5 Unlikely Places To Boost Your Creative Thinking
From album covers to opening movie credits
Sometimes you’re beat down.
Beat down from churning out work. Beat down from your personal life. Beat down from magically coming up with fresh ideas over and over and over.
But you have a partner, a producer, a boss, a client, whoever, breathing down your neck and you have to get it going.
I’ve found certain places that help jump start that secret hiding place that hides deep down in my brain. It doesn’t matter if you’re a writer, art director, video editor, designer, producer, musician, whatever. You’ll find inspiration.
Here are the five places you can find creative inspiration.
Vinyl Album Cover Art
Have you ever walked into someones house, home office or game room and they have a display of vintage or modern album covers hanging above the wall? Me neither, but the thought of all those juicy covers displayed would be magical.
Take a look at the fonts, how the text is displayed, the different types of art or imagery used, the colors, you name it. There’s such a wide variety of storytelling done in a very simple way in a square foot.
There’s a fine balance of what you can jam in for your viewer, whether its art or information that’s my biggest takeaway.
Print Ads
Similar in a way to album cover art, print ads have only so much real estate. You need to be clear and concise, obvious yet stand out in a sea of pages.
These pieces of art can be striking, provocative and powerful. But it really is about the simplicity of an idea that I gravitate towards and using that method to come up with my own ideas as I’m solving a creative problem.
Music Videos
Many of us listen to music whenever we’re working, working out, working on our house or yard, working on anything really. Try scrolling through some of your favorite musicians and favorite songs and watching the music video that accompanies them. See what hold your attention. See what makes you think.
Weapon of Choice by Fatboy Slim
Feels Like We Only Go Backwards by Tame Impala
This is America by Childish Gambino
Movie Opening Credits
One of the most underrated sequences in films can be it’s opening credits. We’re all aware of the long drawn out opening Game of Thrones had, as well as it’s most recent spin of House of the Dragon which is popular among streaming series but what about films.
Watchmen
Catch Me If You Can
Superbad
Micro & Short Documentaries
There’s something fantastic about diving into a short documentary or a quick portrait to gather up ideas. I’m not talking Oscar winning documentaries, I’m talking about the true independent type shorts you find deep in the archives of Vimeo. That’s where you’ll find the real gold.
Umbrella Man
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