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The evolution of ideas is rarely a linear process: it is a winding journey fuelled by the input of multiple minds, an abundance of research, a surplus of ideas and a lot of critical feedback – all feeding into and reworking the project until it becomes the final finished piece. For every finely tuned and polished outcome, there will be a whole host of discarded, rejected and undeveloped ideas left along the way, all enthusiastically created and put together before being cast aside in favour of the perfect solution. This is the nature of creation: initially the aim is to create a bounty of ideas, then consistently filter, fuse and fine tune them until you have created something that fulfils all the necessary elements of the brief.
For this reason, the planning stage of any project is invaluable. Although you may already have a clear idea in mind of exactly what you think the outcome will be, ideas can invariably be developed and improved – so with effective planning you could end up with an incredibly successful final solution that is far-removed from your original intentions. This is the function of the design and marketing agency: as a client, you present a brief of what it is you want and what you want to achieve – our job is to interpret this, to apply our knowledge and expertise, and provide you with an innovative solution that will set you apart from your competition and guarantee you achieve the results that you need.
To ensure this process is as efficient and effective as possible, we make sure we ask all the right questions, quickly absorbing and processing all the relevant information about your business and industry. We then take this information, added together with our own detailed research, and work with you as a client to define the objectives and end goals of the project.
Once these aims have been clearly established, we ensure that the messaging is perfectly in keeping with your brand and then agree upon the precise direction the project should take. After this, we start producing and evolving ideas, ensuring they firmly adhere to the end goals…and all this comes before even attempting to embark upon the design stage!
We hope that we have given you an interesting insight into the vital planning behind the creative process: please note that as an experienced design and marketing agency, we have refined and perfected our methods based upon what we have discovered works best for ourselves and our clients – this is not an all-encompassing account of how the planning process works in the industry! If you are interested in working with The Energy Cell or have a specific project you would like to discuss, please don’t hesitate to contact the team via our Contact Page!
‘We love technology! We’re unashamedly geeky about it. So we’ll tell you what we think without fear or favour. That’s what we’re about. We’re able to promise this because we’re the largest UK-based consumer technology news and reviews site, our editorial independence backed by the weight of the UK’s largest technology publisher plus objective test data from the TechRadar Labs.’
If like us, you are interested in all things technological, then take a look at TechRadar! The website is packed full of helpful reviews on digital products, articles, blogs and the latest rumours. It’s free to sign up and join, so if you are interested in becoming a part of the community, it’s easy to register. Although you can read all the articles without signing up, creating an account allows you to receive the free weekly newsletter, forum access, money off offers, competitions, and the ability to comment on articles. The site also includes other features, such as browsing for the best phone deals or checking out how much your old mobile phone could be worth. All the news and reviews articles are thorough, and the major benefit of the site being based in the UK is that all the prices and price comparisons are in pounds sterling. So, if you are contemplating investing in a new phone, laptop, camera or any digital product, or simply like to keep informed about technology, have a browse and get all the latest technology news as it happens!
‘500px is a photographic community powered by creative people from all over the world that lets you share and discover inspiring photographs.’
Whether you are a photographer yourself or just a fan of amazing photography, 500px is a busy online community bursting with galleries full of fantastic, high quality images. If you just want to browse the photos without signing up, you can peruse a variety of categories, such as the popular and editor’s choice photos, or download and browse on the 500px application for the iPad. Or, if you want to get more involved, you can register for an account and become part of the photocommunity. If you have your own photography portfolios, you can upload and share these on the site, add information about them and then see how popular they become! When browsing the photographs, you are also given the option to ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ them, or add them to your favourites to create a list of the images that particularly strike you – ideal for coming back and browsing when you are lacking inspiration. Additional features include the ability to add a blog, add friends and much more, so if you are a photographer or photography enthusiast, click here and enjoy!
For any project, problem or proposal, innovative idea generation is at the root of finding a solution. In order to produce a wide variety of concepts, there are a number of different tools and techniques you can use to aid you. So, as promised, here’s a short exploration into some of these tools – you should use your experience, knowledge of the target audience and commercial understanding of the goals to consider if and how they could be useful to you or your business!
Firstly, some of the old favourites:
Brainstorming – Probably the most well-known and widely used tool, brainstorms can help assemble a large quantity of ideas, either from an individual or more typically a small group. The method of creating a central problem or idea and branching off with as many ideas, words and thoughts as possible, creates a physical visualisation of concepts and is a great starting point.
Mind-Mapping – A second stage to brainstorming, mind-maps are a more controlled expression of ideas, focussed on logical organisation and identifying the relationships between ideas. There are a variety of online tools, programmes, and applications to aid the process, including Bubbl, Mindmeister and Xmind – but there’s nothing wrong with using good old fashioned pen and paper!
Storyboarding – Mainly used in the creative industry, although suitable for producing visual solutions to many complex problems, storyboards can be used to connect images with text, creating a clear story and flow of ideas – allowing everyone involved to fully grasp the concept of what you are trying to achieve.
There are also a variety of creativity tools and techniques that are less widely known and adopted, for example:
Lotus Blossoms – With the lotus blossom technique, you create a grid with a core idea in the centre and 6 or 8 empty spaces around it. Once you have filled each of these with an idea, these are then expanded away from the central problem and 6 to 8 more ideas placed around each of these, as shown here. Designed mainly for groups, this technique prevents you becoming fixated on a certain path by encouraging you to produce a certain number of alternative ideas.
Random Word Generation – There are a variety of online tools available that generate random words – encouraging you to try and think laterally, creating links between random concepts and using your ideas and thoughts to leap frog you onto other ways of thinking.
If you are attempting to do something really conceptual, or perhaps attempting a group exercise in creativity, you could try and attempt something really unusual. For example, the site Animal Crackers encourages you to think how animal adaptions may relate to the problems you are trying to solve. For more information and ideas, check out the Innovation Tools website, or if you have any creativity tools of your own (conceptual or otherwise!) – please share them with the team!
‘Fancy is part store, blog, magazine and wishlist. It’s a place to discover great stuff, to curate a collection of things you love, to get updates on your favorite brands and stores and to share your discoveries.’
If you are looking for creative inspiration, gift ideas or just have an interest in contemporary art or products, then the Fancy is definitely a site to explore! The site allows you to browse images in a variety of categories, and if there’s something that particularly strikes you, you can ‘Fancy it’. At the click of a button, the Fancy creates a personalised catalogue full of the images that you love. You can use this for creative inspiration, to explore your personal taste in clothing, furniture and art, or share your favourite images with others; an ideal way of giving people an insight into your personality and exploring potential gift ideas. Some of the products are also available to buy, so you are able to click the ‘Buy It’ links and purchase the items you want from external sites. There are apps available for Apple devices or Android Phones, so you can fancy things on the move and there are always special deals on offer by different brand or product owners. So, if you have a passion for style and cutting edge ideas, have a browse, and see what takes your fancy!