Stop Scrolling and Start Creating:
How to Take Your Creative Idea and Influence Culture
You don’t need a massive budget, media connections, or industry experience to launch a breakthrough creative project
Hello, my name is Ivan and I’m an interactive artist, filmmaker & creative entrepreneur.
I’m most known for being a serial creator of multidisciplinary projects, ranging from invented words to interactive experiences to film series. Thematically exploring human connection in the digital age, many of these projects have received millions of views and engagement, international press coverage, and one even got me arrested.
This brings me to the fall of 2018, when my good friend Scott Blew and I were debating whether or not to launch a Kickstarter for a conceptual product called IRL Glasses — glasses that block screens — as a societal commentary on reaching peak screen. We had doubts over the technical limitations of what the glasses could and couldn’t block (they block most tvs, but not smartphones) and were also cautioned by a notable crowdfunding expert about the oversaturated crowdfunding market. We shouldn’t expect too much traction, especially for a semi-functional product, we were told.
Thankfully, we trusted our excitement and decided to take the plunge. Fast forward and we’d sold over 2,000 pairs in just one month, had the most popular article on Wired.com, were the #1 Product of the Day on Product Hunt, and received celebrity adornment ranging from Reggie Watts to Randi Zuckerberg (Mark’s sister). IRL Glasses were later named a Fast Company Most Innovative Ideas Award finalist, and were inducted into the prestigious Victoria & Albert Museum’s permanent collection in London.
I’m humbled by these responses and wonder what the world would look like if more people thought about creativity as a tool for social commentary and change. I want to demystify the modern creative process to help anyone who’s interested in creating something that matters make a cannonball-sized splash of impact that goes far beyond an Instagram post.
I’ve developed the following lessons and framework to empower people to take their idea — be it a music video, political campaign, visual essay, short film, podcast, or activist kit — and share it with the world.
Lesson #1: The Power of An Idea
Most people underestimate the power of a simple idea. If your idea is original, relevant, and in some way addresses a problem (bonus points if it’s controversial), there’s no reason it shouldn’t gain traction. The reality of our 24/7 news circuit is that journalists are constantly seeking out new stories, and audiences are always on the lookout for interesting, new concepts.
Even though IRL Glasses weren’t a fully-functional product, we focused on the simple idea and aspiration of prototyping screen-blocking glasses and got everyone hyped in the process. At the end of the day, our customers and even journalists who covered the project, were just as excited about the mission, if not more than the physical product itself.
Believe me when I say, for better or worse, journalists are going to review your project based on how compelling of a headline it’ll make. I’d even suggest writing a mock headline to see if your idea is something you or your friends would click on. Little tricks like framing ideas to start with “first ever” can often make them feel more newsworthy. Another worthwhile exercise is describing the project in just one sentence. Then make sure everything ladders under that. In summary: Don’t overcomplicate and simplicity, simplicity, simplicity!
Projects like Pussypedia, Teeter-Totter Wall, and Passport Photo — none of which were easy to execute but all of which rely on a simple, compelling insight—come to mind as remarkably successful, ideas-led projects.
“If you don’t like the news, go out and make some of your own.” — Wes Nisker, radio host & meditation teacher
Lesson #2: Minimal Viable Creative
In the tech world, minimal viable product (known as “MVP”) is used to convey the importance of getting something live ASAP and not wasting time, so you can get instant feedback from the outside world. It also means putting something out in the world that may not be perfect, but at least is somewhat functional. Because it’s often more important to be first than to be perfect.
Although less conventional, MVC carries the same fundamental principle, urging creatives not to miss the boat on an idea whose time is right. It’s easy to dream up big, elaborate ideas. It’s much, much harder to execute on them. We certainly did our fair share of research and development with IRL Glasses, including testing various polarized lenses and over 25 frame designs from a heap of manufacturers.
Had we waited until the tech worked perfectly, we’d still be in the pre-launch phase! At a certain point, we had to trust that the idea was still being conveyed at a level we felt comfortable with, and let it fly.
A done project is often better than a perfect project. “Don’t wait for perfect,” urges Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton. “So many people need everything mapped out in their head before beginning something. HONY is nothing like I originally envisioned when I moved to New York. Nothing. You learn by doing. Just begin, work hard, and figure it out as you go.”
Lesson #3: Pushing Through the Nay-Sayers
Every time you dream up a creative project, no matter how big or small, you will face resistance. Big brands, organizations— even fellow artists — are often wary of new ideas and the risks they present. You will face nay-sayers at the onset, in the middle, and at the end of your project. If you’re committed to a creative project, you’ll have to push through in spite of these haters.
