teorie e pratiche della creatività

Il punto 4 mi ricorda un proverbio arabo (credo): Non raggiungerà mai la meta il nocchiero che non conosce la rotta.

Aggiungerei una frase che spesso mi sprona e che richiama il sapersi presentare:
"You never have a second chance to make a good first impression."

Abbassando invece il livello...la n.17 è una verità quasi biblica. Da incorniciare.

E poi non dite che non vi voglio bene...
...
1 You are not the first
There are very few ‘firsts’ these days. Countless others have started studios, freelanced and requested internships. It can be done.
2 There is always someone better
Regardless of how good you are, there will always be someone better. It’s surprisingly easy to waste time worrying about this.
3 Success is not a finite resource
College fosters a zero-sum mentality: that someone has to fail for you to succeed. In truth, another’s success doesn’t limit yours. #the50
4 You cannot scorewithout a goal
If you don’t know what you want, then how can you pursue it? Having a goal defines an end point, and subsequently, a place to start.
5 Starting anything requires energy
It takes more energy to start than it does to stop. This is true for physics, your career, and that idea you need to work on. #the50
6 The path to work is easier than you think
To get into the industry you need just three things: great work, energy and a nice personality. Many forget the last attribute.
7 Have a positive self-image
Your self-perception is your most important asset. See yourself as the person you want to be and others will see this too.
8 Create a clean and simple website
An online portfolio is the alpha and omega of your career. With a wealth of web services, there’s no excuse for not having a website.
9 Curate your work
Never stop editing your portfolio. Three strong pieces are better than ten weak ones – nobody looks for quantity, just quality.
10 Listen to your instincts
If your work doesn’t excite you, then it won’t excite anyone else. It’s hard to fake passion for mediocre work – scrap it.
11 Make your work easy to see.
People are lazy. If you want them to look at your work, make it easy. Most of the time employers simply want to see a JPG or PDF
12 Hand-write addresses
Clients, prospective employers and potential clients gravitate to letters with handwritten addresses. The personal touch goes far.
13 Time is precious: get to the point
Avoid profuse humour or gimmicks when contacting studios for work, they’ve seen it all before. Get to the point, they’ll be thankful
14 Never take an unpaid internship
This is not a necessary evil – a studio that doesn’t pay their interns (at least the minimum wage) is a studio not worth working for.
15 Do as many internships as you can stand
Internships are a financial burden, but they are vital. They let you scope out the industry and find the roles that suit you best.
16 Don’t waste your internship
A studio’s work can dip, as can its energy. Ignore this and be indispensable, the onus is on you to find something that needs doing.
17 Make friends with a printer
A good relationship with a printer is invaluable – they will help you save money and the environment.
18 Find your local D.I.Y. store and pound shop
D.I.Y. and pound shops are great resources of cheap, ready-made artifacts ripe for tinkering, re-decoration and re-contextualisation.
19 Be patient
It’s not unusual to complete several internships and not find ‘a good fit’. Try applying to a studio you hadn’t considered.
20 Ask questions
Assume nothing. Ask questions, even if you think you know the answers. You’ll be surprised at how little you know
21 Ask for opportunities
It will feel cheeky, but ask for things. Ask to be included in exhibitions, magazines, pitches – if you don’t ask, you can’t get.
22 Seek criticism, not praise
You learn nothing by being told how great you are. Even if you think your work’s perfect – seek criticism, you can always ignore it.



