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READING MATERIAL // SIX THINKING HATS

*reading and taking notes from ‘Six Thinking Hats’ by Edward de Bono

“Six Hats method is now very widely used around the world” 

“The main difficultly of thinking is confusion. We try to do too much at once”

Special note on the Black Hat

misinterpretation of the black hat cause confusion - it is “regarded as a bad hat” yet is “the most valuable” and “means being careful and cautious”

“Hats and colours are much easier to remember than are complicated psychological terms”

“an alternative to the argument system, which was never intended to be constructive or creative”

“With the Six Hats method the emphasis is on ‘what can be’ rather than just on ‘what is’, and on how we design a way forward - not on who is right and who is wrong”

“the value of a hat as a symbol is that it indicates a role”

“people do not choose argument because it is the preferred method. Tey simply do not know any other way. The Six Hats provides another way.”

“The hats may also be used in individual thinking on his or her own. The sequenced framework reduces confusion and ensures that all aspects are fully covered”

Arguments versus Parallel Thinking 

the basic idea around Western thinking is based on argument - which is not sufficient 

Six Hats method provides a simple model for constructive thinking while traditional Western (and other thinking) does not

Not categories of People

“there is a huge temptation to use the hats to describe and categorize people”

“hats are not descriptions of people but modes of behaviour”

people may prefer one mode to another” - “every person must be able, skilled, to look in all the directions”

“the use of hats as labels is dangerous because it destroys the whole point of the system, which is that everyone can look in every direction”

Notes on using the Thinking Hats

“i often ask how people are using it, and discover that sometimes they have been using it incorrectly”

in a meeting it can occur that people keep wearing the same hats “the people then keep those roles for the whole meeting”

Results 

“Power”

“Time Saving”

“Removal of Ego”

“One Thing at a Time”

Dealing with people who do not know what the Six Thinking Hats an explanation is needed.

Conclusion

“The biggest enemy of thinking is complexity, for that leads to confusion. When thinking is clear and simple, it becomes enjoyable and more effective”

Two main purposes of the Thinking Hats - “to simplify thinking by allowing a thinker to deal with one thing at a time.Instead of having to take care of emotions, logic, information, hope and creativity all at the same time, the thinker is able to deal with them seperately” the second main purpose is “to allow a switch in thinking.” “a direct request”

“the six hats provide an idiom that is definite without being offensive” “does not threaten a person’s ego or personality. By turning it into role-playing or even a game” 

“I am not suggesting that at every moment in our thinking we should consciously be using one hat or another. this is quite unnecessary”

“occasionally we may want to go through the hats in a formal structured sequence and in such cases we would lay out the structure beforehand”

making a request to change hats within the discussion, it is advised to remain with some formality “at first this may seem a bit awkward but in time it will semm quite natural to make such a request”

“the framework will be most useful if all the people in an organization are aware of the rules of the game”

“the concept works best when it has become a sort of common language”

References:

de Bono, E. (2000). Six Thinking Hats. 2nd ed. London: Penguin.

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“What’s your creative philosophy?” / / Article by Medium.com

I read this article on “What’s your creative philosophy?” on Medium.com. The article was informative as it gave my an interesting insight into a broader understanding around the beliefs of creativity. Particurally what I found interesting was the way it dissembled the meaning of multiple generic creative philosophies written by agencies. This mean’t that I was able to not only form a wider perspective of what actually is a creative philosophy but I was also able to get some industry perspective as well. 

The article was valuable to me as it is relevant to both my potential career within an agency (who an agency mindset works, their individual values and belief on creativity) as well as when contemplating my own emerging creative philosophy.

My plan is to reference this article within my written understanding of creative philosophy(ies) and use it as I try and personally evaluate my own beliefs - it’s useful to contrast and compare the challenging statements made within this article to how I define ‘creative’ and my passion. 

The article...

https://medium.com/@grantsanders_63085/whats-your-creative-philosophy-63879c1779a7

References:

Saunders, G. (2016). “What’s your creative philosophy?” – Okay, Here’s the Thing – Medium. [online] Medium. Available at: https://medium.com/@grantsanders_63085/whats-your-creative-philosophy-63879c1779a7 [Accessed 13 Nov. 2018].

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“The term “creative” is used to describe three kinds of things: a person, a process or activity, or a product”

References:

Kaufman, S. (2014). The Philosophy of Creativity. [online] Scientific American Blog Network. Available at: https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/beautiful-minds/the-philosophy-of-creativity/ [Accessed 8 Nov. 2018].

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.02.11.18

WEEK SIX SEMINAR// Sketching and Visual Thinking

Introduction to sketching and visual thinking

Practising different techniques

Roam, D. 2009. The Back of the Napkin. Solving Problems and Selling Ideas with Pictures. Marshall Cavendish Business.

The Back of the Napkin

*explaining very complex problems through drawing, making things more digestible for people. 

Drawing is a powerful tool, it can engage people, hold the room and make them understand what you are saying

Sketching to communicate ideas

Drawing ideas sets up a thinking space, by locating ideas in a visual form on the space of a page you can see new relationships and opportunities.

*Sketchnotes (Makayla Lewis) - *check out her Instagram

The 6 W’s of Visual Thinking (Roam,2008)

Who/What, How much, Where, When...

Thumbnails

*its roughness invites suggestions - - - sketching is social, communicates and engages

Different approaches can be from cheap and disposable to more fidelity, to serious ideas

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Research / / Helping to shape my EMERGING CREATIVE PHILOSOPHY 

Notes from an interview with grandfather, Ron Fabry, who worked in advertising:

School organisation, put him touch with journalists as that was his original interest. Went onto ‘The Outfitter’ which was a magazine/newspaper to do with clothes. Worked as an ‘office boy’, running around and doing errands, junior tasks such filing. Could’nt work in the jounralist section but was moved into advertising department in 1948. 

Came out and worked at ‘Rowds’ agency, which was later taken over by a larger company. Was a ‘production man’ at ‘Rowds’ learning about printing. Mather and Crowther offered him a job as a ‘progress man’ (alloted different accounts to make sure they are processed, timings, and working with individuals such as copywriters to make sure things go out on time), at the time they were a small company but were good at gaining a lot of accounts. Accounts came to them.  

Was asked to work on the Jaeger account, and he had to do research, asking the public their thoughts on Jaeger. example of THE IMPORTANCE OF RESEARCH: *which relates to Assignment 2 at the moment 

Found out that no matter how old they are women refered to themselves as “girls” 

The market of the bussiness was only expanding to the sons and daughters of the existing customers 

Found that had an impressive range of sizing

Found that had a ‘mix and match’ quality to their colours between products/designs

Jaegar was also seen as more expensive then it actually was

Gave the information to a copywriter and designer, who came up with the phrase “Jaegar girl” - as a team bought out the back of newspapers and went to a brilliant photographer. “How big is a Jaegar girl?” “How does she mix and match?” - ads was these lines were produced and really successful. Mean’t that Jaegar was very successful for Mather and Crowther as well. 

