The Creative Shake-Up

Make (a comeback) by Louie Montoya

Today we’re asking you to revisit an old sweet spot or skill. What did you love when you were younger? What did you study or know a lot about? 

Make a list of different forms of creative expression you have used throughout your life, such as writing, drawing, painting, or dancing. Of these activities, which do you still do and which have you dropped? Circle the ones that you haven’t done in a while. Commit to spending at least 20 minutes engaging in one of those activities. 

Don’t worry about materials, just get the bare minimum required to do the activity. Work with no expectations of finishing or creating something coherent—just try things out and take action for the sake of doing it. Think of it as visiting an old friend. 

How did it feel to revisit this medium? Can you make a habit out of trying old/new things? 

Make in design. Working in different mediums can help us access new pathways of thinking and doing. Unfortunately, we often limit our access to one or two that we are comfortable with. But what if we could process information while crafting in a variety of different ways? Being multilingual in how we process information is powerful, and becoming familiar and comfortable with many mediums can be a huge boon. 

A note from Louie. I’ve noticed that people tend to use the things they are good at as a crutch. If you found out that you had a natural affinity for drawing or writing, it’s likely that you stuck with those skills throughout your life. We find comfort in what we are good at, but it can constrain our ability to have novel ideas. We become constrained by our own talents and stop growing our eagerness to learn and try new things. 

Notice the greens (or blues, yellows, and reds) by Meenu Singh

Take a color walk. Go outside and give yourself 10 minutes of uninterrupted time in nature. It’s best if you do not plan a route or combine it with other activities (commuting, shopping, etc.), but if that’s not possible, fit this exercise in where you can. On your walk, try not to talk or interact with other people. You will not need to bring a phone, journal, or camera, just yourself.

Allow yourself to become sensitized to the color in your surroundings, then let color be your guide. First, select a color, maybe the first color that catches your eye. Now, look for that same color somewhere else and follow it. Let your eyes and your body wander to wherever the color takes you. How many examples of that color can you see? 

Next, broaden your view. What other colors reveal themselves more slowly? What colors do you observe that you did not expect? What color relationships do you notice? Do colors appear to change over time? How many shades of one color can you find? Notice what you notice.

Spark in design. “Noticing” is one key for unlocking and finding needs. Through noticing things hidden in plain sight, we find symptoms, clues, connections, evidence of needs, contexts, relationships, and systems. It helps us see opportunity, potential and implicit needs. This activity helps tune your attention to seeing details you might often miss and can help spark your curiosity. Designers are always searching for the nonobvious, and assigning ourselves a nonobvious way to notice can help with that.

A note from Meenu. I started looking for shades of green unconsciously on my drive to work – the morning light is pretty spectacular when it hits the trees, grasses, and shrubs. Now, it’s a delightful way to notice nature and how the hues change hour-to-hour, day-to-day, and season-to-season. When it comes to design work, observation and curiosity are super powers. The ability to notice and be curious about the world around us helps us practice that attunement. 

Shadowboxing by Carissa Carter

Your first Creative Challenge requires you to get beyond your head and screen.

Warm up by selecting an object in front of you. It can be close or far away. Hold your arm out and trace its outline with your finger. If it’s close enough to touch, do that. Trace the whole thing. A plant. A chair. A shadow on the floor. Let your hand follow your eye. Do this at least three times, with a different object each time. Go slowly enough to feel the edges and curves. 

Next, grab a piece of paper and a pen—any size will do. Select another object and position it on the paper so that light rakes across it at an angle, throwing a shadow. A desk lamp works, as does the sun. Trace the shadow’s edges with your pen. Don’t worry if the shadow is fuzzy or spills off the page. You can even include the object itself if you want. Take your time. 

Now, remove the object and examine your drawing. Turn it into something, anything else. You might see a beetle, an alpine forest, your uncle's elbow or . . . Let the shape lead you. Can you keep adding to your drawing for 5 minutes without stopping? Longer? Note, it might be tempting to throw a face on your page and call it done, but see if you can push past that first instinct. Just keep adding marks on the page. Continue to fill out the drawing for as long as you like.

Make, Care, Spark, Adapt in design. Most of us process the world from the neck up. This challenge asks you to bring the rest of yourself along. Tracing with your body slows down perception. You're not just seeing something, you're feeling its shape. Shadow drawing adds another layer. It brings in light as your collaborator and instigator, and the unexpected forms it makes pull you away from what you'd normally choose to draw. It strips common associations and gives you imperfect marks. 

A note from Carissa. At the d.school, warming up our bodies and minds through group stokes is common practice. Similarly, in the 1920s at the Bauhaus (the influential German art and design school), Johannes Itten made his students shake out their arms and breathe deeply to prime themselves for creative work. He believed that by activating your body you put yourself into a state of heightened awareness. Even if you’re warmed up though, you may still hesitate to put your first marks on a page. Employing the assistance of light and shadow is a great creative seed.