On Creativity And Why I love Typeform

I fully believe every person has some creative talent. Some people never really pay attention to it, which is kind of sad. Some people acknowledge it but rarely use it to create something. And then there are people who are doers: they know where their talents lie and know what other skills they might need to get the most out of their skills and interests, in order to create something awesome. This is why I love following sites like Product Hunt and Betalist, where I can find new products, apps and services every single day. Some of them will never leave the beta stage, dying as they started: an experiment. Does it matter, though? In my eyes, no. Whatever you do, you learn something while doing it. Showing it to the world makes you very vulnerable because then other people are able to see it, criticise it and say their opinion without knowing what you went through while creating the product. But there is the other side, too. The side that makes all worth it: some products become loved. They are used by dozens, hundreds, thousands or maybe millions of people, who love it and find it helpful. What you created helped someone. Someone, somewhere, saw what you did and found an answer to a problem they had. Creating this kind of connection with someone is one of my biggest goals in life.

It’s fitting that I mentioned Product Hunt as I was introduced to Typeform by them. I answered one of their user surveys that were created with Typeform. Even though I had answered a lot of surveys over the years (I kind of like them), I had never seen an approach like they had: there were no endless rows and columns of small checkboxes or radio buttons you had to scroll back and forth when using mobile or a small screen. No plain white background, no clumsy interfaces. The form was super fast, very beautiful and answering felt like a conversation. Allowing me to truly focus on one question at a time made me more engaged with the survey. (A feeling which, I would assume, provides better responses from people.)

Typeform did something differently. It had a totally different approach to forms. Answering them would be an awesome experience and creating them an inspiring process, with only imagination as a limitation. I still smile a little when I open a survey which is created via Typeform because a) more and more people seem to find it and b) I hope more people can use it to channel their creativity to all interaction with their customers/users/readers/friends/students, etc. If you just look at the examples and demos of different kinds of Typeforms, I’m sure you’ll find a few that make you think “that’s awesome”.

I always love it when people take advantage of their imagination and use technology to unleash it. Typeform does this, for example, by allowing you to create “choose your own adventure” forms. But not everyone knows that much about technology or coding (and not everyone cares to learn, either). Which is why I love how accessible Typeform is to both the responders of the surveys and the creators of the forms. You don’t need any coding skills to create an awesome form that makes you stand out from the crowd. This being said, if you want to play with their API, you totally can.

Nothing makes me more sad than seeing people or products that have a lot of potential (or were big once) but, at some point, stop going forward. Do you know the type? One day they decide to stay put. Not going forward, not following the world around them, not adapting to the changes. This, despite their obvious ability to do so, should they decide to. Constant development and drive to go forward, provide new solutions and will to learn new things are what drive me forward and is the thing I want to see around me. Typeform is a good example of a product that does exactly that: the core features stay the same but there is always the will to do better. (Fortunately, this is no way an unique feature! For example, my other all-time-favorite product, Trello, does the same.)

There are many ways of doing things. Creating a survey with a platform like Typeform, showing people who fill out the form that things can indeed be done totally differently from what they usually see, is very refreshing, empowering and inspiring. I believe this is the case with all creative work. Your creation is unique from everything else. It shows your way of doing, feeling and thinking about things. It might offer someone a new point of view: something they have not thought about — or maybe they did, but abandoned it, thinking it’s not possible. Every creative piece of work, no matter how small, can make a difference if it’s shown in the world. As John F. Kennedy said:

“One person can make a difference and everyone should try.”