How to get out of a creative block. Causes of creative block

Anyone who has ever performed any creative task is familiar with the situation when work has stopped, inspiration has disappeared, there are no ideas, and everything around is distracting and does not allow you to collect your thoughts. In English there is a special term for this - creative block. The author of the ISO50 blog asked in-demand designers, artists and other creative professionals about how they overcome creative block and where they get ideas, and as a result received 15 tips on how to regain lost inspiration.

Nicholas Felton. Named one of the 50 Most Influential Graphic Designers in the United States by Fast Company. He is a co-founder of the Daytum.com website, a service that allows you to systematize daily classes and make schedules for them.

“I try to live differently every year, and I have my own scheme. If the year is odd (eg 2009) I travel a lot and focus on my own projects. In even years, I try to work more and earn more. In 2005 I spent 5 weeks traveling the world and in 2007 I traveled for 3 weeks in China, Tibet and Nepal. After both trips, I returned to work full of creative energy, new ideas.

Another strategy of mine is to agree to all offers, even if there are more than I can fulfill. Increasing demands on oneself and the fear of failing the case are always kept in good shape.

Tom Mueller. Belgian graphic designer, founder of helloMuller Ltd, a graphics and illustration studio.

“I get inspired by the most ordinary things that surround me. I rarely have a complete lack of ideas: something is spinning in my head all the time, and here it is already a question of prioritization and time allocation.

For inspiration, you can turn to your own work: working on one font for a whole year, I periodically borrowed from my old design sketches. Therefore, do not forget about your notebooks, and in general, old objects are a real treasure: looking at the covers of old books and the Hiroshima poster by Wim Crowell helped me a lot in my work.

So go for it: ideas are everywhere - they will definitely arise, especially if you don’t specifically look for them. ”

Audrey Kawasaki. Los Angeles-based artist known for her subtly erotic illustrations, combining Japanese manga and Art Nouveau techniques.

“When all the ideas run out, it means that I just can’t concentrate and patiently get down to work, or I’m worried about something that is not directly related to the case. Over the years, I have developed a tactic: just put on headphones and listen to music. Music helps to distance and not be distracted by extraneous things. Although lately I listen to audio podcasts in such cases - you can find a lot of inspiring stories in them.

Hoi Win. Director of the design department of NYTimes.com, who, in particular, developed the Mixel application, a tool for making collages from any photos and pictures.

“My recipe is to read a lot and make a lot of sketches or drafts. Reading is a long-term investment in your development: you need to constantly accumulate ideas, opinions, details, points of view, metaphors and symbols, so that later you can start any project with a huge knowledge base and sources of inspiration, and with the help of sketches you can activate all the passive information that stored in the head.

Visualization of different ideas - even unrelated ones - in the end will tell you what exactly you are missing in the project. The main thing is to draw quickly and without hesitation, in no case drawing details: this is how you think not about the execution of the drawing, but about its content.

Kim Holtermand. The Danish photographer, who specializes in architecture and landscape photography, started his career just a couple of years ago, so he continues to work as a fingerprint expert in the forensic department of the Danish police.

“Only music can restore my creative spirit - it is an inexhaustible source of creativity. Many of my works were created with tracks from Sigur Rós (this is music for all time), Hammock, Max Richter, Air, Dead Can Dance, Helios, Johann Johannsson, Jonsi and Alex, M83, Olafur Arnalds, Trentemøller... In general , I can go on indefinitely."

Jasper Goodall. Freelance illustrator based in Birmingham. He promotes his own swimwear label JG4B and calls them art to wear.

“Several things help me: firstly, to break away from the computer. Go to some city I haven't been to yet and just wander around: one day I sat in a cafe in Berlin and so many ideas came to mind that I honestly didn't know what to do with them.

I also go to the library of the local University of Arts and Design where you can look through old editions of design and photography magazines. After I come home, I print out the articles and pictures I like and paste them into a thick notebook. Ideas after that - more than enough.

