When I first decided to try to teach a jewelry design class at the local craft store, my mother thought I was crazy. She couldn’t understand why I’d want to teach people to do what I can do. I thought the answer was fairly obvious: While I was teaching them the techniques through projects done in my own style, I knew that those who would stick with jewelry design after the class would apply their own sense of style to their future projects. (Sadly, I haven’t had the opportunity to explore if I’m right. Something always seems to keep my classes from forming.)
There’s a definite pattern to learning anything creative. You start by learning the basic techniques with someone else. That someone else forms your early projects because you’re expected to imitate the given style. For a number of people, imitating is just fine because it means they can worry about getting everything right without having to worry about finding their own vision.
Thankfully, there are those who aren’t happy imitating for long, and soon enough they’re creating an imitation, looking at it through a lens of “What if”, and infusing the next attempt at the technique with their own imagination and inspirations. And they keep doing it, even to their own work.
It’s fine to learn by imitation, but never forget to take a step back from what you’ve made and ask yourself how you can do it differently. Find your own voice and let it shine through each subsequent piece.
(The same goes for just about everything in life. Learn something, and then decide if and how to make it your own. Don’t be afraid to turn your back on something that just doesn’t fit.)
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity and Inspiration at 7:41 AM EST
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ColourLovers recently revealed their new toy for users to generate palettes, and it’s pretty nice. (You might need to register to use it. You’ll definitely need to register to save your creations.) It’s pretty nice. It helps you define a palette either based on an uploaded image or your own inspiration. If you’re having trouble coming up with a palette that works, it suggests complements. All in all, it’s a pretty simple tool.
I’m sure I’ve mentioned the site before, but ColourLovers is one of my favorite color stops on the web. You get to create palettes and you can now color in patterns. You get to see what other people have come up with (I think I have a favorites file full of some gorgeous palettes designed by other people). They also have a blog where people vividly show off color symbolism, color in geographical regions, color in various world religions. It’s pretty incredible.
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Design issues at 7:34 AM EST
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Over the weekend, I relaunched my online jewelry store…sort of. It’s still at Etsy, but I’ve gone back to my original name: Eleventh Midnight. I was never happy being JewelryNiche. It lacked character.
I even have a plan to make sure the shop has some life to it this time around. It has a schedule, a somewhat strenuous to-do list, a spreadsheet, and a GNotebook all to itself. It probably needs its own gallery, but for now, I think I’m okay with what I’ve got.
In the week or so leading up to the launch, I had the chance to sit down and talk with other artists about completely unrelated things. Naturally, I was asked what I was up to myself, and I told them about the shop and the work I’d been doing to get ready. They were both amazed. One has a website that she could never get herself in sync with, and the MySpace she pretty much gave up the website for. The other has never really been online much, but would love to explore oit once her home office is up and running.
I ended suggesting a few things to both of them, and thought you guys might enjoy seeing the list.
- deviantArt- Don’t let the name put you off. dA is a great place to show off completed pieces and works in progress across a number of artistic discipline and get feedback on them. It’s a thriving community of very supportive people who love to share and talk about their craft. (Just avoid the drama trolls.)
- Etsy- Etsy is an online center for artists and crafters to sell their work. Nearly every you find on the site is made by the person selling it, except for supplies and “vintage” items (which may or may not be made by the artist). Etsy allows you to search by category, type or item, and even color. For artists, it’s a nice, low-cost way to put your creations before a wider audience. It’s very easy to set up and use.
- Google Apps- None of us really wants to talk about it, but there’s more to creating than just creating. Personally, I use GCal to keep track of when I’ve done things so I know, GMail to handle my email needs, Google Docs to keep an inventory of what I’ve got and where (that I’ve just realized is out of date at the moment), and Google Notebook to record patterns of what I’ve made, ideas for future projects, lists of where to shop for certain supplies or of where to check out for supplies.
- Todoist- This time around, I have a to-do list dedicated solely to my jewelry shop. It has a “production schedule” of sorts, along with ideas for new pieces, tips for keeping myself focused, ideas for my classes, the custom pieces I’m currently working on (which as of today is only one because the main part of it is totally vexing me).
(The list accidentally came out alphabetically. That’s funny.)
There are other great crafting sites out there. You just have to look within your own crafting niche(s). Great ways to share, to get feedback, to sell, to just participate.
Posted by Rebecca as Handcraft resources, Web design resources, Design issues, The business of design at 9:04 AM EST
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I’ve read this repeatedly lately, but I think I like the concise way it recently appeared on Braingle: We become less creative as we get older because it is cultivatd out of us.
If you’ve ever wondered if that’s true, just look at writing programs in schools. I don’t this with absolute certainty, but from the homework my students bring in from time to time, I’m going to guess creative writing isn’t even practiced at the high school level anymore. That used to be my favorite part of the school year in English class, and I’m not sure my students are even being exposed to it. The local schools are so busy trying to prepare these kids to pass the state exams that they focus on getting the technical aspects down and nothing else. Even the creativity aspect of research reports is so heavily governed by a strict rubric that a student has no real chance of expressing themself.
The math classes seem to be in a worse state. Where I used to take classes where we were given a bonus project every six weeks that encouraged us to inject a little fun and creativity into our math studies, my poor students aren’t even being given the basic skills they need to be learning.
That’s really a topic for another blog, but you get my point.
By and large, most of my students never set foot in any sort of art class, be it visual, performing, or digital, because their schedules don’t have room for them. A number of them doodle on their notes or write creatively in what spare time they can squeeze out of their demanding schedules, but nothing is really being done to foster their creativity.
