A Blog and Brand — The Ups and Downs of Creating
Hello people of the internet. This is a lil blurb I put together of everything I learned from creating a project. I’ve learned a lot, so I apologize in advance if this becomes a brain dump. So, please, hang in there while this whole mess unfolds.
Why Shift?
It wouldn’t be fair to talk about the journey of my project without mentioning what made this all possible, Shift Creator Space. We’re a bunch of people who all have unique and creative passions/projects and want a community of people to share those experiences with. I was attracted to Shift because I too had a variety of passions and dreams. The difference was I, till participating in the organization, was never keen on actually acting on them. To be honest, I never really followed up on all the cool and interesting goals I’ve had. When I realized such a club existed, I felt these were my last chance to actually pursue my dreams. I have the goals and passions, which we all do, but now I had a community and environment to put my head to the grindstone. Had I not decided to join, however, I would continue, merrily on, always entertaining ideas — never setting out to accomplish them.
My Project — Us The Humans
Us The Humans, a clothing brand, was this first project I embarked on. What it means to be human is something I think about a lot, but something I never get to really share. I felt creating such a clothing brand would not only give me that outlet but other people as well. So, I created a brand called Us The Humans. The idea behind was that there’s something to be gained from taking a step back. That taking a moment to acknowledge and be aware of what makes us humans can go a long way. What was the result: I created a bunch of t-shirt designs, but I never got to actually share that with the world through a physical t-shirt. Ultimately, in terms of creating a physical clothing line, it was a bit of a failure. But I guess I’m fine with it because I learned a lot, and I’m ready to share with you all.
Throughout this journey, a lot of the most crucial lessons I gained and present here were both something I picked up on throughout the process and taught through some amazing friends and mentors. I would like to credit two friends in particular, Michael and V, for teaching me these lessons.
The Creative Process
The creative process was something that was hard for me to grasp at first. It’s important to note that I say the following in first person, which makes it sound like I’m repeating a mantra. The reality is it’s still something I am learning to embody, and so I feel it’s important I sound like I’m repeating it to myself.
The biggest thing I learned was that creativity should be exactly that — free, unbounded expression. I have to allow myself to think anything and everything. One idea shouldn’t be “bad” because it’s not realistic. In fact, I shouldn’t even be thinking what this as a final product would look like because then I start thinking about the practicality of those ideas. And then I only start to think about ideas that are “practical”, and just like that I lock my creativity in a box. Instead I have to be unafraid of my weirdest ideas even the ones that sound the least realistic. I have to allow myself to think anything and everything, and let my imagination run wild. It’s like the saying “just throwing things at a wall to see if it sticks”. The process of continually raising and thinking of random, but related, ideas will eventually lend itself to striking a jackpot — the idea that you were looking for.
Formulating a Why
This was crucial. Prior to this concept, I focused on all the wrong things: the logo, the material of the apparel, design of the final-shirt, etc. I was going straight into making a shirt clothing line, without having any remote idea of what it was going to be about. All I knew was I wanted to create a cool shirt, with a sick logo and baggy-oversized feel to it. The problem was there was no method to the madness. I had no why behind the brand. You see, if I kept creating a clothing brand in this way, at the end of the day it’s still simply a shirt. However, with a message to the brand…a reason for its creation… a why, I would be left with something much more…an idea I could take away from the shirt. If I was to create a plain old clothing brand with no message, maybe people would buy it… but why waste money? However, if I created a brand with a message, people would buy into that. If I created the brand with a message, it wouldn’t matter what my shirts looked like because people could align themselves behind the idea. It represents more than just that shirt. Some of these ideas come from this video, which was sent my way when I was struggling with this. If you would like to check, I can send it your way.
Here it is:
Just Ship It
This is, ultimately, why my project failed. The biggest challenge I found myself running into was that I wanted my designs to be perfect. I never felt they were good enough to be put on a shirt, let alone represent a brand. As a result, I kept iterating and iterating and iterating. This process continued throughout the school year. The result of this was that I never got the chance to obtain a physical product of my shirt. I just never said, “You know what this is not the best, but it will do, so let me get this on a shirt and manufactured”. There’s a mantra in Shift to just ship it sometimes, let go of your desire for perfection, and get your idea out in the world. While this may result in some non perfect ideas, it doesn’t matter because at least they’re out there.
My New Project — Dear World
Now, I’m creating a blog. Wanting to create a clothing brand about being human, really got me exploring what being human is for me. And so, I started creating a blog that details these experiences. It’s really an extension of my motivations for making the clothing brand, Us The Humans. It’s called Dear World. I talk about things I’ve learned about life and myself, and I’m liking it a lot. In fact, I think I discovered a new found passion of mine. As with the clothing brand, it will come out eventually. Just you wait.
