To Be Profoundly Creative You Need to Know What to Leave Out
Creative constraints offer us a chance to break free.
“How many elements can you remove and still communicate?” — Tim Collins
The Beatles recorded their first two records on two tracks. Dr. Seuss wrote Green Eggs and Ham with 50 words. Piet Mondrian painted in a grid with only five colors. Choosing what to leave out is an act of profound creativity.
“Creativity is subtraction” — Austin Kleon
In search of a purpose, Austin Kleon found a new kind of poetic expression. “I was twenty-two at the time, barely out of undergrad, and trying desperately to be a short story writer,” he said. But each blink of the cursor or ever expanding blank page taunted him. Without an assignment he couldn’t bring himself to write. The joy was gone. What he needed was a creative constraint.
“One day, I looked over at that stack of newspapers left by Meg next to my desk. I might have had no words, but there, right beside me, were millions of them,” he said.
He picked up a black marker and section of the newspaper and began erasing the words he didn’t need. He formed new stories and ideas using only the words there on the page. He called it Newspaper Blackout Poetry.
How far can you boil down your design to amplify your impact?
For famed Brazilian advertiser, Washington Olivetto, a lot. His ad for FNAC, a Brazilian movie retailer, contains no narration, no people, and no music. The entire ad consists of a pair of hands searching through a bin of DVDs. Sifting through the bin, the hands create a rhythm that sounds like the famous theme from “Jaws”: “duh…dun…duh…dun.” The search continues long enough for the audience connect the dots before the hands lift the Jaws DVD out of the bin. The rhythmic action is repeated for Mission Impossible and Star Wars — A big idea delivered simply, through rhythm.
“It’s more difficult to make it simple, especially achieving a simplicity without having it sound incredibly trivial.” — Denniz Pop
To apply the creative power of subtraction to your music, check out The Most Important Rule in Music. I explain how Grammy-winning music producers use the Rule of Three to refine their songwriting and mixing skills.
Jared Kinsler is a founding member of Soundnoodle music in Austin, Texas. For more tips on how to design with sound and music, check out Sound Advice 🎩👌