Eric Spiekermann. The legendary German typographer, professor at the University of Bremen, compatriot and successor to the work of the first printer Gutenberg. He considers his interest in typography an incurable disease and calls it typographic mania.

I have 5 tips:

Get distracted. Do something else that will distract you - wash your car or sort out old files on your computer.

Think. Sit back in your chair and just stop controlling your flow of thoughts.

Explore. Search for information, bring up your old projects, but avoid Google - you can spend too much time before coming across something useful.

Make sketches. Drawing is great, even if you're completely incapable of it. Visualization of thoughts immediately revives them.

Share. Take a break from the problem, break your project into small parts and put them back together.

Ji Lee. He currently holds the position of Creative Director of Facebook. Prior to that, he worked in a similar position at Google. He not only conducts creative developments, but also lectures all over the world - including giving a master class at St. Petersburg State University.

“When the “ideological block” comes, I do several things. I go to the shower for a long time - old thoughts are washed away there, and I feel like I am renewed. After that, I clean the apartment: I can’t think when everything is a mess. If there is still no result, I go cycling around the neighborhood and try not to think about my project at all. One way or another, this scheme always works.”

Si Scott. British graphic designer and illustrator best known for his 3D paper models. He lectures at Leeds College of Art and Design, periodically - in different cities of the world. Among his customers were Vogue, Nike and Tiffany & Co.

“It happens to me quite often that I can’t think of anything, but it happens with all creative people. I realized that there is only one way to overcome this: not to sit and wait for inspiration to return, but to keep working, to use all the ideas that are there, no matter how inappropriate they may seem.

design unit. Danish design studio specializing in fashion, book and magazine design, video production.

“There are only two creatives in our studio. For each individual project, we attract different people, freelancers, who, in our opinion, are most suitable for this work. We are always looking for sources of inspiration and make sure to write them down so that later, if necessary, we can return to them again. These can be objects on the street that catch your eye (they must be photographed), books, fashion shows, films, blogs, etc. So every time we start a new project, we discuss things that can get us in the right mood and make moodboards - collections of pictures that inspire us."

mine. A San Francisco graphic design studio with nothing on its website but a single caption: “We make books, packaging, graphics, and interactive campaigns for science visionaries, educational revolutionaries, best-selling authors, museums, telecom giants, and Hollywood producers.

You are stuck if you seriously believe that there are no ideas, you don’t know how to get out of the stagnation, and if you know how to get out, but doubt your abilities. In these cases, you need to do this:

I ask myself, am I really stuck? Sometimes we still generate a lot of ideas, but for some reason we convince ourselves that this is a creative crisis. And then, a creative crisis is also something new: you need to perceive it as a new experience.

I do nothing. If you are stuck, it means that you cannot clearly identify the problem that prevents you from moving on. The best medicine in this situation is a fresh perspective. By abstracting from the problem, I can see it better. I can go to the cinema or to the museum - one way or another, new impressions will push me to the right decision.

I switch to what I'm good at to remind myself that I'm awesome. Sometimes I know how to solve a problem, but the solution seems very heavy. Then I take on other, simple tasks: it can be a blog post, cleaning the garage, whatever. Performing tasks quickly and well, I am convinced that I can do everything: and even the most difficult task seems to be just another item that needs to be crossed off the to-do list. And no more panic.

airside. A creative agency from the UK that knows exactly what an ideological block can lead to a dead end and what to do about it. The creators of the studio, which has won many awards from D&AD and Design Week, this year decided to close it and do their own projects: record a music album, go to Tokyo, go to work in another agency.

“Set your alarm for 5 am. When it rings, either get up and enjoy this unique time of day, or go back to sleep and have vivid, crazy dreams: since you will be in the REM stage, they will remain in your head after you wake up and charge you with creativity for all day.