IRL Glasses weren’t without its fair share of haterade-chugging internet trolls. Because the notion of reorienting polarized optics is fairly straightforward, some people immediately accused us of being scammers. We’d simply taken a preexisting material (polarized filters) and expanded it to a new application, along with a unique design. We couldn’t believe re-oriented polarized glasses hadn’t been done before, and this simplicity is what resonated with so many while making others furious.
The reddit thread /shittykickstarters for instance, includes the following colorful language to describe our project: “fucking stupid,” “ridiculous,” “butt ass ugly,” “shitty,” and even went so far as calling Scott and me a “douche duo.” Katt Williams has a unique take on nay-sayers: “Haters gonna hate… If you got 14 hating on you, you need to figure out how the f*ck to get to 16 before the summer!”
I wish I could say criticism like this doesn’t get under my skin, but when you and your team genuinely care about what you’re creating and who you’re creating for, it’s impossible not to get a little derailed. At one point during the Kickstarter campaign, I made the mistake of reading the negative comments right after waking up. They made me feel like such a hack, I started sobbing and couldn’t get out of bed for a solid hour. The team and I had worked SO incredibly hard to make a great product and I struggled to accept that some people didn’t agree. I worried all the time we’d spent was for nothing.
Famed researcher Brené Brown recommends against taking feedback from people “in the cheap seats,” who don’t take risks themselves. “If you’re not in the arena getting your ass kicked, I’m not interested in your feedback,” she concludes. True to these words, I ended up finding solace turning to trusted friends and advisors — Hi Carla! (my sweetie) — people who have created ambitious projects and faced criticism and doubt themselves.
The IRL team and I eventually decided to set specific parameters to review the negative comments, rather than be bombarded by them at random intervals through the day. This helped to create boundaries and stay more focused on the greater purpose and mission behind the project.
Pushing through doubt, fear, and insecurity is so paramount, I want to share another example: When Facebook hired me to conceptualize a way of celebrating one-billion users being connected for the first time in history, my creative partner Jeff Greenspan and I came up with the idea of getting all of the people on Facebook to draw each others’ (stranger’s) profile pics. Everyone we shared the idea with loved it!
However, decision-makers eventually got caught in the weeds with concerns like, “What if someone doesn’t like their portrait?” and ultimately killed the initiative (instead opting to make this bizarre ‘Chairs are like Facebook’ ad). After the rejection, Jeff and I were crushed. We couldn’t understand why no one would champion our idea.
“If we need everyone to like our work in order to feel grounded, it means that we’ll sacrifice the best of what we could create in order to dumb it down for whatever masses happen to be speaking up,” says marketing guru Seth Godin. “Which will make it more average (aka mediocre) and thus eliminate any magic we had hoped to create.”
Instinctively heeding this advice, we decided to execute the idea on our own. And while we certainly didn’t have comparable resources, we felt confident we could keep the magic of what we loved about the original concept. We assembled a small, independent team and and spent a full year creating Selfless Portraits, the first platform in the world to connect strangers to draw each other. It was an unspeakable amount of work but the results speak for themselves: In just two years, over 50,000 portraits were drawn, of strangers, by strangers, from 153 countries. Buzzfeed called it “art that brings the world a little closer together.”
The rejection ended up serving as fuel for our inspiration. Godin concludes, “…If someone cares enough to dislike our work, the best response is, ‘thank you.’”
Lesson #4: Good Branding Matters
In our media-based world where perception is reality, good branding (design, messaging, strategy, tone) still works wonders and is often the difference between a project that’s taken seriously and one that’s not. “Every interaction, in any form, is branding,” writes Godin.
For IRL, we started by defining the tone of the brand and then created an internal document where we wrote a simple manifesto, and pulled various visual references to match the different qualities we envisioned. This helped us begin to have a sense of how we wanted the brand to feel.
From there, we partnered with designer Shaun Lind to do an exploration for the mark of IRL. (Below are a number of his explorations, over multiple revision rounds.) It’s never easy going through this process and then deciding on just one direction, but you’ll need to make a decision.
This can be paralyzing so I recommend asking close friends, whose creative instincts you trust, for feedback. Once you’ve collected enough data points and perspectives, you ultimately should trust your own gut. Making a clear decision is important because it allows you to then develop rules (logo placement, font(s), brand colors, art direction, etc.) that will inform how your project comes to life.
It also helps as additional creative partners come on board. We were able to transition to working with other designers, falling back on the original brand guidelines to ensure everything looked cohesive. The packaging (below) was designed by Brad Kayal using lenticular material.
A style guide is an essential part of building the look and feel of your project. Establishing constraints and sticking to them will not only make it easier as you create new assets for your project — it will also legitimize the project, making it easily recognizable rather than undeveloped. All of these projects and companies do a great job of showcasing cohesive branding: Light Phone, The Made Up Words Project, or Anchor & Orbit. This process may sound simple and it might be tempting to skip a step. I strongly urge you not to. It takes time and resources but is totally worth getting right.
