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.
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