I’m so fortunate to be a creative person in this modern day. To be a creative person, now more than ever, means the flexibility to define yourself in ways that you couldn’t have done 10 years ago in the past. But just as the creative industry is beautiful in its flexibility, it is also very difficult to navigate.

An ‘Art Director’ at one company will have a completely different role as an ‘Art Director’ at another company.

At the start of my career, I graduated from Art Center College of Design with a B.S. in Environmental Design. I had purposely…

Brainstorming is one of those necessary and sometimes brutally draining part of the creative process. Through exposure, I’ve come to love the energy that comes from an exciting discussion. Here are some common factors I’ve learned when leading in a successful brainstorm:

Define the problem.

What am I trying to solve?
And more importantly, am I solving the right problem?

Diversify your participants.

In an ideal situation, hierarchy, departments, responsibilities, and prior minor disputes don’t exist and a brainstorm can just be a space to solve a problem.

But, since that usually isn’t the case, I would encourage inviting people outside of the department to participate…

How empty, clean, or messy a space is — usually is correlated with how that person feels about their surroundings.

Even though humans have evolved passed, planting flags to claim territory, we still subliminally claim our surroundings with ‘stuff’.

If I walk into an office space — let’s say this office space has cubicles. I will often see a variety of claimed and unclaimed spaces. It is common to see a cubicle where decor is scarce, with only a couple of post-its slapped onto a bulletin board. It is also common to see a cubicle proudly proclaiming fandom. I know a coworker with every imaginable tchotchke of the Giants proudly displayed in their 6x6 space. And another friend who…