Relax and Connect

Relax and Connect: iPad illustration, Matt Bacon

A great article on the Behance network about the creative process of Brian Eno, music producer, and member of Roxy music. There's a couple of points that stand out for me.

Relax

We always need to have a "Relaxation" phase in our creative process to allow ideas to knit together to generate the Eureka! Moment.The idea of relaxing, or down-time is something that is overlooked in all the models of creativity and idea generation. I've not seen many lists or diagrams that mention as a step in the process "ok, now go relax" or as Monty Python would say, "and now for something completely different". Jonah Lehrer mentions this in his paper "The Eureka Hunt" citing the need to stop and relax if but for a moment to allow the stirred up synapses time to settle down next to each other and connect.

Undervalued

We undervalue the times of 'doing nothing' because we constantly feel that we should be 'doing something'. Doing "nothing" doesn't fit comfortably in a business oriented production process. However doing "nothing" could well mean we move onto another project that is in a different state of the production.

Strategies

Eno has also developed four of his own strategies for taking himself out of a creative quagmire:
1. Freeform capture: grab from a range of sources. Record anything that interests you and then look for connections.
2. Blank Slate: Dabble. Start with something new. Materials maybe until something starts connecting/suggesting.
3. Deliberate limitations: give your self boundaries/restrictions before you begin. Ideas can bounce off these.
4. Opposing Forces: "generate a forced collision of ideas" get people who don't normally work together to collaborate.
5. Creative Prompts: Eno uses Oblique Strategy Cards which prompt questions of the process. ie. "Turn it upside down", Work at a different speed", "use only a part".

Eno's Oblique cards have seeded modern proliferations in various forms across the web. Nudge cards have appeared in various forms especially among the design thinking community. Even websites like

creativeconstraint.com or something are offering to deliver "obliqueness" to your inbox.

Build Repositories

Be ready. Keep working. Working ensues that you are in a state of readiness for the opportunities to come together. Much like working out keeps you in readiness for activity. By switching directions you are continually building up repositories of conceptual data which adds to your capacity to connect previously unrelated ideas together.

-matt