The Creative Factor

What is the secret to coming up with good ideas? It's that there is no secret. In fact, we have tactics you can use to help you come up with your next good idea. Our editor Matt McCue breaks it down below in our piece creatively titled "How to Come Up with Good Ideas" and shares one tip you can start using right now. https://lnkd.in/dcMDWnGY

How Dave Matthews Band Tour Photographer Sanjay Suchak Meshes His Two Loves For Sanjay Suchak, a perfect moment is elusive: it’s hard to predict, hard to describe, but he’ll know it when he sees it. As the tour photographer for artists like Dave Matthews Band, Public Enemy, and Slightly Stoopid, Suchak documents incredible live concert moments like this unexpected one of Dave Matthews and Stevie Wonder holding hands (see below). Yet photography wasn’t exactly the career he had envisioned for himself. From a very young age, Suchak witnessed first-hand what an oppressive government can cost a family. His father had emigrated from Zanzibar to escape upheaval on the island, and Suchak decided he was going to work in government and public policy. He studied political science and international relations in college, and went on to work in Congress. Everything was going as planned. That is, of course, until his love of photography which was ignited by the old Nikon film camera that belonged to his mother, pulled him away. And wow, what a camera can do to change someone’s life. Read the full interview here, where Suchak takes us inside the process behind how he works, including how he got behind police lines to document the removal of confederate statues in Charlottesville; how creativity is an exercise that you can practice everywhere (even in the shower); and why he believes that borrowing like an artist is critical for mastering your craft, no matter what stage you’re at in your career: https://lnkd.in/e5VYXK-a

This week, set designer Anne Seibel shares how she built the world for Emily in Paris (including the big, bold idea she pulled off in season 2 that they’re still using today). Then, Sports Illustrated Kids art director Drew Dzwonkowski shares how he brings each issue to life with a crazy work routine. Finally, we revisit a goodie from the archives — the incredible and highly contested Alcatraz escape tale that Droga5 Dublin CCO Alan Kelly decided to investigate with AI. (Hint: he believes he cracked the case.)

How HBO Costume Designer Colleen Morris-Glennon Inspires Joy On-Screen and Beyond It’s Jamaica in the ’70s: think Bob Marley and Grace Jones, the blues of the Caribbean Sea and mountains, and the first-ever James Bond film that was recently shot on the island. It is here where costume and fashion designer Colleen Morris-Glennon grew up and found her calling, surrounded by an elusive creative energy and the unmistakable clicking sounds of her family’s sewing machine. So when her mother taught her how to make her first garment, it was only natural that it would be the first of many Colleen Morris-Glennon styles to follow. But she never expected them to end up on the big screens. It started when she dressed “The Queen of Disco” Donna Summer in her early twenties. Next came Law and Order: Criminal Intent. And then it was her father crying at her name on the playbill for Rent when Morris-Glennon knew things were getting serious. Today, her work includes the costume designs for titles like Industry, Hijack, Bolden, and The Unexpected, as well as iconic looks for London Fashion Week, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and more. Here at this summit, Morris-Glennon shares how she got to where she is today, including the unexpected color combinations, fabrics, and looks that she chooses for her stories; what it took to pull off season 2 of Industry under very tight constraints; and why the world needs creativity to inspire joy: https://lnkd.in/eaGgyd3f

Selling Social Impact and Living Your Values: A conversation with Ben Ostrower, founder of Wide Eye (the team behind the branding work for the Harris-Walz campaign + the 2024 DNC!) If you've tuned into the news lately, you know that this week is the Democratic National Convention... but you might not know who is behind the creative direction for their branding work. As it turns out, Ben Ostrower and his team at Wide Eye have been up to some pretty cool stuff (see below) — under some very tight and unexpected deadlines, no less. Many moons ago, we chatted with Ostrower about how he came to start Wide Eye, the secret sauce that allows them to work with organizations that have clear and sometimes conflicting elements of their mission, and the tradeoffs of aligning your personal values with your professional work. Read that full interview here: https://lnkd.in/engFTgZR

Emily in Paris Season 4, Part 1 debuts today — so obviously, we had to sit down with the creative mastermind behind this world, French production designer Anne Seibel. "I like to tell people that I’m like the conductor of an orchestra. There are so many sets for Emily — probably 180 sets in total. I don’t have the time for that," Seibel says. "So I’ve worked with the same illustrator for 20 years because she draws like me; the way she draws is like the opposite of a computer drawing, you know?" Read her full interview with us here, where Seibel shares the creative lessons, challenges, and secrets to working as a production designer: https://lnkd.in/gtyVKFXK

This week, we share some creative lessons and takeaways from the process of making the first James Bond film. Then, Creative Director of Planned Planned Parenthood Federation of America Ande Campbell Hubbard shares how she leads the creative direction for America’s leading provider of reproductive health services. Finally, opera librettist David Cote shares how he recast himself and his career, plus some advice on how creators can put themselves out there.

Landon Van Soest: The Creative Hurdles of Documentary Filmmaking Emmy Award-winning director Landon Van Soest begins each day with the biggest challenge or inspiration on his plate, working at it as long as possible until he needs to step away to maintain some type of normalcy and sanity. The life of documentary filmmakers, you know. If it weren’t for his films, which make social commentary on a range of issues like bank robberies, rural life, and police violence, this might not make sense. But once you see it, you get it: the 16-hour long workdays are for a purpose, to tell stories that the world needs to hear. His most recent film The Jewel Thief was critically acclaimed by everyone from Rolling Stone and Psychology Today to the Wall Street Journal for brilliantly unraveling the story behind one of the most creative, calculating, and accomplished criminal masterminds in modern history. Here, the documentary filmmaker and producer shares how he works, including how he finds peace and solitude in a cabin in the Catskills; the importance of progress over perfection; and his idea to re-invent the whole shower concept so there’s no waiting around and wasting water anymore: https://lnkd.in/eDjQC8wR

This week, we hear from Meena Yi, the creative director at the White House, on how she determines situations where she might push back on feedback and fight for her ideas and preferences in her role as creative director. Using a one to 10 scale might just be the most logical way to pick your battles at work. Let’s see!

Excited about all the great creative people we're speaking to right now! Special thanks to artist Geoff McFetridge; creative director of Planned Parenthood, Ande Campbell Hubbard; costume designer Colleen Morris-Glennon; photographer Sanjay Suchak; and production designer Anne Seibel. Here are some editorial highlights from the past month, as well as some stories to look out for in the coming weeks...