Lesson #5: Stay Human
It’s easy to get derailed and forget about the actual person who’s interacting with your project and the intent and purpose behind it. Can someone see themselves in your work? Can they participate more deeply beyond simply pressing a “Like” button? What information or inspiration are you hoping they’ll derive from your project? Are you being as transparent as possible? How can you create stories that, as my friend and colleague Ari Kuschnir urges, activate better futures?
In the age of SEO and Instagram, it’s too easy to overlook the simple yet essential component of engaging people and embracing connection beyond the simple press of a “like” button. Projects like Post Secret, which invites strangers to send their anonymous secrets in the mail, or Switcheroo, which invites couples to swap clothes for before/after photo shoots, are exemplary in their ability to uniquely engage people.
IRL Glasses were a tangible product customers could interact with, whether keeping them on their desk or bringing them to a sports bar. While this philosophy applies to your fundamental creative idea, it’s also relevant throughout the entire life cycle of your project.
For example, some customers expressed major disappointment from the glasses’ limitations, despite our multiple attempts to set clear expectations in advance. (Not only did we list the glasses as “beta” on the Kickstarter page, we also preemptively offered a no-questions-asked refund to every single customer: “Before processing your order, we want to reiterate what the glasses do and don’t do, just so there’s no confusion. IRL Glasses are a proof of concept first and a product second. If you’ll only be satisfied with glasses that block all screens, all the time, let us know and we’ll refund you.”)
I took this negative feedback as an opportunity to forge connections and decided to personally call every single unhappy customer to hear them out and explain where the team and I were coming from. I didn’t really have an agenda for these calls, other than to let our customers know we cared about their concerns and frustration. And here’s where it gets really interesting: At least 90% of the people I spoke with felt satisfied by the end of the call. One such customer even asked if they could order a second pair.
I honestly hadn’t anticipated such a dramatic change of tone, and the only reasonable explanation is that once they were reminded that we’re a modest team of real, honest, first-time Kickstarter creators who took a big risk—they were reminded of our humanity, and became more empathetic. Contrasty, it’s easy to forget that on the other side of angry internet comments is a person who simply wants to be acknowledged and heard. No matter your creative project, there are always ways of introducing more humanity.
#6: Share, Share, Share
Once your creative idea is feeling tight, it’s ready to share with the world! But first, pause—most people are so exhilarated after creating a framework for their project, they jump ahead and release it before putting in the necessary legwork to find the best partnerships and most appropriate channels.
If a project launches in the woods and no one is around, does it make an impact? If you’ve spent countless hours, days, weeks, months, or even years working on your creative project, I’m betting you’ll want other people to experience it. There are a number of ways of going about sharing, but what matters is that you do take the time to share your project. For many, this can take the form of email. For others it can mean a lot of in-person meetings.
“Networking feels like a gross word, but when you’re passionate about something, you can’t help but meet with people and tell them all about it,” says Elisha Greenwell, CEO and founder of Black Joy Parade. “I spent six straight months having at least two coffees per day with new people to build connections and partnerships. If someone offered to connect me with nine people, I would follow up with all nine of those people, and it paid off. Our first parade had over 100 vendors, 40 performers, 10 brand sponsors and 15k people.”
Outreach for my projects generally starts by researching the most relevant journalists, media outlets, and thought leaders on the given topic / category of the project. In the last year or two my team and I have started keeping a spreadsheet to stay organized and keep track of our outreach (see below), but it’s not necessary if spreadsheets aren’t your thing. The point is that you should make a list of relevant people to share your project with.
I recommend sending a message that is concise and direct. Don’t share your life story. You can attach a press release (IRL Glasses example) if you want to be fancy but it’s really not necessary. Just a link to your project and a simple description is enough. Here’s a sample of an email I sent to a journalist:
It can be pretty defeating when you don’t hear back right away. For instance, we offered three separate journalists form Wired an exclusive story for IRL Glasses and never heard back from any of them. This was shame-inducing and made us question our judgement.
A week later, a different journalist from Wired coincidentally reached out to interview us. The article ended up being one of their most read that month! Moral of the story: if you believe in your project, there’s no shame in promoting and sharing it out into the world, even if you don’t hear back. You never know what will happen.
In Closing
In an era dominated by increasingly more noise and chatter, it’s still possible to cut through and make an impact. While behemoth corporations and vapid Instagram influencers may have a disproportionate impact on our present day culture, it doesn’t have to remain this way.
Now more than ever, the world needs empowered, creative voices to speak their truth, follow their passion, and help shape cultural and community narratives for the better. I’ll be rooting for you from the sidelines and invite you to share your next project with me via twitter @cash_studios —I promise to reply back!