Moved up to be head of a progress group of about seven people, and then moved onto the account side of advertising as an assisstant account executive in early 1950′s. Stayed at Mather and Crowther until 1960′s. 

Moved to the television side of advertising at (‘Prescold’?). Account Executive at this agency. Mather and Crowther ex-employee created his own agency which he joined in central London, Account Executive and general manager. Small independent agency, but quite large ads in newspapers. Collasped. 

Went to Ministry of Transport, wanted to be the advertising side of the agency but was an ‘information officer’. Had a large job of organizing the displays working with senior officers so they wanted to keep him on and put him in charge of ‘publications’ (700 publications a year, exhibitions) when the ministry grew. Worked on small tv ads. 

Promotion to deal with the advertising side, organize the way accounts were percieved and managed. Worked with a lot of campaigns. 1952-62.

- Later life gave lectures on the accounts he worked on. 

*Mather and Crowther - Ogilvy, Benson & Mather. In 1964 it merged with Mather & Crowther Ltd. of London to become Ogilvy & Mather International. 1985 Ogilvy & Mather International Inc. became the Ogilvy Group. 

Advice:

You need to get on with people. The job is all to do with people. You first have to deal with the people in the department, what they want, what they say 

Voice your own opinion, your advice 

In advertising once you have a position its up to you to move where you want to go

When you get a successful schtick, stay with it. Sometimes that may mean keeping the message but tweaking it

Use the truth 

If you have a product, and its working, keep at it and don’t change it otherwise it will confuse people, and you will lose money

Look at the research, location of the product, where its being sold 

Remember that advertising is selling. You may be selling it in newspapers, tv, radio...

Find a media answer to your advertising, and then your market (don’t sell something to youngsters in newspaper) - you would be wasting money. Go to an area, try it out, see how it works and then extent your product (*great advice for Assignment 2, looking at the successful of High St)

Research, research, research, your market and the relevance of the media you are using. Think about the consumer and consider the market deeply (*relates really well to our seminars and lectures involving the importance of research, models of creative research etc. Understanding people, customers, audiences, users, the psychology of the consumer )

References:

Fabry, K. and Fabry, R. (2018). Ron's Experience in the Industry.

Hatads.org.uk. (n.d.). Advertising Agencies | The Collections | History Of Advertising Trust. [online] Available at: http://www.hatads.org.uk/catalogue/agencies/18/Ogilvy/ [Accessed 2 Nov. 2018].

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.26.10.18

FOLLOWING THE LINKS - RESPONDING TO WEEK FIVE LECTURE //MODELS OF CREATIVITY AND RESEARCH

Double Diamond

https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/design-process-what-double-diamond

Discover, Define, Develop and Deliver

“‘divergent thinking’) before refining and narrowing down to the best idea (‘convergent thinking’)”

“once to confirm the problem definition and once to create the solution” - - - 

“In order to discover which ideas are best, the creative process is iterative”

“ideas are developed, tested and refined a number of times, with weak ideas dropped in the process”

Discover - “Designers try to look at the world in a fresh way, notice new things and gather insights“

Define - “make sense of all the possibilities identified in the Discover phase” “Which matters most? Which should we act on first? What is feasible?”

Develop - “solutions or concepts are created, prototyped, tested and iterated”

Delivery - “finalised, produced and launched”

/ / / 

DSchool Stanford + IDEO

https://dschool.stanford.edu

*

/ / /

Design Kit

http://www.designkit.org

*REALLY GREAT SOURCE, FOR LATER/MID WAY INTO BRIEF 2 ESPECIALLY

*refer back to consistantly within the task to develop well

“The Field Guide to Human-Centered Design“

*a really useful site that has any desired info on design strategies and the creative process. Has a lot to do with personality, insight into characters/human nature and model building that way. Return to Design Kit, particulary later on in Brief 2 possibly for when the idea is developed - looking into “How do I know if an Idea is working?” etc. *Also really major for when we have gathered research as a group, has topics on “How do I make sense of what I have heard?” etc.

References:

Design Council. (n.d.). The Design Process: What is the Double Diamond?. [online] Available at: https://www.designcouncil.org.uk/news-opinion/design-process-what-double-diamond [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].

Stanford d.school. (n.d.). A place for explorers & experimenters at Stanford University.. [online] Available at: https://dschool.stanford.edu [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].

Designkit.org. (n.d.). Design Kit. [online] Available at: http://www.designkit.org [Accessed 26 Oct. 2018].

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HEGARTY ON CHALLENGING THE STATUS QUO

Video notes:

You can’t be a successful creator unless you have some fundamental beliefs, and put those beliefs into your work - defining creativity as an expression of self

What is driving you? Be aware and connect to the things that you love. (Hegarty) Driven by irreverence while historically artists were driven, controlled by authourity

Renaissance art, the function of artists, art directors having to consistantly find a new look (for the virgin Mary etc.) Arts function was to be reverered

Artists acted as communicators, and what they were communicating was the changing world, they were therefore reflecting society as it began to question - - - 

DADA, BAUHUAS, creating to challenge, irreverence, thinking differently, a different function, developing the way we communicate 

The most important word you ever use is WHY?, just continue using that, asking and challenging

Irreverent thinking and genius, innovation

In the communications, advertising industry the consumer is presented with choice, overwhelming sense of choice. We are commicators need to find a way of making them look at us and not the other person - which is crucial

Why is this better? Asking yourself about the product, pushing your thinking. Like the PUNK movement, but with reconstrunction. WARHOL did irreverence better, saying this is what we should be looking to instead - if we are breaking something down we have to put something else in its place, saying these are the icons now

Resonates/challenges us to question again why we should be looking at this in that way etc.

Irreverence is fundamentally important - finding ways to capture peoples imaginations through expressing it and getting them to accept it

Whatever you are doing the TRUTH is the finest strategy you can imploy

Cynicism (the act of being cynical) as the death of creativity?

The conundrum, advertising as 80% idea, 80% execution

The essense of craft, being able to turn that idea into something magical - Hegarty dissapointed in the level of craft in the industry today and how it is able to capture emotion

Humour is fundamentally important - Humour is the enemy of authority, that is way it is so powerful and that is why we should be constantly looking for it in the work that we do as creatives - humour is a great way to make people accept ideas they are not often sure about, getting them to listen

Context is often lost but the brilliance of the idea remains and comes through

Find the truth and find a way of expressing it that captures peoples imaginations

Embrace difference, embrace something which isn’t like everything else

What you MUST NOT DO is do print ads in TV - you stay with the idea but you find a VERY VERY different way of expressing it

You have to confront clients and question “what bussiness do you think you’re in?” - you are not in the ‘icecream bussiness’ you are in the ‘essential pleasure bussiness’

You start a conversation to get people to see TV (etc?) or appreciate

We take complex thoughts and we reduce them down - how might we create an idea to incapsulate all of this is 60 seconds (etc)

DRIVEN BY IRREVERENCE. FIND WHAT YOU ARE DRIVEN BY

It’s your job, our job to fight for creative ideas

Take responsibility, it is the creative people that will make the change

References:

Design Indaba (2016). Sir John Hegarty on challenging the status quo. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJYNRAawgbM [Accessed 25 Oct. 2018].

