I have always been a fairly analytical person. I feel comfortable working with a certain structure that has clear steps and a desirable outcome.
Creative work challenged that immediately. There was no sequence that guaranteed a good result, and the process seemed to require both an overwhelming number of new skills and often contradictory behaviours.
At first, I saw all these contradictory practices as one enormous to-do list that made the uncertainty even more frustrating: there was no clear path to follow, yet there were still so many techniques I needed to master.
So, to bring some structure to a process that naturally has very little, I started dividing the work into different stages; each with a different job, set of skills and specific moment to enter the process.
This is the part of the work that seems to have nothing to do with the brief itself but it does.
In The Artist’s Way, Julia Cameron talks about “filling the well”: creative output depends on input. If you constantly demand ideas from yourself without “replenishing” what you experience, eventually there is very little to draw from.
Rick Rubin explores a similar idea in The Creative Act, with more emphasis on awareness. He describes the artist as someone who remains receptive to what is already happening around them.
Russell Davies also talks about this in his book Do Interesting; he suggests that ideas develop through the slow accumulation of thoughts, questions and observations and he connects interesting ideas with being interested in the world around us.
Together, these ideas made me realise something I had not considered: creativity begins long before the brief. If I want interesting output, I have to provide interesting input.
The work at this stage:
I started paying attention to what I could do in order to have a clearer, more present mind and a wider range of experiences to draw from. That's the goal and is the only thing I focus on at this stage.
I read books I would not naturally choose. I am currently reading a sociology book, for example, and I have also been reading fiction, which is not usually my first choice. I also started a YouTube playlist with videos about history, nature and existential questions. Last night, for example, I watched a video about why Tierra del Fuego is called that. Choosing what to watch helps me replace some aimless scrolling with things that actually make me curious.
Then there are smaller changes I try every now and then, like taking a shower without music. They seem minor, but they give my mind a little more room to get bored and think.
In The Creative Act, Rick Rubin connects the word inspiration with its Latin roots, meaning to breathe in or blow into. He uses the image of lungs needing to empty before taking in air to suggest that the mind also needs space in order to get inspired. I find that a useful way to think about this part of the process: collecting experiences matters, but so does leaving enough mental space to notice and absorb them.
Honestly, being present takes work. Much of this part of the process is enjoyable, but I still have to make time for it and keep track of what I am doing. There is also something slightly boring about it that is easy to leave out. Spending twenty minutes writing in the morning is not exactly entertaining every time. Sometimes there is nothing particularly interesting to say, but it helps me feel present, and that makes the work more enjoyable in the long run.
For me, the aim is to keep my mind open with less certainty about what I think I already know. It is about being available to learn and paying attention.
Having said all that, I cannot point to a particular idea that came from these experiences directly, but without them, the rest of the creative process would feel much harder, almost impossible. And even though maintaining these habits takes work, this is also one of the reasons I enjoy creative work: it pushes me to have a more interesting and present life.
Eventually, someone has to open the brief and turn all that collected material into possibilities.
At the beginning of the Master’s, I put too much pressure on every idea. I might come up with fewer than ten routes and quickly become attached to the strongest one. Over time, I realised that generating ideas is not the moment to decide whether they are good or not.
Giving myself permission to produce work that is obvious, unfinished or bad is important. Those “not that creative” ideas can still lead somewhere else. In The Artist’s Way, Cameron argues that creative work has to exist before it can be judged. The point is to give thoughts enough space to appear before criticism interrupts them.
Rubin approaches a similar issue through self-doubt. His approach helped me lower the stakes: The project does not have to prove that I am creative or become the best thing I will ever make. The aim is to make the work, learn from it and continue.
The work at this stage:
When working on the brief there is no clear path, formula or perfect technique for coming up with good ideas. What works once may fail completely the next time, so being flexible and open to different practices is part of the process.
At the start of each working day, I usually reread the brief and whatever I wrote the day before. Sometimes, a thought I barely noticed in the previous session becomes something to draw from for a more interesting route.
This also helps me stay connected to the goal. Many times, I have come up with an idea I liked, only to realise it was completely off brief. If it does not solve the problem, it is not a good response to the brief.
