Hegarty On Creativity PDF
Hegarty On Creativity PDF
Hegarty On Creativity PDF
one of the world's most awarded advertising agencies. He has been honoured
with the D&AD President's Award, inducted into the New York Art Directors
Club Hall of Fame and was the first recipient of the Lion of St Mark at the
Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. His previous book is Hegarty
on Advertising, also published by Thames & Hudson.
Introduction: On Creativity
Feel like writing the next hit song, painting another Mona Lisa, or
becoming the next Tarantino? If the answer to any of these questions is
yes – or if you can easily substitute in your own creative goals and still
say yes – then you can bet that understanding the creative process is
going to be crucial to your success.
Creativity touches all our lives in a thousand different ways, from the clothes we
buy to the buildings we live in, from the food we eat to the cars we drive.
Creativity invents, perfects, and defines our world. It explains and entertains us.
Almost every facet of our lives is influenced by it. And its impact is only
getting stronger as time goes on. It’s not surprising then that we’re
always being told the future is creative!
I’ve spent the past forty years pursuing a creative career in advertising.
In this time, I’ve had the privilege of working with some of the best
creative minds out there – filmmakers, musicians, writers, illustrators,
photographers, and designers.
There are many ways of defining creativity but the one I like best is ‘the
expression of self.’ It’s a definition that captures my belief that we’re all
creative – though naturally some are better at it than others.
The creative process is about inputs not outtakes. This book’s about how you
get started, how you keep going. Not what you want to create. You’ll have to
decide that.
We’re all creative but only some of us will be lucky enough to earn our
living by it. Interested in being
one of these lucky few?
Read on.
Here are fifty provocations on creativity – on nurturing it, sustaining it, and
harnessing it. But remember, there are no rules, only guidelines.
Infuriating, isn’t it?
By the way, if you're holding the special edition of this book, you can eat
it. Flip to page 126 for further details.
John Hegarty
The Blank Page
The blank page is one of the greatest challenges faced by the creative
person.
Writers often talk about the fear that overcomes them when they first put
that blank page into the typewriter and wonder what they’re going to
write. Whether it’s a blank screen, a blank canvas, or the blank page of a
sketchbook, the effect is the same. Creativity is the creation of something
out of nothing and that can be scary. However, from that blank canvas
might appear a painting that will capture the viewer’s imagination,
propelling them into another time and place. David Hockney’s A Bigger
Splash does exactly that for me.
the process of writing; he can’t wait to get started. So what’s the secret?
And that blank canvas doesn’t have to start blank – I mean, figuratively,
not literally. Start small with some sketches. Likewise, a whole novel isn’t
in your head before you start to write. A plot maybe, a character. Well,
write those down and gradually a picture will emerge, the story will begin
to unfold.
The very process of sketching, writing, whatever, this process will help you
explain your idea – to yourself.
Start small, start compact, and suddenly you’ll have begun to create.
Big ones, silly ones, funny ones – the irreverent to the groundbreaking.
Ideas are the driving force of human progress. From the discovery of the
wheel to the internal combustion engine, for better or worse ideas are
mankind’s contribution to our planet’s development. Some are good and
sadly some are bad. Like peanut butter. Disgusting stuff.
And, of course, ideas are the building blocks of creativity. Whatever you
create, from writing to filmmaking to painting to composing, you start with
an idea. Without one, you have nothing.
Ideas borrow, blend, subvert, develop, and bounce off other ideas.
Now blatantly stealing someone else’s idea is wrong. But thinking that
your idea is original is also wrong. Your idea only exists in relation to
another idea. We all stand on each other’s shoulders and in doing so
hopefully see further.
FRESH
Creativity has to question, explain, and inspire our view of the world, so
when reaching for freshness ask yourself these questions:
Does this piece of creative work stop you? Would you notice it straight
away? It’s not for nothing that we say no one ever bought anything while
they were asleep.
Does this work make you look at an issue in a different way? Does
it awaken your interest in the subject, leading you to reassess your
opinion of it?
Has the work and its process of creation made you understand the world
in a different, more moving, inspiring, or thoughtful way? Does it move
you to action?
These questions will take you to the heart of the matter. Getting to the
point when you can answer yes to all of them is the difficult bit.
Fearlessness
A researcher at our advertising agency once asked me a seemingly
simple yet very complex question:
I replied that we are all creative and that’s what makes humans so
interesting: We all come up with ideas. Question answered.