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READING MATERIAL // HEY WHIPPLE, SQUEEZE THIS

*reading and taking notes from ‘Hey Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads’

Chapter 3: A Clean Sheet of Paper Coming up with an idea—the broad strokes

“Print is to [all of] advertising what figure drawing is to fine art; it provides a creative foundation.”

“SAYING THE RIGHT THING THE RIGHT WAY. Remember, you have two problems to solve: the client’s and yours.”

“Dullness won’t sell your product, but neither will irrelevant brilliance.”

*“dullness is represented on the far left side of the left circle, and irrelevant brilliance, on the far right side of the right.”

“Hit the overlap”

“you often lose the selling idea in the act of trying to express it creatively”.”Your job as a thinker and problem solver is to keep both in mind, to spin the strategy without losing hold of it.” “the two most common rejections of your ideas will be “I don’t get it” and “I’ve seen that before.” In other words, either it’s too weird or too obvious.” 

“Find the central human truth about your product.” “write down the truest thing you can say about the brand or the product.” 

“We try to find that long-neglected truth in a product and give it a hug.” 

“find” this truth, not invent it. The best ideas are old truths brought to light in fresh, new ways.

*”instead focused on one of the central human truths about this category—the use of flowers as a ticket out of the Casa di Canine.” (i.e men get out of the ‘dog house’ by showering their lover with gifts)

“Tell the truth and run.”

“We’re Avis. We’re only number two. So we try harder.” Totally believable. More important, I like a company that would say this about themselves. America loves an underdog.” - - -

Perhaps the biggest underdog of all time was Volkswagen. VW was the king of self-deprecation. The honest voice Doyle Dane Bernbach created for this odd-looking little car turned its weaknesses into strengths.”

“Identify and leverage the central conflicts within your client’s company or category.”

“the best work usually come from a place of conflict.” “When a strategy can be built on top of one of these tensions” “There’s a natural energy at these points of cultural stress, a conflict of ideas or themes that can be a fertile place for ideas of force and substance.” “stir a little bit of talk.”

“thematic tension might be simply “deprivation”; having something taken away from you is a platform leveraged for years by Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in their iconic “Got Milk?” campaign.”

Look for polarities. Where you find them you will also likely find tension. And where you find tension, you will find creative sparks.

“A FEW WORDS ON AUTHENTICITY.”

“mid-1950s, however, this omnipresent voice of authority started to lose its credibility.” - - - “We’ve become a nation of eye-rollers and skeptics. We scarcely believe anything we hear in the media anymore, and marketers can’t make things true simply by saying they’re true.”

“what people look for today, and what they believe in and are persuaded by, is authenticity.”

*”How can you argue with this Avis ad?” Authenticity is something “you are”

“Admitting that your commercial is a paid message with an agenda is one way to disarm distrust.” 

“This generation knows you’re trying to sell them something and you know they know, so let’s just drop the pretense and make the whole exercise as much fun as possible.” 

Underpromising and overdelivering is perhaps another way to disarm distrust. Even self-deprecation can help establish authenticity; VW’s “It’s ugly but it gets you there” is perhaps the most memorable example. 

“To effectively ‘hype’ something today, you must find a way to cut through ‘the hype.’ . . . This necessitates telling the truth.”

“the brands that are unwilling to have a real and truthful conversation with consumers will become completely irrelevant and therefore invisible.”

“Don’t rationalize away what you [like about their product]. Find the truth they are exploiting that you are not.” 

“Try the competitor’s product”

“Find a weakness in the leader’s strength and attack at that point.”

“Avis Rent A Car was only number two.”“come to them instead of Hertz because “The line at our counter is shorter.”“

“Pose the problem as a question”

“not to simply restate the problem in the terms in which it was brought to you; you’re not likely to discover any new angles. Pose the question again and again, from entirely different perspectives.”

“Ask a better question.” 

“Don’t be afraid to ask dumb questions.” “we sometimes find simple answers that have been overlooked.”

“Ask yourself what would make you want to buy the product.”

“Dramatize the benefit”

“don’t mean the features of the product, but the benefit those features provide the user, or what some call “the benefit of the benefit.”

“Avoid style; focus on substance”

“Remember, styles change; typefaces and design and art direction, they all change. Fads come and go. But people are always people.”

“They want to look better, to make more money; they want to feel better, to be healthy. They want security, attention, and achievement. These things about people aren’t likely to change. So focus your efforts on speaking to these basic needs, rather than tinkering with the current visual affectations. Focus first on the substance of what you want to say. Then worry about how to say it.”

“Find a villain”

“overpriced product. “ pain or inconvenience the client’s product spares you.” “If the product’s a toothpaste, the villain can be tooth decay” “A villain can come from another product category altogether” ”an indirect competitor”

“Try some of these “strategy starters” and see if ideas start to form.” 

“Do a straight on us vs. them approach.“

“Show life before and after the product.” 

“Instead of trying to change how consumers think, change what they do.”

“Is there a compelling story about the heritage behind your brand?” 

“Can your brand dispense some smart advice about the whole category?” “Is there a story in the founders of the brand? Or in their original vision?” 

“Can you turn a perceived negative attribute of your product into a positive? Can you demonstrate on-camera or online your product’s superiority?” 

“Can you move your product out of its current category and reposition it in another?” 

“Can your brand be insanely honest about itself, admitting to some shortcomings while winning on the important thing?”

“First, say it straight. Then say it great”. 

“simply write out what you want to say.” “This is an ad about . . . ” And then keep writing. Who knows?”

“You can tell when ads are trying too hard. Their intentions are too obvious.”      “some that grab your attention with their executional brio, but their lack of relevance is such that after you’ve seen them they leave you kind of empty”

“Great advertising combines density of content with the elegance of form. 

“Density of content and elegance of form.”

“Don’t let your concept get in the way of the product”

*don’t be a “visual vampire” - “the concept’s execution is so busy it sucks the life out of their commercial message“

*”usually happens when the product bores you. Which means you haven’t dug deep enough to find the thing about it that’s exciting or interesting. Or maybe you need to reinvent the brief.“

“the interesting part of an ad shouldn’t be a device that points to the sales message; it should be the sales message”

“The product, the product, the product. Stay with the product.” “don’t get seduced by unrelated ideas”

“Put the pill inside the baloney, not next to it.

