my own ad school

Carbonmade is an online portfolio site where designers, writers and artists can upload their work for free (or sign up for the pro plan, which lets you upload a whole lot more).

I’m really glad I discovered this site because:

a) it’s a great source of inspiration: it’s not to copy or imitate others, but if you browse through a few projects, it can definitely get your creative flow moving.

b) it can give you sense of direction: you’ll find a variety of creatives in different phases of their professional careers - some have just started out, while others have already produced work for well-known companies. By looking at their work, it can give you the drive to step up and find what was missing in your portfolio, or it can help you set goals for yourself (for example, learning another program or skill).

c) it gives you a sense of who you’ll be competing with out there. By looking at what others have done, it can help you figure out what you need to do and what you need to show to make yourself stand out to clients.

and finally,

d) it can further fuel your drive to succeed as a creative. Even though there’s a large pool of talented creatives out there, it doesn’t mean finding work to add to your portfolio is rare. Ok, it is competetive, but there’s always going to be projects up for grabs, especially with the rise of entrepreneurs creating new businesses every day. So if it’s a bit of hope that you’re looking, you can find some here.

From gapingvoid’s How To Be Creative:

1. Ignore everybody.
2. The idea doesn’t have to be big. It just has to change the world.
3. Put the hours in.
4. If your biz plan depends on you suddenly being “discovered” by some big shot, your plan will probably fail.
5. You are responsible for your own experience.
6. Everyone is born creative; everyone is given a box of crayons in kindergarten.
7. Keep your day job.
8. Companies that squelch creativity can no longer compete with companies that champion creativity.
9. Everybody has their own private Mount Everest they were put on this earth to climb.
10. The more talented somebody is, the less they need the props.
11. Don’t try to stand out from the crowd; avoid crowds altogether.
12. If you accept the pain, it cannot hurt you.
13. Never compare your inside with somebody else’s outside.
14. Dying young is overrated.
15. The most important thing a creative person can learn professionally is where to draw the red line that separates what you are willing to do, and what you are not.
16. The world is changing.
17. Merit can be bought. Passion can’t.
18. Avoid the Watercooler Gang.
19. Sing in your own voice.
20. The choice of media is irrelevant.
21. Selling out is harder than it looks.
22. Nobody cares. Do it for yourself.
23. Worrying about “Commercial vs. Artistic” is a complete waste of time.
24. Don’t worry about finding inspiration. It comes eventually.
25. You have to find your own schtick.
26. Write from the heart.
27. The best way to get approval is not to need it.
28. Power is never given. Power is taken.
29. Whatever choice you make, The Devil gets his due eventually.
30. The hardest part of being creative is getting used to it.
31. Remain frugal.

* Make sure you click on the link to read what Hugh wrote under each tip.

Here’s an interesting video I found from Beyond Madison Avenue.

Sir Ken Robinson delivers an entertaining and captivating lecture on how creativity should be treated just as important as literacy in our education system.

Here is one of my favourite parts of his lecture, which I thought reflected how my friends and I were growing up:

… kids will take a chance. If they don’t know, they’ll have a go. They’re not frightened of being wrong. Now I don’t mean to say that being wrong is the same as being creative. What we do know is that if you’re not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original. And by the time they get to be adults, most kids have lost that capacity. They’ve become frightened of being wrong and we run our companies like this by the way, we stigmatize mistakes. And we’re not running national education systems where mistakes are the worst thing you can make and the resuls is that we’re educating people out of their creative capacities. Picasso once said this, he said that all children are born artist - the problem is to remain an artist as we grow up. I believe this passionately, that we don’t grow into creativity, we grow out of it. Or rather we get educated out of it.