But you earn your living by it, so what do you have that makes
that possible?
I was a little taken aback by this reply as I hadn’t really considered that
side of things before. I live by instinct and instinct has always driven me
to follow my creative beliefs. But that’s not much of an answer.
So I took a step back and thought about what I’ve done and what I
admire most about what other people have done, and I realized that
there is one thing I value above all else.
Fearlessness.
You have to have the ability to pursue and present an idea that is
genuinely fresh, that is as different as you can possibly make it. You have
to put your creative reputation on the line.
Fearlessness is essential in the advertising industry where you have to
arrive in the office with a new idea and pitch it to a bunch of skeptics.
Every day. In fact, it’s essential in every creative profession. I’m sure that
when Danny Boyle proposed his idea for the opening ceremony of the
London 2012 Olympics, a whole chorus of voices doubted him:
British history?
We haven’t seen that before…
But Boyle believed in his vision and he was fearless in pursuing what he thought
the opening ceremony could and should be. The result was brilliant and fresh
and will forever change the way others strive to stage ceremonies that will
surprise and delight in equal measure.
What’s the point in producing something that follows a formula?
None.
Fearlessness.
Chaos vs. Process
Creating a workplace culture in which creativity can flourish is never easy
and much has been written about how best to do this.
Or so you hope.
Anyone who has seen the documentary on the making of The Rolling
Stones’ album Exile on Main Street will understand what I mean by
creative chaos.
In the end, you have to decide what your nerves can take and how much
sleep you want at night.
These wise words should be seared into all our psyches. And anyone
who doubts them should be made to visit the Sunday art fair on the
railings separating London’s Green Park and Piccadilly…
(Spoiler alert: It’s all terrible.)
For example, we can all dance – there’s no doubt about that – but some
of us have the wisdom to sit out during those moments when the dance
floor beckons.
Now I know this might be the most obvious thing in the world to state, but
sadly we live in a world where increasingly everybody thinks they can do
everything. And that they should inflict it on everyone else.
Well the answer is no, you shouldn’t.
Please.
STOP
Do us all a favor and find something useful to do.
One of the great skills in life is to recognize talent and respect it. Recognize
your own and you’ll learn more and feel far more satisfied.
Simple Truths
Whatever you’re creating, simplicity is the ultimate goal. The power of
reduction, as we say in advertising, means taking a complex thought and
reducing it down to a simple, powerful message.
From a painting to a novel to a movie, there is only one space you want
to fill. And that’s the space between someone’s ears. Your tool of
persuasion might be a paintbrush or a guitar, but it’s your audience’s mind
that you really want. Once you’ve captured a corner of that, you’ll have
made it.
How then to create something that has the power to stay in someone’s
mind and capture their imagination?
At the foundation of any great idea is the truth, the most powerful force in
creativity.
And so it is that anyone who wants to create has to find their voice, their
truth. At its most basic level, if you don’t believe in what you’re doing, why
should anyone else?
Finding your own truth and expressing it imaginatively is the skill you
must develop, and very often keeping it simple will show you the way.
No one creates just for the sake of creating. We create to make a point.
To express an attitude, a belief. Even if, like me, you work in advertising.
The greatest strategy you can employ is the truth. It is handy also,
because you can always remember what you’ve said.
Head vs. Heart
Stop thinking.
Start feeling.
SMOKING KILLS
Fashion is another example of this reality. It’s an industry driven almost
entirely by emotion. How something looks and feels, how it stimulates the
senses, is much more important than its function. To make this point all I
have to say is high-heel shoes. If they’re Louboutins that makes my point
even more persuasive.
It’s equally important that as creators we let go too and see where our
work takes us. Over rationalizing what you’re doing will endanger its
potential. Now this doesn’t mean you should hide from identifying a
purpose to underpin your creativity, but it should encourage you to listen
to your heart and let your emotions guide you. If you’ve ever seen a
documentary on Jackson Pollock, you will absolutely understand the
importance of this. Not for him the premeditated, preplanned work of art.
For most of us, anger amounts to stress, and the worst type of stress at
that. But for artists, anger can be a positive force. If focused and
channeled into a piece of work, it is capable of producing something of
great profundity.
When you are intent on putting a great wrong right, creativity will often
exceed all expectations. Out of conflict comes purpose.
