“The difference between Bach and his forgotten peers isn’t necessarily that he had a better ratio of hits to misses.  The difference is that the mediocre might have a dozen ideas, while Bach, in his lifetime, created more than a thousand full-fledged musical compositions.  A genius is a genius, Simonton maintains, because he can put together such a staggering number of insights, ideas, theories, random observations, and unexpected connections that he almost inevitably ends up with something great.  ‘Quality,’ Simonton writes, is ‘a probabilistic function of quantity.’”
-“Creation Myth” by Malcom …

Well I’ve been on vacation. Man vacation is awesome. Time away from this ad game that we lose at more than we win at it seems. I’m refreshed and looking at things in a different perspective. (We’ll see how long this lasts.) At any rate I ran across this article in the ever so brilliant Denver Egotist and thought it was a great quick reminder of how to sell what we do. I forget some of these key steps all of the time. I did find it interesting that the …

One of the wonderful things about advertising is that each creative has his/her own process for coming up with ideas.
Mine is very unpopular.
In fact, most people I’ve worked with hate it. But, it’s how my mind works and it works fine for me.
Specifically, here’s the part they hate:
When I get or hear an idea, my mind instantly tries to find as many flaws with it as possible. I think of an idea as a ship. My goal is to poke as many holes in the ship as possible to see …

This past Sunday, at 7 a.m. Texas Stadium was imploded. THE Texas Stadium. Former home of the Dallas Cowboys. All sponsored by Kraft Mac ‘N Cheese. That’s right. Kraft held an essay contest for kids, with the winner getting to push the button to start the demolition. While the explosion didn’t look like cheddar, it was pretty cool. People lined up outside to catch a glimpse of it.
While the whole idea of Kraft sponsoring the implosion of Texas Stadium is a ridiculous but ultimately fun idea, I think they missed …

Again and again and again people talk about “The Creative Process”, but I’ve never seen it discussed like this. This quirky video at the L Studio starring humorists Starlee Kine and Arthur Jones will at least make you smile. But then again, I’m just percolating here hehe.
The L Studio is Lexus’ way of promoting the arts. I think this is their social awareness side? Wild guess here.
(Click on the pic to go to the site)
Enjoy.
- Julissa Ortiz

I’ve been kicking around on this today.
Kickstarter
People submit projects they are working on and need funding for. Brilliant idea really. What I’m finding most interesting is not just the concept of the site and organization but the actual projects people are doing and the way they are presenting their ideas on the site. Cool Videos. Some very talented people out there, with big hearts that just want to make the world a better place.
Kick around won’t you.
- Lindsay Stevens

It’s that dreaded brain freeze, or what you writers call hitting “writers’ block” and us art directors call looking at the “blank page.” We all can get stuck from time to time. Here are some tips I thought were pretty useful. They are from a bunch of famous creatives all over the world. You can read all of them here at http://blog.iso50.com/2010/02/10/overcoming-creative-block/
Erik Spiekermann, a legendary German typographer
1. Avoid
Do something else, wash the car, back-up your data, do errands…
2. Think
Sit back and think about the issue, just let your mind go…
3. Research
Look …

This past year I have been experimenting with sports to break some blocked creative walls. This was somewhat challenging because I grew up in artistic environment and the most athletic thing was drawing a hopscotch board with sidewalk chalk for the JV hopscotch team. I never really thought of creative people to be athletic — ever. And in most art institutions there are no sports. Maybe interpretive dance — and let’s be honest, that doesn’t count. Unless you count the scissor-kicks in leotards.
I recently discovered the one thing that fills …

Typically I write these posts at night. Up until recently I wrote them while clutching a beer and watching football. But last night I fell victim to a blitzkrieg of lethargy from an impromptu feast, so I’m writing this in the early morning. The act of doing so reminded me of a New Year’s resolution I have yet to implement in 2010.
The goal is small, wake up and immediately write three pages of whatever comes to mind. It’s a technique from a book called “The Artist’s Way”. Some of the …

This past year I’ve worked on campaigns for Earth’s most fattening and addictive treats: Ben & Jerry’s, Snickers, Klondike, and now Chex Mix. Today I justified eating it for product research. I know there are no idea nuggets in this junk, but I cling to the notion that mad genius will gush like a geyser with every artificially flavored crunch.. So today I nearly blacked out from a Chex Mix buffet during a concept session. My partner and I decided we needed to see what the other flavors of Chex …