Be thankful for creative inspiration

Our annual cornucopia of creative goodies
 
Thanksgiving is our favorite holiday. What could be better? You look around you, and you express your gratitude for everything you have, and everything you have to look forward to. And you cap it with a tasty supper.
 
If you’re in the creative-services field, or if you simply rely on others (like us) who toil there, we invite you to sit back and sate yourself with this selection of some of our favorite things to be thankful for.
 
What they all have in common: They’re things we often take for granted. Yet they do so much for us, creatively, every day. So it’s only fitting that we pay tribute in time for Thanksgiving. 
 
The dark room
 
Caught ya off-guard there, didn’t we? Translate “dark room” to Latin, and you get camera obscura. Ergo, photography. 
 
Boy, do we ever take photography for granted these days. Not long after its introduction, the iPhone was used to take more pictures than had been taken in the entire history of photography. That’s mind-blowing. And, of course, that’s just the iPhone, not its competitors. And the iPhone has been around since 2007. 
 
Time was, you’d go to a bookstore (remember those?) and drool over big, coffee-table-sized books... comprised solely of photographs. Sure, those books (and perhaps those stores) still exist, but you get the point. Photography is so ubiquitous these days, that its original magic gets lost.
 
Don’t let it. The ability to transform 3-D reality into a flawless 2-D rendition—not to mention instantly—is a miracle. A captured slice of time, what Cartier-Bresson called “the decisive moment,” that you can study forever. Think of those Civil War photos you’ve seen. Don’t you instantly gravitate toward the faces of the soldiers and widows? It’s because the humanity, and the immediacy of the moment, were captured, and locked forever, into the medium. 
 
Here at Copel Communications, we use photography daily. Even cheesy stock photos can provide surprisingly inspirational material; we wrote an entire article (“Help With Creative Assignments: New Approaches to Stale Stock Images”) about that. 
 
So be thankful for photography. When you’re away from home, and flip through pictures of your kids on your phone. When you’re trying to express a certain emotion in a layout and stumble across that perfect “Aha!” image. When you hire a photographer to put that art to work for you. 
 
The world that exists outside your screen
 
If you’re seeking creative inspiration, nature beats man-made stuff, hands down, every time. 
 
We’re talking colors (tropical fish or birds, anyone?). Sounds (wind in the trees, the wail of a loon). Composition (the propagation of a crystal). Direction (the kinetic motion of a hawk diving, or a deer leaping). Rhythm (waves lapping at the shore, the metered chant of the mockingbird). 
 
If you’re ever stuck on that creative assignment, simply un-stick yourself from your seat and place yourself in a natural setting, and get set to take notes. You’ll come away not only refreshed and invigorated, but truly inspired. We wrote another article on this subject (“How to Draw from Nature [and profit from it]”) and we think you’ll enjoy it. Check it out!
 
The unsung heroes
 
While we work in creative services, and do a lot of ideating on our own, we also rely on a lot of others who are amazing at what they do. True scenario: A hot prospect reaches out to one of our clients, and a deal gets closed. 
 
Why did that prospect reach out in the first place? 
 
Well, it wasn’t luck. You can trace it to a particular direct-mail piece that had been sent their way. 
 
“Direct-mail piece” is a euphemism. Most people refer to it as “junk mail.” 
 
So think about that. For a piece of unsolicited “junk mail” to 1) not get trashed, 2) actually get opened, 3) make an impact, and 4) induce the reader to a) take action, and then b) sign a deal is, well, pretty amazing.
 
There are a lot of moving parts at work here, such as the quality of the mailing list, the timing, and so on. But don’t forget: the thing simply looked good. This humble piece of paper was able to stand out from the stack, and generate enough interest for the recipient to pause before trashing, open it up, start to read, and then let the copy do its job. 
 
Who made it look good? In this instance, it was a particular graphic designer we regularly rely on. He had spent hours, in a dark corner, squinting at his Mac, agonizing over details such as the kerning of individual letters in the words of the headline. Finding the exact right color for each element. Making sure they all supported the key message that was intended to be conveyed. 
 
All that work paid off. Handsomely. 
 
And yet today, that same graphic artist still toils in that same dark corner. We know he’s appreciated where he works, and by us, too. But on days like this, we’re downright thankful. 
 
Last thanks
 
This is where we traditionally insert what’s known as the call-to-action, in which we ask you, humbly, to contact us should you need our creative services. But regardless of how we slide it in, we’d prefer to end this article with a simple wish to you: 
 
Happy Thanksgiving. 

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