Visualization time

The big day is approaching quickly. This Monday, Feb, 28 I will be presenting my 3 directions & sketches to a group of designers at Langara. Anyone is welcome to come, contact me if you'd like the deets. This will be an opportunity for me to present to everyone what I've done so far, and to hear feedback on what you think would be the best next step, what's working, and what's not.

So! I have a busy weekend ahead of me. After some great feedback last class my directions have shifted ever so slightly once again. But I think, finally, I've gotten somewhere solid with this project. Here's a summary of everything so far:

THE PROBLEM:

Over the past few months I've found myself increasingly creatively blocked. Which is ironic because I've always been overly imaginative and creative. So, how the hell do you get out of a creative block? With this project I am digging deeper into the philosophies and psychologies of creative block, and what some ways are that you can deal with it.

DIRECTION ONE:

Community Website:

This website is focused around communication and inspiration. In short, one of the biggest helps I had when I was stuck was talking to friends and mentors. Just verbalizing what I was feeling, why I was feeling and having someone listen and guide me was extremely helpful. It didn't always lead directly to the answer, but they helped me find my path again. This website will be a hub for exactly that, featuring a blog community where you can post your own design road blocks and people can comment and help you through it. There will also be 2 sections acting as sources of inspiration, for you to either post what is inspiring you at this moment, or for you to browse through and get inspired by.

And finally, there will be a section dedicated to other creative projects you can participate in. This section was inspired by Cindy Sheldan's letter-a-day project that I have actively been participating in every day for the last month or so. It has been hugely helpful in forcing me to do something creative everyday. Check out her blog here - it's definitely worth it: http://perdiem.posterous.com/

DIRECTION TWO:

Personal documentation:

This direction is my most personal. It is simply a book that delves into my journey, my thoughts, and my conclusions of my experience with creative block. If nothing else, it's purpose will be to help me feel closure with this struggle, and to serve as a reminder in the future of what I can do, and that I'll be ok. In this book, I am diving into psychology of the mind, and analyzing myself, and my life, and where I am in the world. I tackle the big, scary questions of being young, emerging in the world of design, soon graduating from school and feeling scared of failure. I hope this book could be interesting to others too, as I don't think I'm the only one in the world who's felt this way or asked these questions.

DIRECTION THREE:

Walk-away website:

This website is based around the concept of walking away. One thing that really helped me become inspired again was all the different things I did when I walked away, whether that be eating ice cream, watching tv, going for a run, taking a shower, participating in Cindy's blog etc. Everyone has their own comforting things they do when they walk away. But what if you can't walk away? What else can you do if you're in a position where you can't physically remove yourself from the situation? You can throw away your design problem to the world. This website will act as a hub, where you can scribble everything you've got on a piece of paper in regards to your design problem - whether it's simple the guidelines you have to design by, your primitive ideas, words, sketches - anything and everything. Then, you simply through that paper out to the world, and wait for it to come back to you with the answer.

How it works is like a rotating table. You have 5 mins jot everything down, then your paper will rotate to someone else who is online. They will receive your paper and draw ontop of it - anything that comes to their mind. This will repeat every 5 minutes, so by the time it comes back to you your paper will have thoughts and ideas from numerous other designers. In the meantime while you're waiting, you will do the same with other people's projects.

3 official directions

I seem to have disappeared into the world of self analyzation over the past couple of weeks, but I've definitely made some heavy progress!

Last Week:

Thanks to the help of some of my other teachers (present and past), I realized I was going about tackling this project backwards. My topic was creativity, my problem was creative-block, and the solutions I was coming up with weren't solving my problem on a wide-spread scale. Rather, they were the product of something I'd come up with upon finding 'the spark' again. I went through a process of stickies,  brainstorming all the things that I've found inspiring or interesting in my life. I looked at what it meant to be creative, and to play, and what that looked like in nature, children and adults. While going through these exercises I came up with 3 really cool projects that I was excited about. One dealt with history, and comparing a timeline of art history, design history, architecture, sculpture, politics and religion. While this would be an amazing project to work on, (and I still may do this one day), it didn't directly solve the problem of creative block. In other words, by someone engaging in this project their creative block would not be solved. I realized I needed to stop focusing on the end projects I'd come up with, but rather what I did to come up with them.