Don't sit and wait for something to pop into your head. Do not read magazines, do not search on Google - go to the street, to the theater, to the museum, for a walk. Be sure to turn off your phone and do not take your computer with you.

Expand your area of interest. The more you consume a cultural product, the better you can understand what your client wants to see in the end. Exchange opinions with colleagues, look at your project from different angles.

On the other hand, you can, on the contrary, not listen to anyone, abstract from all the rules and work as you feel and as you like. If you are tired of the fact that in the creative industry everything comes down to a compromise between the customer and the performer, just rely on your creative instinct and try to infect others with it.

Kevin Dart. Freelance artist based in Los Angeles who has done animation for Walt Disney, Dreamworks and Cartoon Network.

“I have a lot of tricks for such situations: for example, look at photos on the Internet, change the desktop to a table in a coffee shop, and much more. But it's best to just talk to your friends. They look at things in a completely different way than I do and tell a lot of new things: they can throw up a cool inspiring photo or just cheer with a couple of good words - it always makes you move on!”

Invisible Creature. The two founders of the Seattle-based design studio are former punk rockers who embraced the DIY aesthetic and incorporated it into their designs. Received orders from Esquire, New York Times, Nike and Sony.

"Leave. This simple word has a million possible scenarios. We're just leaving the office. We never know where we end up in the end: it could be a bookstore, a cinema, a park, a forest, a riverbank, or just a house. The goal is always the same - to find something that inspires. Not necessarily something new: it should be something that will make us return to the table, pick up a pencil and start drawing. We also spend our weekly meetings not in the office, but in a local cafe - there we always get more good ideas.

national forest. The creators of the California think-tank National Forest call themselves innovative thinkers and visual engineers. Their customers include Puma, Burton Snowboards and Roxy.

Justin Kritmeyer

“I go for a run, or a bike ride, or a walk with the dog - in general, do anything but work on a project. My theory is that good ideas are hidden in excess weight; if you burn it - they will be freed! And the worst thing you can do is to panic and try to collect all your ideas in one pile. Therefore, every time something useful appears in my head, I write down the idea on my phone and send myself an SMS - so nothing will be lost for sure.

Tess Donho

“The main thing is to get up from the computer. Sitting by the screen has never helped anyone with ideas. I usually find original solutions when I don't really need them. The main thing is to look carefully around: once I was insanely inspired by an ice cream van that drove by. All these strategies converge on one thing - to find inspiration, you need to look for it in the environment and not get hung up.

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For someone who makes a living with ideas, creative blockage can be a matter of life and death. How to deal with it?

We must remember that different situations require different solutions. Here are seven types of creative blocks and how to overcome them:

mental block

The problem lies in your thinking. You look at the situation from the same angle, make the same assumptions and try similar approaches. Or your inner critic is preventing you from thinking straight.

Solution: Change your thinking. Question your axioms. Ask yourself "What if...". Look at the situation from a different angle. Go to a new place, read/play/listen to something new. Talk to people from whom you can expect opposition or an alternative point of view.

Emotional barrier

The creative process can be very emotional. And it's not always pleasant. When confronted with the unknown, you may discover something shocking about yourself. All this sucks mental energy and leads to procrastination.

Solution: Don't be afraid to face the worst, reach the end. Rituals, obligations, meditation will help to stay on this path. It is necessary to overcome pain, fear and any other unpleasant emotions. An analogy with immersion in ice water is appropriate. You can immediately dive with your head, or you can dive centimeter by centimeter. It will be cold to shivering, but after the first shock it will become much easier.

Habits that interfere with work

Perhaps the problem is just your habits. You start work too early, leave too late, work too long or too little, work too hard or too relaxed, do little or no stimulation. Or maybe it’s just that you don’t have the courage to give up routine tasks like checking email.