So get angry but don’t let it eat you up. Instead, find a piece of paper, a
canvas, anything, and get it out of you. You’ll be amazed at how
therapeutic this can be. And how creative.
Words are a Barrier to
Communication
There’s no question about it. We live in a visual culture increasingly
dominated by screens. From your smart TV to your iPhone to your iPad,
we’re seeing more but reading less. All courtesy of digital technology.
With so many screens and so much information out there, we’ve had to
find a way of absorbing it more effectively. Hence the value of visual
language has increased, even as the influence of the written word has
decreased.
Whether you deem this change a catastrophe or not, you and every other
creative person out there still has to grapple with the realities that exist.
For the writer, the rise of the visual could be considered a major problem
or a brilliant opportunity. You see, the power of reduction has come into
play, so ask yourself:
If it’s a race to get into minds and stay there, then it’s the artists who
make their points faster, smarter, and more thought-provoking that will be
the ones to succeed.
The world of fashion also loves using juxtaposition, even down to describing trends: Blue is the new black. The Beatles
sang, ‘It’s been a hard day’s night,’ and so created one of their greatest hits. Indeed, many rock bands employ
juxtaposition when coming up with a memorable name. Curved Air, Soft Machine, Atomic Kitten are just some of those
that come to mind. Comedy also loves a bit of incongruous juxtaposition – think of Monty Python’s philosophers-
versus-poets football match or lumberjacks singing about women’s underwear.
Juxtaposition is employed in every possible creative field, always sharpening our response and reaction to an idea.
By placing two things next to one another that wouldn’t normally sit together we force our minds to resolve this
apparent conundrum. And it’s in provoking that simple process that an idea really begins to stick.
of night and day makes the picture.
night, yet the blue sky above it belongs to a sunny day. That juxtaposition
Magritte’s Empire of Light, for example, shows an illuminated street at
many artists have used this technique to add drama to their works. René
even blacker then you juxtapose it with white. It’s as simple as that. So
I remember learning that when painting if you want to make black seem
other as possible.
potent when these two objects are as diametrically opposed to each
any creator can employ to dramatize their message. And it’s at its most
imaginations immediately, making it one of the most valuable techniques
objects or ideas, usually two. Used effectively, it captures our
Juxtaposition is the art of placing together a number of contrasting
Juxtaposition
Zag
It’s amazing what you can learn from a black sheep.
One of our first clients at BBH was Levi Strauss. It was 1982 and the
company wanted to launch a campaign for black denim but needed the
right idea to communicate.
When we presented it to the client for the first time, however, they
were horrified.
The black sheep became our identity and our philosophy. Even now in
our creative briefs at BBH we always ask ourselves:
By looking in the opposite direction, you might just find something new.
Storytelling
Storytelling is the most powerful form of communication ever invented.
Through stories we learn, entertain, communicate and socialize with each
other.
You could argue that we’re machines made specifically to tell stories.
When we’re telling a story in person everything about us is contributing to
the power of that tale. Our very physicality helps deepen our and others’
responses to it. And, of course, everybody can tell a story. We all do it
everyday. (Though some of us are, as with being creative, better at it
than others.)
Well, it’s what we build our ideas around. It’s the very fabric of our
thoughts. If the idea is the foundation of the creative process, then the
story is the vehicle that delivers it, making it memorable and provocative.
A story always leaves you feeling something. And despite all our
advances, all our supposed sophistication, listening to a great story, told
brilliantly, still enthralls us the most.
Technology
Right now we live in a world exploding with new and exciting technological
developments. The digital revolution is transforming industries, re-
imagining careers, and changing forever the way we create and do
things.
Gutenberg may have invented the printing press and movable type, but
he didn’t create the publishing industry.
Many creative types resist new technologies, despite the fact this means
missing out on new ways of self-expression. This is probably because
we’re all so superstitious. We’re not sure where our own creativity comes
from so therefore we resist change altogether.
My advice?
A cynic might sound smart, sometimes even witty, but rarely are they
productive. So surround yourself with positivity and possibility. With
people who challenge and question. And as soon as anyone resorts to
cynicism, move on.
So be careful. Don’t surround yourself with people who want to bury your
ideas.
Now some people are going to find your asking ‘Why?’ all the time
incredibly aggravating. Same as we all feel when a child asks
‘Why?’ again and again. You will even feel a little childish.
