Ideas. I love ideas. It's the core of any creative endeavour.

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Music and links from this episode

All tracks from Captive Portal's new album, Having A VHS For A Leg

Choir Librarian by Captive Portal

When We Were Once by Captive Portal

Equestrian Encryption by Captive Portal

Line-by-line notes

INTRO

There’s one thing that is common across any type of creative activity

Whether you’re a designer, artist, singer, rapper, whatever

It’s all about ideas

Big ideas

Small ideas

Rubbish ideas

Good ideas

It’s all ideas

This is AADA, and I’m Craig Burgess

PLAY MID SONG

When people say that thing I hate hearing

“I’m not creative”

What they’re really saying

Is that they don’t think they can think of ideas

And even that’s not true either

They think that can’t come up with ideas

But that’s just a story that they tell themselves

Because over the years

People get creativity and idea-making hammered out of them

As they get older, they think they can’t think of ideas anymore

And actually, coming up with ideas isn’t actually that difficult

You’ve just got to be fearless

Actually, maybe fearless is a bit strong

We’re not talking about going to battle here

Or a duel to the death

But you do have to let go of your inhibitions a bit

And inhibitions, fear and doubts become more deep-rooted as we get older

The biggest inhibitor to coming up with an idea

Is the belief that an idea has to be good

But actually

The only way to get to the good ideas is to get past the bad ones first

Seasoned creative people are good at this

Because they come up with ideas all day long

They can actually run through a whole boat load of ideas in their head

And analyse them in an instant

Then pick out the good ones

That’s a skill that’s developed through years of training and practice

But when they first started

And when I first started

All my ideas were crap

And then when I came up with a good idea

It had either already been done

Or I didn’t have the skills to execute it

Coming up with the ideas is only one side of the coin

It’s an important side of the coin sure

But a good idea

The BEST idea in the world

Is nothing without execution

And good execution at that

I’ve seen many designers over the years with a great idea for a logo

Then I see the final result

And I look at it and think

“ehhh, that could have been a little bit better with some more work”

The way I see it, the creative process involves two parts

And both require lots of effort and perspiration

The first phase

Is the ability to empty your brain out onto a piece of paper

Every last idea, no matter how good or how bad

Straight down into a sketchbook

Then you leave it for a few hours or days

And try all over again to empty your brain out again

Coming up with ideas at this stage is equal parts hard work and enjoyable

The second stage

Is picking the best of those ideas

Which in itself is a gargantuan task

Then taking that idea

And executing on it

And executing really well

Ideas are weird

They’re everywhere

And all around us all the time

They accompany us in the shower, when we’re washing up or when we’re walking around

And then when you really need them

They’re nowhere

They can’t be commanded or asked to appear when you want them to

You just have to wait

And relish the opportunity when an idea arrives

And grab the idea with both hands

OUTRO

This was AADA. I’m Craig Burgess.

All three tracks in today’s episode are from Captive Portal’s new album, Having a VHS For A Leg

Love the name by the way...

The tracks were

Choir Librarian by Captive Portal

When We Were Once by Captive Portal

Equestrian Encryption by Captive Portal

For a line-by-line run down of this episode, go to askadesignernaything.com/ep115

I’m back tomorrow for another episode of AADA

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