Solution: Take a step back and analyze your approach to work. Find pain points. If you don't have enough energy, try working at other times of the day. If paralyzed by freedom, find a way to structure your day. If the routine constrains, improvise. There are no easy solutions here. You need to look for what works for you. Find a balance between rituals, systemicity and spontaneity, and a creative explosion will not keep you waiting.

Personal problems

Creativity requires concentration. It's hard to focus when you're getting a divorce, babysitting, fighting a bad habit, fighting with your best friend, grieving someone, moving house, or arguing with your neighbor. Usually we deal with two or three such problems at once. If with one, then consider yourself lucky.

Solution: There are only two ways: solve the problem or endure until it resolves itself. In both cases, work can become a refuge in which to forget.

Poverty

It's not just about money. There may be a shortage of time, knowledge, communication quality, equipment - whatever.

An excess of ideas, commitments, information, etc.

Sometimes stupor arises not from deficiency, but from excess. You are simply paralyzed by the variety of options.

Solution: Cut off the excess. If you have too many obligations, learn to say no. If there are too many ideas, kill the weakest ones, put the secondary ones aside and work only with the best ones. If there is too much information, tighten up your rituals. Answer email several times a day. Turn off your phone. The world won't collapse, I promise.

Bad communication

When working as a team, friction is inevitable. Especially if you work better than others. Sometimes the problem is only apparent - you imagine that your work is not to the liking of the audience and critics.

Solution: Learn to understand and influence the right people, no matter how complex and mysterious they are. If you want to succeed, you have to forget about shyness and introversion. In some cases, you will have to accept that you will not please everyone. There is not a single genius in the world who has not experienced failures and merciless criticism.

Every freelancer faces creative block sooner or later. And, as a rule, he remembers for a long time that unpleasant feeling when you realize that you cannot come up with a single worthwhile idea. When there are only solid stamps in the head and it is extremely clear that the customer will not accept any of the proposed options. And you won't be able to make money. Creative block is a really serious problem, comparable in its importance to creative burnout, which can deprive a freelancer of working capacity for a very long time. But unlike burnout, which is most often the result of severe fatigue, the causes of creative block are somewhat different. What are these reasons?

Hard work

Many freelancers, in pursuit of good earnings, completely forget about labor discipline and begin to process. Some are even proud of it, believing that fatigue from work gives some meaning to their work. This is a big mistake. In a field like freelancing, fatigue can never be a measure of success. On the contrary, if a freelancer feels completely exhausted and overwhelmed at the end of the working day, he is clearly doing something wrong. And the chances of “catching” a mental block in such a would-be specialist increase significantly.

Yes, it takes a lot of work to be successful as a freelancer. Nobody argues with this. But work is different. It is extremely important for a freelancer to keep their creativity at a certain level, otherwise they simply will not be able to regularly produce original content. And that is exactly what is required of him. Customers do not need an executive worker, they need a person who will solve their problems. A person who will look at the problem with a fresh eye and offer the most optimal solution.

In order to never experience a creative block, it is best to eliminate all the causes that can lead to its occurrence. And the most common cause of mental blocks is fatigue. For a freelancer, if he wants to constantly stay in good creative shape, it is very important to find his balance between work and leisure. All successful freelancers have long understood that in order to do everything and make good money, you don’t need to work a standard eight-hour day at all. Anything a freelancer gets paid to do can be done in a much shorter amount of time if you plan well and stay focused on the job. Then you need to give your brain a rest. If this is not done, it will become much more difficult to generate new ideas.

Wrong priorities

Any serious freelancer strives to plan his work, otherwise you can get bogged down in a routine and completely run out of business. But you need to plan wisely, prioritizing correctly. Working according to a plan has a huge number of advantages, but there is one big disadvantage - for some freelancers, a to-do list can be a creative block. The fact is that the work plan itself is a document that forces you to work. And for many, this is a problem. Nobody likes to work under duress, especially creative people. But you still need to work, so you need to do something.

