Sunday, 18 March 2012

Something Old, Something New

Ok so you've organised your desk, made a cup of coffee, sharpened your pencils, placed them in a straight line, created a new playlist... read the brief... reorganised your desk... and stared at a white screen. Now what?

This article by Mark Mc Guinness lets us know that it's ok to use an old solution as the starting point for a new project
"Every creator knows the terror of the blank page. When you start on a new creative challenge and you have no idea how you are going to solve it, the virgin paper (or screen, or canvas, etc.) seems to stretch off endlessly in all directions. There are so many things you could do, it's impossible to know where to start.
 Next time you find yourself in this situation, ask yourself this question:
"Have I ever solved a problem like this before?"
It doesn't matter if the problem isn't an exact match - scan your memory for something even remotely similar. Then go back and revisit your old work, to see if there's anything there that could help you now"
Will this approach push you into an endless abyss of repetition? He says we should set new challenges while building on old knowledge.

Almost has a philosophical ring to it.