Creativity...

"Hoarders collect indiscriminately. Artists collect selectively".

Austin Kleon, whose quote I quote, wrote a book on creativity called Steal like an artist. I firmly believe that this is the concept on which the life of a creative person is based.

Pablo Picasso said: "Good artists copy, great artists steal."

Everything we read, observe, listen to increases our knowledge of the world, allowing us to have so much information on file that we can use to our advantage when we need it. We must steal with our eyes, wanting to know about everything and everyone!

Being creative

If you Google the word 'creativity' you can see that there are many images where the term is associated with an imagery of colours, nonsense and madness. As if at some point someone has taken drugs that allow him to see colours and abstract shapes, making him a visionary full of positive qualities.

One of the first things I force myself to say as a true pragmatic designer is that creativity does not exist.

Many times I come up against the thinking of students who feel they are great creatives because they are emancipated enough to decide what to do and what not to do. At the beginning of the lesson I make sure to take my time. They present me with projects that have more to do with applied art than with a graphic design.

I am not talking about how a work is presented, but about the ideas behind it. Often the two hours I set aside to get them to work for them turn into five minutes of work with a smug "done!". Useless to try to explain that it is not possible to have something that works in such a short time, two hours is already a short time! Useless to tempt them by saying that I will evaluate them for the creative process they used to get there and not for their celerity.

The method

Imagine you have a wardrobe full. At some point in your life you feel the need to do some cleaning among the clothes you haven't worn for a long time. That is, unless you are a serial hoarder.

We can then start sorting our clothes by category:

- clothes that you always wear

- donated clothes

- nice clothes

- clothes you might wear (someday, maybe, another life...)

- clothes that your partner likes, but you don't

So you decide to take a first step towards freedom by getting rid of those that you just will never wear either because you have changed size or just because of style. The second winter you will take a stand by filling a bag with those that, yes they are gifts but I won't wear them, perhaps together with those that you just don't like even though everyone tells you that you look good in them.

At the end of this at least liberating operation you will have gained not only more space to live in, but also a wardrobe that is perfect for you.

I have made this absurd metaphor of life to try to explain how reasoning that leads to good design works. The designer has access to a relevant amount of information that includes his personal culture added to the client's input.

At this point one must understand what is needed.