The Creative Process Spelled Out


I once had a Vice President of Marketing, who oversaw our department at a major corporation, ask me how we thought up all of these ideas for ads. I knew our department was in trouble if the VP of Marketing didn’t understand the creative process. She was left with amazement at our ability to write a headline or conceptualize a visual that communicated what we were trying to sell and do it in an entertaining and memorable way. I get the same question from many of my beginning level students.

It’s partially our own fault as creatives working in a business setting. We want to be thought of as the shamans dancing around the corporate bonfire enthralling the rest of the tribe with tales of promotional wonder. Who wouldn’t want to be thought of in that light? Why would you want to ruin that perceived magic?

I attended a talk by Luke Sullivan at SCAD Atlanta last year. Luke has worked at Fallon McElligott, The Martin Agency and is currently the Group Creative Director at GSD&M in Texas and has won every major ad award three times over. He’s written a guide to creating great advertising entitled “Hey Whipple, Squeeze This” which I would whole-heartedly recommend to anyone wanting to better themselves in this field.

He stated to me privately that he believes that either you have it or you don’t. Creativity is really something you can’t learn, as if it were divinely ordained amongst a fateful few. I agree that a small part of it is hidden somewhere in each double-helixed DNA strand, but that there is also a process to it that can be taught and learned. Maybe it’s the teacher in me that believes this, and I know Luke would agree.

I’ve put what this creative process is into a few words that now hangs on my office wall. Anyone that knows me, knows that I collect a myriad of items ranging from comic art to vintage toys, so when I was at a garage sale a few months back I couldn’t help but drag home a box of metal letters in various sizes and fonts. The graphic designer in me had to give a home to these orphaned letterforms. I made a list of the letters and challenged myself to make some sense of them; to write something that would sum up what I do on a daily basis.

Look Image

I started with a large zinc letter “L” to create the word “Look”. This is a great way to begin any project. In short we research and gather all of the information we can on a product; it’s history, where it stands in the marketplace, the client’s insights, their competitors, what make’s it different. We “look” it all over before we begin any creative thoughts.

Imagine Image

With a nod to John Lennon, the next word I came up with was “Imagine”. This is where the real magic does happen. Connections are made in our minds from the research or “Look” stage. We toss around ideas with each other and somewhere along the way a spark of an idea is born.

I followed it with “Create”. This is the stage where we begin to put pen to paper, or these days we jump on the computer and push around the mouse. It’s when we create a piece to show the client, so we can get their feedback and thoughts. It’s also a stage that all too often students jump to before the first two stages. The computer is just too tempting in its ability to make things look slick and finished.

Have some fun image

I had a few letters left so I added an ampersand and these final three words: “Have Some Fun” along with my initials. If you’re not enjoying this along the way, then you may be in the wrong business. I did have to fashion an “E” out of coat hangers as well as using a large pocket watch (flotsam from a previous garage sale) for the “O”. The watch was appropriate as we are only given so much time on any project, or in life for that matter, so you’d better make the best of it.

With only a few letters left over I had succeeded in succinctly stating the creative process. I know there’s much more to it from the execution of the idea to media choices and social networking, but it’s a start. Besides, it justified my purchase of a box of metal letters.

Whole Saying

Posted on January 4, 2012 in Uncategorized

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