unlock the block
Whether you have a home, or an apt., we all have had to be in a box, a single room for the past 12+ months, in some way shape or form.
How do you remain creative? How do you retain your enthusiasm to imagine? How do you keep from seeing a bluuuur?
I have a suggestion or 2 -
When I was just starting out as a design student and then a junior designer, I had a studio apt. in New York City. I considered myself really lucky, I was in the middle of the Big Apple.
But, as a designer, I had to figure out how I was going to be creative in a single room (this was of course pre-COVID).
SOLUTION, one room, one rectangle, meant 4 corners, and that meant 4 living/working spaces. BINGO - I had 4 places to go!
My desk (lower left) served as my working corner. My kitchen (lower right) served as my eating corner. My bed (upper left area) was my place to rest and maybe read a book. My couch (upper right area) was the place where I relaxed and chilled.
Hence, 4 corners, 4 living spaces. With that I could change my perspective and I was able to alter where I was and what I saw. We all know that getting up and even turning around allows this minimal action to be transactional.
With the added fortune of having a big window, that too created an outlet for my eyes (did you know - the eye is the only part of the brain that can be seen directly) and therefore a flow of visual stimuli to be creative.
So, try these few suggestions: 1. Get up from your desk/computer and turn around, randomly throughout the day. 2. Find a window to look out and take a few minutes to do so. 3. Speak to a friend and hear a voice that’s different than the one in your head. 4. Always have a pen and paper scattered throughout your areas, so that when the light bulb goes off, you can immediately record it. 5. And finally, don’t have such a clean austere environment, start collecting inspirational things and images, that way when you can’t leave your desk, your eyes will still have an opportunity to see something different - on a different medium …, et voila, - I really like the way that letter K finishes at it’s spur/terminal, and let it be your eureka moment.
My 4 corners as I recall them, as a student in Manhattan, my creative space (a few years ago).
This was one of my recent desk environments - yup, I do like inspiration, - found the signature of Queen Elizabeth the 1st, such beauty in the ink treatments of the swashes of her personal script - how different it is from today’s vector scripts!