If creative blockage comes from the fact that the most important things turn out to be unpleasant, then the To-Do list needs to be redone. The work of a freelancer should by no means resemble torture, no matter how difficult it may be. If you try to generate ideas “through I can’t”, sooner or later the creative forces will run out. A person is not a machine, he has extremely limited resources in terms of creativity and you can’t thoughtlessly spend your creativity on doing work with a low priority. Cases that require fresh thinking and a non-standard approach should always have the highest priority. Therefore, in the schedule, such cases should be set at a time when the freelancer is full of strength and creative energy overwhelms him. This approach almost completely eliminates the possibility of mental blocks.

Difficult clients

In most cases, the freelancer himself is to blame for the occurrence of a creative block. But sometimes trouble comes from outside, if a difficult client comes across. A freelancer can gush with new ideas as much as he wants, but if the customer does not accept them, sooner or later the creativity will drop to zero. What to do in this case?

The answer is obvious - you need to be more careful in choosing customers. If the customer himself does not know what he needs, working with him will turn into real torture. In such conditions, mental blocks will appear literally at every turn, because it is very difficult to generate ideas if you do not know exactly what needs to be done. There are many ways to get a picky or insecure customer to become more accommodating. And the most effective of them is the brief. Because the lack of a brief is very often the cause of a creative block. And the larger the project, the more detailed the brief should be.

The brief is like a guide for a freelancer. It describes everything that needs to be done, it is a ready-made program of actions, which in itself is an incentive to work and generate ideas. If there is no brief or it is not specific, this can lead to the fact that at some point the freelancer will lose his bearings and simply cannot move on. And each of his next steps will be accompanied by a creative stupor.

procrastination

Sometimes it can be very difficult to understand whether a creative block is the cause of procrastination or not. If a freelancer tends to leave important things for later, it will be very difficult for him to generate new ideas. So many procrastinating freelancers know the impact of delays on creativity. It is very important to understand at the same time that procrastination is not laziness, but a psychological phenomenon and the approach to solving this problem should be completely different. If a freelancer knows that he is lazy, then he simply does not have enough motivation. But if he procrastinates, then this indicates that something is wrong with his work.

There are many reasons why people start procrastinating. But more often than not, procrastination comes from poor planning. For example, if a freelancer sets himself a big and important task. The sheer scale of the problem to be solved can trigger procrastination, which in turn will lead to mental blocks.

If the creative block is caused by procrastination, then you first need to figure out what exactly is preventing effective work. Something is clearly preventing you from doing what you need to do. Most often, the mental block is caused by some not very interesting work. To cope with procrastination and release creative energy, you can use the so-called "Swiss cheese" method. That is, not to “eat” a large piece of conditional cheese (work) at a time, but to bite off small pieces from it. Any work can be divided into several stages, each of which will be quite simple to perform and interesting in its own way. If a freelancer realizes that he has a creative block due to the fact that he cannot proceed to the first stage, then it is best for him to find a task that will inspire him. The most important thing is to start working and it does not matter if the freelancer changes priorities a little. But this advice is useful only for those who often experience bouts of procrastination. For a disciplined freelancer, incorrect prioritization will significantly reduce work efficiency.

High expectations

Too high expectations can also lead to creative stupor. Sometimes the task seems so interesting that the freelancer loses objectivity. It begins to seem to him that in order to cope with the problem posed, some non-standard moves are needed. Needless to say, attempts to create something ingenious usually remain only attempts. And then comes fatigue and the understanding that there are no original ideas and it is not clear where to get them.

High expectations are a real problem that can affect creativity. In order not to fall into a creative stupor due to unfulfilled hopes, you need to really look at things. Work is just work and should be done as well as possible. And no more. And if during the work a freelancer now and then encounters mental blocks, then this means only one thing - the task set is beyond his strength. Yes, this happens very often. If the creative block is caused by a difficult task, then the freelancer has little choice. He needs to either give up work or hire assistants. No other way.

