Get your ideas out there

18th February 2019

As a creative, you are often faced with the challenge of knowing when it’s time to show people your creative work. From the moment a briefing meeting is finished, ideas begin to simmer in your head and recording those ideas in any way, is a natural thing to do. At Sanders, we believe that the initial design stages of the process are the most important. Early notes, thoughts and rough designs often lead to the best outcomes. At the early stages of the process, ideas are broad, and arguably the most creative because you are yet to explore the project further.

Early stages of our work with Daioni

Getting your ideas out into the open from an early stage allows the project to improve because of criticism and input from colleagues. Author Seth Godin uses the term ‘Ship’ to explain this. He says that “Every time you raise your hand, send an email, launch a product, or make a suggestion, you’re exposing yourself to criticism.” If you ship, Godin adds, “you might fail. If you ship, we might laugh at you.” But it’s the chance you must take as a creative person, because, as Godin puts it, “Real artists ship.”

Initial moodboards to fine tune our Neil Powell direction

Interestingly, the most successful ones tend to ‘ship’ often. In today’s intensely competitive marketplace, the more ideas and creations you put out there, the better your chances of success. Creativity researcher Dean Keith Simonton, who has conducted studies on fortunate creatives, says, “Creativity is a consequence of sheer productivity. If a creator wants to increase the production of hits, he or she must do so by risking a parallel increase in the production of misses… The most successful creators tend to be those with the most failures.”