“Dogs hate pills, right? So what do you do? You wrap the pill in a piece of baloney.“

“Customers hate sales pitches. So you wrap your pitch in an interesting bit, and they’re more likely to bite.”

“You gotta wrap that baby right into the middle of the baloney. The two have to be one. Your interesting device cannot just point to the sales message; it must be the sales message.“

“Emotional purchase drivers connect with customers more deeply than rational ones.”  “Okay, this campaign is gonna be . . . thoughtful.” Or it’s gonna be angry, or stark, or . . . well, you decide. What’s right for your client? What’s right for the customer?”

“Finding that emotion is often all you need in order to get the ideas flowing.”

“Deciding which emotion to leverage is something you’ll do early in the process.”

“the answer is always a combination of what your product is and whom you are talking to”

“You can change your mind later, but sometimes making this decision can give you focus” - - -

“Stare at a picture that has the emotion of the ad you want to do.” “ for copywriting. You need to be in the mood.”

“emotion is, it may help to put up some pictures that put you in the mood” “have you ever tried to write an angry letter when you weren’t angry?” “the same can be said for copywriting. You need to be in the mood.”

“Let your subconscious mind do it.” “controlled daydream.” “hear what the ad wants to be“

“Try writing down words from the product’s category.”

“Embrace the suck.” “some kind of dopey device or visual or slogan. It could be a client’s geeky spokesperson, a long-running sale with a goofy name, or just some bad footage.“ “Tackle it directly. When you embrace the suck, good ideas often spill out of the very thing your instincts tell you to avoid.“

“The only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really crappy first drafts“ “You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions come through and onto the page.“ - -”it’s a workbench” “Write. Keep writing. Don’t stop.”

“Allow your partner to come up with terrible ideas.”

“Even if the idea truly and most sincerely blows, just say,” 

“That’s interesting,” scribble it down, and move on“ 

“see if you can take it and shape it and mold it.” 

“Then throw it back to him or her with your idea tacked on.“ 

*”Just because an idea doesn’t work yet, doesn’t mean it might not work eventually.”

*”not to say aloud every stinking thing that comes into your head. It’s counterproductive.”

“Spend some time away from your partner, thinking on your own.” - “gives you both a chance to look at the problem from your own perspective before you bring your ideas“

“Come up with a lot of ideas.”

“in order to get to a great idea, which is usually about the 500th one to come along, you’ll need to resist the temptation to give in to the anxiety and sign off on the first passable idea that shows up”

“Learning to be okay with uncertainty is part of the process of having more insights”

“Quick sketches of your ideas are all you need during the creative process”. 

“Just get the concept on paper and keep moving forward. You’ll cover more ground this way.“

“Tack the best ideas on the wall”.  

“helps you determine whether there are campaigns forming” "where there are holes that need to be filled”

“Write. Don’t talk.”

“Don’t talk about the concepts you’re working on”

“an idea talked about is never as exciting as the idea itself.”

“The time will come to unveil.” 

*The best ad people I know are the silentbut-deadly kind. You never hear them out in the hallways talking about their ideas. They’re working.”

“Write hot. Edit cold” --- “Once you get on a streak, ride it.” 

“Nurture a newly hatched idea. Until it grows up, you don’t know what it’s going to be.”

“If it makes you laugh out loud, make it work.” 

“Try something naughty. Or provocative”.  

*“it often pays to try to be naughty on purpose.”  - - -

“Naughty is good. It gets your client talked about”

“Remember, being provocative just because you can isn’t the point.” 

“Be sure your provocativeness stems from your product.” 

*“We can’t do that, can we?” - “That’s a sign it’s a strong idea.” 

Ask yourself - “Will somebody talk about this idea if we do it?”

“If you’re about to spend advertising dollars on a campaign and you can’t imagine that anybody is going to write about it or talk about it, you might want to rethink it. It means you probably missed injecting a truth or social tension into it.”

“Try doing something counterintuitive with a medium.”

“put your poster in exactly the wrong place” 

“What if”

“Things get really interesting when you take this kind of thinking into the digital realm” “BK asked Facebook members to delete 10 of their friends to get a free Whopper“ - - - “These stunts tend to create a lot more talk value than what’s traditionally been called advertising.“

“If you have to do an ad, does it have to be a flat page?”

“Try a pop-up, a gatefold, a scratch and sniff, a computer chip” - “there are less expensive tricks you can try. Sequential ads. Scratch-off concepts. Die cuts. Different paper stocks. Acetate film. There’s even magnetized paper now.”

“Try not to look like, or act like, or sound like, or be like an ad.” 

“People don’t buy magazines to look at ads. They don’t buy TVs to look at the stinkin’ commercials.” “Can it be an interactive display in Times Square? In Red Square? Can you turn a building into a QR code? Can your TV campaign be a soap opera? Or an opera opera? Can you make it a video game?” *REMEMBER DO SOMETHING PROVOCATIVE

“a picture is worth a thousand words” “John Hegarty says, “I just don’t think people read ads.”” “visuals work fast.” 

“As the larger brands become globally marketed, visual solutions will become even more important. They translate, not surprisingly, better than words.”

“If readers don’t get what you’re trying to say from the visual, they won’t get it.“ 

“The page is turned.” “Coax an interesting visual out of your product.” “Visualize it on its side. Upside down. Make its image rubber. Stretch your product visually” “always keeping in mind you’re trying to coax out of the product a dramatic image with a selling benefit.” “Take your product, change it visually, and by doing so dramatize a customer benefit.“

“Get the visual clichés out of your system right away.” “Every category has its own version of Tired Old Visuals.“ 

“Learn what iconography is overused in your category, and avoid it.”

“Show, don’t tell.” “Saying isn’t the same as being.” *”If a client says, “I want people to think our company is cool,” the answer isn’t an ad saying, “We’re cool.” The answer is to be cool. “

“When everybody else is zigging, you should zag” - “If your product is white sheets, write the headlines in mud. If your product is beautiful, show something ugly.” 

“search as far outside the boundaries of convention”

“turn everything on its head. Logos usually go lower right, so put them top left. Product shots are usually small, make them big. Instead of headlines being more prominent than the body copy, do the opposite. It’s perverse, but I’m constantly surprised how many times it works.” - - -

“You are not right if in your ad you stand a man on his head just to get attention. You are right if [it’s done to] show how your product keeps things from falling out of his pockets.“

“Consider the opposite of your product.” 

*”What doesn’t the product do? Who doesn’t need the product? When is the product a waste of money?”

“Avoid the formula of saying one thing and showing another.” (“But if you use this sort of setup, make sure the difference between word and picture is breathtaking”)

“Make sure you don’t get stuck always doing the ol’ exaggeration thing” “It’s just a little too easy” “will rarely lead you to a totally unexpected solution” “Just be aware” 

“if you’re going to do an exaggeration scenario, make sure you base it on a truth”

“Whenever you can, go for an absolute” “Quietest, fastest, cleanest” “middle ground are boring.” 

