for creative associations. They began their discovery by first looking at how different items are cleaned – cars, clothes, hair, arteries, etc. When they began to settle in on how cars are cleaned things got exciting because they began to make connections between what happens in a car wash and what could happen with a tooth brush. In the end they developed the Oral B tooth brush with multiple brushes brushing in different directions, similar to what happens when you take your car through a car wash.

As you sit down to create or solve a problem, try to think of things that are totally unrelated at first. If you want to photograph a landscape, think about an ant and what its landscape might look like. Or what the mountain might see if it were looking back at you taking the picture. Or pretend you’re the color green and what you would photograph if you wanted to highlight that color. There may be a direct correlation between your associations and your creativity.

PIC-OF-THE-WEEK

Every once in awhile the sky offers patterns that just have to be photographed.

Getting there is important

I rarely post something from someone else in its entirety, but I think this is worth it (from Blaine Hogan):

You must understand that your art is not just what you make but how you make it. Your art isn't just the “what” of the end result, but also “how” you got there.

When we don’t allow for our end products to be birthed out of true artistic and creative processes that honor the “how” and even the “why,” the artist will be unable to infuse it with any internal significance. If it doesn’t mean something to the artist it won’t mean anything to the audience.

Weʼve all been in meetings or conversations about a piece of art where the following question is uttered:“Did it work?” This is not a question of art. This is a question for your washing machine. “Did it work?,” is not a bad question, there just might be better ones like…

Did you bring your insides out?
Did you acknowledge the lump in your throat?
Did you tell a compelling story?
Did you try something new? Something risky?
Did you work from your center?
Did you allow yourself to be moved?

We must put as much time into our “how” and our “why,” as we do our “what.”

This is how we make our process a work of art.

 PIC-OF-THE-WEEK

 I love to take farm photos. Yes, I did stretch the sky a little in Photoshop - couldn't resist.