Music Inspired Innovation
Recently I was working on a project for a brand new fashion line. The line was geared towards real outdoors enthusiast. The surfers, mountain bikers, rock climbers of the world. As normal procedure I had produced three compositions for the client to look at. All three were rejected, as my designs did not resonate with the target market.
After much deliberation with my business partner we brainstormed ways to change the design of the site to reflect more of the target market and give it the right tone and feel. Our brainstorming session had lead to some great discoveries. The perfect concept was born.
So what does this have to do with music?
40% concept and 60% execution. No matter how great your idea is, if the execution is poor your concept has no value. We had this wonderful idea on how to position the brand online. It was a matter of the art direction to help position the site. As I started the design, I quickly noticed my struggle to shape the look and feel that was required to execute the concept.
I opened up my itunes and quickly browsed all the categories of music. I tend to keep music that I don’t listen to, but needless to say, I have almost everything you can imagine. I have classical music all the way to trash metal. I thought about the type of music this target market listens to. I tuned into classic rock, and all of a sudden in matter of seconds my mind started to visualize how the site should flow. My mind was in the perfect gear to produce the look and feel we were going for.
Lets just say the client was more than happy about the results we produced.
Music is powerful. A perfect example is when I listen to hip-hop, I tend to get more road rage. That is not the case for everyone, but it is the case for me.
Bottom line, music can help inspire great ideas. Music inspires visuals from what you are hearing. It can help you turn a blank canvas into a solution that works.
Happy Inspiration
Mitesh Solanki
Similar Posts:
Visual Literacy – Expand Your Creativity
Why Brainstorming on a Computer Can Ruin Your Results
January 22nd, 2009 at 2:56 pm
I agree with mitesh that is a great way to get into the groove.
But what do you do when your boss wont let you listen to music at your desk?
May 8th, 2009 at 12:07 pm
Love your blog, great article, it would be interesting to compare creativity “output” using different kinds of music for different kinds projects/subjects. For example, does classical music help more if you are writing a novel vs. death metal for creating a giant piece of abstract art….