“Metaphors“

*“can be a quick and powerful way to communicate” 

“The trick is doing it well” - - -

“Just picking up an image/symbol and plopping it down next to your client’s logo won’t work. But when you can take an established image, put some spin on it, and use it in some new and unexpected way that relates to your product advantage”

“Symbols lifted right off the rack usually won’t fit your communication needs and typically need some spin put on them.” 

“they involve the reader.”

“use images already in the reader’s mind, twist them to the message’s purpose“

“If you leave too much out, you’ll mystify your audience. If you put too much in, you’ll bore them.”

“Don’t set out to be funny. Set out to be interesting.”

“Simplicity is all” “Simple is easier to remember” “Simple breaks through advertising clutter”

“If you can’t reduce your argument to a few crisp words and phrases, there’s something wrong with your argument.”

“Keep paring away until you have the essence of your ad“ - “Inside every fat ad there’s a thinner and better one trying to get out.”

“When you have distilled a good idea into its simplest form, you’re in the neighborhood of “great.””

“Learn to recognise big ideas when you have them” 

“Big ideas transcend strategy” 

*”Doe’s it really have to land precisely on the target to work?” - *sometimes big ideas wander off strategy, and that's ok. 

“After you’ve covered the walls in ideas and you’ve identified concepts you really like, stop.” - “and I mean covered the walls”

References:

Sullivan, L. (2016). Hey, Whipple, Squeeze This: The Classic Guide to Creating Great Ads, 5th Edition. 5th ed. Wiley; 5th edition (16 Feb. 2016).

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READING MATERIAL // HEGARTY ON ADVERTISING

*reading and taking notes from ‘Hegarty on Advertising: Turning Intelligence into Magic’

why this book? - “Hegarty on Advertising contains over four decades’ worth of wisdom from the main behind hugely influential campaigns”

Preface

“Creativity in advertising is all about the power of reduction. Write less, say more”

“The function of advertising is simply to promote and sustain competitive advantage for brands”

“Today, a product’s emotional appeal is as important as its functional abilities”

“The brand engages with its potential audience by being an aid”

“It has to be an integral part of a brand and stiched into the very heart of the product”

Introduction

“I thought the problem with the form wasn’t that is was difficult to fill out, but it was boring and people hated doing it” “give the tax form some humanity and make it more engaging to the people who had to use it”

“A designer is trying to create order out of chaos, while an art director is trying to disrupt: competing for attention and empathy”

ideas were fundamental to the solution before you started designing”

“Doyle Dane Bernbach” “were anti-establishment” “were definitely from the wrong side of the tracks but it was the side where all the fun was being had”

“a breakthrough strategy: tell the truth. Alongside truth, Bernbach also used wit and charm” “advertising that was not only intelligent, but also inclusive: the hardest thing to achieve” “great skill was to instil humility into the work” “reminding people that corporations are made of people like you and me”

“witty, intelligent, smart, truthful, inclusive and most importantly of all, successful” “honest, disarming and witty”

“campaign titled ‘Think Big’” “’Think small’ ad was simply bouncing off that idea - that’s what gave it its immediate energy” 

“the truth is the most powerful strategy” “you didn’t have to be patronizing to succeed” “humour is an incredibly powerful tool”

“the power of reduction - a fundamental skill in advertising”

“persistance is essential”

“I define creativity as an ‘expression of self’“ “you cannot create great work unless a little bit of you goes into it, be it your heart,your soul or your beliefs”

“they were more then just commericial artists, they were evangelists - they believed in what they were doing” “they had belief and passion”

“you’re an individual with a story to tell who has passion to express your ideas”

“the value of juxtaposition - putting one culture against another, seeing radical, innovative ideas sublimate convention”

“if you can remember that journey” (”early memories,experiences,loves,hates”) and can draw on those feelings and emotions you are part of the way to being an outstanding creative”

Ideas

*TO BE CONTINUED...

References:

Hegarty, J. (2017). Hegarty on Advertising. Thames and Hudson Ltd.

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.05.10.18

NOTES // TYPES OF CREATIVITY WORKSHOP

*Disassembling the creative from brief to execution

Creative Challenge - what is the objective of the advertising proir to its creation? A response to fundamental marketing question

Target Audience - who needs to be motivated/engaged? who will be most receptive to your advertising message. Are you trying to attract new customers? Energize brand loyalists? Existing customers to use product more often?

The Concept / idea - delivering the strategic message? the concept is the idea that or overriding theme behind a campaign. Relies on audience interpretation. Not all ads have a concept

Executions - what ends up on the page, billboard or screen. The visual and verbal expression. Executional elements - copy, art direction

*to see things as the consumer and as the proffesional

Within the workshop we used various case studies, including our own, but the ‘This Girl Can’ television commercial is what we began with to teach us about the components to creativity.

1 // Creative Challenge

“THE WHAT”

Marketing objective - does it stand up to the original demands we asked from this. *Can use statistics to provide an insight into the challenge (e.g “36% of the least-active schoolgirls agree that they feel like their body is on show in PE lessons and that makes them like PE less”)

*If the challenge is precise and well anticulated you will get a more interesting and creative response. If the strategy is set out, specified, it does the same (a more involved outcome)

This Girl Can - the challenge was to get more women into sport, particuraly young girls. To liberate women from their concerns of beauty and feelings of judgement. This moves into  - - -  

2 // Target Audience

“THE WHO”

The different types of target audiences

Potential consumers

Casual users

Loyalists

Others

*trying to get people to use the product more? what is the objective specifically? (can use statistic/the facts to guide target audience as well)

This Girl Can - sports participation in the UK is suffering from a gender gap. Fewer women then men play sport. This Girl Can targets women  - - -  

3 // The Concept

“THE HOW”

Involves different shapes, sizes, colours of women - under the heading of “The Work” they said “We’ve showcased a much broader range of women at different life stages and we’ve included many more different types of sports”. “We also uniquely address the stop/start rollercoaster realities of women’s relationship with exercise” - this is all through the visuals. The copy also - its as if they are owning the insults “I jiggle, therefore I am” - directly challenge sterotypes and judgements to complete this powerful concept.

4 // Executions

*Art direction

Typeface, serif font has an authoritive and formal nature reminiscant of newspapers which gives the statements an authentic feel. The typeface is splitting which connotes this idea of breaking convention. It also resembles stencil art, maybe a nod to rebelious, graffiti like actions.

Photography - grey, misty, not typically ‘nice’ weather conditions. Makes the landscape feel more believable and the situations more relatable. Captures the women in ways that are extremely inclusive, the diversity of who is actually shown, to quote their own words it involves “close and personal journeys of our women as we watch them tackling barriers such as embracing being beginners, pregnancy, postpartum, coming back to activity after a break and getting older”.

