Getting creative with #DesignMakeDo

As a designer, I believe that it’s incredibly important to keep one’s creative juices flowing in order to stay productive. If I’m really honest, though, I must admit that what I really want is just to do stuff that energises, excites and fulfils me.

So, in that vein, I decided to set up my own series of events— DesignMakeDo — outside of work (in central London) to celebrate and provide a platform for the do-ers: those with passion, initiative and a sense of experimentation; it’s about people who are, perhaps, trying and doing things that are outside of the norm.

A bit about me

I’m Damien and I’m a Senior Designer at Which?. I’ve been in digital for 15 years. For much of that time, I ran my own digital design agency. But that’s another story…

…because it doesn’t give a complete picture of me. As well as a designer:

• I’m an artist (I studied sculpture at art school, I still work on my own photography projects and occasionally exhibit)
• I’m a part-time boat builder (my wife — Aimee — and I are currently renovating a canal boat to live on)
• I’m a father
• A husband
• A cook (and a recovering food blogger)

Now, I’m not trying to blow my own trumpet: what I’m trying to convey is that there are many, many facets that make up a human being and that each of those facets is, in itself, a creative pursuit.

So what is “creativity”?

Creativity is about being curious

You don’t have to be an artist or designer. Creativity is an approach rather than a product. It’s about exploring possibilities and trying things out, being open.

Creativity is about taking risks

It’s only through taking risks, embracing failure and learning from that failure that we allow room for new things to develop.

It’s hard, it can be frustrating. But, boy, it’s better than doing same-old, same-old isn’t it?

Creativity is about confronting fear

The unknown is scary and we naturally feel an unconscious resistance to anything new.

Creativity is about being an active contributor

It’s about trying and doing stuff. Nail yourself to the mast. Give it a go. Succeed or fail: it’s all same if your goal is to try and learn. Take an active role in your own life instead of tuning out and doing the bare minimum.

Creativity nourishes

I believe that this sense of open-ness and experimentation nourishes and feeds in to everything we do: at work and in life.

Conclusion

So, this has turned into a kind of personal manifesto on what I feel about ‘creativity’. I hadn’t planned it that way, but that’s where it led and I quite like how it’s ended up.

DesignMakeDo

DesignMakeDo is a series of events to celebrate this spirit of creativity and work and outside. The events are set around a series of short talks by people who have an interesting project to share — work or personal — in a friendly, supportive atmosphere.

The first DesignMakeDo was held on 12th May 2016 in Nakama London’s beautiful board room (think light airy studio) and, as well as free beer and pizza (a must if you’re hoping to attract open, creative types!), we had three great speakers who really engaged the audience.

Telegraph Authoring Tools

Graeme Balfour, UX designer at The Telegraph started us off, with a talk about his recent project working on a new CMS for journalists: Telegraph Authoring Tools. Graeme’s talk was not so much about the product but about the creative approach taken by the development team in researching, prototyping, designing and building a tool that cut journalists’ production time from a minimum of 48 minutes per article to just about 4.

Graeme’s team were: open to new ideas and ways of working; flexible in where, when and how they worked and; actively sought collaboration with the end-users (read people or journalists) when designing the interactions and workflow.

Read more about the project: How The Telegraph built its new CMS by focusing on simplicity

The Airmail Project

Richard Watkins is an independent innovation and strategy consultant (www.letsgo.so) but also spends his time setting up wonderful, collaborative, creative projects (www.richwatkins.com). Richard talked us through the conception, birth and development of one such endeavour: The Airmail Project.

This was a global art experiment: 16 artists from 16 countries, collaborating by post. Each artwork being started, worked on and completed by a different artist — so that every artist had a part in creating three final pieces.

Richard talked us through how it was to collaborate with so many individuals across so many continents and how each approached their task differently.

The Airmail Project resulted in three international exhibitions and has evolved into a bigger collaboration, The Mixup — of which the first show is in Camberwell in June as part of the 22nd Camberwell Arts Festival.

CAN YOU FEEL IT?

Finally, Sam Hextall, Director of Studio 91 — a design agency based in Bethnal Green — described his personal take on the creative process with an entertaining look at that point at which we have digested the materials, learnt the skills and arrived at a point where you can just feel it.

It reminded me very much of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi’s theory of ‘Flow’ which describes happiness as those moments when we are doing something we have learned with some degree of accomplishment and are in a state where that practice is flowing out of us.

See Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience (Harper Perennial Modern Classics)

More about DesignMakeDo events

DesignMakeDo is a series of events held in central London for people in digital/creative to meet and share ideas.

If you’re interested in joining us for future DesignMakeDos, just subscribe to the mailing list and you’ll get first dibs on attending!

We’re always on the lookout for speakers. If you have an interesting project you’re passionate about, people would love to hear it. Talks are short and informal and there’s always a supportive, friendly atmosphere.

Contact me on Twitter @damo_design if you’ve got something to say.