Find a mentor

I learned this one from Tony Robbins: find a mentor, or a model, and put yourself in their shoes. Whatever it is that you do there's going to be someone you can learn from. Find that person and connect with them.

In the movies the mentor always seems to find their pupil but that doesn't mean you have to wait around for Obi Wan to show up. For the past couple years I've made it a practice of reaching out to people whom I admire and letting them know I appreciate the things they're doing. I try to be specific and, here's a key bit, I don't ask for anything in return. I've emailed, Facebooked, engaged people in conversation after seeing them speak at events. Recently I've started having my students do this at the beginning of each semester and everyone is amazed that they get a response. It's funny, really, that in this world of hyper-connectedness that we don't think to reach out to our role-models.

Make a list of 10 people whose work you admire and write them a sincere, specific message (email, Facebook, Instagram, etc.) describing how their work has inspired you and don't expect them to all get back to you. Some will and some won't but you're training yourself to communicate appreciation and that practice will eventually reward you.

You don’t need to become a stalker but figure out what it is about them that allows them to do what they do. Is it a state of mind? A natural gift? Do they have some practice that you can adopt to improve your game?

This relationship can take any number of shapes: an actual teacher, a friendship, an email correspondence, an internship, etc. The point is to interact with people who inspire you, people who push you to excel. If you're the best person in the room it’s really easy to plateau but if you hang with people who have the thing(s) you want you’re much more likely to figure out how to get what they have.

Cool ain't the cool it used to be

At some point someone is going to ask you to make something cool. When that happens ask them what ‘cool’ means then watch them mumble and say things like, “You know...cool. Like (fill in the name of a product/band/book/designer/illustrator/etc).”

It’s a ridiculously broad, and bland, term that actually defies meaning unless you know the audience and in whose voice you should be judging cool. It means different things to different people. It's so bland that it substitutes for 'okay' in conversation. What is cool to a gun nut might be very different from what is cool to an 8-year old girl. But you can get more nuanced: What is cool to a gun nut might be different from what is cool to someone into cars. Until you know the audience you won’t understand the term.

And it’s not just ‘cool’. Words like cool, weird, sexy, dark, vintage, etc all need deeper explanation. When a client, partner, collaborator says something needs to be cool (or any other vague descriptor) pause the conversation and drill deeper to find out what they really mean. What does cool mean to them? Cool for what audience? What emotions are embedded in their concept of cool? Can they point to similarly cool projects? Can they use other adjectives that have more specific meaning (daring, provocative, ugly, sleek, dirty, etc)?

The Journey is the Destination

We all love the hero myth. The tale of the underdog who struggles through pain and obstacles to achieve a goal is universally inspiring but when we encounter that pain for ourselves it becomes a different story. But it’s through challenges that we realize our values, shape our opinions and sharpen our skills.

When it comes to our own journeys many people would like to skip packing the bags, the long uncomfortable flight and the slog through customs when we land but our adventures are made richer through the contrast of good experiences and challenges. Would we care about Frodo & Co. if the the trip to Mordor was a piece of cake?

There are all kinds of pain and the better you become at welcoming it with open arms the faster you’ll grow. I’m not saying you should become a masochist but you should be prepared to accept a challenge. This could be the pain of daily practice, asking for critical feedback, pushing beyond your gut reactions or first drafts or the real pain of pushing yourself physically.

The process of making things isn't easy. If it was easy everyone would do it.

Take a Walk

If you hit the wall, find yourself getting overly attached to ideas or resisting feedback it’s time to step away. Distance improves your perspective and calms your nerves. Start researching creativity and a couple scenarios come up over and over again. People get big ideas while showering or taking a walk. Sure, they produce results at their computer, in meetings, etc but showers and walks are consistently associated with the generation of big ah-ha ideas.

Taking a walk is the one tool that I’ve used every single day for the past 20 years. I started doing this when I was a political cartoonist and had to produce a comic every single day. I'd wake up, read newspapers, do some sketching then throw on some shoes and roam the nearby WMU campus. The news and sketches would percolate in the back of my brain while I walked. Since then its became an essential part of my daily routine. I wake up, I feed my brain with information about a project then I take a walk to let those ideas connect in the back burner of my thoughts. It's important to let your mind wander and create associations between the ideas you just consumed. While walking I’m more likely to make connections between ideas and almost 100% of the time I get back home and I have a plan of action.

A friend of mine, a lifetime freelancer who worked from home, once called this morning walk 'faking a commute.'

Whether I need the break or not I try to take a walk every day in the mid-afternoon. It's good to intentional step away from your work, to create some distance and perspective, between you and your project. Since I now do most of my work from home I can take a whenever I like but when I was in an office (for many years) I'd take a walk around the block every day at 3pm. It was usually when I was getting the post-lunch exhaustion and I'd use a coffee-run as an excuse to step away from the computer.

The Communication Hydra

Communication is messy. Even when you think you've been clear as crystal there's room for miscommunication. Ask ten people in a room to imagine a blue ball and they'll all visualize different shades of blue: pale blue, royal blue, light blue, dark blue, etc. There are as many kinds of blue as there are people and each of those blues represent something different to the person doing the visualizing. There’s a communication model that says anytime two people are speaking there are actually six people involved:

1. Who you are
2. Who you think you are
3. Who they think you are
4. Who they are
5. Who they think they are
6. Who you think they are

While it’s not practical to keep all these influences in mind during a conversation it is a useful tool to develop empathy, contextualize feedback and anticipate the needs of creative partners, friends, family, etc. As you get to know someone these six personalities reconcile but in most relationships it is the blend of identities that represent who we are and how we see the people around us.