Above is the result of what groups came up with in discussing our own chosen advertisements. We only got around to disassembling two advertisements (Lloyds in pink, OVO Energy in orange) but this was a positive thing as it just shows how much content we were able to brain-storm. It was also enough to teach us about the technique of deconstructing the creativity.

It was a really useful workshop, and I will certainly apply this way of anaylsing advertisements to my own process. It changes my way of thinking to consider such vital components as “ WHAT” “WHO” “HOW” and then the execution.

References:

Branch, J. (2018). Wk2 Lecture + Workshop: Types of Creativity. [ebook] Available at: https://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=15976 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

This Girl Can Campaign (2015). This Girl Can - Sport England. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=toH4GcPQXpc [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

Creativebrief.com. (2018). Creativebrief - This Girl Can case study by FCB Inferno. [online] Available at: http://www.creativebrief.com/agency/work/9881/11142/this-girl-can---advertising-creative-digital-integrated-marketing-this-girl-can-second-phase-by-fcb-inferno [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

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.05.10.18

NOTES // TYPES OF CREATIVITY SEMINAR 

Creativty: Innovative + Useful

“If you want too be interesting, be interested”

Creative constraints

Get comfy with risk, failure, accidents

Be seriously playful

Thinking laterally

Steal like an artist

The history of advertising in the context of creativity

Post WW2 - AD industry formation

*The original advertiser, the shop keeper. Not particuraly imaginative, putting together text on a piece of paper. Along came SUPERMARKETS - products were everywhere and you, as the consumer had freedom to make their own choice. A massive change in consumer behaviour, the industry starting to develop. 

Reality in Advertising

Rosser Reeves, Copywriter/Chair of Ted Bates & Company. Highley influential adman (1910-1984) - he doesn’t appreciate advertising and believes it is less and art and more of a science. 

A huge study by Ted Bates & Company, 20 years of research into the history of messages and their ability to penetrate the consumer came to the conclusion that...

// “The consumer tends to remember just one thing from an advertisement - one strong claim, or one strong concept” //

U.S.P

UNIQUE, SELLING, PROPOSITION & repeat, repeat, repeat

Advertisements must make a proposition to the consumer - “Buy this product and you will get this specific benefit”

A proposition must be one that the competition cannot offer , it must be unique, in the same way the proposition must be strong enough to pull over the consumers

Ernest Ditcher - Motivation Research, what is the consumers motivation? - -

Basic human needs determine all of our behaviour, the consumers have primal instincts that drive us (includes sustenance, sex, security and status)

REASON. Advertisements talk about the benefits, idealistic (often uninteresting). Do we require reason to justify our actions of why we are over-endulging in something that does not specially relate to basic human needs - -

Vance Packard 1957 increasing societal unease as we recognise “ persuaders” and how many of us are being influenced and manipulated. Peoples needs and “hidden” desires probed to find our points of vulnerability - probbing influences our state of minds

The creative revolution in advertising (1960s) 

*moving from rationalism to emotion

Connects to MODERNISM movement happening at the time -”form follows function” - feeds into the ideals that modern, sleeker, simplier design aesthetics can develop our approach to creativity and design

Paul Rand, beautiful swiss modernist design classed as a modernist master  1914 - 1996

DDB - Bill Bernbach, Mac Dane and Ned Doyle, their work synoymous to the revolution of advertising. Bill Bernbach as the creative director of DDB - innovative man - he believed in the power of “1+1=3″, copywriter bouncing ideas of of the art director and visa versa - working as partners

‘Think Small’ from DDB Volkswagan advertisement realised in 1959 (the creative revolution in the late 60′s and early 60s). Described as an ad with “self-deprecating humor, irreverence and irony to appeal to young consumers”

ARTISTIC APPROACH CAN STAND OUT FROM THE CROWD - the ideas of ‘the revolution’

Memorable Ads, campaigns and ideas - the Bill Bernbach approach

Memorable because of the way that it made people feel, aroused  through visual dramatization - Bill Bernbach believed in this idea that the emotional can resonate more with the consumers then the rational, links into...

Memorable because they relate back to our own lives - making us feel personally, emotionally connected to the approach and understanding where it is coming from on a different level 

Memorable because it reference news and current affairs of the era - DDB did fantastic examples of this. AVIS Campaign were they related the brand to its competition at the time, Volkswagen, a man holding a gas pump to his head as if he was commiting suicide during the gas crisis. (Especially no a days if you ask people, my Grandfather for instance is always remembering advertisements that related back to current affairs) - -

Insight - empathy with the consumer’s everyday life. Human nature and cultural, social experiences enable the ads to resonate more with the consumer - -

CONTEXTUAL INFLUENCES ON CREATIVITY

References:

Branch, J. (2018). Wk2 Lecture + Workshop: Types of Creativity. [ebook] Available at: https://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/mod/resource/view.php?id=15976 [Accessed 5 Oct. 2018].

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NOTES / / The Poetics of Advertising

The creative process “phenomenological”.The structure of consciousness. Advertising is assembled, predicted through how we engage due to our previous experiences in culture.

“Arts and Crafts”

The premise that creative advertising is “a distillation of complexity”.

It can be noted that some of the most successful and renowned ads “are of absolute graphical simplicity” – McStay later on references “the bird’s-eye close-up of Kikkoman’s red soy sauce”“produced by Leo Burnett in 2005”, and “Coke by Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai” as well as “Welcome to Orange County in 2005 for Koi Living”.

Suggests that in recent years the industry has undergone a “weakening” and rely heavily on visual stimuli “fashioned upfront to make a point”.Is there less thought and message in modern advertising? ---

Minimalist - “Creativity is characterized by simplicity, economy and the somewhat modern idea of less being more”.In a seminar held 29.09.18 I noted the proposal that creative problem solving may call for reduction, simplicity and aesthetics. McStay leads along the same lines, “Advertising is an exercise in techniques of compression and composition”with the function “to convey a large amount of information in a short period of time”. Attention spans are small; it can be argued that technology literate generations used to constant bombardments of information are more difficult to grab ahold of. This suggests that the importance of visual stimuli has re-shaped the current aesthetics belonging to advertising.

Arts or crafts? Supporting craft: a “craftperson will know what he or she would like to make before making it”(a brief with instructions, even vague from the client.) Unlike the artistic process means “chaotic approaches are to be avoided”which reinforces the obvious statement that “advertising is employed to fulfill a specific function.”With this a craft also more strategically arouses emotion (in a “crafted object where each component or factor is carefully considered”).Contrasts to art, where there is “less intentionality involved” in the viewing experience, “it is commonly held that artists might seek to express”– a focus on more personal and individualized responses. “An intention to stimulate involves knowledge of: the audience; the medium and its potential for affect”– all factors prepositioned in client briefs. Art: “Art here has to do with intellectual enrichment and being free to choose what to create”. Creative advertising is not “labour”,which as McStay elucidates is “a strong term”and composes an extreme and inaccurate image of the process.  Later on McStay mentions how posters traditionally received a “high art”status, as he argues “leading artists such as Boccioni were co-opted into designing them”, and were committed to the creative process, “Cappiello was insistent that attention be paid to maintaining the aesthetic of the street”. Such legendary graphic designers who worked closely among clients were also “insistent on poster messages being delivered quickly and vividly”, (“poster form remains quintessential to advertising”McStay dictates) Abram Games “described himself as an ‘Advertising Artist”.

