Creativity A Short and Cheerful Guide
Book #6
November 2023
Creativity: A Short and Cheerful Guide by John Cleese
A quick read about the creative process from John Cleese actor, writer, comedian and cofounder of Monty Python. I had started digging around for books that touched on the value of mind wandering, so I didn’t even realize who wrote the book until he started to tell about his background. If you want a creative perspective reset and only have about a half hour… here you go. Short. Sweet. To the point.
I’m not going to try to summarize the book, but instead, I’m going to pull out a few pieces of advice and perspective and apply them to creative work as a designer:
Use your unconscious mind for creative problem solving
This is a core message to this book. You generally don’t solve creative problems by sitting in front of a computer telling yourself to think, think, think. Get an understanding of what problem you’re trying to solve. Maybe do a little research if needed. Then, live your life… go for a walk, eat lunch, do other things and often the ideas will come. It’s a little scary to rely on your unconscious mind to do anything important, but creative people are willing to pop in and out of unconscious thought.
Defer making decisions as long as possible
When you’re working on something creative, giving yourself time to swim about and explore is a total gift. When planning design projects, make sure you leave some time in the earlier phases to explore and play without editing or judging you work or receiving any outside feedback. (I do think it’s possible to have too much time to “play” which leads to procrastination and getting off topic, but generally design projects don’t allow enough time to explore at the beginning.)
Switching back and forth between creative mode to analytical mode is iteration.
Once you start iterating, you are judging and editing. Don’t iterate too soon. Give yourself time to have ideas and don’t judge them. Don’t waste your time polishing and refining. Save that for later. The ideas are what matter.
It’s normal to have a sense of panic at the beginning of a project
I like that the author admits this. Sometimes a design project can feel like a huge undertaking at the beginning. In some cases, I’m designing things from scratch, with a client I’m just getting to know, with no prior visual reference (think new logo or branding), it’s a bit like jumping off a cliff. Trust the process, trust the process, trust the process, trust your abilities.
Over confidence kills creativity
If you’re super confident that a solution is perfect, you’re probably not experimenting and taking risks. Don’t be afraid to share an idea or concept that’s a little weird and you’re not sure how you’re going to pull it off.
Kill your darlings
The interweb tells me that “don’t be afraid to kill your darlings” is a common piece of advice given to writers. It’s basically saying that as you get further into the writing process, some earlier thing — a character, a scene, a sentence — that you had thought was great or had put a lot of effort into realizing has become unnecessary. Don’t be afraid to kill that thing that was previously precious and important. Since I’ve learned of this phrase, I now think it in my head often. I definitely see this in sketches and concepts. Sometimes an idea that seems to be an earlier winner slowly loses its luster when compared to ideas that come up later in the process. Don’t feel obligated to keep it. And don’t feel bad that you spent time developing it. Just kill the darling.
Taking Feedback
He had some great advice on feedback. When you receive feedback “decide how valid the problems are… and fix them yourself.” Sometimes the feedback isn’t valid at all… don’t do anything or, if needed, explain why you don’t think the feedback is relevant. Often clients, instructors, peers will offer ideas for how to fix a certain problem. If their idea is good and you like it, use it. But, remember, you can also think for yourself. There is likely another, more “you”, way to fix a problem.