Interview: Edward Minoff

When I first met Edward he was Ted and we both worked at MTV Animation. He was an instigator, a good natured trouble-maker, graffiti artist and gifted illustrator. His drawing was effortless and full of energy. Between then and now he made a serious transition - he is now a mature, disciplined and gifted painter known primarily for his studies of water. This New York kid captures the tranquility and peace of nature with a poet's touch. His story is one of talent but also dedication and living in the moment.

Do you still practice? If so, what do your practice sessions look like?
Practice never ends. In my case, I feel like there is some linear trajectory to my artistic career, so in some way each painting is practice for the next painting. I think this is particularly true of my ocean paintings. I spend so much time studying wave forms and the nature of water and air and the interaction between the two. Each painting reflects an attempt to better understand some aspect or property of the ocean environment. They all start with an idea or an emotion, but once the painting is underway it becomes a puzzle to solve. I guess my solving that puzzle, or acceptance of a lack of resolution is practice for the next painting where I will try to overcome some new obstacle or carry on trying to resolve an ongoing challenge.

Where do you find inspiration?
I think that if you are open to it, inspiration is everywhere. I have often found it in sports. I remember watching Roy Jones Jr. in his prime or Roger Federer and being incredibly inspired by either man’s ability to be so far beyond any of his opponents. They each also seemed to love their sport so deeply and I found that inspiring. I also find it in looking at nature. The relationship between bees and flowers always strikes me as such an absurd and inconvenient solution, but it is so beautiful to watch and has such an inspiring rhythm to it. When I see bees hovering over the little flowers on my tomato plants I just feel like the world is perfect. And that makes me want to paint it.

Where are you when you have the most a-ha moments?
Most of my a-ha moments come to me in the studio. That is really why I go there. Every day for at least a little time I like to be alone in my studio and look around at what I am working on, what I have finished and what I am not working on. I think that in a creative field one needs to construct a workspace that will lead to those a-ha moments. Maybe that is primarily an internal construct -- my workspace is my studio, but sometimes my studio is a beach or mountain top and other times it is the top floor of my house.

What do you do to maintain a creative flow?
I think that going to work every day is critical. Whether I feel it or not, I force myself to work. Sometimes the work itself will not be good and will get destroyed, but I don’t think that it is possible to produce something great through avoidance. I treat painting like I was going to work in an office and had a boss who would fire me if I didn’t show up. It might sound like a contradiction, but I also think that breaking out of the routine can do wonders. I think back to MTV when we were working together. I found that it was a lot easier to get my work done if I spent at least half of my time doodling, or making fun of our cubicle-mate with you or starting a prank war with Paul. I used to get sent to the producer’s office often for crashing a bike in the office or starting a food fight or some other misbehavior, but somehow that was what kept me motivated and how I got the work done.

How much do you rely on feedback from other to help shape your ideas?
I have a pretty great network of artistic friends and I rely heavily on their feedback. In the renaissance there was a dialog between artists. People often talk about the renaissance in Florence being supported by the openness of the studios and workshops there. Maybe Leonardo and Michelangelo never spoke but there was a dialog in their work. It is much more apparent with Raphael. The idea that an artist’s vision must be completely personal has led to lots of art that is completely inaccessible, at least for me. My favorite artists and art have come from movements that are larger than one individual, and speak to a wider public. I hope that my paintings resonate with an audience that extends beyond myself, so I love hearing from the voices that I most respect on where I am succeeding and failing. Back when I was doing Grafitti, all of the big walls that I painted were collaborations with other writers. I loved that. And the feedback was very direct. If your wall sucked, somebody would go over it pretty quickly, but if you did something great, everyone would respect it and let it run for a long time. Sometimes years.

What is the greatest obstacle to creativity?
Probably anxiety in all of it’s forms. I also find this in parenting. When I lapse and begin to feel like my two year old will never not scream like he’s fighting for his life when he hears the word “no”, I lose my ability to handle the problem creatively. In a calmer moment, I might be able to laugh at it and find it within myself to extend a hand and help him find perspective rather than get mad and throw away all of his toys. And when I am too worried about paying my mortgage or framing bill, I get paralyzed and I can’t paint well. Pressure can be a great motivator, and can help clarify decision making, but anxiety seems to lead to a dark and very uncreative paralysis.

When you complete a project, how often does it resemble your initial concept or conceived idea? How important is this for you?
I think a painting rarely looks exactly like what I initially intended. I find that openness to this is important. I can always go back and paint what I wanted to paint, but I find that the diversions along the way often lead somewhere more interesting. When you are consumed by single painting for several months, it is critical to be able to find freshness in every day’s work and every brushstroke. Maybe some people could remain engaged and on task for that entire period, but I need to be able to explore new directions during that span.