The truly great creative people I know are constantly working. Looking,
thinking, watching. They are curious by nature, fascinated not just by their
own interests and experiences but those of other people too. Everything
they encounter is being absorbed, processed, and re-formed, eventually
to return in some new shape as an idea. I think of these people as
transmitters – they absorb diverse, random messages, influences, and
thoughts, then reinterpret and play them back to an audience in new and
fresh ways.
So be careful.
I work in advertising but I don’t live in it.
And neither should you. You really ought to get out more often. Look
around you. The more surprising and disparate your inputs are, the more
interesting the outcomes will be.
Staying open to new ideas, new places, and new people will feed
your creative soul. Lack of inspiration may be just another way of
saying lack of experience.
Philosophy
I define creativity as ‘the expression of self’.
The greatest creative practitioners put a little bit of themselves into their
work. Their beliefs, concerns, and ambitions.
So ask yourself:
What excites me?
What drives me?
Fail to figure out the answers to these questions and your work will be
empty.
For me, it is all about irreverence and its power to challenge and
question. Irreverence drives the work I like and the work I want to create.
I believe it gives my creativity an energy and attention that makes it stand
out. And, of course, getting noticed is a prerequisite of any good idea.
Now I don’t want you to panic at the thought that you’ve got to get a philosophy
by lunchtime. And don’t Google ‘philosophy’ to see what comes up. Just be
aware that you need to develop one. I just let my philosophy emerge. My work
and the work I like gave me the answer.
Ultimately, if you don’t have a guiding philosophy underpinning your
thinking and work then what you produce won’t touch people. It can’t.
And that’s the most important task of any piece of creativity.
Remove Your Headphones
Do you know what really upsets me?
(Apart from peanut butter.)
The fashion designer Paul Smith told me a great story that demonstrates how
you can find inspiration just about anywhere and when you least expect it.
He was in Milan and his flight back to the UK had been delayed. Instead
of sitting down, plugging in his headphones, and unplugging his brain, he
decided to go for a walk.
As he walked along, something caught his eye on the ground – a little lucky
charm that had fallen off a bracelet. In a flash of inspiration, he thought it would
make a great button for a shirt.
Some thirty thousand shirts later, that simple flash of inspiration proved to
be right.
So take off your headphones and let the world in.
There’s no doubt you get better when you surround yourself with great
things and great people. And that holds true in whatever field you’re in.
Talent rubs off. Just like in sport – the more you play with better players,
the better you become. For writers, painters, architects, designers, the
same applies. This could be why galleries and museums are always so
crowded with people. In the UK, more people now visit art galleries and
museums on the weekend than go to football matches. Maybe that’s why
the British creative economy is doing so well whereas the last time the
UK won the World Cup was 1966.
It’s also why we have to seek out inspiring creative environments to work.
We constantly need to be pushed, challenged, even frightened into
making our work better. There’s no shame in admitting this.
It’s said Jack Kerouac wrote his novel On the Road on a roll of toilet paper.*
* It was actually a roll of Teletype paper, but never mind…
But what I’d like you to do is flavor those experiences with something
else. Something different and unexpected. Something that expands your
knowledge and appreciation of other types of creativity.
In the end, everything is connected and the more connections you make
the more interesting your work will become. Being fascinated by
everything is a surefire way to feed the creative soul – even if that means
reading a magazine dedicated to economics. Which incidentally I would
argue is more of an art than a science.
There is a second reason for reading The Economist. One day you may find
yourself commissioned by a financial company, business, or enterprise to create
a campaign or design for them. When it comes time to pitch, you’ll be amazed
by how powerful your persuasion skills have become simply because you
understand a little more about the field and what drives it.
Revere anyone or any one thing at your own risk. Doing so will
over-influence your work and impede your creativity. It will lead to
imitation, not creation.
Yes, it’s important to learn from those who’ve gone before. I’ve
only just said that great work and great creators are the greatest
of teachers. But it’s important that your admiration for others’ work
doesn’t crowd out your own creativity.
I’ve subtitled this book There Are No Rules. And genuinely there are
none. Experiences, practices, philosophies, whatever you want to call
them? Yes. But rules? No.
At first reading it sounds absurd. How can this be? Surely creativity is a
progression. You go from ordinary to OK to good and then on to great.