Ultimately undefined advertising is certain to possess “a functional dimension and overtly interacts with a range of aesthetic practices”. Conversely “the designation ‘applied art’ seems to perform well”.  

To broaden the questions over the “distinction between artists and advertising creative”McStay mentions how a source I particularly enjoy referring back to, D&DA have involved themselves within “highlighting the value of commercial creativity and craft skills”. D&DA celebrate many aspects of the advertising industry and its ability to experiment and act with relentless brilliance and creativity.

Art direction, advice: Games (an “Advertising Artist”) had an approach “that elements and the sum of these should identify with the client”. Something was said by McStay that was kindred to the spirit of communicative hierarchy mentioned in my 25.09.18 lecture. “While simplicity and power are important, they are overridden by content”

Every element, I learnt on the 25th,should be integral to the core message or at the very least compliment it. “nothing should appear that does not add to meaning-making”. The importance of these values remained as “the aesthetics of distillation and interplay of modal elements continued as a defining characteristic of what is deemed creative in advertising”. In terms of art direction to be treated with respect and considered as ‘great’ McStay suggests simplification is essential, which certainly guides my own practice.  

Agency: “Copywriters and art directors began working as teams in the 1950s, the house of signature style of an agency or luminary creative is still quite evident today”. But although some principles have remained emphasis has shifted from the advertisement as a creative object”, and creativity becomes “more about process”. This associates with the ideas of ‘craft-making’ and creative problem solving being stimulated by various methods and interactions.

“Undermining hierarches”

“Showing the familiar and potentially mundane in a new light is one of the most important functions of advertising”- McStay references the Dada movement “the two-way influence between Dada and poster advertising”and “its capacity for association, metaphor, juxtaposition and flexible picture language”(all factors of a potentially successful ad). Hannah Hoch who through “juxtaposition of pictorial and linguistic elements”is capable “to play with the unconscious”. Much like the statement McStay made in the beginning of this chapter perceiving the “creative process within advertising as deeply phenomenological”with a focus on “formative processes”and “engagement with phenomenological and experiential dimensions of culture”Dada is practically parallel with its own way of influence. “Stunts, swagger, irreverence, twists and bizarre headlines”– Dada again holds a resemblance, “in the annals of creative advertising, there are many examples of ‘reality with a twist’”which McStay confirms.

Copywriters & Art Directors + more “mutual influence and crossovers between art and advertising”: McStay again associates artistic movements to advertising – “surrealism saw poets and painters team up”. He emphasizes the importance or both “technical ability, but also intellectual ability”As he states himself “advertising and surrealism are of course quite different”, yet still this attitude towards partnerships and having “a firm ally”does play a key role in the processes and outcomes of both, involving qualities effecting the audience, “the charging of images with a new power so to reveal an insight”, “creating audience uncertainty”.  This informs my own practice as it reinforces the importance of the ‘poet’, ‘painter’ relationship, to have an accomplice of who has equal “ awareness of the instability of lived life” to logically propose and consult ideas with. Not only is it the ‘copywriter’ ‘art director’ that McStay exposes similarities to in comparison to surrealism, but he also gives examples of advertisements “taking without consent from the surrealist’s store”– “2005 advertisement by The Duke of Urbino.Com”and “Also from 2005, produced by Sil, Kaula Lumpar, is Burger King’s smile”. The fact that big (fast food) industry players such as “Burger King”,who needless to say spend millions on advertising each year play with surrealist tools (“visual puns”, “transformation”) strongly supports McStay’s point.

Be prepared for “the wide range of input that feeds into the production of the visual aspect of advertising”. Understanding more of the processes McStay suggests how “those outside the factory/agency environment”can effect the outcome of work. After deliberating Andy Warhol’s “enlargement of items in mass culture”and the success and value of his “commodity-based art”with correct in questioning “the nature of originality in art”. It should be noted that anyone from “television producers”to “photographers”reduce the “authorship”that goes into the creative process and result of work.  

“Television”

Poster design appears as a sophisticated “distillation of complexity”as McStay has described a clear aesthetic shaped through “an exercise in techniques of compression and composition”commonly associated to the advertising practice. This is in contrast to television advertising, which “on first reflection seems more excessive”. I agree with this statement from McStay and he gives a wonderful example of the Reebok UBU campaign from the agency Chiat/Day in 1987. Completely contradicting “traditional conventions of representation and interpretation in advertising” the level of subversion this television ad brings is quite spectacular to watch. It is an argument to take into consideration; does a deliberate theme of “irreverence”act successfully as clever and “self-reflective”? “Turning this into a selling point”and generating “more consumption”.

“The poetics of improvisation”

This chapter relates back to my previous suggestions over our ‘numbness’ to an information overload, McStay references a study explaining, “developed consumer filtering systems and shorter attention spans”.

He describes the importance of the time in which online media became a popular form of “communicational strategies”as of the “saturated”,“tired”advertising environment of the 1990’s.

Dimensions to consider for modern advertising:

“Media targeting has come to play a larger role”

“Advertising is realizing opportunities outside of visual and aural communication”

“Possibilities are emerging of getting closer to potential customers”

“There exists a degree of confusion about what advertising is today”

“Digital media and novel modes of audience engagement have generated unique challenges, opportunities and self-questioning within the industry”

“New methods of persuasive communication or promotion seek to engender participation, interaction and intimacy”

“The capacity to cross borders and geographical boundaries with minimal media spent”

“The capacity to react quickly, engage, respond and interact in a free-form manner”

“Encouraging consumers to connect with a brand’s endeavors”

“The character of advertising developed”“to take advantage of wider participatory discourses occurring in the wider inter-connective media milieu”(social environment)

“The language of conversion and experience is now preferred”

“While poster, television, radio, cinema and press advertising all continue, their preeminence has been irrevocably fractured by the arrival of digital modes of seduction”

“Requires that advertising adopts strategies usually found in public relations, having to do with influencing conversation in non-representation ways”

“Endeavors are quite different from those based on aesthetic production and minimal means”

With a difference in form positively it provides the opportunity “for advertisers to play with the form of advertising”“parody its very conventions”. “Wieden + Kennedy in 2010 and the Old Spice viral commercial”campaign was extremely playful and “successfully utilized social networking”to reach ‘viral’ status. “Engagement and the wish to more deeply interact with communities”ticked the boxes for the modern desire for more interactive forms of communication and persuasion.