How do you know when you’re done?
There is a terrible cliché about this. I am haunted by my memories as a 14 year old at the Art Students League of New York of being approached by all of these older people telling me that the hardest part of a painting is knowing when to stop. I never thought of that as an issue, like a eating a slice of pizza - it is done when it’s all gone. Not surprisingly, as I am getting older I am finding that cliché to be true. I guess those folks at the Art Students League generally used the phrase to express a desire to preserve some spontaneity. I am finding almost the opposite; that I am increasingly having to do more fine tuning that lasts longer, and that when I think I am just about finished, I have a lot more work ahead than I could have possibly imagined. I recently spent about a month on a painting. I told my gallery it was done. Then I spent another month reworking it. I sent the gallery an image to go into a few magazines. Then I spent another month reworking it and repainted most of the foreground. It is not completely unrecognizable, but I am hopeful that other people will see improvements in all of the changes many of which are, unfortunately, documented.

How do you resolve creative differences with clients or creative partners?
I am luckily in a position where my galleries give me little or no input. Sometimes, I actually wish that they would say more, but I am generally free to paint whatever I want. Similarly with commissioned work, the clients with whom I work select me because they like what I do, and give me lots of leeway to be creative in my own way. I have actually been working on portrait commissions from drawings that I make with limited sittings with my clients. I am trying to connect to the art of portraiture before photography -- the art of a Van Dyke or a Rubens portrait, which was often executed from drawings of the sitter. The portrait clients must accept that the painting becomes about the painting and will not look like a photograph of them. I am refreshingly surprised by the interest that I have seen in this, but it requires a huge leap of faith.

What keeps you motivated even if you don’t connect personally with the project?
Again, I really am lucky to get to work only on what I connect to. I think that when I lose interest in a particular painting sometimes I can put it down and come back to it at a later date, but more often, struggling through and plugging away even if I have to scrape out the entire day’s work in the evening is productive. I can’t paint my way out of an impasse by not painting.

What do you do when you are stuck and have some sort of deadline or other pressure?
I love deadlines. I find myself most productive and most decisive when I am under lots of pressure. I probably had one of my most productive periods of painting just after my first son was born. I felt so much pressure to provide. I would be in my studio painting all night long. I also find that when I am painting for a show and the deadline is getting close my decisions are so clear and I simply don’t have time to get stuck. There are a ton of distractions that come up, like framing, shipping, and cataloging the work that take me away from the easel. That is the only time that I really feel stuck: When I am not free to paint.

How do you achieve your creative vision with a limited budget?
That is difficult. I don’t know. I think of Rembrandt going bankrupt a lot. I feel like you need to extend yourself and take a risk for your vision. You owe that to yourself. It is the worst thing imaginable to look back on your past and feel like you never really gave your vision a shot. People shoot films on iPhones, and record music in a garage with a laptop, so there is always a way to work within your means. But bottling up creativity seems dangerous.

What are the top 3 tools in your creative tool kit? ie. software, pencil, paper, journal etc.
Pencil, paper and...eraser.

What are the top 3 creative habits that have proven to be the most useful for you in your career?
Drawing is at the top of my list. Drawing is how I figure things out. It is what I have done since I was a little child, and I have always found it to be all consuming and a great way to lose myself. I also find it to be the best way to solve problems and to study the things that I want to paint. It is where the translation between an idea and the visual expression of that idea occurs. I find that a breakthrough can even come from the doodling that I do in a meeting, or while I am giving my son breakfast.

Teaching has been a welcome surprise. I began teaching at the Grand Central Academy, and have been off and on as an adjunct at Columbia University. Having to share my thoughts and ideas with students has helped clarify them in my own mind. In order to explain them I have had to devise creative analogies that have provided new insights about my own ideas or in some cases helped me to rethink and escape my own orthodoxy. Teaching has also helped me to be more disciplined -- I feel like a fraud if I am telling my students one thing and doing something else, so I find myself being more careful and thoughtful about staying true to my ideals.

Lastly, I am obsessed with cooking. It is a hobby and has less to do with painting than getting me out of having to give my kids a bath, but it is another creative outlet. I actually worked in the kitchen of a great restaurant called Maialino learning things like how to make my own ravioli or how to butcher a whole pig. The chef, Nick Anderer, is massively generous and is a big talent in the NYC restaurant scene. I also found that we have a great swath of common ground in the honing and perfecting of a craft. I am so inspired by the concept of cooking with love. I think that it actually comes from painting. This idea that a picture can be a symphony of brushstrokes; each one playing it’s part with perfection and love. My great-grandfather was a musician who came to America from Palermo. He was the youngest soloist ever to play at Teatro Massimo. He had this old world philosophy that an artist must do everything beautifully, whether it is playing music, repotting a plant or making dinner. So inspiring.

If you could offer a single piece of advice to a budding professional, what would it be?
Love what you do. If the love isn’t there move on and find something that you do love. It is the single most important ingredient, particularly in a creative field. I think that it is what all great people have in common. I am sure what makes Warren Buffett so great an investor is that he loves it so much that he has a devoted a lifetime to knowing his field inside and out. I find a weekend without painting or drawing to be depressing. It is what I want to do all week long, and when I finally have some time off it is all I want to do then as well. You have to find that. Life is too short to spend such a large percentage of it working if you do not feel fulfilled by it in some powerful way.

Visit www.edwardminoff.com

Feedback: Liz Lerman’s Critical Response Process

Giving and receiving feedback is one of those things that's easy to recognize when it’s done well but few of us have a structure to make the process easier.

