Making Ideas Happen – an essential read for anyone who generates ideas – takes readers through a series of suggestions, based on case studies from successful creative organisations known for “overcoming the obstacles between vision and reality” (the book’s tagline).  This ranges from practical tips on managing projects (including Behance’s own “Action Method”, thinking about how your workspace can help you become more action-orientated, and overcoming the stigma of self-promotion.  It also nods to some of the current trends driving our working practices such as the freelance culture, flexibility, digital developments and co-working, as elements that should be capitalised to support ideas execution.

A considerable amount of the book is dedicated to the “Forces of Community” using networks and contacts to get ideas through to completion.   Making Ideas Happen acknowledges the value of collaboration (“ideas don’t happen in isolation”) but identifies the challenges that can arise throughout the process for creative people, such as sharing ideas, transparency and tolerating feedback, whilst looking at processes for overcoming these.

Overall, Making Ideas Happen is an accessible read that encourages you to reflect on and re-evaluate the way you work creatively.  Belsky has been careful to focus on thought-provoking techniques for putting ideas into practice (99% of the work) rather than ideas generation which is well within the comfort zone of most creative people (the other 1%).  It’s one of those books that, when you find your brilliant projects aren’t leaving the sketchbook, you should dip into for actionable suggestions for getting them going.

For more information visit http://the99percent.com/book or pre-order the book on Amazon.

Did it work?  Even better than expected!

By the end of the two days we had:

-       a new website with a wordpress theme built from scratch, based on a new colour palette

-       a series of illustrations and text visualising the Bracket collaborative process, as well as text throughout the website

-       a range of characters to be used in an animation for an online viral video

-       a series of images to be used in a printed promotional campaign

-       and the beginnings of a film documentary

So how was this achieved?

We spent a long time (the first half of the first day), using Bracket’s developed techniques to generate ideas, set aims, and identify the tasks to be completed   Our essential toolkit for the two days included magic whiteboard, post-it notes, and coloured pens and markers.  By lunchtime, the walls of THECUBE were covered with words, diagrams, scribblings and plans of what was going to happen over the next day and a half.

Being in the same room together meant everything could happen quickly and seamlessly.  Laura (copywriter) worked with Emily (graphic facilitator/illustrator) to iron out the Bracket process which informed the text and illustrations; Naomi (graphic designer) worked with Joel (filmmaker) to develop the colour palette for the website and the characters used in the animation and illustrations; Matt and Andy (web-developers) worked together to set-up the website, and then Matt worked with Naomi to translate her page designs to the web, whilst Andy worked with Laura on the search engine optimisation (SEO) keywords.  It was great to see everyone’s ideas gradually coming to life.

Furthermore, everyone said that they enjoyed the experience – meeting new people, working with others and adding an interesting project to their portfolio.  Through the agency, Bracket intends to run more of these ‘labs’ to deliver commercial projects.  For more information on Bracket’s creative agency and to get involved, visit www.bracketcreative.co.uk

Here is who is involved (in order of how far the network spread):

Laura North – copywriter (a previous colleague)

Emily Wilkinson (Empathi) – graphic facilitator/illustrator (introduced through a mutual friend)

Naomi Ray (Studio Pixie) – graphic designer/illustrator (met through Twitter)

Matthew Smith-Stubbs – front-end web developer (fellow member of THECUBE, co-working space for creative businesses)

Andrew Davey (MediaBandit) – web developer (responded to a call put out through the Open Coffee mailing list)

Joel Somerfield (Order) – filmmaker (was passed on by someone through the Open Coffee mailing list. But turns out he has done work for mutual contacts also).

So we all know how important it is to stay networked to stay in the loop, but if you want to build a collaborative team quickly – it’s essential.

Stay tuned for the progress of BracketLab, which will be taking place on 2^nd and 3^rd June at THECUBE.

Thanks to Andrew for the link!

Delivered in Beta from KS12 on Vimeo.

On first impressions, the pieces in the exhibition seem to be un-related.  There are no visual or obvious themes running throughout.  But with a little time, the connection becomes more apparent.  There is a real depth and mystique to each piece, created by knowing that there was more than one individual behind it.  You find yourself stopping to imagine the conversations, the disagreements and the laughter that put each piece together.

And for the creatives, the final product is just a small part of a larger process.  They’ve had the opportunity to think about what they can do, and how much further they can stretch their practice by getting together with someone else.  They’ve been encouraged to be critical of themselves and each other, and think outside their usual realm of what is creatively possible.

Calligraffiti: Craig Ward/Sean Freeman/Alison Carmichael

There are the collaborations which provide a solution: Fred Butler/No Days Off’s campaign for an 8-day week, BCMH/Smith & Weightman’s alternative currency, and Praline/The Model Shop’s new font based on architectural shapes.  There’s the conceptual and abstract, where you’re keen to be let in on the ‘secret’ between the collaborators, or at least part of the conversation – when did Job Wouters/Roel Wouters decide what to wear for their film about numbers and the Rainbow spray-painting machine?!

Some collaborations are more practical, where artists chose to combine their specific technical skills: the illustrative Rob Ryan/Michael Marriott chair, Sam Messenger/Bart Long’s abstract canvas in vinyl and timber, and Jim Stoten/Andy Rementer’s series of illustrations.  And then there are the collaborations where it looks like a whole lot of fun was had developing the ideas: With Associates/Anthony Dickens interactive timepiece, Chrissie MacDonald/Marie O’Connor playful figures in wood and scrap material, and Karlssonwilkier/FrankDeRose music track (this is BRILLIANT!).  Details of all 33 collaborations can be found here.

The exhibition catalogue (available for £15) includes interviews with all the creatives and looks at the collaboration processes in detail (interesting to know that the most common challenge for the collaborators was managing their time).  The exhibition runs until 23 January, and it’s an essential visit if you want clear examples of the potential of creative collaboration.

www.ifyoucould.co.uk/collaborate

A group of writers have set themselves up with the task to write and publish a book in just 24 hours using online tools to work together.  The group has been using Google Docs to write and edit the document, as well as using Skype and face-to-face conversation to communicate, and have been updating us on their progress through their twitter profile.

The 24-hour book project

The group consists of one lead writer and ten other participants, and they also opened up part of the book on Google Docs to invite contributions from the wider public.  As well as this, they’ve been gathering photos, illustrations and other snippets of media for use in the book or inspiration over on their Ning platform (Ning enables you to create your own social networks).

The final book will be available online and in hard-copy (produced by web-based print-on-demand services) and sold at £4.99 a piece, with profits going towards future collaborations.

Briefly looking at the elements that contributed to getting this project going.  The team:

1. agreed on the focus of the story (“based around a group of city centre allotments and the story will explore ideas of shared and private space and the real and imaginary barriers between a range of different city characters”)
2. identified the desired outcome (an online and printed novel)
3. gave themselves a clear deadline within which to complete the project – they have a launch party on Monday 5^th October.
4. clearly outlined the tasks that need to be completed – writing, editing, proofreading, images, publishing etc – and who will do them – lead writer, participants, professional volunteers and the public.

(Check out Bracket’s toolkit for collaborative projects to see how it matches up)

And the intellectual property?  The group have been careful to inform the public contributors that they must own any material they submit, and will retain ownership but give permission for it to be used within the project.  The book itself will be distributed under a Creative Commons license.

A great example of what online creative collaboration can achieve!