Design and Emotion workshop proposal- How to Make New Things - Information and Ideation in Digital Creativity
INTRODUCTION OF PREMISE The average person requires a few distinct emotional necessities in life. He needs meaningful work. He needs meaningful relationships. He needs to know himself. The creative man (and woman) has one other driving force within that is so strong, it can sometimes overshadow all these needs: The need to make new things. This is a passion that only another creative person can understand. Now I know everyone is creative. Of course to an extent every person is. Everyone can draw. But not everyone is a Warhol. Everyone can sing. But not everyone is a Pavarotti. Ok. You get the picture. To a professional creative, being creative is a big part of who they are. For some, creativity is synonymous with their existence. Sound insane? If it does, you are probably not a creative by calling nor profession. For myself, I started out as an advertising copywriter busting my ass working myself to death for the next big idea. I dreamt of winning big, shiny awards. I did. But it was never enough. I needed new awards. Awards aren't bad. They push creative thinking forward. They reward innovation and punish mediocrity. A few years later, the digital wave emerged. I switched from mainstream advertising to interactive. I had to. I had to make new things. And digital was the new thing. A few years into the digital scene, I realised that to climb the creative ladder, I had to think more broadly than I did already. I had to be more than just a creative guy. I had to be strategic in output. So I embraced strategy. I fused digital planning with creative. I found that I had what it took to dive into data to find pearls of insight. To make new things, I first had to sell new things. Strategy doesn't just inform creative work. It sells creative work. Now I had control over the thinking behind the creative solution as well as the solution itself. Score! So this is how my mentors succeeded in becoming the awesome creative leaders they were. Over time, they mastered both sides of the equation. TWO LOVES To do great creative work today, I believe you need to love information and ideas. It used to be all about ideas - stories that said one big thing. That was fine in the days of analogue media, where brand communication was a one-way street. Brands spoke. People listened. Those days are over. I don't need to explain why because you know the reasons already. Don't get me wrong. I'm not saying ideas aren't important. Great ideas is how we will forever powerfully persuade people and create fantastic experiences. Ideas built empires. Inspired the renaissance. Raised Disneyland. INFORMATION I'm talking about facts, statistics, trends. You need to love data. You need to understand how people plug into and use the Web. You need to keep abreast with ever-evolving digital technology. Have an awareness of how stuff works. You don't need to know everything in detail. Just enough to help you reach and talk to people in ways they care about. You need to know how best to bring your digital ideas to life. And you will only know how to if you love information. I know how creatives generally like data as much as they like a butt rash. But, really, the more you work with information, the more priceless it'll become to you. Especially when it's time to ideate. These days I look back and cringe when I think about how naive I was to believe all I needed was a kick ass idea and (a) the client will love it and (b) the product would fly off the shelves. My work would've been better if I hadn't bought the lie that strategy wasn't my business; that all I had to be concerned about was with my ideas, copy and art direction. IDEAS In addition to loving information, you need to love ideas. I think you, being a creative professional, already love great ideas and know how to generate lots of them. So I won't elaborate here. LET’S MAKE NEW THINGS WORKSHOP Information and ideas. These are keys to making awesome digital work happen. Think about it. All the most envied creative digital work in the world are great ideas founded on useful information. This half day workshop will first explore the informational and ideational aspects of creativity for the “digital age”. Workshop will move on to team work and the presentation of ideas in answer to a creative brief. ABOUT THE WORKSHOP FACILITATOR Joel Lim is on a mission to make the most engaging things in the world. He believes in creative innovation to offer novel and more effective products and services to satisfy latent consumer needs. His career spans advertising and interactive, engaging brands like Volvo, Shell, HSBC, Carlsberg, Reckitt Benckiser, Volkswagen, Nestle, Prudential and BMW in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia; Dreamworld themeparks, Parmalat, and Bond University in Queensland, Australia. Joel’s work has been recognised in both the academic and global creative circles with several awards to his name, most notably a Cannes Grand Prix. In his free time, he dabbles in electronica. Creative Portfolio: http://workingcreative.wordpress.com Strategic Thinking: http://workingstrategy.wordpress.com http://slideshare.net/joellim Everything: http://about.me/joellim
Sent with Writer. Via iPad.
Sent with Writer. Via iPad.