Much of the writing about feedback is directing towards managers but, as a designer, you can't control how your manager delivers critique. Some people are good at it but most, frankly, suck when it comes to providing clear, goal-based, feedback that gives their artist the freedom to solve problems and recognize when those problems are solved. Crazy since it's something we do every day.

As an artist the thing you can control is how you receive feedback and what clarifying questions you ask to better understand your clients goals. Liz Lerman’s is the first of a few feedback models that I’m going to feature. Try it out.

Each participant has a role (the Artist, the Respondees and the Facilitator) and the process has four steps:

1. Statement of meaning by the group. Each Respondee shares what is meaningful, evocative or interesting about the work being critiqued.
2. Questions by the artist for the group. The Artist asks specific questions of the Respondees.
3. Questions by the group for the artist. Respondees ask the Artist neutral questions about the work.
4. Opinions. Respondees offer opinions about the work.

It isn't practical to run through this whole script every time feedback is required but do it a few times and positive patterns for communication will emerge. The process can be truncated for shorter conversations once the group has a shared sense values and the ability to recognize helpful vs. unhelpful feedback.

Book: The Geography of Genius

I love this book and I realized that I've been referencing it in conversations ever since I finished it. I haven't done any book or product reviews but The Geography of Genius by Eric Weiner made me think its time to start sharing the things that inspire me. I hope you find them helpful as well. I don't plan on sharing products I don't like. Does that mean every review will be a puff-piece? No. I'll do my best to share an honest opinion on what works and doesn't work.

Where does genius come from and why, throughout history, does it clump in specific locations? I'm fascinated by the idea of genius and how individuals unlock there potential but it never occurred to examine genius by locale and time period. Yeah, I've been to museums and considered movements (the Impressionists, the Dadaists, the Surrealists, etc) but I hadn't really thought about the conditions that led to a creative movement across disciplines. That's one of the many fascinating things about The Geography of Genius: it sets a broader context for the clumping of genius and connects these ideas across disciplines. Weiner's interest is the framework for movements of genius.

The ideas are presented casually and with humor. Its an intelligent, funny, global travelog in which the author travels to locations around the world that have had some of the greatest concentrations of genius: Athens, Calcutta, Hangzhou, Edinburgh, Vienna and Silicon Valley. In each city he interviews locals and suggestions for why that place became a focus for innovation.

Readers expecting hard conclusions drawn from rigorous study might be disappointed. There are consistent themes across the cultures he highlights but those threads are never connected such that they present a satisfying, tidy, explanation. That said, the book is an informed exploration, a personal narrative on the nature of genius and the author leaves the reader with plenty to consider. if you're looking for a thought-provoking essay you'll likely enjoy this stroll through history and you'll have tons to talk about next time you get dinner or drinks with friends.

“The Geography of Genius is witty, informative, and compulsively readable. Whether you’re getting genius tips from Freud in Vienna or hearing the secrets of high-tech powerhouses in Silicon Valley, you’ll emerge smarter after reading this delightful travelogue of ingenuity.”

— Daniel H. Pink, bestselling author of To Sell Is Human and Drive

Redheads have more fun

This is for all the character designers out there. It’s not a tool so much as an observation. If you’re designing a female protagonist be aware of the temptation to make her a redhead.

Your thought process will go something like this, “Brunette’s are so serious and I don’t want to alienate blonds. Then again, blonds invite all kinds of stereotypes. How about a redhead? If she's sassy she'll have red hair but if she's normal, like a mom, maybe just brown hair with red highlights.”

Watch almost any Western animated movie or TV show and the female lead will be a redhead or she’ll have brown hair with red highlights. Once you see the pattern you notice it everywhere and it’s weird. Supporting characters will have other hair colors but it’s likely the protagonist will have red, brown or reddish-brown hair.

The Ninety-Ninety Rule

The Ninety-Ninety Rule is attributed to Tom Cargill of Bell Labs and states the following: "The first 90% of the code accounts for the first 90% of the development time. The remaining 10% of the code accounts for the other 90% of the development time."

The quote was made in relation to computer programming but one of the underlying themes of Tools not Rules is that the concepts translate across disciplines. These ideas work for illustrators, designers, bakers, musicians, dancers and more. The Ninety rule is no exception.

Don't underestimate the amount of work it will take to bring a project to a close. That first big push, coming up with the ideas and laying the groundwork is the easy part. Wrapping up everything (bug fixing, prepping marketing material, getting approval, adding audio, clarifying the UX, etc) so your project is ready for world is the hardest part. If you're an experienced project manager you might have accounted for all of this but if you're just getting started, or working in a new domain, it can't hurt to plan for the final 10% of a project to half, or more, of your production time.

Become a concept firehose

New ideas don't just appear. They are the result of conscious, or subconscious, connections being made by the creator. Someone took two or more disparate ideas and combined them to get an unexpected result. Concept artists use this strategy all the time. Need a cute dragon? Combine a dragon with something soft and fuzzy, maybe a peach or a puppy, and start illustrating. 

There are tons of ways to begin this creative matchmaking process and I've made my a document to help you get started. Your idea will probably take on a life of its once the ideas start flowing but you're just looking for something to get the creative juices flowing. It's all about placing constraints upon your ideation and observing how each decision leads to powerful combinations.

