How Automation Leads to Creative Confidence
Automation can alleviate your workload so you can focus more on creative aspects of your work. It eliminates mundane tasks while establishing structure and consistency in your processes. Let's take a look at how automation frees you up to focus more on the more impactful, fun stuff.
Creative Block? 5 Surprising Ways to Spark Creativity
There it is. That blank sheet of paper. Or a blank Word doc with the blinking cursor. Or blank Wrike task. It’s daunting to think about that deadline due in two days, or two hours, or 24 hours... you can feel the panic creeping in. You're in desperate need of a creativity boost, and it's not coming from your marketing collaboration tools. Forcing a creative state feels downright impossible. When you're in the zone, the ideas seem to come to you out of thin air. So what can you actively do to fuel creative inspiration? Next time you're stuck, just remember to B.U.I.L.D! Be bored Yes, you heard me right. Actually try to be bored... it's not as easy as you think! Technology has opened a vast horizon of stimuli; between mobile apps, search engines, social networks, and instant communications, we reflexively reach for our phones when we have nothing else to do. The reason we so often come up with our best ideas in the shower is simply because we have nothing else to do but think. When you find yourself with a creativity block, try to daydream. Instead of tapping into an app, tap into your subconscious. Who knows what you'll come up with when you let your mind wander? Unwind with a drink Looks like Don Draper was on to something! Drinking (a little) alcohol has proven to help boost creativity. In a study conducted at University of Illinois at Chicago, two groups of individuals were asked to perform the same creative task. The only difference: one group was slightly inebriated (BAC = .075) and the other group was stone-cold sober. To no one's surprise, the inebriated group performed slightly better on the task than the sober group. The study determined that a person's "creativity peak" is reached at a BAC of .075, just under the legal limit. Of course, too much alcohol is almost guaranteed to give you an even bigger creativity block (not to mention a headache). But go ahead, pour yourself a glass of wine and get the ideas flowing! Inspire with color Believe it or not, there are colors that can help influence creativity. Blue and green in particular can help boost both creativity and productivity. Red helps with focus and concentration. Having a blue or green desktop image, or even just sitting next to a window and looking outside once in a while, will enhance your ability to focus and be more creative. Listen to music Music can trigger different emotions from different listeners. Oftentimes, writers listen to the lyrics of a song to get inspired or to simply alter their mood. Mood can often reflect in your writing, so it's important to make sure you're selecting your music choice appropriately. The type of music can also effect how you write as well. Classical music, such as Haydn or Mozart, helps with concentration and focus whereas Impressionist music, such as Debussy and Ravel, helps trigger creativity and imagination. Music can also act as a powerful anchor. When you need to remember the feeling or emotion of a specific moment in your past, music can trigger that memory and mental state. Music is a truly powerful tool when it comes to creativity and it's fairly accessible, so make sure you turn up the radio when looking for inspiration. Draw on paper Although there are many tools available on your computer to inspire you, sometimes it's good to get another perspective — a pen and paper perspective. In their book, The Creativity Cure, Drs. Carrie and Alton Barron show how it's better to capture your ideas with pen and paper first. So grab some supplies and just start jotting down words or even doodling. It'll help clear your mind of distracting thoughts keep fresh ideas coming. How do you jumpstart your creativity? What are your favorite ways to get your creative juices flowing? Tell us in the comments! Related Reads:How to Better Foster Creativity on Teams5 Ways Creative Teams Can Boost Productivity
Why Collaboration Within Creative Teams is Key for Success
Creative teams work like no other, but when multiple projects are in flux, times can be hard. Check out Wrike’s top collaboration tips for creative teams. Creative collaboration tools help teams succeed. You may not be an expert in how to manage creatives, but teams everywhere use Wrike as their go-to creative collaboration platform.
