One of the projects I’ve been working on behind the scenes is a guest series on Time Management for Creative People for Business of Design Online.

OK, on the face of it time management isn’t the most inspiring topic - but my experience of working with clients suggests that it’s becoming more and more important for creative professionals. With the explosion of communications technology and the pressures of modern work, it’s becoming very difficult to manage all the demands coming our way, let alone to find time for focused creative work.

This became obvious to me a couple of years ago, when I realised I was finding it hard to keep up with all my commitments, and was feeling stressed by trying to keep track of it all, let alone get it all done. What was most frustrating was feeling my concentration being shredded by interruptions, demands and distractions from so many different sources - online and offline - and realising this was having a serious impact on my creativity.

So I started investigating different systems of time management and trying to relate them to what I knew about the creative process. This series for BoDo is a distillation of what I’ve learned through experimenting with my own working routine. I’ve also been working with clients on the same issues, and incorporated their feedback into the material for the series.

The tagline for the series - Manage the mundane, create the extraordinary - encapsulates what I believe is the main benefit of time management for creative people: the ability to deal with day-to-day ’stuff’ efficiently and get it off your mind, so that you can focus on the seriously interesting business of creative work.

Thanks to Cat and Neil of BoDo for inviting me to write the series - over the past few months they have built their site into a rich and authoritative source of information on all aspects of the business of working as a designer. Although it focuses on designers, most of the material is relevant to any form of creative profession, so I would encourage you to have a good look through the archives.

The series will appear every Friday for the next 7 weeks on BoDo. I hope you find it useful (and even inspiring!) - please share your responses and experiences in the comments.

CIDA have sent me this notice about their Creative Links Expo next week. Having been to some of CIDA’s Creative Business Club events, this is something I’m looking forward to. The CCB provides an excellent combination of inspiring speakers and lots of interesting creative people to chat to over a glass of wine. It looks as though there will be plenty more creative inspiration on offer at the Expo next week.

Creative Links 2007 - London’s Leading Creative Expo

Thursday 18 October (11am-8pm) & Friday 19 October 2007 (11am-5pm)

Atlantis Gallery, Old Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London E1

If you’re a creative individual, business or arts organisation Creative Links Expo will help you find the support you need!

CIDA’s 5th Creative Links event is set to be more exciting and dynamic than ever, featuring an even wider range of exhibitors, one-to-ones, high-profile panel discussions, workshops, the Film Café and much more! There will also be a spectacular design installation courtesy of East London Design Show.

Don’t miss THE business support and showcasing event for the creative sector and access vital information and advice on subjects as diverse as professional development and training, legal and structural issues, fundraising and sponsorship, creative workspace, and networking and profile raising – take your creative business or project further!

Exhibition stands: Access services and support from networks, training organisations, consultants, creative agencies, studio and workspace providers and funders.

One-to-ones: Receive tailored advice from London’s best support agencies including Russell-Cooke, Briffa, Artquest and CIDA.

Creative question time: Thursday 18 October 2007, 6-8pm
Join the debate and hear industry figures discuss the future for London’s creative business and what part they can play in making 2012 and London’s biggest cultural developments a success.
Chair: David Powell, DPA, Adviser to Thames Gateway London Partnership and the 2012 5 Borough Team.
Panel: David Cotterell – Hackney-based Artist, Anwar Akhtar – CEO, CIDA, Indy Johar – Director, Architecture 00, Anna Harding – Chief Executive, Space Studios.

In conversation with… Friday 19 October 2007, 12-1pm
Join Penny Wrout (BBC London Communities Editor) as she interviews Piers Roberts (Co-Founder of Designersblock) and discusses his entrepreneurial journey.

‘Top tips’ workshops: Receive practical advice and information on key topics ranging from Future Trends in Arts Funding by Wendy Smithers - Director of the Hub, to Intellectual Property advice from Briffa & Co. (specialists in IP and copyright).

East London Design Show: Don’t miss London’s most talented designers in this specially curated installation.

