5 Tips to Get Creative.
There’s nothing worse than trying to solve a problem and the creative process isn’t coming to fruition as you expected. Creativity is an intangible outlet that needs nurturing and evolving over time and should be treated as such. Below are 5 tips and tricks the ARROW VANE team has learnt along the way to get those creative juices flowing:
1. Get Moving.
It’s so tempting to plonk yourself in a room with snacks and comfy chairs and hope that the perfect idea lands itself on your lap. But this isn’t always the best approach. Research suggests that people tend to be more creative when they are walking rather than when they are sitting down. In one 2014 study, creative output was found to improve by about 60% when walking. So get those runners on and start the creative process with a short walk.
2. Inspiration.
Stimulating environments can facilitate creativity, so surrounding yourself with things that you find inspiring and motivating can help. Our favourites are:
La Mariée - Marc Chagall
What’s your favourite piece of art to get lost in?
A painting such as Chagall’s ‘La Mariée’ has so much depth and texture that it’s a great gateway to let your imagination wander and explore. You don’t always have to have the brief in mind to answer it.
Kirigami Art
Task yourself to create something in 5 minutes.
Haruki, a Japanese artist, uses the art of kirigami to turn everyday objects tomini sculptures. Aiding thought in imaginative transformation. Have a try yourself into turning an everyday object into art.
Niagara Falls
What natural wonder leads you to believe anything’s possible?
A vision of such vastness projects an uncapped realm of opportunities.
Riddle me that.
How many can you get?
We also love a brain teaser or a riddle to get us started!
3. Be blue.
Metaphorically and literally! Creative briefs often bring with them lots of rules and regulations, but the best approach is to enjoy going blue sky in your thinking. You can cull and refine later on, but the first point of call should be to explode out all your inner creative thinking. But also, surround yourself with blue. According to researchers Mehta and Zhu, the colour blue encourages exploration and for people to try new things, and most importantly boosts creative thinking. It helps to encourage thinking outside the box. Since blue is heavily associated with nature, peace, and tranquility, the colour tends to help people feel safe to explore and be creative. If you want to refine your thinking however, we suggest red which is great for attention-to-detail tasks and refinement.
4. Harvest your Emotion
Take advantage of your emotions. It was initially thought that creativity closely aligned with positive emotion, but as time has gone on researchers have identified that both strong positive and negative emotional states were linked to creative thinking. To get brainstorms off to a good start, use something that evokes emotion. We love a good John Lewis advert to start this one:
5. Take breaks.
Take breaks. And not just KitKat snacks, but taking breaks from tasks when you feel you’ve hit a creative block is more important than anything. No one wants to feel like they're flogging a dead horse, so when you feel a lack of inspiration, taking a break can be the best thing to do. For longer workshops, use the Pomodoro Method: Take a 5-minute break after every 25 minutes of work. For short sharp brainstorming sessions, we would suggest breaking an hour into 45 minutes brainstorm to 15 minute break. Use the break to stay off your phone and do something you enjoy such as a tea, stretch or even meditate.
Team Contributor: Sophie Thomas
Get in touch: sophie.thomas@arrowvane.com | Linkedin
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