It’s a simple progression, right?
To some extent that’s true. But more often than not coming up with a
great idea is a rollercoaster ride of thoughts with no logical progression.
You lurch from the interesting to the absurd to the good then back again
to the absurd.
Within this maelstrom of thoughts veering all over the place, it can be
easy to settle on something that feels right. Something that seems to
make sense of all the confusion. You’ll feel relief when you get to this
point. You’ll think you’ve cracked it. You’ll feel good.
But then you have to take a step back from what feels really good and
ask:
But is it great?
And that is the hardest thing to do.
So park that good idea and keep going. Trust in inspiration to come up
with a great idea – that idea that’s going to put everything else in the
shade.
Getting to good is hard enough, but given half the chance good will stop you
from getting to great.
Whenever I show someone an idea and they say, Oh, that’s really
good, I know I’ve got to tear it up, head back to the drawing board,
and keep going.
Persuasion
Persuasion has a bad reputation because it’s associated with selling
things to people, sometimes selling them things they don’t even want.
Nonetheless, persuasion can be a tool for good. When the artist Goya
depicted the barbarities of the Napoleonic Wars in Spain, for example, he
was making a powerful anti-war statement. He was also employing
persuasion.
Specialize
Too many creative people think they don’t need to specialize, that they
can have lots of ideas on lots of different subjects all of which are going
to be great. Wonderful as that would be, it’s likely to result in
disappointment. Yes, I know Leonardo da Vinci did it all – a great artist
and a pioneering inventor whose inquiring mind stretched far and wide.
If you think you’re the next Leonardo, fine. But I seriously doubt you are.
It’s been five hundred years since he dazzled the world with his genius
and I can assure you I’m not holding my breath that you’re next.
Now I’m not suggesting you need to be quite so rigorous in your training.
God forbid straight lines for eighteen months. But that dedication to
perfection is essential to mastering your craft.
In his brilliant book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell sets out the 10,000-hour
rule. He worked out that to be good, really good, at something you need
to put in at least 10,000 hours of practice. That might seem a bit
daunting. And maybe it’s only 9,500 hours. But remember, practice
should be enjoyable too.
Now, as you know from the title of my book, I don’t believe in rules. But I do
believe in experience. And my experience tells me he’s on to something.
When a drawing’s going wrong, what you don’t do is turn over the
page and start again. You keep working on that drawing until it’s
right. Only then do you turn the page over. That’s how you learn.
Now, I happen to think Moore was a genius. But his point was well
made. Unless you stick at it – whatever the ‘it’ is – you’ll never
know how good you can be. You can bet Moore never turned over
the metaphorical page before he was good and ready.
Collaboration
Much today is written about collaboration and the need to work or
brainstorm with others in order to bring an idea to fruition.
Some people believe you can create brilliance by brainstorming with lots
of people.
This can be a fun way to work. Bouncing ideas off each other, using the
relationship to test outrageous thoughts, challenging each other to do
better, dream bigger.
For this partnership to be effective, however, it’s important that you come
from opposing disciplines. You can’t just be echoes of each other. You
each need to bring something different to the party.
In advertising, the best partnerships are usually those formed between art
director and writer. The reason for this is in their job titles: art directors think
visually; writers think in terms of narrative. I’m generalizing here, but what’s
important is that their starting points are different. And when these differences
rub up against one another they will hopefully produce sparks. And it’s these
sparks that just might ignite an idea worth having.
I’m talking about the ability to stand back from what you’ve created and assess
its worth.
Creativity isn’t an objective pursuit. Its value can’t be measured the way
other skills can be. Does a vaccine work? Will that iron girder support
that building? These questions have right and wrong answers, whereas
creativity is more often than not subjective.
Snap judgments and rapid decisions often lead to poor work. The ability
to stand back from your thinking and give it what we call ‘the overnight
test’ is essential. Unfortunately, we live in a world today that too often
doesn’t allow this.
Bad weather.
Why?
Because bad weather is generally great for ideas.
Now I’ve got nothing against sunny locales. Sydney, for instance, is one
of my favorite cities. But it’s not, in my view, a creative center.
The problem with Sydney is its weather. It’s just too good. If you’re
working in Sydney and struggling with a creative problem, all you have to
do is look out the window, see the sun shining, and soon enough you’ll
hear the beckoning call of a couple of ice-cold beers waiting for you at
that beachside bar down the street.