The Film Café: Produced in partnership with the New Producers Alliance this is your chance to see brand new independent releases (straight from Cannes and Venice) and take time out for a coffee.

Book your FREE place now at www.creativelinks.co.uk or contact Jessica Green, CIDA’s Project Administrator on 020 7247 4710 / contact@cida.co.uk for further information.

CIDA is the leading support organisation for the creative and cultural sector in East London and is located at the heart of the creative community, committed to nurturing, commissioning and developing talent www.cida.co.uk

Idealog’s weekly newsletter points us to an intriguing animation under the title The Right Brain vs Left Brain. Apparently if you look at the spinning dancer, it will show you whether you use the right brain more than the left. If you see the dancer spinning clockwise, you are right brain dominant. It also lists the usual functions attributed to each hemisphere:

LEFT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses logic
detail oriented
facts rule
words and language
present and past
math and science
can comprehend
knowing
acknowledges
order/pattern perception
knows object name
reality based
forms strategies
practical
safe

RIGHT BRAIN FUNCTIONS
uses feeling
“big picture” oriented
imagination rules
symbols and images
present and future
philosophy & religion
can “get it” (i.e. meaning)
believes
appreciates
spatial perception
knows object function
fantasy based
presents possibilities
impetuous
risk taking

Have a look at the animation and take the test before you read any further.

Read the rest of this entry »

Just came across this in Michael Michalko’s excellent Cracking Creativity:

There is a clear relationship between wishful thinking and creativity. You are more likely to have a creative idea when you are wishing than when your thinking is extremely intellectual. Wishes help us deliberately oversimplify. This tactic has a long and distinguished history in science and in the arts.

I couldn’t have put it better myself.

One of my reasons for calling my business Wishful Thinking is to combine the heart (emotions, wishes) and the head (thinking). To me, the pejorative status of the phrase ‘wishful thinking’ is symptomatic of a deep prejudice in Western culture against emotions. “You’re being emotional” is not usually a compliment - instead we are urged to “be reasonable”. My friend John has plenty to say on this subject - I’ll confine myself to saying that passion and open-mindedness are both essential for creativity, and it takes a certain amount of both to have a second glance at the phrase ‘wishful thinking’.

I’ve found the name Wishful Thinking is a bit like Marmite - people either love it or hate it. The people who love it tend to be the ones who ‘get’ what I’m trying to do, and who are most likely to enjoy working with me.

PS - I quite like Marmite.

The World Intellectual Property Organization got in touch to let me know about this conference:

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is organizing an International Conference on Intellectual Property and the Creative Industries, which will be held at WIPO headquarters in Geneva on October 29th and 30th, 2007.

The Conference is being organized to provide a forum for discussion on the concept and application of creativity in the creative industries with a clear focus on their intellectual property component. More information is available on the WIPO website.

It sounds like an interesting event, especially as it’s free. When I did the MA in Creative and Media Enterprises at Warwick University one of the key modules was on Managing Intellectual Property, which turned out to be surprisingly interesting. If you’re running any kind of creative business, then it’s essential to have some grasp of the key principles of intellectual property law, and particularly the issues raised by digital technology and the internet. (I mean the real issues, not the tub-thumping scare-mongering by certain Content Kings.)

For some useful IP resources you might like to have a look at my Books and links: Intellectual Property page.

The Ingenious Thomas Heatherwick has been one of the most popular posts on this blog. So I thought you’d like to know about this Thomas Heatherwick podcast interview on the RSA website. (It’s at the bottom of the page.)

For anyone who hasn’t heard about Heatherwick’s versatile design talents, you’re in for a mind-boggling treat. My original Heatherwick post was my reaction on seeing the stunning BBC documentary about his work. The drawback of the podcast is that you obviously can’t see his amazing designs for everything from handbags to skyscrapers, but he’s charming and fascinating to listen to. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, visit the Heatherwick Studio website.

By the way sorry things have been a bit quiet round here recently - I’ve been working hard on some writing projects ‘behind the scenes’, some of which will see the light of day here, some sooner, some later. Watch this space…