“Much advertising now utilizes what we might call social substitution”

“Community”

“the wish either to be part of a community or to find a community”– links to interactivity and adopted strategies to engage more with the consumer through “the language of conversation”as McStay refers to.

Campaigns such as “UNIQLO’S Lucky Line”“Created by Dentsu Tokyo in 2010”through “an online environment”boosted sales creating a “mini-metaverse”(user-interaction based platform). “Volkswagen and their agency AlmapBBDO in 2010”similarly intertwined “the virtual and the real”to much success – an impressive, clever, and engaging method of advertising, ‘creative problem solving’ to boost consumer awareness and sales.

“Dulux paints by Euro RSCG London in 2010 titled The Let’s Colour Project”“more literal interpretation of creativity and community”. “Film and written content uploaded to blogs”and social media – excellent use of spreading awareness over multi-media based platforms.

Community based advertising “requires engagement and sustained dialogue”– “quite different from representational creativity”, more simply confined, “frame-based art”is arguably easier to strategize and determine the outcome of.

“2009 campaign by Saatchi & Saatchi for T-Mobile” - “reveals a subtle change in approach to sociality”.  Popular advertisement involving flash-mobs in London synonymous to the messages and values of the T-Mobile brand and its ideals of connectivity “joy, spontaneity, frivolity and community” all were present themes of the ad, “we enjoy the advertisements themselves, but we are hailed by the meta-discourse of sociality”McStay points out – which emphasizes this idea that consumers are more so intrigued by the method of communication and sociality of the subject rather then the fixed representation and interpretation of a brand from the advertising. McStay summarizes well the idea - “Where traditionally brands fought via straightforward representational means to make an impression”“T-Mobile”-- (in context of this example, but to be noted other brands as well) -- “has sought to leverage sociality and community”as a new “creative strategy”.

The poetics of advertising has informed my own practice greatly by not only questioning the distinction between art and advertising but by elaborating and providing thoughts of the industry and creative practice in general. The most effective piece of writing McStay made here in my opinion, and something I will certainly refer back to is the collection of comments I placed under the heading dimensions to consider for modern advertising. Its information is particularly relevant to the current shaping of advertising and acts as great advice in short statements.

References:

McStay, A. (2013). Creativity and Advertising : Affect, Events and Process. Taylor & Francis Ltd.

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EXAMPLE SHEET / / The Poetics of Advertising

Examples used by Andrew McStay in The Poetics of Advertising *to be discussed in upcoming blog post 

References:

Ogilvy & Mather Shanghai (2012). CokeHands. [image] Available at: https://www.coloribus.com/festivals-awards/cannes-lions/Cannes+Lions+2012/first/coca-cola-cokehands-15505305/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Leo Burnett Denmark (2001). FLAG. [image] Available at: https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints/kikkoman-flag-2877555/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Welcome to Orange County (Denmark) (2005). Koi Living Knives. [image] Available at: https://www.joelapompe.net/2007/10/page/33/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

The Dukes Of Urbino.com (2005). DUCK. [image] Available at: https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/prints-outdoor/matchbox-duck-6997355/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Dentsu Inc. Tokyo (2010). UNIQLO LUCKY LINE. [image] Available at: https://www.coloribus.com/adsarchive/promo/uniqlo-uniqlo-lucky-line-15935755/ [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Chiat/Day (1987). Reebok. Let U.B.U.. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-85vrQ3Mx8 [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Wieden + Kennedy (2010). Smell Like A Man, Man by Old Spice. [video] Available at: https://youtu.be/owGykVbfgUE [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Saatchi & Saatchi (2009). Dance. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VQ3d3KigPQM [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018].

Euro RSCG London (2010). The Let's Colour Project. [video] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vhj1vMjCuE [Accessed 3 Oct. 2018]

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.28.09.18

Creative Problem Solving / / Mash- up Innovation / APP BRIEF

Description: “Mash-ups is a collaborative idea generation method in which participants come up with innovative concepts by combining different elements together

Brainstorm around different areas technologies, human needs, and existing services.

Rapidly combine elements from those areas to create fun/innovative concepts.

A mash-up concept consists of 2 or more elements from the wall combined together to create a new concept. / / Choose your favourites and/or most feasible mash-up concept and develop an A3 sheet incldues:name and logo”

/ /

What was exciting about this first session on creative problem solving was the way it made us question the process behind innovation. There is a fantastic quote from Edward De Bono which was included in our introductory presentation “Nobody is predisposed to creativity. It requires strategies,techniques and hard work”. In light of the ‘Mash-up’ brief this opinion of Bono’s, as well as the one featured above of “breaking out of established patterns” was very significant to our practice for the day. We thought laterally to form new combinations, (and with such an open brief as a new app) we saw the world differently and came out with fun and communicative concepts.

Also mentioned in the presentation was to “Impose constaints”. Before we began brain-storming concepts for an app we came up with elements surrounding different areas, Human Needs, Technologies and Existing Services. We watched a video on ‘The power of creative constraint’ and how they “play a special role as drivers of discovery and invention”. “Constraints are an essential part of experimental design” as the video dictates, because they act as “drivers” and “guides”. This relates to what Bono spoke of, sugguesting a more strategised way of taking a brief. If we did not have the task to combine two or more of these areas of human needs, technologies and existing services I think we all would have been paralized by the intimidating level of creative freedom. We would have completed much less in the time, and probably would have resulted in nowhere near as many ideas as we had for an app in the end. This includes ‘Thura’, the design we finished with.

Thura is a combination of the human need of ‘Peace’/’ Comfort’ with the existing services of ‘Meditation Apps’ and the technology of ‘Thumb Recognition’. Thura’s certainly a meditation app with a twist, it takes inspiration from other services such as social media to find you a ‘ thumb buddy’ as it gives you a score (or ‘Scora’) from its thumb scanning aura detection software. The overall idea definitely focuses on user well-being, and the innovative quality changes perspectives and behaviours with the personalized meditation program feature.

The ‘Mash-up’ excercise really informed my own process as it challenged a big ‘job-stopper’, how to break out of predisposed patterns, exhausting the options (’laterally’) rather then taking just one concept and embellishing it (thinking ‘vertically’). Something I would have changed, and what I will certainly do next time I use the ‘mash-up’ technique is to brain-storm and burst out ideas even faster. A few other teams from the session were successful enough to come out with up to three ideas as developed as ‘Thura’. Alternatively we should have just let our lateral thinking run off the page without fixating on the details so quickly.

References:

Branch, J. (2018). Wk1_What_is_Creativity?. [pdf] pp.36,40,53,55,60-64. Available at: https://learningspace.falmouth.ac.uk/course/view.php?id=2911 [Accessed 30 Sep. 2018].

The power of creative constraints - Brandon Rodriguez. (2017). [video] Directed by B. Rodriguez. YouTube: TED-ED. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5FL9VTBZzQ [Accessed 30 Sep.2018].