Great weather is probably why Hollywood turns out some truly awful
movies. Who wants to labor over a cliché-ridden script in an effort to turn
it into an Oscar-winner when you could be down by the pool at the
Sunset Marquis? Sunny weather is great for shooting films but not so
wonderful for writing them.
Ego is defined as the ‘I’ or ‘the self.’ And if creativity can be defined as
the expression of self, it’s no wonder why having a healthy ego is so
important. Belief in what you’re doing is fundamental.
If you’re truly great you’re going to be creating work that breaks barriers,
changes the way we see things, and alters our visual landscape.
Leonardo’s Mona Lisa changed the way we thought of portrait painting.
On top of the incredible luminosity of his subject’s skin, he painted her
looking straight at you, confronting the viewer in a unique and profound
way. Leonardo’s conviction that a portrait could and should be painted
differently helped make it one of the most famous in the world.
But too much ego can be your downfall. And that’s called egotism. Losing
touch with your audience and driving your thinking into a cul-de-sac.
The problem is your success will isolate you from these voices. Without
realizing it you will have become surrounded by people who agree with
everything you suggest. Your youthful, insightful intuition will be replaced
by faded, clichéd renditions that carry echoes of greatness but sadly not
the intensity.
Editing is not only about ensuring the idea you’re working on isn’t weighed
down by unnecessary complexity but also that you’re working on the right
idea.
I’ve known creative people who could spew out ideas endlessly. The
problem was that often they had no idea which ones were great and
which were completely useless.
Editing isn’t just about taking things out; it’s also about understanding
what has value and how that value can be amplified. In art galleries this is
called curating: the process of working out in what order the works
should be shown, what should be highlighted, and what should be left out.
Don’t Second-Guess
Many people believe that the more you know about your audience, the
better your work will be. This is why, in certain creative industries, market
research is so prevalent. The movie industry and advertising in particular
are stuck in the headlights of this dark art.
faster horses.
Instead, he came up with a motor car they could afford.
Consensus leads to predictability. A great creative work surprises its
audience by presenting ideas and thoughts never encountered before.
That’s the thrill of a memorable idea.
I suppose because in the ‘developed world’ at least most of our needs are so
well supplied that we now take functionality for granted. Cars, for instance, don’t
break down anymore. And when was the last time you called a TV-repairman or
took your trainers to be repaired?
But the danger in dabbling with what’s fashionable when creating is that you’ll
get it wrong, or that by the time you’ve executed your work the world will have
moved on.
For this reason, chasing fashion for its own sake is bound to end in
failure.
This is what James Dyson accomplished when he developed the technology for
his bag-less vacuum cleaner. Not only did he innovate the way a vacuum works,
but, driven by innovation, he also changed the way it looked. And in the end
created a must-have consumer product.
A brilliant idea at the wrong time will fail. (People who work in the fashion
industry understand this better than anyone.)
But the question is: If your idea is truly brilliant can it overcome this issue?
Of course, no one knows if they’ve got the timing just right in advance,
but asking certain questions can help. So ask yourself:
I’ve asked similar questions throughout this book. And I will carry on
asking them. They are key to initiating and inspiring creativity.
A great idea creates its own timing. And that’s what you should be
searching for. By being tuned in, aware, sensitive to what is going on,
and by keeping an open mind, you can create the circumstances to make
that happen.
A great idea is only a great idea when you’ve shared it with the world. And
to do that effectively you need to be able to define what it is you’ve
created.
In the commercial world, this is called pitching an idea and mastering this
art is essential. To an editor with a book to sell, a producer with a TV
show to option, whatever, a strong and arresting presentation can be the
difference between success and rejection.
When pitching an idea it’s important to keep it simple. Your goal should be to
get the idea to open out inside the head of the person you’re pitching to. If
brevity is the foundation of wit, so it is with a successful pitch.
But I don’t mean the power of your fame. I mean the power of your work’s
fame.
Everything I’ve written so far in this book is an attempt to show how your
creativity can achieve this status. But do be careful – as valuable as fame
is, it can also be a trap.
You see, once fame is achieved, your audience will begin to expect you
to do more of the same, making it more difficult for you to step out of the
shadows of your own creation and produce something different. This is a
particular problem for actors. Being typecast in one role might be good
for a time but it soon becomes a burden. Actors have to have the
courage to break free.