Here's how it works: Write down the thing thing your designing (character, logo, UI, etc) then list the requirements of your project. What do you know about it already? Once these are listed move left to right through the document, listing as many items as you can for each column. Don't hold back ideas, go for volume. Once you have a long list make a selection in each column and draft a project description based on your selections. 

Does this seem too dry to work? Aren't spreadsheets anathema to the creative process? Nonsense. This exercise is just putting onscreen, or on paper, whats already going through someone's head when they're doing concept development.  

Remember, this is an idea generation tool. Try to make unexpected combinations! It doesn't try to answer all the questions about a project, its function is to make connections that produce unexpected results. It's a conversation starter and once you've output a project description you might try the exercise a second or third time to see how much the concept can change just by tweaking a couple variables.

I've created some examples in the document to demonstrate how the process works. The highlighted cells are decisions I made and all of these are combined into a statement describing the project. In the columns Adjectives, Additional Descriptors and Setting columns you'll discover interest results can be produced by selecting multiple options but don't go overboard. You'll see that selected more than three options actually starts to hinder the concept. Few creative constraints often produce the clearer ideas.

Your staff doesn't want democracy

Your teams don't want to be part of every decision. They want clearly articulated goals and values that they can use to solve problems. This first time I was invited to a meeting I was thrilled. I had made it. I felt like an adult. It didn't take long to realize that most meetings were a waste of time, a loop of endless discussion that rarely resulted in decisions. I found myself wishing I could be back at my computer getting things done and one look around the room told me others felt the same way.

Recently someone told me they wanted everyone to be a part of decision making because he wanted them to feel valued. Wasting people's time won't make them feel valued or involved, it only shows how little trust you have in them. 

Everyone voting on everything doesn't work. People don't want to be a part of every decision, they want to be able to their job well, and if you're stuffing your meetings with personnel you're taking them away from their computer/team/studio/workshop where they could be making decisions.

Your employees and teammates want agency over the things that matter to them. Make it clear where each person has the power to demonstrate ownership and trust them to do that. If you don't trust them to make decisions you need to rethink your hiring process and/or your management strategy. Focus on developing common values among your team and give them space to surprise you with solutions.

Interview: Carmine Guida

When I asked Carmine if I could interview him he seemed surprised because he's not a visual designer. But he is visionary. An accomplished musician, gifted programmer and an entrepreneur. His organizational skills are second to none, he is a natural leader, a teacher and inclusive collaborator. Where you find Carmine you'll find people pushing themselves and having fun.

Do you still practice? If so, what do your practice sessions look like?

With programming. I’m always programming. I program every day. I don’t know if “practice” is the word. But there is a lot of trying out an idea / quickly prototyping, and then deleting it.

With music practice. This is more about “keeping my chops up” making sure my skills/speed/tricks are where they should be. I don’t practice music too often really because I play out and teach every week.

Where do you find inspiration?

I get very inspired by other artists. Being in NYC, there is always someone “better” than you around. You can see so many talented people here. It also doesn’t even need to be in the same discipline as me. I could see an amazing painter and that might inspire me to hone my craft of music more.

Where are you when you have the most a-ha moments?

I’ve had most of my breakthroughs while in the shower. Something about being isolated, no Internet/phone/other people/etc. I also think the white noise of the water helps relax you and gives your mind a chance to do it’s thing.

What do you do to maintain a creative flow?

I think it’s like any other muscle. If you stop using it, it’ll go weak. If you use it a lot, the flow will keep coming.

How much do you rely on feedback from other to help shape your ideas?

Really not too much or too often. I think the more emotionally vested in something, the less I listen to others. I’m always open to more mechanical advice (try this camera, software, etc.) but for the core idea, I usually listen to myself.

What is the greatest obstacle to creativity?

Not knowing how to say no to people.

When you complete a project, how often does it resemble your initial concept or conceived idea? How important is this for you?

I’m not a perfectionist. With my latest game, I really learned that you need to: “Take half of your planned features, and get rid of them… then take the half that’s left, and get rid of half of those too”. It’s good to dream big. But I think a lot of projects fail because they are just too lofty. I’m very good at cutting my losses (so I guess I’m ok with it not being the same as initial concept).

How do you know when you’re done?

To me, music projects usually have a beginning and end. I want to make a 10 song album… I consider it done when I can tell someone to go to the itunes store and see it there.

How do you resolve creative differences with clients or creative partners?

I’ve learned that you really need to pick your battles. Sometimes you have to let go of a detail here and there, but you need to have a good relationship with the people you are working with to say, “This is important to me, I’d like to have this”. I’ve learned to really let go of some things. I think in the end it all works out.

What keeps you motivated even if you don’t connect personally with the project?

This happens with some of the website projects I do. Usually I try to work on a piece that I’m in the mood to work on that day. So if I feel like photoshopping that day, I do that. If I feel like programming that day I do that. I just think I’m more effective that way.

What do you do when you are stuck and have some sort of deadline or other pressure?

I never bullshit people with projects. So if I’m really stuck. I talk to people. I tell them I can’t make the deadline. People are people and they (usually) understand.

How do you achieve your creative vision with a limited budget?

I try to be realistic about project scope and what I can do based on my resources available BEFORE I start a project. (not sure if that answered the question).

What are the top 3 tools in your creative tool kit? ie. software, pencil, paper, journal etc.

I fucking love graph paper and I have a 4 color pen (black, blue, red, green). I do most of my planning this way. I also use a couple of online tools (google docs/trello) to just dump ideas and random stuff.