Instead of a conclusion

Freelancing involves intensive mental work on an ongoing basis. And you need to understand that various problems may arise during work, including mental blocks. Yes, a creative block is an extremely unpleasant thing, but you need to be prepared for its appearance, since this is part of the job. In order to constantly stay in good creative shape, you need to follow a few simple rules. For example, do not recycle. Or not contacting problem clients. Over time, any freelancer begins to understand what exactly can lead to a creative block and arranges his work in such a way that it does not interfere with the emergence of new ideas. And even if he encounters a creative block, he always has some reliable ways to deal with an unexpected problem. After all, the absence of ideas in one particular head does not mean at all that they do not exist at all. Ideas are always there, you just need to find them and implement them. And the more a freelancer knows about the causes of mental blocks and ways to bypass them, the more successful his career will develop.

How often did this happen to you? You open a file with a work you have started or a notebook with it (if you write by hand), stare blankly at a white sheet for a minute and close it. I think this condition is familiar to many creative people. And if some are unfamiliar, then they can only envy. Or doubt that they are telling the truth.

What is this strange condition? It is called a stupor, creative crisis, lack of inspiration and so on. How to overcome this nasty state and return to the normal rhythm of work?

Let me start with a few sentences. And you mentally put a tick where you recognize yourself at the moment when you think that you are in a stupor.

1. There is no mood at all to write something today. Maybe it will show up tomorrow?

2. Now I’ll look at my page in contact (Facebook, SI, etc.), look at the latest updates, see what’s new with my friends, answer the message and immediately start writing.

3. First I will drink coffee, eat a cake, turn on the music for mood and immediately start writing.

4. The work is completely tired, I can’t devote enough time to creativity. Plus a lot of homework. You also need to meet friends, help so-and-so, go there. (The stream of thoughts can concern anything, but the main thing is that they all attack you at the very moment when you opened the ill-fated novel and are trying to force yourself to write it.)

5. Without inspiration, nothing sensible will work anyway. Therefore, today it makes no sense to even try to write something. It will still be bullshit.

6. I am mediocrity, no one likes my works anyway. The critic Pupkin said that my work sucks, and the critic Loshadkin said that I would never learn to write. So who am I kidding? Why write something at all if there is no normal result anyway?

The list can be continued indefinitely, but if you ticked at least one checkbox, you yourself are driving yourself into a creative stupor. You can't blame anyone but yourself for this. Vitya, Masha, Petya, Vasya will not come and the magical Muses will not fly on the wings of inspiration and will not write anything for you. If Moose arrives on one of your rare lucky days, then you will shoot him down on the approach, so that next time he arrives as rarely as possible.

Why can someone give out 3-4 novels a year without much effort, and you haven’t been able to write even one this year? Do you think he got it and you don't? Nonsense and other excuses. Everything is decided by perseverance and inner attitude. Don't expect to get something without putting in the slightest effort. Everything is only in your hands.

If you are determined to finish the job, start immediately, and do not wait for tomorrow or the New Year.

Guide to action:

1. Remove things that might distract you. When you open the file, the Internet should have been tightly closed. No tab should be open. If it's hard to keep from answering calls, or you might be interrupted by smartphone or tablet beeps, turn them off as well.

2. Get rid of extraneous thoughts. All other thoughts and problems should be expelled from your head for this half hour, hour, or any other amount of time that you decide to devote to creativity.

3. Create a creative atmosphere. If music or dim lights help you focus, create that atmosphere. But if they distract you from business, work as usual.

4. Create a special mood in your head. Do not think now that tomorrow at work you will need to do this and that, take the child to the grandmother and so on. You will have plenty of time for these thoughts. Now try to immerse yourself in the world that you describe in the novel. Dive in with your head. If it helps you, imagine yourself in the place of the hero who is now in the focus of your attention. Get into his skin and live these minutes of his life.