Here's a little diagram:

So, last week I began redirecting my focus to the little blue area. I went through another session of stickies and whiteboard scribbling, and came up with a select number of things I went through to get out of my rut:

Then I applied these core elements to 3 different directions:

1.BOARDGAME

The purpose of this game would be to play it at the moment of utter frustration and lack of inspiration. The goal of the game would be to get your mind off whatever the problem is, to form a cause of distraction. It would force you to go through all these elements by engaging the brain, then forcing it to take a break, distracting it, teaching it new things etc.

2. BOOK

This book would be extremely engaging, not like a normal sit down and read book. There would be pop ups and fold outs and little things here and there to read. It would have a read and write function, acting like a journal. This way, it acts both as a memory book, reminding you of all the past times you went through this block (and how you got out of it), as well as a guide to get out of it again.

3. WEBSITE

This site would act as both a hub for you to go and browse through other people's sources of inspiration, but also to communicate directly with someone else. There will be elements of both the book and boardgame within the site, forcing your brain to go through different stages of the process.

Nigel Marsh on making work-life balance work

I came across this today while I was scrolling through my tweets. What a coincidence it fits right in with this project!

When I was a little girl. . .

I had a big epiphany the other day: My whole life I've always wanted to be more grown up. I strive to be older, desire independence, and seek a lifestyle higher than my age bracket. I've always been on the more mature side of the scale than not, and most of my friends are much older than I. This is fine, and not something I can change, it's just the way I am. However, I realized the other day I've been trying so hard to be a grown up I've lost focus. I've put so much pressure on myself to be more mature, do mature things, act like I'm 30, not make mistakes, get my life together etc, that I've forgotten who I am and how to live.

When I was a little girl I used to play the wildest games. I had such a vivid creative imagination you could put me in an empty room with a box and a piece of string and I'd have a fantastical world with dragons and unicorns dancing to the depths of each corner within 5 minutes. I was happy as a clam and I LOVED my play time. It didn't matter if I had a play mate or if I was by myself. I even wrote a book once based on a game my friend and I made up at the beach one day. It involved evil invisible dragons that you could only tell where they were by their claw scrapes in the sand.

There are 2 friends in particular who I remember vividly having the most imaginative play times together. We would play house, where we each played multiple characters, and we'd make up the rules as we'd go, spontaneity being the base of the game. And we had no humiliation, no shame. We just played as things came to our minds, never a dull moment in the story. We'd play lego and build unimaginable castles and fortresses, we'd play barbies and horses and ride off on long adventures through the woods and the clowds. We'd play playmobile and trolls and hot wheels and transformers. We'd play dinosaurs and lion king figurines. We'd play with fruit and vegetables, office supplies and furniture. We'd play with anything that was readily available to us wherever we were.

And yet here I am. I've forgotten how to be creative. I've forgotten how to have fun and play. The base of my childhood has somehow been lost in my eagerness to grow up and gain control of my own life. This must change.

Phase 2: Research

Well, after another productive class I have covered new ground with this project. I'm moving into phase 2, and will be developing a number of different directions I could take this project. This week is all about coming up with these different directions, and visualizing them through sketches, narratives and moodboards.

This project is becoming more and more personal. I have realized it encompasses my personal journey to discovering who I am, where I belong both in the world and in design, and how to be at peace with myself and the world around me. My creative block is a result of an imbalance between all these things. The ironic thing is that I know you can't force inspiration, it comes from anywhere. Still, I have to find a way out of my rut, and out of my destructive creative process.

Funnily enough, after brainstorming in class I think the real solution is that I need to get a life. I need to find balance between my work life and personal life, and I need to find balance within my work life, and within my personal life. I need to organize my time effectively to alleviate stress and to be sure I'm getting a proper night's sleep.

But I feel this is a big task for anyone in their lives. It's a hard thing to balance work, personal life, health etc. Where do you find time to get your exercise, cook healthy food, spend time with your family, visit friends, go out and do something you enjoy, read a book, watch TV. There's just no time!? How do you get all that and all your work done all while getting a full night's sleep?

Inner peace is another big thing that came up. How do you find inner peace? How do you deal with all the inner anxieties and stresses? All the doubts and insecurities that rattle around in your brain?

And finally, even though I know you can't chose when it comes, where do you find your inspiration?