What are the top 3 creative habits that have proven to be the most useful for you in your career?

Write first and edit later. Cut down on distractions (tv, facebook, etc.). Learn to say No.

If you could offer a single piece of advice to a budding professional, what would it be?

Work on your own personal projects all the time, this way you have a portfolio ready if your dream job comes up. I never understood why an unemployed person looking to get hired by me didn’t use their time to build at least a personal website/portfolio of some kind. (especially when I was looking for website designers).

Visit www.carmine.com

You're not stoned, you're multitasking

People just aren’t good at multitasking. Not only are multitaskers bad at filtering incorrect information but, on average, multitasking drops accessible IQ by 10 pts. In 80 clinical trials, Dr. Glenn Wilson, discovered that workers who juggled messages and work suffered the equivalent of missing a night's sleep and up to double the 4-point drop seen after smoking marijuana. Yeah, that's right, the thing most job applications insist you be good at decreases your efficiency more than weed. Tell that to the folks in HR.

So what can you do? Protect your state of creative flow. Do one think at a time. Prioritize in the morning. Don't use IM or auto notifications while working. Fight the urge to compulsively check email, Facebook and your phone. Carve out time to work distraction-free.

Here's a simple formula to freak you out. At best it takes about two minutes to recover from an interruption when you're in a state of creative flow. It doesn't matter how small the interruption is - could be looking at a Facebook notification, glancing at email or someone tapping you on the shoulder. Longer interruptions take more time to recover from. Lets assume you receive 20 small distractions in a single day. 20 x 2 = 40 minutes of lost time per day. That's 200 minutes per week, or a little over 3 hours. That's almost half a day that you could've spent on a personal project. Multiply that across the year and you've lost 160 hours. That's a month of 40-hour work weeks. Imagine what you could accomplish if you had a month of extra time to get things done.

To make things worse: some studies suggest it takes up to 24 minutes to recover your state of flow.

On a positive note, naps boost productivity.

Convert details into goals

Have you ever been frustrated by feedback that’s too specific? We've all had colleagues, clients or managers who get too attached to a specific idea and lose sight of the goal. The button needs to be blue, the educational game for 6-8 year olds needs to have boss battles like the ones in God of War, the logo needs an representative illustration of a winged wolf (because it represents both independence and a commitment to the pack) flying around the sun (because, like Icarus, our best ideas can be the death of us) and it should reproduce well at a range of sizes while appealing equally across genders.

Generally information is the thing that feeds creativity but too much of it (or the fixation on details) can produces obstacles. 

You can’t rely on others to provide enabling information

Don’t blame others for not communicating well. Help the people around you be helpful. Become an alchemist. It’s up to you to get information that you can use and to shift conversation from details to goals. You can try training everyone to give better feedback but I suggest investing in your own interviewing skills so you can extract useful information from anyone, anywhere and at any time. It's a portable skill that will work in all of your relationships.

When the feedback receiving isn't helpful try digging for more information. I like to use the 5 Whys. It's a good strategy for asking judgement-free questions that reveal the goal without challenging the other person's authority. Sometimes I'll even preface the questions with something like. "I want to better understand your goals. Mind if I ask some questions?" What client would say no to that?

Negotiate space for creativity

Once you've converted detailed feedback into something more goal-oriented you're ready to ask your manager/client/stakeholder whether they're open to other solutions that address their goals. At this point you've helped them articulate their values/needs and the act of telling you what's important will help them realize there might be other solutions. 

At this point in the process I'll ask for some space, "Now that I know your goals, do you mind if I explore other options?"

Will this always result in more creative freedom? Maybe not 100% of the time but it's more likely you'll get what you need than stewing in silence at your desk and wrestling with that winged wolf logo. Oh, by the way, the client just called and they want the logo to have a script font.

What's your sign? The zodiac of Tools Not Rules

Recently I had the idea to write a post equating zodiac signs to different tools. How hard could it be? Very hard, as is turns out. Enormous gratitude to Matt Sheridan, Sharon Kihara, Aakriti Malhotra, Tatianna Morales, and Daddi Longlegz for your suggestions and helping me wrap my head around the topic. 

Aries

Megaphone

You need the means to rally the troops and that’s why you have three settings: loud, louder and siren. Why spend a day driving nails alone when more work will get done if everyone around you picks up a hammer? Yeah, you’re a ram but there’s no sense banging your head against a wall. You know the best skill isn’t knowing how to do something but getting the right people do the job. Are you discreet? No. You can’t trust someone who whispers. You lay it all out there knowing full well that you’ll annoy and inspire in equal measure.

Taurus

Monkey Wrench

You solve problems like you hug, with patience and an iron grip. You define a problem then ease into position, applying gentle, unyielding, leverage until either the pressure is released or something breaks. There are flashier ways to get things done - kitchen sink tools that will file, trim, measure, cut, poke, punch and sew - but that’s not your style. You’d rather be the best there is at one thing. You’re a specialist and there’s no one better than you at what you do.

Gemini

Leatherman

You can do it all. Yeah, there are better people at almost everything you do but how often is a specialist really needed? We’re not all building houses, engineering complicated mechanical systems or tailoring suits. For most people the best tool is the one that solves a problem quickest and you’re solving real life issues, every day, for everyone around you. From morning to night you’re, cutting, screwing, tightening and opening beers. You’re low maintenance and travel well. If there’s one tool, one friend, that can be counted on for solutions it’s you.