5. Just start. It is enough to write a few sentences and that's it - the brain will start working. And you can't be stopped. You've caught inspiration by the tail. That's right: it does not come when it pleases, it is always with you, you just stubbornly do not notice it. It is enough to understand this simple truth - and you are always on horseback.

6. Write regularly. The more you take a break from creativity, the more difficult it is for you to get back into the right rhythm. Even if you miss two days, it's hard to tune in. I'm already silent about weeks and months. Try not to take long breaks. Even if you write only a page or a paragraph, this is already considered. You keep yourself in great writing shape.

Think of writing as exercise. If the second is necessary for your body, then the first is the divine spark that you are endowed with, unlike many others. Don't bury your talent in the ground and act like a petulant child by rejecting it. Who will benefit from the fact that you give up and succumb to your laziness and unwillingness to tune in to work? It will be better for a bunch of your competitors who rub their hands in glee. It will be better for the critics Pupkin and Loshadkina (Wow, we zachmyli another nachpis. We are cool!) One more loser. Do you really want to be such a loser? Your will. It's only worse for you.

But if you want to prove to yourself first of all that you are capable of something in this life, go ahead. All in your hands!

P.S. For those who are now starting to come up with new excuses (no time, I'm so busy, etc.): how much time have you now spent reading this article? How many people have been aimlessly clicking with the mouse before, opening and closing various pages of the Internet? Even if 10 - 15 minutes, then think about the fact that during this time you could write a whole page. And don't say that you couldn't. They could, they just didn't want to. That's the whole point - just want and do.

Kim Holtermand

The Danish photographer, who specializes in architecture and landscape photography, started his career just a couple of years ago, so he continues to work as a fingerprint expert in the forensic department of the Danish police.

Jasper Goodall

Freelance illustrator based in Birmingham. He promotes his own swimwear label JG4B and calls them art to wear.

Eric Spiekermann

The legendary German typographer, professor at the University of Bremen, compatriot and successor to the work of the first printer Gutenberg. He considers his interest in typography an incurable disease and calls it typographic mania.

I have 5 tips:

Get distracted. Do something else that will distract you - wash your car or sort out old files on your computer.

Think. Sit back in your chair and just stop controlling your flow of thoughts.

Explore. Seek information, bring up your old projects, but avoid Google -

you can spend too much time before you come across something useful.

Make sketches. Drawing is great, even if you're completely incapable of it. Visualization of thoughts immediately revives them.

Share. Take a break from the problem, break your project into small parts and put them back together.

Gee Lee

He currently holds the position of Creative Director of Facebook. Prior to that, he worked in a similar position at Google. He not only conducts creative developments, but also lectures all over the world - including giving a master class at St. Petersburg State University.

Sea Scott

British graphic designer and illustrator best known for his 3D paper models. He lectures at Leeds College of Art and Design, periodically - in different cities of the world. Among his customers were Vogue, Nike and Tiffany & Co.

MINE

A San Francisco graphic design studio with nothing on its website but a single caption: “We make books, packaging, graphics, and interactive campaigns for science visionaries, educational revolutionaries, best-selling authors, museums, telecom giants, and Hollywood producers.

I switch to what I'm good at to remind myself that I'm awesome.. Sometimes I know how to solve a problem, but the solution seems very heavy. Then I take on other, simple tasks: it can be a blog post, cleaning the garage, whatever. Performing tasks quickly and well, I am convinced that I can do everything: and even the most difficult task seems to be just another item that needs to be crossed off the to-do list. And no more panic.

air side

A creative agency from the UK that knows exactly what an ideological block can lead to a dead end and what to do about it. The creators of the studio, which has won many awards from D&AD and Design Week, this year decided to close it and do their own projects: record a music album, go to Tokyo, go to work in another agency.

Invisible Creature

The two founders of the Seattle-based design studio are former punk rockers who embraced the DIY aesthetic and incorporated it into their designs. Received orders from Esquire, New York Times, Nike and Sony.