Move on.
Forget it.
If you’re genuinely creative and trying to create work that hasn’t been
seen before, that is really fresh, then you will have to contend with other
peoples’ doubts. All too often your idea will be greeted with ‘Oh, that’s
really different…’ or ‘I haven’t seen that before.’
Here’s the problem with dwelling on past failures: When faced with these
doubting voices, suddenly you too will start to doubt your idea. You will
start to think, ‘Perhaps, they’re right. Perhaps, this isn’t as great as I
thought it was. Perhaps, I should do something that’s more familiar…’
Chances are that your idea does not work. But even so that’s the risk you
have to take if you want to create great work. Being ordinary is easy.
The world’s full of people who can do ordinary.
Creativity has to be nurtured, cared for, invested in. Money just wants to
exploit your career, without any concern for its longevity or future.
But it’s important to remember that if money has a voice, it doesn’t have a soul.
It’s a tool not a philosophy.
If you plan to pursue a creative career (or I would argue any career),
make money your sole objective at your own peril. More than likely, you’ll
end up with either a very short career or a very unsatisfactory one.
The best way to get rich – if that’s what you want – is to invent something
the world wants, admires, or talks about, something that will capture our
imagination and make us feel better, emotionally or physically.
Creating something you love and that you would buy is the best way
forward. Try to create with only money on your mind and you’ll end up
with a second-rate idea – and poor.
Don’t Read About Yourself
I was given a wonderful piece of advice very early on in my career:
See, chances are that you’ve created something that is controversial and
so some talentless critic has made disparaging comments about it.
There’s nothing more annoying for a critic than to know that you can’t be
bothered with their nonsense. With critics (as with cynics), don’t give them the
oxygen of more publicity. Because let’s face it: Publicity is all they’re after. And
as a bonus, by not reading the criticism, you won’t get upset and expend
valuable energy on negativity.
Why?
Because that one individual understands the timing and rhythm that every story
needs. And they know how to employ it.
That’s craft.
Sadly we live in a world where the value of craft has been devalued.
Technology allows us to do more things and to do them faster than ever
before. But that doesn’t mean that what we’re producing is any better.
Understanding the craft of your chosen medium and understanding how to use it
to best effect is fundamental to success. If creativity is 80% idea, it’s also 80%
execution. Respecting the balance between these two contradictory statements
will be crucial to your success.
Well, there’s nothing unusual about this situation, so don’t panic. I’ve found
there’s one simple trick you can use that will get you out of any creative rut:
Swap seats.
If each day is business as usual how can you possibly create something
unusual?
Here’s an easy first step to break the monotony: Switch desks with a
colleague. Suddenly, even though you’ve only moved a few feet away,
your perspective will have changed and your brain will be looking at
everything from a different angle. And looking at things differently jogs the
imagination into action.
Remember: Great work cannot be original, it can only be fresh and the
first step to creating fresh work can be as simple as sitting somewhere
different. Then, at the least, you’ll have a fresh perspective.
The McCartney Syndrome
It is said that most political careers end in disaster. It could also be said
most creative careers end in clichés.
I’ve sat in meetings with famous film directors discussing an idea and
realised the executives they’ve brought along are only there to agree with
them. Yet, as I’ve said elsewhere, honesty is at the core of outstanding
creativity. Honesty in idea and assessment.
Great people need someone who will challenge their thinking, someone
they can trust and respect.
Sadly, Paul lost his Lennon and ended up writing the ‘Mull of Kintyre.’ And
this from a man who gave us ‘Yesterday,’ ‘Eleanor Rigby,’ and numerous
other classics. So whatever happens, hold on to honesty. Hold on to your
Lennon.
Think Short Term
People often ask me:
Do you have a five-year plan?
As is often said, there are no facts on the future. So stop trying to predict
what’s ahead of you and choose instead to make this moment, the one
you’re living right now, the most enjoyable and rewarding it can be.
We all have to find our own ways of living in the moment. Exploring it,
expanding it, and indulging it. That’s why children are so wonderful. They
live for each moment and therefore get so much more out of life.
The best way to predict the future is to invent it. And that’s done by
making the present as interesting as possible.
Don’t Get Too Comfortable
I’ve got some bad news for you: There’s a good chance that becoming
successful will breed your failure. Bit of a bummer that, especially if
you’ve just got used to turning left when boarding an airplane.
