At a conference like AIGA’s Make/Think Conference, it’s impossible to boil down the few precious days into one sound byte, but there has been a quote going around that, if we were to be so bold, could come close to summarizing the very purpose and reason the conference exists:

“Creativity is a habit. It’s not something the happens in the shower.”

Nick Law passed down this cutting truth (I successfully avoided quipping that Nick “laid down the law,” you owe me) and he couldn’t be more right. Creativity IS a habit. The result of that habit sometimes is the shower moment, but creativity itself is the evidence of process. We are born creative and through habit is creativity grown (and suppressed, mind you. Lots of people say they’re ‘not creative,’ when they really are, they just don’t have opportunities to express it regularly. Often, what they mean is they’re not ‘artistic,’ an interesting association if you think about it, as if creativity can’t be expressed in anything but an artistic setting. But I digress.) And you know the best thing about the simple truth that creativity is habit? If this is indeed true, then that habit can be learned, that habit can be trained, that habit can be built! The misconception that some people have of themselves that they can “never be creative” is simply false. Not only can we all learn to express our creativity, but we who choose to make a living from that creativity can train to get better at it. How great is that!

That’s what “Caffeine for the Creative Mind” was meant to facilitate: the training of creativity. It provides the one thing that we need to express creative thought: a purpose. Think of it in childhood terms. Go ahead, put your toddler hat on for a second. No, I don’t mean to actually wear that old, ratty beanie… put that away, you look ridiculous. I mean think back to when you were an 8-year-old, sitting at an art table at school. On that art table is multi-colored construction paper, pens, glue, glitter, scissors… all the art supplies you could ever want. In walks the teacher, with that warm, excited smile she often had when she had something goooood to say. She announces that today is art day. All the kids raise their hands in victory and shout “BOOYAH!” (Ok, maybe my school was a little odd. Insert your chosen declaration of unabashed joy here.) She says “We have a very special project to work on today, your parents are going to think it’s the most beautiful project you’ve ever done! You have everything you need there on your table. So begin!”

Uhhh… what? Umm… something’s missing. WHAT ARE WE MAKING?!?!

All you needed to know was what you were making, that’s it. She could choose to show you EXACTLY what to make and how to make it, or she could leave it open to you, but without knowing ANYTHING about the subject at hand, how are you to proceed? That’s what the exercises in the book provide: the project. What you do from there is up to you. Creativity in it’s purest form, purpose without judgment. Think as big as you can.

If you’re like me, when I started my career, I thought the perfect project was described as a client providing an unlimited budget to do whatever I wanted. I thought that was the ideal scenario to be the most creative I could be. As I’ve grown in the industry, I’ve become to appreciate the true definition of creativity. Creativity can only be measured within the problem we solve. The tougher the problem, the more restrictive the situation, the more creative the opportunity. An unlimited budget to do whatever I want doesn’t require much creativity to solve it. But the more restrictive the problem, the more creative the solution.

For instance, imagine a client comes to you and hires you to create a new logo for his business. He gives you 20 weeks to develop the mark. You work on the project day and night for all 20 weeks, finally presenting your solution: a colored square with his initials knocked out of the middle. Not very creative, is it? Well, hold up, why not? Why isn’t it a very creative solution? Because you worked on it for 5 months, that’s why! It’s normal to expect a more creative solution given the slightly longer than normal timeframe placed on the project. (What? You don’t get almost half a year on your projects? That’s absurd! Such wicked conditions you must work under…)

But what if we changed the situation slightly. What if your client came to you and said “My boss is walking down the hall towards us right now, he’ll be here in 10 seconds, I need a new design for our corporate logo asap!” Probably closer to the truth than the other scenario, but that’s another story. You quickly create a rectangular shape with 4 equal sides, representing the 4 pillars of strength the company is built upon (BS101 is a class many take but few pass. Congratulations, professor.) and choosing the perfect emotion-evoking typeface, you knock out the letters from the middle of the square. Now, given the ungodly restriction placed upon you, that same solution is elevated in terms of it’s creativity. While it’s no Jeff Fisher, the solution is far more creative than it was in the 20 week scenario with the only difference being the restrictions placed on it. It’s not the lack of restriction that promotes creativity. Quite the contrary, creativity is defined by it’s boundaries. As creatives, we should covet the limitations, not make voodoo dolls of our clients when they are doled out.

So now you’re chomping at the bit for some restrictions, aren’t you? You’re frothing for some purpose, huh? Well, let’s do this! It’s creative exercise time, so get let’s see some big, fat, hairy ideas already!

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CREATIVE EXERCISE: Bland No Longer

The garden-variety orange traffic cone has been the universal symbol of “go away from here” for years. When otherwise friendly, outgoing people see an area where multiple orange traffic cones have gathered, they go the other direction, avoiding any contact with the cones. This has obviously led to a generation of orange traffic cone exclusion mindsets, dejected and inconsolable orange traffic cones taking their own cone lives on many occasions. In honor of your newfound hopeful desire to help change the cycle of cone abuse, your task today is to redesign or decorate the orange traffic cone to make it more inviting, to make people want to hang around cones once again. Think of it as “Extreme Makeover: Orange Traffic Cone Edition.”
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Thanks to our friend Stefan Mumaw for contributing. Stefan has written several books including two of our favorites Caffeine for the Creative Mind and Caffeine for the Creative Team: 200 Exercises to Inspire Group Innovation - hook a brother up and purchase one or both today.

For any of you that do this exercise email us and we will post!