Creativity within a minute?

By John / Play, Staff /
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What does it take to be creative?

Is it a natural talent? Is it something you can learn? Or is it down to the applications you use. Whichever way you lean, one thing’s for sure, flexing the creative muscles can only be a good thing.

The basis of a creative’s work is to solve a problem. We have to work out the best way to display a product, lay in content, or create a logo that fits all situations. As the saying goes ‘practice makes perfect’ and while we may never reach perfection, flexing the creative muscles every day sets us in a position to get closer to it.

Earlier this year I stumbled across something. I wasn’t looking for it, but it appeared on my Twitter timeline. It intrigued me and now it’s part of my everyday work life. Its name is OneMinuteBriefs. In its essence, it’s a daily creative workout. We talk about flexing creative muscles, OneMinuteBriefs is the gym.

 

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So how does it work?

A fictional brief is released to the Twitter wilderness every weekday. The topics can be pretty random and range from #beef to #doorbells. How you interpret this is up to you, that’s where the fun begins. It could be an ad for a particular brand, a tagline for the object itself or a sketched storyboard for a video about it. It’s a level playing field and every idea counts. The name is slightly deceptive, strictly it takes a little longer than a minute, but the idea is not to produce a finished visual but to get across a concept in a clear and quick way. You then post your idea to Twitter and let the masses take a look, tweet and comment. Each day winners are published. Be prepared for your phone battery to take a hit if you hit the top spot. You’re going to get a lot of notifications!

The thought of putting up an idea you have conceived for a wider community to see can sound scary, but in reality it really isn’t. The OMB community or ‘OMBles‘ as they are more commonly known, are one of the real positives of the whole thing. The OMBles are a varied bunch. Copywriters, designers, creative directors amongst others get involved. It’s a community where people can share ideas, get advice and develop within the industry.

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So why do we do it?

I have a firm belief that exercising the creative part of the brain is vital. Being up against some of the best creatives in the world, trying new ideas or coming up with a design solution for a brief we wouldn’t usually be faced with really puts you in a place where you can push yourself. On some days you may feel like you’ve hit the brief right on the head and others it just doesn’t feel right. Don’t get me wrong, winning is a great feeling, especially as there’s always so many good ideas entered each day. But, in an industry that can be so subjective, OMB allows you to explore the depths and speed of your creativity within a public, but constructive environment. It’s a true testament to the idea that creativity can come from anywhere.

For The Hideout, OMB has encouraged the sharing and development of ideas amongst the team. We have creatives, account managers, project managers and developers taking part on a regular basis and it’s always great to see those team members working together to create a concept. The skills and mindset created by taking part in OMB has forced its way into the way we create work for our clients. A piece of work that is shared and created by the studio as a whole is a powerful thing.

If we can collectively produce a great idea in a few minutes, think what we can do on a larger scale!

 

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