How to Better Foster Creativity on Teams
Without creative thought, your team can become stagnant — and a company that isn't growing is dying. Over time, even the best people can lose their enthusiasm for finding new approaches. The status quo can feel like quicksand that pulls everyone in and holds them in stasis. With effort and planning, however, you can shape an environment that encourages your team to think outside the box, bringing fresh ideas, growth, and enthusiasm. Make Brainstorming an Agenda Item Experiment to see what approach works best for your group. You might present an issue and ask each team member to bring ideas to discuss, and then see what grows from that discussion. Or try bringing them in cold and asking them to generate ideas on the spot as a team. Put someone in charge of drawing a mind map on the whiteboard one day, and have everyone take his or her own notes another day. Try setting a short time to generate a minimum number of ideas, so the energy level stays high, and the team isn't bogged down by yet another lengthy meeting to attend. Consider Your Space Does your team have access to a common area where they can relax together? If not, your first brainstorming session might be about creating an environment that fosters creativity. Most teams do best in an open, uncluttered space with plenty of light and comfortable seating, where members can move freely around the room or even pace — the opposite of many meeting rooms. The space should be free of clutter but offer all the tools staffers might need to develop and communicate ideas (e.g., whiteboards, markers, modeling materials). Democracy and Diversity Are Vital Your job is to bring diversity and equality to the creative process. This assures that you will include the broadest possible range of voices. Take the dominant participants aside before the meeting and let them know you appreciate their leadership, but need them to give space to other voices. If a reminder during the meeting doesn't work, remove them. Young staffers and women are often interrupted or discounted in groups — make sure their voices are heard. Bring in front-line staff and others whose perspectives are different, and treat their input with respect. Support Your Creative Team If ideas are judged harshly or mistakes aren't tolerated, people will start keeping their creative thoughts to themselves. Model for your marketing team how to receive all ideas enthusiastically and respectfully. Tossing out half-baked ideas is part of the brainstorming process, so never mock or show disdain for a "bad" idea. Support your staff when mistakes occur as well. By definition, if they are taking risks, some of their new ideas will fail, and that's when your enthusiasm and acceptance are most needed. If you don't stand behind your staff when their ideas fail, they will stop trying new ideas. Invite and Celebrate Staff Input Publicly acknowledge team members who bring you new ideas, so your staff will get the message that you value their input. Nothing dries up the flow of suggestions faster than a staff who believes their boss will take credit for their ideas, so give credit publicly and often. Another factor that shuts people down is feeling like their ideas aren't welcome. Counter that by openly inviting input. Don't just have a suggestion box — publish and respond to suggestions in the company newsletter. Run a contest, awarding time off or a pizza party for the person or team who offers the best solution to a problem. Are you fostering the right environment for your creative team? If your people aren't excited about solving problems any more, that's a problem. It's normal for team members to get into a rut, focus on daily tasks, and stop looking creatively at the big picture. But if everyone is rowing the boat, no one is steering. Energize your team and bring their enthusiasm back by tweaking the environment to foster, invite, and reward creative thinking. Top image via Flikr by Office Now Guest AuthorJT Ripton is a business consultant and freelance business, marketing, and technology writer out of Tampa. You can follow him on Twitter @JTRipton.
The Ultimate Creative Process Checklist
Creativity is no mystery, rather it is a series of stages. This ultimate creative process checklist is a step-by-step procedure for engaging in creative work. And is based on the 4 stages of the creative process outlined by English social psychologist Graham Wallas, namely: preparation, incubation, illumination, & verification.
Wrike For Creatives: How a Music Producer Gets Things Done
We talk a lot on the Wrike blog about businesses needing tools to get their act together. But it's not just construction companies, software development teams, and marketing agencies that have to organize their work to be efficient. There is also a large community of creatives using online project management software to coordinate their projects. Check this out: We didn't have to look far to find examples. One of our customers, entrepreneur and celebrity Redfoo, uses Wrike to run both his clothing line and his record label. And he says: “I couldn’t imagine running a business without Wrike.” I couldn’t imagine running a business without Wrike. —Redfoo, CEO of Party Rock Records and LaFreak Clothing Label Then we have our very own Charles L. Coleman II, Enterprise Sales Executive, who helps bring Wrike to larger organizations by day. By night, he runs The ABiatorz Music Group (AMG), a boutique music production company that creates and releases music for placement with artists, record labels, and advertising opportunities. AMG utilized Wrike in its collaboration with two-time Grammy-award-winning producer Focus and Creative Consultant Amilcar "PRO" Welton of CREATE.Digital Music, which is reflected in the video above. Take a look at another video by The ABiatorz Music Group. It was a placement with the Golden State Warriors during their 2015 NBA Championship run, and it involved Coleman collaborating with Hip-Hop artist, Rich Cole and Amilcar "PRO" Welton once again. The song and video for "Dub Nation (Locked n' Loaded)" was used promotionally across all of the Warriors online platforms. With a demanding day job, a thriving music business, and a growing family, Coleman's time is extremely precious. But he makes it work — and his secret to making the most of his limited time is Wrike. "Time is everything," says Coleman. "You don't have a lot of time as a father, a worker, a musician. So I use Wrike to help me plan out my time efficiently. I use it to manage my family vacations, my sales work at Wrike, and as a tool to make my music business more effective. Anything that needs to be executed, I do it in Wrike." Wrike as a Planning & Collaboration Tool for Recording One way Coleman uses Wrike for creative work is for planning out studio time. When you're paying by the hour to use a recording studio, you want every minute to count. "I use Wrike to plan out all my studio time so that it's most efficient," says Coleman. "I think about the entire recording session before I go in, lay it out in Wrike, then execute when I'm there." [inlinetweet prefix="" tweeter="" suffix="Read more @Wrike:"]"I use Wrike to plan out all my studio time so that it's most efficient."