For every arena in one's life there is a book that can provide insight and guidance. Creativity and self-expression are topics that are often top of mind for me. I've faced many roadblocks along my journey to develop an ability to manifest my creative vision, and the books below have proven their utility in multiple ways.
These three books cover a broad range of thinking that starts off a bit esoteric and then morphs into the hyper-tactical.
The Creative Act by Rick Ruben
Ruben is one of the most acclaimed music producers of this generation and has had the opportunity to work with some of the most well-known and talented artist of the last forty years. In this book there are countless practical tips and ways to enhance your creativity, but there is also a deep spiritual layer that focuses on the creative process and the art of tapping into a more universal energy, and allowing it to flow through you as a creative force.
A Creative Oracle
This book is broken down into short chapters that offer insight into the creative process. Between many of the chapters are short passages, often non sequiturs, that ask the reader to consider how they think about art and the creative process.
"Is it time for the next project because the clock or calendar says it's time, or because the work itself says it's time?"
You can read straight through the book or pick it up and open to a random page, like an oracle of sorts, either method will bestow benefit upon the reader.
After reading The Creative Act, I'm left with a sense that letting go of the reins and allowing creativity to flow through me will yield more authentic or interesting results than by seeking authoritarian control over the creative process.
This book reminds me to play,
"Take art seriously without going about it in a serious way."
and to maintain a beginners mind,
"Think back to when you were a hopeful beginner, when the tools of your craft were exotic and new. Remember the fascination of learning, the joys of your first steps forward. This might be the best way to retain the energy that drives the work, and to fall in love with the practice again and again."
From Rick Ruben I'm learning to trust my creative intuition and allow it to guide the decisions I make in my career as a designer.
Daily Rituals by Mason Currey
When I was younger, I thought that to be a great artist you had to be eccentric and have destructive or erratic habits. Life has to be random and sporadic in order for creative ideas to spring from the mind. That's where all the creativity comes from, right? Perhaps not...
Daily Rituals recounts the habits and lifestyle choices of the most iconic creatives of the last three centuries, and what Mason Currey uncovered is that behind each of these creatives are a diverse set of daily habits or rituals. Mason highlights the hidden structure that exists, supporting the lives of our favorite painters, poets, writers, directors, architects, and designers.
Find Your Pattern
Every individual seems to have a different set of routines that range from healthy to seemingly disastrous, but for all of them there is a pattern that they abide by, a consistent daily practice. For example, Pablo Picasso started painting at 2pm every day and would work until dusk. He would then spend his evening entertaining guests, go to bed late, wake up late, and start the process again the next day. In writing about the painter Francis Bacon, Mason notes:
"it seemed like chaos but the cycle was predictable and consistent."
While reading this book, I realized that I needed to find the rhythm in my days. I was lacking a sort of disciplined approach to my creative process and was in turn leaving the outcome to chance. Instead of sitting down to work on a creative task each day, I would wait for inspiration or some glint of passion to fill my sails.
"Routine in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition." -W.H. Auden
Because of this book, I began to search for a better way to organize my day and unlock creative potential.
Sprint by Jake Knapp
The final book in this tryptic of designers delights takes aim on developing a more specific process for unlocking creative problem solving. Sprint lays out a process that was developed by Jake Knapp while he was working at Google.
Sprint walks through a five day brainstorming and prototyping process. Each chapter discusses the tasks and goals that should be achieved each day, starting on Monday and ending on Friday with real-world test results based on a minimum-viable-prototype that was developed throughout the week.
A Week Long Process
Monday is about setting a long term goal and turning problem statements into "opportunity statements."
"What questions do we want to answer in this Sprint?"
The first day of the sprint focuses on identifying the problems that you're facing and making a decision regarding which problem is the most significant and worthwhile to solve.
There have been many times that I've gone down a design path without thoroughly considering whether or not I was solving a problem that deserved to be solved. The Sprint methodology has provided a framework that allows me to properly vet ideas before diving into the deep end.
On Tuesday and Wednesday, you'll learn a variety of processes and techniques for quickly gathering insights, generating ideas, and whittling down a concept into a testable prototype. One of my personal favorite tools is the Four-Step-Sketch (FSS). The FSS is a rapid process of idea refinement that begins with note gathering, leads into shotgun style doodles, then quick refinement ideations, and into a final design idea. The emphasis throughout the whole sprint is less on artistry and more about communicating quality solutions.
The final two days of a sprint will be dedicated to building a prototype and getting it in front of people to test. The book describes the specific process that Knapp developed and the type of feedback to look for. As you'd expect from a Google employee, each step of the way is laid out in intricate detail and in a sequential order.
I've had the pleasure of running multiple "sprints" and I can say that the process leads to fantastic results and it is certainly an intense five day experience. The process in the book was largely developed for software products, but is easily adapted to any kind of creative endeavor.
Final Thoughts
I hope that these three books add creative fuel to your fire the same way they've done for me. Many nights, I'll stand in front of a bookcase, my eyes wandering across the titles, until I eventually land on one that sparks a memory of the way it made me feel while I was reading it. Using this feeling as my guiding light, I'll grab the book off the shelf and begin thumbing through the pages, reviewing the lines marked in faded highlighter. Invariably, words on the page provide the insight that I'm looking for. This is the utility of building a personal library.