But creativity is one of those skills that more and more employers seem to be looking for under the skills “problem solving” and “innovation”. Shouldn’t we be inspiring children, then, to be more creative rather than to squeeze themselves into the box of “This is how it’s always been.”?
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Creativity and Inspiration at 8:24 AM EST
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I keep a very random, haphazard design notebook of sorts in one of my Google Notebooks, filled with design ideas, random images, and color palettes from ColourLovers. It doesn’t have the flip-through quality that a good inspiration book would really need to trigger my creative juices properly, but there’s a lot of potential there.
Digital Web Magazine has a great idea for maintaining a virtual design inspirations notebook that has the potential for the flip-through nature my arrangement is missing as well as an exploration of why and how these types of collections should come about and be used.
However you set yours up, design notebooks can be great for problem solving and breaking creativity blocks.
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity and Inspiration at 7:30 AM EST
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The Sci-Fi Channel had station identification spots for a long time that started with a normal, mundane scene that quickly changed into something fantastical and impossible. The words What if? appeared on the screen, and then shifted to the Sci-Fi logo. It made a point in an amusing and creative way.
Science fiction (and speculative fiction) has long run on that question. What if? What if in the future we all drive hovercrafts that fold up neatly into briefcases? What if we find ourselves citizens of a large government body comprised of various worlds and races? What if we destroy the world and then have to figure out how to survive? What if various illnesses were wiped out? I actually think it’s why I’ve always gravitated toward science fiction. I’ve loved the possibilities of what could be, and the accepting of imaginative explorations.
What if? is one of the best ways to loosen up your creative juices because it gives you a chance to think about other ways something can happen. It’s one of my favorite ways to shake loose a problem that isn’t resolving quickly.
The other great question for beating problems and getting the creativity flowing is Why not? THis is a great one to throw out the next time someone tells you that something can’t be done. Just ask them, “Why not?” and watch their faces turn interesting shades of red and purple before they give you some incomprehensible answer that sounds suspiciously like, “It’s never been done before.”"
While I think science fiction is driven by What if?, I think fantasy (my other favorite genre) is driven by Why not?. Why can’t there be a place hidden in London where children can learn to use magic? Why can’t there be oversized flying lizards? Why can’t a human transform into an animal and back again?
What if? Why not? When you find your creativity stagnating, just start asking yourself one of these two questions and see where it takes you.
Posted by Rebecca as Uncategorized, Creativity and Inspiration at 7:51 AM EST
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The ability to ask “Why?” is something we cultivate and treasure in young children and all but chase out of older children. Maybe that’s not the best idea. Asking “Why?” is a sign of curiosity, one of the key ingredients in cultivating creativity and innovation.
If you find your own curiosity flagging, try these tips from Lifehack. And the next time you find yourself rolling your eyes at someone who’s asking “Why?” and labeling them a “difficult” person, remember that curiosity is a good thing. It can bring about positive changes and create possibilities that aren’t open when questions aren’t asked.
Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it doesn’t have to kill your creativity.
Posted by Rebecca as Creativity and Inspiration at 7:36 AM EST
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ColourLovers takes up a lot of my time with their interesting articles and the ability to add colors and palettes to my favorites. (Amazingly, I’ve still only sat down and created one palette. I need to fix that.)
The other day, they featured a pretty neat tool that I think both designers and writers would find very useful. HP has come up with a Color Thesaurus. You type in the color, it gives you “synonyms” and “antonyms”. You can also find the RGB and hex values for the colors given simply by clicking on them.
Need to work around a color? Give the thesaurus a whirl.
Posted by Rebecca as Design issues at 8:40 AM EST
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It feels like it wasn’t all that long ago when everyone was screaming that if a user couldn’t find what they wanted in three clicks, then they’d leave your site, never to return. It led to some, if you’ll forgive the expression, pretty shallow sites.
It’s possible that a couple of years ago, people had a hard time staying focused for longer than that. These days, everyone is stuck in “information overload” mode, and people are more willing to actively search for what they need.
It’s now slowly being suggested that instead of confining the user to a limited number of clicks, creating an information pathway that makes sense, an “information scent”, for the user will prove more helpful.
Information architects have been singing the praises of information scent for some time now, but it’s interesting to see other disciplines slowly looking to it as a viable design structure.
Posted by Rebecca as Web design resources at 7:58 AM EST
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Yesterday, I went to replenish my tea supply. I’m a huge fan of Oregon Chai, and a long-time Celestial Seasonings addict. Both companies are in the process of revamping their look, and I’m not sure I’m okay with that.
Oregon Chai used to sport one or two toned boxes so you could visually tll what flavor you were picking up. The original flavor was in a box with a yellow body and a purple top. Well, not the boxes are their color for the body, but they all now sport a yellow top- essentially the reverse of the original. This one really isn’t that big a deal (except that it looks a bit odd).
Celestial Seasonings’ boxes used to be part of the experience. The company runs out of Boulder, Colorado and had a quirkiness to their boxes that seemed to carry with it that oddness that is patently Boulder. Artwork and quotes covered the box, almost wrapping it in a story. The quotes are still there. The artwork has been stylized to look more 2007 than 1997. The stories are gone, and so is the quirky look. The box now sports a two-toned design- one color fills the majority of the box, and another covers the top.
In fact, it looks a lot like the Oregon Chai design now. Perhaps this is the new packaging brand for teas, and we can expect something similar out of Bigelow, Twinings, and Good Earth soon?
The point of design in packaging is to make your product stand out, not homogenize your niche. I don’t feel like these two are accomplishing that.
Posted by Rebecca as Design issues at 7:47 AM EDT
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