Creative Design: How To Ideate
On those days when inspiration begins to ebb and the land of creativity seems like an unattainable dream, steep deadlines and not-so-balanced workload could short circuit the human brain (perks of working in a digital marketing agency), but have no fear, here’s a #notsoweird sample of overcoming such days and HOW TO IDEATE without inspiration sometimes.
<!--more-->A typical work day begins at 4:00am — thanks to the hustle and bustle of Lagos, but as a remote staff, 4am is just time for me to prepare my stomach for food I’ll eat by 5am .
Before official resumption time which is 9am, I arrive at my desk to clear my head — or work on reverts, in order not to miss deadlines
Note, setting goals for the day as well as intentions is a must in order to be productive and creative.
Nollywood Proverb: “A good beginning makes a good end.”
After checking my mail, and seeing the creative brief for the new campaign — thanks to a series of texts at 8am and call from my accounts manager, we begin to BRAINSTORM IDEAS, while dragging other members of the team into this impromptu session. We discuss the target audience, the message we want to convey, and the visual style we want to use.
Nollywood Adage: “Two heads are better than one.”
This doesn’t mean that coming up with fresh ideas is a breeze though. Sometimes it requires EXTENSIVE RESEARCH, other times sheer willpower but the most direct of all is Intelligence. Artificial Intelligence😉. — ‘I win again Creative Block’
Taking a stroll through ChatGPT clears the mind and allows me to come back to the task with a fresh perspective. Can I get a Witness?
NollywoodInterlude Proverb: “A change is as good as a rest.” (Replace Change with AI)
During or after the brainstorms, I often start sketching out some ideas on paper. I find that this helps me to visualize the concepts and make connections between different elements, even as i begin thinking about food.
More Nollywood Adage: “A picture is worth a thousand words but no man can be wise on an empty stomach.”
After I pay homage to the Bread gods, I start to DEVELOP THE DESIGNS using digital tools and software, get distracted by other pending deliverables or asks, hit the curb when trying to retrace creative inspirations for the current brief and turn to Manga in order to make Serendipitous Discoveries that would be useful for the development of the Campaign #Montage
Proverb: “You are what you eat.” #breadstrengthenstheheart
The day ends with a REVIEW of the progress the team and I have made (WhatsApp groups do come in handy, shout-out to #TeamYellow). I make a to-do list for the next day and set my intentions to hit the ground running, because excellenct campaigns don’t happen on a whim.
Nollywood Adage Again: “Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
Long story short, my process for ideating creatives ( which i used for this Ramadan season) involves
- brainstorming ideas with my team
- taking breaks when I hit a creative curbs
- sketching out concepts on paper
- reviewing and refining the designs
- and pushing through when faced with tight deadlines.
#ModernScribeDairies