From there, I usually just write and write. This gives me plenty of starting points to develop and makes it easier to keep going without judging everything immediately. I also find it useful to list all the different ways a product could be used, or all the benefits or jobs that a product has.
Sometimes I do not need a completely new route, just another perspective into the one I already have.
When those starting points run out, I try changing how I look at the problem. I might turn what the brief is asking for upside down, imagine how a first-time user or a brand critic would see the product, or look at an object in the room and seek possible connections. These approaches usually help me move beyond my natural thoughts.
Research also gives me new starting points. Exploring the category, the brand and people’s opinions on Reddit helps me find things I had not considered. Initially, I limited research because I thought that would leave more space for creativity. Over time, I realised that analysis and creative thinking work together in my process.
Some experiments have been less useful for me. Starting with something completely random or imagining fictional characters often led to ideas that felt too disconnected from the brief. But that may change. An approach that did not work for me on one project might be useful on another, so the goal here is to work a lot and in different ways.
Daniel Kahneman, in Thinking, Fast and Slow, describes two modes of thinking. System 1 is fast, automatic and associative, while System 2 is slower and analytical. This is a useful way to think about the shift from generating ideas to judging them. Both matter, but the timing makes a difference.
As I mentioned, If judgement appears too early, it can stop an idea before it has had the chance to develop. Julia Cameron describes this critical voice as the “censor”. Personifying that voice helped me recognise it and avoid listening to it before it was needed.
The work at this stage:
Once I have spent enough time generating possibilities, I organise them into a presentation, usually one idea per slide. At that point, I start evaluating them through structured questions: Is it simple? Is it clever? Does the humour work? Could it communicate the wrong message? Most importantly, does it solve the problem and feel like a strong response to the brief?
The strongest ideas stay, and the others are hidden rather than deleted. Judgement changes over time, and I have often returned to an idea I previously disliked and seen a new possibility in it.
Having these questions gives the evaluation some structure, but answering them requires judgement too.
This is where the seemingly contradictory behaviours of the creative process become especially clear. Finding inspiration outside advertising matters as I developed on the stage of “Notice and collect”, but I also think it is important to stay connected to the industry: what work is being made, which campaigns are winning at festivals and competitions, and why they stand out. Regularly looking at that work gives me a stronger frame of reference for evaluating my own ideas.
I have always enjoyed looking at campaigns. This was probably the only part of the process where I already felt in my comfort zone. Keeping up with the industry came naturally because it was something I had always been interested in.
Still, I do not think there will be a point where I can say, “Okay, now I have good taste.” It is easy to become attached to an idea simply because it is mine. Without anything to compare it with, it becomes harder to tell whether I am seeing something strong or just something I want to like.
Looking at other work does not guarantee that my judgement is right, but it gives me something more concrete to assess my ideas against and helps me explain why I think they could work. My criteria will keep changing as I learn and see more, so developing that judgement is also an ongoing part of the process.
After filtering the work down to two or three strong ideas, the goal is no longer to create more possibilities, but to improve the ones I have.
The work at this stage:
I used to spend a lot of time generating ideas and give this stage perhaps half as much attention. Now, I try to leave enough time to explore the execution too. There are so many possibilities, and the first version is usually not the one that makes the most of the idea.
At this point, it feels like the process restarts, passing through all the stages again but now working on one specific idea I have already chosen. I seek references that could work for this idea, generate many alternatives and judge what works.
As I do this, I keep the earlier versions, even the ones I do not like, and build each variation alongside the others. Seeing them together makes it easier to decide what works and notice elements that could be combined.
Another important takeaway at this stage has been that the copy and image should both support the central idea while each adding something of its own. I do not see this as a rule, but it is something I like to keep in mind. I would often start with an insight, develop an idea, write the copy and then choose an image that simply illustrated what the words already said. Over time, I realised that the image could contribute something more. I want it to be interesting in itself and bring another layer to the idea, rather than just repeat the copy.
The aim is to make the most of the idea and communicate it as well as possible, with the problem, insight and execution connecting so naturally that the idea feels the inevitable solution.
Instead of feeling that I simply need to “be more creative”, separating the process into different stages allowed me to focus on one part at a time.
It helped me understand the skills each role requires, identify exactly which parts of the process weren’t working, and determine the specific practices and techniques I could use to improve each part in a more manageable way.