23 Make friends, not enemies
The creative industry is a small world: it’s a network where everyone knows everyone else. Remember this before pissing someone off.
24 News travels fast
A good intern will find their reputation precedes them. Jobs are nearly always offered on this word-of-mouth evidence. #the50
25 Don’t get drunk at professional events
There’s a difference between being ‘merry’ and ‘paralytic’. The latter costs you your dignity, your reputation and possibly your job.
26 Network
There’s some truth in ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’. Talk to people, send emails; at the very least sign up to Twitter.
27 Dress smart, look business like
Take your work seriously? Then take your appearance seriously. Clients are more likely to deal with people who look like they care
28 Never work for free
Working for free not only devalues the profession, but it makes you look weak. Even a ‘nice’ client will take advantage of this.
29 Negotiate
If you really have to work for nothing, negotiate. Clients and studios have access to many resources that can be viewed as ‘payment’.
30 Read contracts
Never sign a contract before reading it. Subsequently, don’t begin any job without a contract – you may have to write one yourself.
31 Make your invoice stand out
Businesses are deluged with invoices. Make yours stand out with colour or shape and it’s likely to rise to the top of the ‘pay’ pile.
32 There’s no such thing as a bad job
Always push yourself to do your best. Logically, there’s no way you can be dissatisfied with ‘having done your best’.
33 There’s no such thing as a bad client
The onus is on you to make a client relationship work, not the other way around. If it’s not working out, ‘fire’ them as a favour
34 Embrace limitations
Limitations are invaluable for creating successful work: they give you something to push against. From this tension comes brilliance.
35 The environment is not a limitation
The environmental impact of your work isn’t a fashionable consideration – as a creative, it’s your most important consideration
36 Boring problems lead to boring solutions
Always interrogate your brief: re-define the question. No two briefs should be the same; a unique problem leads to a unique solution.
37 New ideas are always ‘stupid’
New ideas are conceived with no context and no measures of success – this falsely makes them feel silly, awkward or even impossible38 Do not underestimate self-initiated work

38 Do not underestimate self-initiated work
Clients get in touch because of self-initiated work. Ironically, business is excited by ideas untouched by the concerns of business.
39 Justify your decisions
Clients fear arbitrary decisions – they want problem solving. Have a reason for everything, even if this is ‘post-rationalised’
40 Show sketches, not polished ideas
Clients often mistake ‘rough’ digital work for the final design. Show sketches for as long as you can, it makes them feel involved
41 Work with the client, not against them
You may think you’re right, but look at the client’s solution along with yours. Occasionally you’ll be surprised.
42 Don’t always take no for an answer
Fight for superior solutions. Demonstrate your thinking to your client, take them through it – it’s hard to argue with logic.
43 Pick your battles
The creative industry is often infuriating, but not every argument is an argument that needs to be had. This takes time to learn.
44 If you’re going to fail, fail well
Being ambitious means you have to take on things you think you can’t do. Failures are unfortunate, but they are sometimes necessary
45 Be an auteur
Regardless of who you’re working with, speak up if something’s not right. Take it upon yourself to be the barometer of quality
46 Take responsibility for failure
If a job’s going wrong take responsibility. It feels counter-intuitive, but responsibility means you can do something about it
47 Share your ideas
You’ve nothing to gain from holding on to your ideas; they may feel precious, but the more you share, the more new ideas you’ll have
48 Get out of the studio
Good design is crafted from understanding the relationships between things. These connections can’t be found when locked in a studio49 Awards are nice, but not vital
49 Awards are nice, but not vital
Awards look good on the shelf, but clients seldom pick up the phone because of them. Solid work encourages that.
50 Don’t take yourself too seriously
Take your work seriously, take the business of your craft seriously, but don’t take yourself seriously. People who do are laughed at.

Battuto sul tempo!! Lo stavo facendo anch'io!! ;)))

Infatti l'avevi scritto... :-)
"You never have a second chance to make a good first impression."

Una chicca utile se non necessaria. Di seguito riporto quelli che in questo momento mi si incollano addosso pià di altri:
5 Starting anything requires energy
10 Listen to your instincts
13 Time is precious: get to the point
30 Read contracts
39 Justify your decisions
Grazie.

Io, invece, odio la n° 1...
Stefano Roversi

@ Stefano: che meraviglia, la varietà dei punti di vista. Pensa che a me invece la n° 1 sembra particolarmente consolante. Perché non ti piace?

L'ho preso come un invito alla "modestia" (mio suocero diceva che la modestia è la virtù di chi non ne ha altre...).
Non è quella l'interpretazione?
Stefano

Credo che più di una interpretazione sia legittima.
Per esempio, io ne darei due che mi sembrano entrambe positive:
- per quanto difficile o faticosa o incerta ti possa sembrare la tua sfida, ricordati che molti molti altri ne hanno affrontate di analoghe. Abbi coraggio e buttati.
- per quanto unica ti sembri la tua situazione, ricordati che non lo è: piantala di guardarti l'ombelico e non essere narciso.

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