When you become successful, after a time holding on to the real world
becomes increasingly difficult. People start calling you a genius and
suddenly everything you’ve ever done is brilliant. You are blessed with the
Midas touch.
Your success will, in fact, distance you from the very world that
stimulated the ideas that made you successful. It will isolate you.
The best creative people manage to keep a grip on reality whatever they
achieve. And that can be as basic as knowing the price of a loaf of bread
or a pint of milk. So beware the seduction of the chauffeur-driven lifestyle.
The Ten-Year Rule
(And How To Avoid It)
Here’s a hard thing to accept.
The great work in most creative careers is made within a span of ten
years.
Think about it. Whether it’s musicians, artists, filmmakers, or designers,
it’s always in a ten-year period that they create their best, most
outstanding work, the work that will define and sustain their career for the
rest of their life. Once they’ve made their breakthrough, established a
genre, or made their point of view easily recognizable, they are then able
to repeat what they’ve created.
Wherever you look in the creative world it’s the same. Mick Jagger can travel
around the world singing ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ and twenty thousand people will
turn up and applaud him – over forty-five years after he wrote it with Keith
Richards. Or Lucian Freud who, once he had established his reputation as the
greatest portrait painter of the late twentieth century, kept on painting portraits
for the rest of his life.
Constant innovation can be exhausting and it’s one of the reasons why
advertising is so often seen as a young person’s industry. There aren’t
many seventy-five-year-old art directors in our business.
So, how do you avoid the ten-year rule and continue to create great
creative work across a fifteen-, twenty- or even a thirty-year career?
Here are some simple answers, a summary in short of all that’s come
before:
And last, but not least (and perhaps the real reason why the ten-
year rule kicks in once success has been achieved): Remember
money isn’t a philosophy, it’s a tool. It’s the last reason why you
should do anything.
Fun
Have fun.
This could well be the most important tip to remember when pursuing a creative
career. Unless you enjoy what you do you’re never going to be great at it so
make sure you’re having fun too. Of course, enjoying yourself doesn’t guarantee
the work that results will be any good…
There are no limits to one’s imagination. Even when you find yourself working for
a client who keeps saying no to your ideas. In that case, it’s just up to you to
convince that person your vision is worth it.
All this freedom can be incredibly liberating and exciting. When Irvine
Sellar commissioned architect Renzo Piano to design the Shard in
London, it is said Piano sketched out his vision on a napkin over lunch.
You can’t tell me he wasn’t excited. He was. Sellar bought into that
excitement and together they created one of Europe’s tallest and most
talked about buildings. Apparently Sellar has the napkin framed in his
office.
Enjoy yourself, express your ideas, and have fun doing so. You’ll do
whatever it is that much better.
Digest these Thoughts
Creativity should never be predictable. It should surprise, entertain and inspire.
It should encourage you to look at the world in a fresh way. If possible, it should
also be useful, so here’s something you’ve never tried before:
E AT M Y W O R D S
If you've managed to get the special limited edition of this book, printed
on edible paper with vegetable inks (organic, I hope), it will feed more
than just your imagination.
Thanks to Chef Anna Hansen MBE of The Modern Pantry, the acclaimed
London restaurant, we even have the perfect recipe for a quiet night in
with your creative partner.
To discover the recipe and watch me and Anna cooking up a storm, see
this.
Enjoy.
Acknowledgments
John Hegarty would like to thank Anna Hansen MBE for generously applying her
culinary talents to cooking up the specialedition of this book, Sid Russell for his
usual brilliance and patience, and Chloe Woodman for her typing skills.
First published in the United Kingdom in 2014 as
Hegarty on Creativity: There Are No Rules
ISBN 978-0-500-51724-6
by Thames & Hudson Ltd, 181a High Holborn, London WC1V 7QX
and in the United States of America by
Thames & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110
This electronic version first published in 2014 in the United States of America by
Thames & Hudson Inc., 500 Fifth Avenue, New York, New York 10110.
All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in
writing from the publisher.
ISBN 978-0-500-77192-1
ISBN for USA only 978-0-500-77193-8
Hegarty on Advertising:
Turning Intelligence into Magic
Visual Creativity:
Inspirational Ideas for Advertising, Animation and Digital Design
Goodvertising:
Creative Advertising that Cares