After the race, time of 1:25 felt good in parts, great day out #bsrf09
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
SRF_Top
This is what I'll have printed on my vest while running and live tweeting the Blackmores Half, really excited I better run well and not make an arse off myself can you imagine; had to stop and I've shit my pants, nice
Sunday, August 23, 2009
Irish rocket fuel
I did the pub2pub this weekend great fun and Paula and Anna had a nice cold Guinness waiting for me at the end.
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Usain Bolt Breaks 100m World Record and Hitler Reacts
This made me laugh so much yes I wet myself- what more can I say really
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Monday, August 3, 2009
Ideas
Yes the dreaded blank piece of paper. The room now empty as the suits have briefed and discussed what the client needs. It’s just you and your marker pad staring back at you. Sitting opposite with the same blank expression is your partner and no matter how good the brief or the amount of work gone into preparing it, I still get that gut wrenching feeling every time, ‘Is this the one where I screw up and I don’t get that idea’?
Don’t be fooled, you might think looking at creative people as a collective that they have an air of confidence (or as a planner I once worked with politely put it ‘those arrogant little twats down the corridor’). Yes they are, but if they are worth their salt and talented, most will all inwardly be a gibberish wreck inside.
So what sets the best creative thinkers apart? Well, the good ones revert to child like behaviour (that doesn’t mean they throw creative tantrums and sulk), no it’s where they ask all those questions like my daughter does when we go for a drive; why is the sky blue? How does a car move? This is the start of the creative process; creative people ask lots of questions.
Once you uncover all those why’s and where’s around the brief then you can start creating some ideas. First I start by using a mind map, most will know what this is; but it’s where you circle a key word and from that think of words or images that are associated with it. It’s at this stage that you are still in the mode of asking questions but they become more a ‘what if’? This is a very important stage in getting that idea.
‘Be curious not cautious.’ It’s also a time where in the back of your mind deadlines loom, and negativity starts coming into play in your sub conscious and your train of thought becomes blurred. Usually this is where the panic sets in and the ideas stop flowing but you must keep doodling. To help you fire up your thinking start recalling of all the books and films you have ever seen, recap on stories you’ve read or your friends have told you.
This is where the legendary John Webster once said; ‘treat your brain like a library and store all those images and stories so when you need to you can start flicking through your library’. This must not be confused with looking at YouTube! This is usually done by lazy creative’s, so avoid at all costs this temptation; it can contaminate your thinking.
Also creative people never ‘switch off’. The mind is always thinking so put everything down on paper, scribble on whatever you can lay your hands on (I have scribbled ideas on my kid’s colouring-in book as I had an idea for a kid’s yogurt). It’s at this stage nothing is wrong, some of the best ideas have come from silly suggestions.
Don’t just sit at your desk, go for a walk. I used to know a creative in London who would ride the Circle Line on the tube to think of ideas. I much prefer to go for a run; I find it’s a great way to think without taxing the brain. I can relax and the ideas then begin to ‘pop’. Thoughts rain down inside my head and the heart pumps, I get that tingle down my spine and concepts start flowing.
So here’s the bit you really want:
• Think as a child would. As Pablo Picasso said;
‘It took me 30 years to draw like a child’.
• Don’t think about winning awards- 100% guaranteed to fail.
• Be curious not cautious – ask lots of questions.
• ‘Blinkers kill thinkers’ quote by me while writing this.
• Train your brain to store information like a library.
• Read more books- Guinness ‘Surfer’ came from Lord of the Rings.
• Avoid YouTube– real people have done it better and you’ll come out badly.
• Look at award books- but see what else you could have done better.
• It’s healthy to fear the blank piece of paper- so enjoy.
Don’t be fooled, you might think looking at creative people as a collective that they have an air of confidence (or as a planner I once worked with politely put it ‘those arrogant little twats down the corridor’). Yes they are, but if they are worth their salt and talented, most will all inwardly be a gibberish wreck inside.
So what sets the best creative thinkers apart? Well, the good ones revert to child like behaviour (that doesn’t mean they throw creative tantrums and sulk), no it’s where they ask all those questions like my daughter does when we go for a drive; why is the sky blue? How does a car move? This is the start of the creative process; creative people ask lots of questions.
Once you uncover all those why’s and where’s around the brief then you can start creating some ideas. First I start by using a mind map, most will know what this is; but it’s where you circle a key word and from that think of words or images that are associated with it. It’s at this stage that you are still in the mode of asking questions but they become more a ‘what if’? This is a very important stage in getting that idea.
‘Be curious not cautious.’ It’s also a time where in the back of your mind deadlines loom, and negativity starts coming into play in your sub conscious and your train of thought becomes blurred. Usually this is where the panic sets in and the ideas stop flowing but you must keep doodling. To help you fire up your thinking start recalling of all the books and films you have ever seen, recap on stories you’ve read or your friends have told you.
This is where the legendary John Webster once said; ‘treat your brain like a library and store all those images and stories so when you need to you can start flicking through your library’. This must not be confused with looking at YouTube! This is usually done by lazy creative’s, so avoid at all costs this temptation; it can contaminate your thinking.
Also creative people never ‘switch off’. The mind is always thinking so put everything down on paper, scribble on whatever you can lay your hands on (I have scribbled ideas on my kid’s colouring-in book as I had an idea for a kid’s yogurt). It’s at this stage nothing is wrong, some of the best ideas have come from silly suggestions.
Don’t just sit at your desk, go for a walk. I used to know a creative in London who would ride the Circle Line on the tube to think of ideas. I much prefer to go for a run; I find it’s a great way to think without taxing the brain. I can relax and the ideas then begin to ‘pop’. Thoughts rain down inside my head and the heart pumps, I get that tingle down my spine and concepts start flowing.
So here’s the bit you really want:
• Think as a child would. As Pablo Picasso said;
‘It took me 30 years to draw like a child’.
• Don’t think about winning awards- 100% guaranteed to fail.
• Be curious not cautious – ask lots of questions.
• ‘Blinkers kill thinkers’ quote by me while writing this.
• Train your brain to store information like a library.
• Read more books- Guinness ‘Surfer’ came from Lord of the Rings.
• Avoid YouTube– real people have done it better and you’ll come out badly.
• Look at award books- but see what else you could have done better.
• It’s healthy to fear the blank piece of paper- so enjoy.
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