Issue #4 Finding creativity in the unexpected with Karen van de Kraats
Welcome to RIP: a tribute to every great idea the world never gets to see
Thanks to a raging and incessant need to feel productive (yes there’s a lot to unpack there, and no, I’m not ready to deal with it), I’ve found myself dabbling in an eclectic mix of lockdown hobbies this year. There’s the classics: hiking, jigsawing, learning a new instrument—to the slightly more adventurous: life drawing, clay work, and propagating my so-fertile-it’s-starting-to-feel-like-a-personal-attack spider plant.
And although these creative (albeit cliché) pursuits have kept my hands busy (stop that) and my brain ticking over, they’re not my main source of inspiration. No, it seems the most inspired I’ve been feeling lately is behind the wheel. Specifically behind the wheel of my mum’s old Mini, where I’ve been re-learning to drive after a few years off the road. A weird one, I know. But it reminds me of something Dave Trott talks about in One Plus One Equals Three.
He says that being creative is about connecting dots, and the more experiences you have, the more dots you have to connect (and how do you maximise the number of experiences in your team? All together now: ✨ diversity ✨ ). Anyway Dave explains:
“The true creative person wants to be a know-it-all. They want to know about all kinds of things: ancient history, nineteenth century mathematics, modern manufacturing techniques, flower arranging, and lean hog futures. Because they never know when these ideas might come together to form a new idea. It may happen six minutes later or six years down the road, but they know it will happen.”
So adding to the things we already know is not as useful as we might think. We should instead turn to the areas we know nothing about, “multiplying the amount of new connections we can make with our existing store of knowledge.”
My point is, driving seems to be doing that for me. By rummaging around my brain for the highway code and learning to navigate the city in a different way, I’m firing up new connections in my brain and, as a result, I’m feeling a lot more inspired.
Similarly, as part of WeTransfer’s 2020 Ideas Report, we asked 35,000 people how a global pandemic affected their creative ideas. Almost half of those people said friends, family, and the great outdoors are their biggest source of inspiration this year—outranking things like brands, books, films, and even fellow creatives. Plus an astonishing amount of people feel more creative than ever because of the changes to their day-to-day routine.
So next time you’re feeling stuck, walk away from your ideas and try something totally new. You never know what connections your brain might make.
Who better to interview this month than Karen van de Kraats, Art Director at WeTransfer and my creative partner in crime in bringing this year’s Ideas Report to life. She tells me about her Rest in Progress, and what her son’s lockdown art has taught her about holding onto imagination.
What was your idea and what happened (or better yet, didn’t happen) to it?
This project starts with a friendship ‘love’ story. In the summer of 2008, when I was still running my design studio, I was approached by Alain Delluc, a graphic designer from Marseilles. He wanted to do an internship at my studio. I was intrigued by his work and told him it would be more interesting to start a project together (since I didn’t have enough work for an intern). A couple of months later, Alain travelled to Amsterdam. Suddenly I had a stranger in my house. For a week, we worked intensely on a self-initiated project called RAINBOW WAR, expressing ourselves with colours and words, inspired by Goethe’s colour wheel. We felt connected by our backgrounds, personal interests, and universal themes when discussing design. The result was a series of handmade posters.
Sorry for the long introduction, but if it wasn’t for this one email, and my spontaneous decision to invite Alain to Amsterdam, we never would have collaborated on my RIP: the identity for Marseille-Provence 2013 (or MP2013), a celebration of the region’s designation as the European Capital of Culture.
In February 2009, Alain and I responded to an open call for design submissions for the MP2013 identity. That summer, we were invited as part of the final six contestants to present our proposal to a jury of 12 experts at the Villa Noailles in Hyères.
Our proposal was based on, and inspired by, the iconic ingredients that make up the city of Marseilles. Its harbour, its diverse mix of people and cultures, and its appointment as the centre of cultural activities in 2013. We created an abstract compass as the logo: using maritime flag shapes, different coloured skin tones, and Mediterranean sea colours as our starting points, and creating a flexible identity system that would fit a whole variety of assets.
The jury were excited about our proposal, and we felt positive. We were already so happy our design was chosen out of hundreds of other submissions. But our competitors were big design studios with more fame than our temporary design duo. We felt we didn’t have a chance.
We ended up coming second, but only later did we find out there were many political struggles. They actually cancelled the real winner and went for a friend of a friend to do the designs. It was the first time I was confronted with political influence on decision-making during my career, which was a huge learning moment for me.
(You can see the winning design by Thomas Serriere here.)
What is it about this idea you can’t let go of?
I’m still excited that we created a timeless and recognisable identity with such a minimal set of ingredients. And one that was easy to implement on a wide variety of assets. By using a collection of historic abstract shapes, typography, and a broad scheme of colours, we created a cheerful, accessible design system that could be liked and used by a large group of inhabitants of the city of Marseilles.
I love the idea of a city having a brand identity. How does your process differ when designing for something more subjective, like a place?
I agree, designing for a place is very subjective indeed. And every person will have a different experience and opinion on how to visualise that.
To be honest, the creative process is not much different from any other design assignment. It does take more research, analysing, and interviewing inhabitants. By reading about the city’s history and talking to different people, we could create a design that was accessible for not just residents but visitors too.
We worked together on this year’s Ideas Report (n’aw), do any of the findings resonate with you in particular? How has this year affected your creativity?
Yes!
Insight one: When the going gets tough, the tough get creative.
At the start of COVID, doubt was taking over my thoughts a lot. Going from working in an office with over 100 colleagues to an attic room with just myself to talk to made me anxious and made me doubt my creative ability. But once I started to get used to the new situation and found ways to make it work for me, I gained confidence and made one of my best designs at WeTransfer so far: Ideas Report 2020.
Insight five: Inspiration is closer than we think.
My son likes to draw. He calls his artworks Untitled, reminding me that imagination and an open mind are so important when developing original ideas, and for creativity in general. He’s always been a great inspiration, but lockdown made me even more aware of how incredibly creative kids are. Imagination is something we forget to enjoy when we grow up.
🛎️ BONUS ROUND 🛎️
If your creative process was a song, which one would it be and why?
Borderline by Madonna. It’s a song that expresses my internal struggles as a designer. And it’s also my favourite karaoke tune.
Three things that have made this year more bearable…
My son Alf, walks in the forest and on the beach, and my best friends.
What did you want to grow up to be when you were younger?
An architect like Tadao Ando.
What are you most proud of achieving this year?
I was afraid to drive due to a terrible accident a couple of years ago. This year I finally decided to take driving lessons to take away my fear. Since the summer I’ve been driving again and it gives me so much freedom. I’ve learned you’re never too old to learn, and that it’s essential to let go of your old fears!
Got an RIP you’d love to share? Slide into my inbox and let’s chat.
Otherwise, have a very merry Christmas—hope you all find a slice of specialness in these mad old times. (Even if it’s just being trolled by this phenomenal Pudding project.)