Cancer

Pliers

To the casual observer you might be a variation of wrench but the people who know you would never underestimate your value. You tighten nuts and bolts, pinch, grab, strip wire and even hammer nails. You’re good at what you do but respond best when the people around you are committed to the task at hand. The more energy they apply the more efficient you become. Outwardly you seem simple but there’s an intimidating complexity to the sheer number of ways you can be helpful.

Leo

Flashlight

You’re radiant, you’re warm and you live for the spotlight. In fact, life is better when you are the spotlight - that sharp circle of illumination focusing people’s attention where you want. Everything is clearer in black and white, right? There’s no gray area, just the important things, lovingly illuminated and, well…the stuff in the shadows that doesn’t matter. You love a challenge and work best when times are dark. That’s when people most need a leader to show them the path to safety. There’s nothing like conflict to reveal a person’s character in sharp relief and leaders are remembered for the challenges they overcame.

Virgo

Spreadsheet

The world is a messy place. Relationships are fuzzy and communication is inherently sloppy. Tell ten people to imagine a blue sky and they’ll all visualize a different blue. From the mess of life you extract the patterns that are most useful and predictable. Through the collection of this data you demystify complex problems, breaking them down into chunks whose value can be easily understood. As a creative you are often underestimated. At your peak you are an alchemist, transforming sprawling ideas into manageable components and converting them into a thing of ordered, cubist beauty.

Libra

Level

A strong foundation is the key to lasting balance. This requires patience and precise measurements but the time spent doing it well is worth the investment. It’ll cost more to repair something down the road then it will to do it right the first time. There’s an elegance to simple, uncomplicated shapes that are classic in their beauty and inspire a sense of unity; a perfectly straight line, a beautifully proportioned square, the grace of an enclosed circle. Like the bubble in a level you may wobble on some things but you don’t compromise when it comes to quality. Perfection is worth the wait.

Scorpio

Hatchet

With proper care you are a lifetime companion. Laymen don’t understand your depth but in skillful hands you are an essential companion. You’ll chop, hammer, slice, and dig through a weekend camping trip, a day of hard labor or the zombie apocalypse. Outwardly you’re calm and collected but sometimes you just need to unload and, when that happens, you’re a force to be reckoned with. Knives break, hammers wince, and shovels pale at the work that doesn’t make you blink. Depending on your mood you’re either saving lives or people’s worst nightmare.

Sagittarius

Telescope

You’ve seen it all. You’re an optimist, a dreamer who is always looking to the horizon for the next adventure or to the sky for answers. Sharing is second nature but you keep your distance because freedom is more important than any attachment. You’re more comfortable with wind and sails than anchors. You see things clearly and don’t hesitate to speak your mind. The truth may be painful but, hey, that’s the price of clarity. Some feelings will be hurt and it's not your fault some people aren’t prepared to see reality. Time is relative when your focus is on the big picture. You may not always be on time but, in time, you will always arrive.

Capricorn

Cell phone

The best work doesn’t always happen during business hours. You never know when an opportunity will present itself so you’re prepared 24/7 to send an email, leverage contacts, or schedule an important meeting. Your white collar may not be stained with paint but you’re a master artist when it comes to making things happen. There’s no sense in sorting personal and professional contacts because the distinction is meaningless. You’re mobile, self-sufficient and help is only a phone call away if you find yourself in over your head. When your focus is always on the next opportunity you sometimes miss the joy of the moment but you need to keep looking forward to see where you’re going.

Aquarius

Whiteboard

Big ideas flow from you like water. Some people balk when confronted by limitless possibilities but you love breaking down big problems and defining the perimeters for exploration. You have a gift for linking concepts to create something unexpected. You belong up front, guiding the conversation, brainstorming and giving shape to new ideas. Seeing your concepts changed by the reality of budgets, timelines and committee is painful so you try to detach yourself from actual production, you prefer other people to handle the mundane and frustrating details of execution. The creative process itself is noble but you seek something higher: you want to change the world for the better.

Pisces

Duct Tape

You are the living, breathing, gosh-darned embodiment of adaptability. Simplicity is your beauty - some adhesive and some stretch - that’s all you need. There’s nothing like the power of constraints for creative problem solving and you solve more problems across more situations than nearly anyone. While you’re the master of the quick fix, and you genuinely want to help, your solutions may not stand the test of time. There’s always someone with more knowledge and deeper specialization with a more permanent solution don’t let it get you down. People don’t come to you for deep answers they come for quick solutions. And you’ve got rolls of those.

www.tools-not-rules.com

Get six-pack abs through effective feature tracking

That's right, a good feature tracking tool will help you get the abs you've always wanted. How? With all the time you'll save you can easily squeeze in five minutes to work your core. I'm only half kidding. Imagine, if running a tighter, more organized, project wins you back 10-30 minutes per day what would you do with that time?

Continuing my efforts to make free and easy to use project management tools available to you I've just uploaded a simple feature tracking sheet to the resources page. According to my Google search a feature is "a distinctive attribute or aspect of something." For our purposes features are the individual components of a larger project. For example: if you're building a theater show you might start breaking down features by category: story, script, costumes, lighting, set, etc. Each of those represent some component of the larger whole.

