Negative Space Gives More Focus To The Content

#6: Negative space gives more focus to the content.

In creativity, we often pack in way too much content and forget about...      space.

Spacing singles out the content that matters, and I'll give you some examples shortly. But what you need to understand is that even a little bit of space can create a huge impact. Especially if that space is different than expected.

For a written example:

"It has come to my attention that you have forgotten why you're doing what you're doing. In fact... I believe you threw that purpose aside."

In this example, the space after "in fact" emphasizes the thought, giving it a slightly bigger punch. The space could have held much longer by adding descriptions of the speaker looking at the accused. The longer the space, the greater the emphasis.

For music, I saw Disturbed live and they played their biggest hit, "Down With The Sickness" as an encore. The whole arena was dark, everyone chanting, then you hear the drummer play a solo. Lights come on underneath him as he plays: the crowd screams. Then the lights go off again. The screams die down. And then... the drummer plays the intro of "Down With The Sickness." Screams erupt like crazy. Then he stops. The crowd gets louder. He starts again, this time with the bassist. The crowd gets louder. They stop.

They start again, this time with the guitarist out on a lit catwalk. Still just the intro riff. Then they stop.

They stop longer then before.

Then you hear David Draiman come into the song, the full band comes in, the arena lights up, and you see Draiman on a platform in the middle of the arena.

The pauses gave tension and anticipation that made the song feel so much more epic. Space can add a lot to your content.

Tomorrow Is Full Of Unlimited Potential

I said yesterday that you can look to the past to bring in different ideas to help yourself, but you can also look to the present to help shape your future.

Innovators are everywhere: the underground wizards of their industry who do things differently than standard, or even the big behemoths who define and redefine the standard.

Take your contemporaries and their innovative ideas and apply that to what you do.

An example? Here ya go:
Susan is a car designer. She works for a company that designs and builds high-performance vehicles. When she heard that Lexus redesigned a lot of tools and process to create their LFA, a cutting-edge supercar, she realised there are processes her company uses that are out of date and can be improved. So instead of spending a lot of time using antiquated equipment to create a car, she created new tools to do the job better allowing better perfection with each vehicle.

Ideas are literally flying all around you. Grab some and use them!

The Past Is Full Of Great Examples

Everyone succeeding now is inspired - at least in part - by those before them. Everyone that succeeded before now was inspired - at least in part - by those before them. So on. And so forth.

There are many great examples in the past of innovation, success, stability, ideas, and so much more that you really shouldn't ignore it. Take a hint from history for a bit!

• ,Music has classical composers.
• Film has classic play-writes.
• Authors, of course, have classic authors.
• Modern dancers have ballerinas and ethnic dancers.

Turn back the clock and bring in a bit of class from the older days.

Contradictions Are Great Combinations

Things that are seemingly complete opposites are often a great way to create something new.

Many people view different genres in their industry as "the enemy." For instance, rap versus metal; action versus comedy; cars versus motorcycles; etc. Instead of dividing the industry, bridge gaps and stand out from those who confine themselves to one style.

Let me give you an example:
Brad is a fine-artist who does oil paintings on canvas. Brad detests Photoshop and anime because he sees them as very commercial and impersonal. But Brad is not stubbourn and knows that he can learn a thing or two from both and apply it to what he does. With Photoshop, many people tend to work in layers that are laid on top of each other. Brad brings this idea into his work by painting on clear film and creating a real-life version of the Photoshop layers.
Brad then examines anime and realises that so much of it involves extraordinary situations and ordinary people being thrust into these events. Brad decides to reverse this in his paintings and creates a series of extraordinary people in everyday situations; like Superman vacuuming, the President of the United States eating at McDonald's, etc.

Go out and be a contradiction in YOUR industry.

Innovators Are Those Who Go Against The Norm

Innovations in technology, business, living, or anything else is created by people who do things differently than anyone else working for the same goal. Being different is pretty key in innovating and being more creative.

If you're a filmmaker, one possibility of being different could be as simple as a comedy in the film noir style, or as extreme as creating whole new technologies (as James Cameron did for Avatar.) The ways in which you can innovate your industry are endless, so try all of them that come to mind.

My 101+ Best Creative Ideas

#1: For every success, there is 1000 failures. Fail 1000 times and get your BIG success.

A lot of people feel like because they fail that it means they can't succeed. But the people who DO succeed are those who know that failure is inevitable. As with walking, you're going to fall down before you can even stand, let alone run.

I like to keep this in mind: every time I make a failed piece of art, or every time a guitar riff just doesn't work, I remind myself that these failures are all a part of the process.

So if you're wishing to be great and successful with their creative endeavours and possibly live on their creativity, don't be afraid to fail. Just remember to keep on keepin' on!

Projects in the Works!

Right now, I'm working on several projects that are taking up most of my time. One thing I'm EXCITED to be working on is a secret project with with Kardashev, a great band started by my friend Nico from Composer, Meet Corpse. This is, for me, an artistic venture that will be challenging and quite rewarding. Check out both bands, and enjoy a healthy dose of metal.

Another project I am currently working on is a personal project I hope to bring to the world soon! It is also an artistic venture. This project will have some behind-the-scenes style photos and teasers, so please stay tuned for these!

Mostly, the project I'm working on is my first solo EP using Open Source Software. Using Open Source Software allows me to keep costs low while staying 100% legal, to experiment with sounds that cost hundreds of dollars from commercial equivalents for free, and take a new path on the music production road. A few of the songs have appeared on my SoundCloud account. If you have an account, follow me for more work!

The Blogger Move

So, I've been posting blogs on Tumblr and that has been going well, but Tumblr is more of a microblogging platform: content being images, quotes, snippets, etc. For long-form blog posts, I will post on Blogger, but continue to use Tumblr for short-form blog posts and summaries of Blogger posts.