[/inlinetweet] —Charles L. Coleman II, Music Producer This means using Wrike tasks as checklists for every song. He inputs to-do items for specific musical parts, or attaches ideas (i.e. other songs) as pegs for how the final track should sound. This also means Coleman creates tasks for session musicians who will be playing on the track. Bringing them in as collaborators within Wrike allows him to share working versions of the music with them as well as get their feedback without having to email music files back and forth. Wrike as a Music Catalog Tool Another way Coleman uses Wrike is as a music cataloging tool or "library", that helps him document and quickly find all the music he's created and released, as well as what stage each is in. "In my Wrike instance, I have custom fields for every track I make," says Coleman. "This way I can document collaborators (any additional musicians who played on a track), samples I may have used, placement (whether the track has been placed and where), target artist (e.g. "Beyonce" or "Drake"), instruments played (if any live instruments were used). "This also allows me to easily pull reports on what music I have available for placement and quickly find songs via the information in my custom fields. It becomes easier to submit tracks to ASCAP or to get copyrights on the music when you have all your paperwork readily available. "I can also judge efficiency. I can quickly answer questions such as: How many songs did I create last year? How many did I place? Do I need to be creating more? Did we spend too much on musicians last year?" I can quickly answer questions such as... Did we spend too much on musicians last year? —Charles L. Coleman II, Music Producer From Paper Notebooks to Online Project Management Software "Before using Wrike to manage my business, to be honest, I used a production notebook," Coleman shares. "I used to take notes using pen and paper. In fact, I have about four or five old notebooks at home. And it was a PAIN to find things in them. Or even to prepare the paperwork you need to submit music for placement." Now, there's no looking back for Coleman and The ABiatorz Music Group. "These days, my wife and I are able to manage the music production business easily using Wrike. Because of Wrike's tool, I was able to move my music production forward and get more placements. I also was able to move my job forward and get promoted, and even used Wrike to manage work and close out end-of-year business while traveling during the holidays with my family. "Wrike is both a business and personal tool. It allows me to keep things in their respective buckets, and yet have only to deal with one portal for all that work. It has helped me make improvements in my workflow that save me my most precious resource: time." [inlinetweet prefix="Read:" tweeter="" suffix=""]"@Wrike has helped me make improvements in my workflow that save me my most precious resource: time."[/inlinetweet] —Charles L.Coleman II, Music Producer Find Out How Wrike Can Help Your With Your Creative Work Try a free demo of Wrike and see how you can use #WrikeForCreatives.
Why Your Marketing and Creative Teams Can't Get Along (Infographic)
Marketers: Do you bang your head against the wall after receiving yet another "final” design that completely disregards the creative brief and your feedback on previous iterations? Designers: Have you ever strained a muscle rolling your eyes at marketers who leave vague feedback or stretch the original scope of the project? Marketing and creative teams must work closely together simply due to the nature of their work. But working side-by-side, day-by-day doesn't automatically mean those teams have a strong collaborative relationship. Like any relationship, it takes commitment to nurture and maintain. Take heart, however, if you're on either of these teams and struggling to work well with the other. A few simple tweaks to your communication style can make all the difference. As this infographic reveals, most of the major sticking points between marketers and creatives boil down to poor communication: Fewer than 40% of marketers say design teams follow the creative brief or ask questions to clarify expectations. 70% of marketers say their creative team doesn’t follow a transparent process, so marketers are left in the dark until the final product is delivered. Fewer than 30% of creatives agree that marketers give useful and timely feedback. However, 46% of marketers say they do. Fewer than 23% of creatives think marketers brief new projects clearly. Source: Visually Moving forward as a team With a more mindful approach to communication and a little honest self-reflection, marketing and creative teams can start working together to achieve better results — in less time and with fewer headaches. The right collaboration tool can also go a long way in improving communication and transparency, and achieving productive integrated marketing communications. For help finding the right software solution for your team, check out Wrike for Marketers.
5 Reasons Why Your Creative Team Isn't Scalable Yet
Creative teams are constantly under the gun to deliver compelling, innovative campaigns. And it's easy to buckle under that pressure when there's a lack of time and resources. As anxious as you might be to scale, here's why you might not be ready yet.
5 Steps to a Stress-Free Design Revision Process
Creative projects can often stall if there’s a ton of conflicting feedback, which results in endless revisions. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Here are five solid tactics to get your projects back on track and across the finish line.
Adobe MAX 2016: Awesome Prizes Await You at the Wrike Booth
This year, Wrike will be at Adobe MAX. Look for us at booth #306 all three days of the conference. Stop by for a chance to win one of our awesome raffle prizes, or simply have your portrait done by our on-site digital caricature artist.