By Javier Ruiz de Assin and Clara López, members of the Baud team.
It is said that Newton discovered gravity when an apple fell next to him while he was sitting in the shade of a tree. A transcendental discovery for mankind, with a beautiful story.
This and many other similar stories are part of our collective imagination and contribute to continue romanticizing the universe of creativity and idea generation processes.
And now we are here. Such a day as today at such a time as this. You reading and us, in the uncomfortable situation of having to demystify these processes.
We are Clara and Javier, Consultant and Designer at Baud. Of course, we have never come up with a discovery as transcendental as gravity, nor have we come up with an idea with a story as beautiful as the apple. But we would like to take this moment of reading to tell you about some of the formulas we use to generate unique ideas that work for our clients' challenges in the times required.
Clara's formula is work and life
She is passionate about both and experiences them to the fullest, nurturing them in all directions. Whenever she is faced with a challenge such as a merger, an internationalization or diversification process, a generational transfer, a reputation crisis, the need to connect with new internal or external audiences, or to create and conquer new blue oceans, Clara becomes a bookworm and gets into the subject up to her ears. Reports, magazines, documentaries, workshops, experiences?
Delving into everything and detecting with a critical and expert eye what is most important.
With the keys in mind and written down on no more than what fits on a post-it note, change scenery.
If the weather is bad, use the sofas in the office, the park downstairs or the balcony at home. If the weather permits, he rests it for a couple of days, coinciding with a concert, a refreshing bath or a few hours of sleep. And then 'the magic' happens. One of the last good and effective ideas happened at Hans Zimmer's live performance. Although yesterday's was less poetic and came from looking out the window.
With the information and the idea, she continues to work, going round and round, alone and with her colleagues. Going deeper, reaching for what is truly valuable, developing and polishing it.
Hours, effort, capacity and also, and especially, life.
A rich life outside of work: surfing, scuba diving, salsa, travels, own projects... To each his own.
The formula for Javi is order and teamwork.
Order is a term that may sound antagonistic to creativity, especially if the image one has of it is close to that of a young Jackson Pollock brushing his brush strokes on a canvas. However, design has a functional dimension that means that its methodology must follow a different process from that of the freer plastic arts. When facing a new brand project, the designer may be tempted to immediately start filling his work table with countless logo proposals, colorful chromatic palettes and modern typographic families: a mistake.
In branding, the house always starts with the foundations, and the foundations of this profession are the strategy.
Time spent internalizing strategic work should never be underestimated, as it will be time that we will save later on by carrying out tests that lead nowhere.
Once you have read and reread all this documentation, it is best to write down the main keys on a sheet of paper and keep it in sight throughout the project.
Up to this point it may seem a little more boring than you might expect, but once we have carried out this first phase we can, now, let loose and start to paint our own brushstrokes.
And you move forward. And you get excited. And you think you are the Newton of design... And then you get blocked. Suddenly you find yourself with an 'impossible' idea to materialize, an overwhelming amount of visual references and a bunch of unconnected sketches that you don't even understand yourself anymore. At this point there is only one possible formula: a fresh look. That of oneself after a walk or even better, that of a partner.
By turning to a third party, we not only provide a new and objective point of view, but by verbalizing and arguing our own ideas, we contribute to clarify and improve them.
Living, striving and using methodologies and partners is our formula. But there are many more that we will be happy to continue to learn and practice.
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