There are tons of great tools out there for tracking features within a project (Agile, Kanban, Trello, Pivotal Tracker, etc) but I wanted something simple with little friction between my ideas and decisions so I made this tracking sheet. It's good for quick planning alongside other tools like those listed above. For smaller projects this worksheet might be all you need but for larger projects with multiple collaborators you could use this to sketch your project then migrate your features to something like Trello.

The Priority column is a drop down menu with three values: 1 (this feature needs to happen), 2 (it would be great if this feature happened) and 3 (life will go on if this feature doesn't happen). Feel free to modify this document to suit your needs: add new columns, copy and paste to extend the existing columns, etc.

Feel free to contact me with any questions!

www.tools-not-rules.com

Share the weird sh*t

Get weird. Very often the best ideas come from an unexpected direction and there are few things more frustrating than a conservative brainstorm. If you’re unafraid of pushing things it gives the people around you permission to take some risks. Yes, you need to take in account real-world issues like timeline and budget but if you want to get somewhere faster you need to open your stride. You can always scale back an idea that's too big but it'll take you longer to get where you're going if you're taking tiny, little, baby steps. 

You'll get some rejection but it's better to get a reaction than to be ignored. Years ago, when I was a political cartoonist, I received my first piece of hate mail and I was so bummed I sat down with my editor to talk about it. I felt like I'd failed. Patiently he explained that hate mail was a measure of success. My cartoon prompted someone to take time out of their day to articulate their opinion and my job was, in essence, generating dialog. It was a valuable lesson. Take a stand, be specific and give people something to react to. You won't please everyone and your work will suffer if you try. 

There are tons of reasons we give ourselves to be conservative and an equal number of reasons to embrace the big ideas or convert obstacles into positive constraints. Look for the opportunity hidden in every obstacle or excuse. We don't have much money. Fine, that's an opportunity to focus your costly feature set. We don't have time to think about new ideas. Okay, but if you're struggling to make the existing idea work maybe reevaluating will save you time in the long run. I don't want to look stupid. Fair enough, qualify your suggestion with something like, "This may not fit within the timeline but maybe it'll lead to other ideas..." or "here's a crazy idea..."

The big, bold ideas will lead to better ideas so, go ahead, release the Kraken. 

www.tools-not-rules.com

Practice non-attachment and throw things away

Any creative pursuit can test your Buddha nature. To make something special you need to be excited about the idea but be prepared to throw things away. Focus on the goals, not the details. Respond to your work as it’s in progress. Try something, react and either build on that idea or toss it. Every final design should be the result of dozens, maybe hundreds, of these decisions.

I learned this the hard way. Years ago my wife and I ran a design studio, Daggus Designs, and we often worked side by side, sometimes on separate projects and sometimes collaboratively. She's an incredible graphic designer and it didn't take me long to realize she was producing better designs at a faster rate than myself.

Initially this was hard on my ego but I started watching her work so I could learn how she was so freaking fast. She began a design with an idea, maybe a thumbnail and some reference material, but once it was onscreen and in-progress she was fearless about trying new things: compositional adjustments, new color, new fonts, etc. She tried things quickly, tossed the bad ideas and kept the good ones. In contrast, I would stick to my initial concept and try to force that idea to work. I didn't let myself react to what was happening onscreen and it was slowing me down.

That was a long time ago and I've since adjusted my approach. Probably 90% of my work as a designer is thrown away but I produce better work in less time. Does that mean I’m a failure because I don’t use everything I produce? No, it means I’m constantly evaluating and adjusting my vision as its taking shape. The thing I have in my head is almost never the thing I end up producing and I find that keeping my vision locked on a singular goals makes my ideas fragile. 

And, as an extra side bonus, the more receptive to new ideas you are the less likely you'll be hurt or get defensive when someone critiques your work. Whenever you sit down to work it's a good time to practice non-attachment.

www.tools-not-rules.com

It's Free! Creative brief and Project Tracking Sheet

Over the past couple years I've been writing about things to help us get more from our creative pursuits. I know we're all different and not every tool works for everyone equally - we all have unique skills, levels of experience, world views, aesthetics tastes, etc. - but I hope you'll find some nugget here that's useful to you. Recently I've started creating some downloadable resources and you can get them here for free. Suspicious? Don't be. This is a no-strings arrangement. I'm not collecting your data and doing anything strange. It just feels good to give back to the community of makers who have taught me so much. 

There are tools in the works for feature tracking, conducting brainstorms and more so stay tuned. If there's something specific you'd like to have, or see, you can always drop me an email. I'm not charging for any of these but if you're feeling thankful you can always make a donation (in the sidebar to the right) to support the creation of new tools. Thanks!

The Creative Brief

My version of a project brief that comes loaded with specific questions for each category (description, goals, etc). It's great for fleshing out your vision, driving conversation with your collaborators and focusing your projects. It's an editable Word file so you can customize it to your needs. Get the creative brief.

Project Tracking

The second file I'm making available is a simple Project Tracking spreadsheet. When you have multiple projects on your plate and you're trying to prioritize where to begin and identify issues related to each project this is a pretty solid tool. Will it answer all of your questions related to each project? No. But this Excel file will give you enough insight into your projects that you can prioritize and get started. And it's free.

As always, got a question? Feel free to contact me.

www.tools-not-rules.com