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8 Ways to Ignite Creativity

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Like any skill, creativity needs to be nursed. As writer and stylist Erin Loechner said, “You get what you give.” The more time you spend actively engaging your creativity, the greater your chances of producing exciting and inventive ideas and projects. (And the more fun you have, too!) Here are eight practical ways to help your imagination blossom.

1. Raise your endorphins.

“I find that when my blood is pumping, my creative juices really thrive,” said Loechner, also author of Design for Mankind, an art and design blog. For instance, she likes to take long walks and listen to music.

2. Challenge your brain.  

Problem-solving is a key part of creativity. To sharpen her problem-solving skills, Brittni Melhoff likes brainteasers. Melhoff is the founder of papernstitch, a curated exhibition site for artists and makers to showcase their work, and editor of the papernstitch blog. She does a variety of puzzles, word problems, crosswords and anagrams. She recommended readers check out the book Brain Games. Or you can find free games online.

3. Chart your own path.

Years ago, as a mom of young kids, Nellie Jacobs, a bestselling author, award-winning artist and creativity consultant, felt really isolated. After talking with many moms who felt the same way, she started a bi-weekly group for moms and their kids called Creating Together in her basement.

Charting your own creative path helps you open doors you might’ve never known existed. Discussions in Jacobs’s playgroup led to the creation of a national quarterly called MAMMA, which focused on issues for moms at home. That led to a cable TV producer inviting Jacobs to develop and co-host a weekly interview show calledMAMMA Speaks Out.

4. Let creativity permeate all areas of your life.

“Choose to see everything from a creative viewpoint,” Jacobs said. For instance, if you experience a sad or unpleasant event, channel that into a book or film, she said.

5. Study others.

Jacobs suggested that readers simply observe people. Figure out what makes others tick, she said. “The more you learn about other people, the more you learn about yourself, your personal resources and creative capabilities.”

6. Play the opposite game.

“When looking for creative solutions, focus on doing things the opposite of how you would normally do them,” said life coach and artist Tiffany Moore. This keeps your creativity on its toes.

Playing the opposite game also means taking a different perspective. “Instead of seeing a situation as a burden, [consider] how [you can] look at it as an opportunity,” Moore said. “If there’s something you dread, try to think—even if it seems impossible—about how you can bring some fun into the situation.” Ask yourself what you can do differently to shake things up, she said.

7. Take creativity to the next level.

If you’d like to explore your creativity further, Jacobs suggested considering a post-graduate degree in creativity, attending creativity conferences or joining a creativity association.

For instance, Buffalo State offers a post-doc in creativity at theInternational Center for Studies in Creativity. The Creative Problem Solving Institute is hosting a conference in June 2012 in Atlanta, Ga. Jacobs is a member of the Creativity Coaching Association, which offers a certification program along with a variety of resources to help cultivate creativity. There’s even an entire week dedicated to creativity called the World Creativity and Innovation Week from April 15-21.

(She also suggested checking out the site Creativity Portal.)

8. Remember that creativity is a personal thing.

As Melhoff said, “What works for me may not work for you, and vice versa.” So how do you know what does work? “Stay in tune with your own body and mind and understand how you can cultivate your own creative life,” she said. Specifically, Melhoff suggested figuring out the time of day you’re most creative along with which activities ignite your imagination.

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Hydro 74: Here is a time-lapse video featuring a project I was doing for one of Revolt Marketing’s clients. This piece was done in Adobe Illustrator only with the pen tool. It’s what I do best.

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The Creative Process Puzzle Pieces

Many of us have fallen victim to an advertising message that touts products such as fast food, cleaning products, or services for a financial advisor. If you are a chocolate fanatic, for instance, it may be hard to resist warm, milk chocolate being drizzled atop creamy, caramel nougat as the slogan hypes “It’s good to be bad.” The advertiser has done a good job if you come home one afternoon with several of those same candy bars in hand.

Wether the advertiser is selling candy or cars, the creative process involves the production of ideas that are conveyed with both words and pictures. This begins with the creative team translating the advertising brief into the creative concept.

The Team

The team that produces the creative strategy for an advertising campaign begins with the account manager and creative director, and ultimately ends up in the hands of the art director and copywriters, who are responsible for shaping the message.

Account Manager

The account manager, also known as the account executive, is the contact person between the agency and the client. It is the account manager’s job to understand the client’s needs and handle the requests. The account manager is a problem solver, n addition to a creative thinker who shapes the ideas for a product or service in the form of strategy.

Creative Director

The creative director is responsible for overseeing the team. The creative director supervises the development of the creative concept and the look and feel of the composition and design for a product or service.

Art Director

The art director is responsible for the visualizing and ultimately executing the creative ideas for a new product or service. The art direct should have talent in many areas, including illustration, concept development, layout, and even copywriting. The art director is also in charge of overseeing the creation of the storyboards, which are considerably detailed compared to production storyboards for film and animation.

Copywriter

The copywriter is a wordsmith who must study the creative strategy and the facts before disseminating the message. Whereas the art director uses visuals to persuade an individual to buy a product or service, the copywriter uses words. The copywriter often works directly with the art director, brainstorming ideas for attention-getting ideas.