Now Reading | How Jessica Walsh and Gerry Graf Turn Data into Art in their Advertising. The Benefits of Playing, not Thinking.
I loved reading this article because it ties back to a previous post we did on the concept of Flow (http://brandfiercely1.wpengine.com/getting-into-the-flow-what-does-it-mean-and-how-does-it-happen/) and it also talks about something we feel strongly about here at Fierce—incorporating fun and play into our strategic and creative projects. Our team recently completed the first stages of a new branding and positioning project for a client and the entire process was intense—but fun. These branding and positioning exercises are truly about problem solving and we enjoyed the process together from start to finish. This is important when you are working through a lot of information and data and trying to communicate it clearly and effectively—and cleverly. A spirit of playfulness matters.
Jessica Walsh talked about this at Cannes recently and gave some tips on how to be sure to have fun amid the incredible pressures of being creative and ROI. Here is what she says:
Play is a flow state, she said, “where we have this perfect balance of challenge and opportunity within our skill sets. It’s really the optimal state of mind to be creative and innovative.” Getting into that state of mind can be tricky, though, given all the work stresses and distractions we have. So, she offered five tips for quickly getting into the flow state.
• Confidence
“You have to have the confidence to fail, so you can take risks in your work as a creative.”
• Time
“If your deadline is within an hour or even a week, you’re likely to just pull from existing styles or techniques or tricks that have worked for you or someone else in the past, because you have no time to experiment and play and reinvent.”
• Persistence
“There are actually studies that show the key trait of the most creative thinkers is not talent but purely just having persistence to work through failures, no matter how long it takes to come up with a great idea.”
• Space
“Even with enough time and persistence, if your email inbox is full and your Twitter feed is buzzing and your mom is calling you, you’re not going to be able to play very well within your work. You need plenty of space away from your daily tasks and responsibilities.”
• A sense of humor
“Humor liberates the brain from rigid thinking, and opens it to spontaneity, exploration and risk taking. I think humor also allows the brain to make really interesting and fresh connections between things, which I think is how most new things are created.”
You can read the entire article here: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/how-jessica-walsh-and-gerry-graf-turn-data-art-their-advertising-165483
