Tl;dr – At the end of this short ponderance on what ignites Will’s creativity, there is a cool giveaway you’ll want to check out.
When I suffer from writer’s block. Or I’m struggling to start a project. Or I can’t quite bring together a series of disjointed images and words orbiting around in my brain.
I don’t turn to google.
And I don’t go on one of the many online tools we subscribe to.
And I definitely don’t start typing out my ideas on my laptop.
Instead I reach for my over-sized, cobalt blue, special edition Leuchtturm. (It’s become my creative security blanket. Of course, I lug it to meetings to take notes and it’s full of my ‘to do’ lists, however, within its pages you will also find drawings, sketches, mind maps, arrows, grids and lots of random doodles). And then I put pen to paper and start sketching.
You see friends, I’m a visual learner. Like, very visual. For me to fully understand something I need to draw it out. And I don’t necessarily mean pictures when I say draw. It could be words with arrows and stars and other random symbols depicting a project workflow.
This ‘drawing’ is the first step in my creative process. This comes before writing. I draw. Then I write.
One of the reasons I love this giant, blue work book is because of the quote on the front. It’s a quote made famous by Wassily Kandinsky, an influential Russian painter and theorist.
“Everything starts from a dot.”
This simple sentence couldn’t be more true for me. I find it quite beautiful. Once you put that pen on the paper, that forms the dot. Then the outcomes are limitless. Just start moving that pen.
Many of c+p digital’s best ideas started as drawings in my or Susan’s Leuchtturm (yes Susan is my ride or die when it comes to this simplified way of ideation).
To show you what I mean. Here’s a side-by-side example of a crude drawing I did in my book (on the left) a few months ago when we were first developing our Anchor Theory of Content Marketing. Before we had even written a single word, we were sketching out the theory. Then on the right, see how our designer and other smart people helped this theory evolve to what it is today.
You can click here to read a short description on the theory if you’re curious.
Let’s get to the giveaway, shall we?
So, to help inspire your creative undertakings, we’re giving away three “simplify creative” packages. Each package contains one of these limited edition Leuchtturms, the definitive book on Mind Mapping by Tony Buzon, and a pack of our fave coloured pens. This package = my personal happy place.
To possibly get one of these packages delivered to you, you just gotta follow c+p digital on Linkedin.
(Yes we need to build our company’s followers. And we will bribe, gift and straight out ask).
I love this giveaway. Go get it!
