“If you steal from one author, it’s plagiarism; if you steal from many, it’s research,” the American playwright Wilson Mizner once said.
Nowadays a genuine idea is rare — almost everything you can imagine, someone already did. Add in the fact that professionals in the creative industry also work to deadlines.
Then, why not “transform” or juxtapose existing concepts after applying your own “inspired” touch. A good tip for creatives with a short deadline is ‘Ideas To Steal Today’, a new website that gathers ideas not approved by clients and which can be picked up by other professionals in the creative department.
Freelance creative director Timo Klaarenbeek is the brain behind the site. Advertisers can upload their ideas and let these be available for other creatives. The goal is to create an experience that will be good for both sides — those who have an overflow of concepts and would like to see as many of these coming out and also for those who feel a little short in the inspiration department and with a deadline looming.
There is only one rule for those who want to use the site — the person who “steals” an idea must give due credit to those who posted it, either for dissemination or when signing work for festivals and awards.
Some creatives find difficult to produce when they are alone. This was what led designer Stefano Merlo to create a website called Noisli; it works as an app in which you write while the app creates various noises and sounds, plus the possibility of changing the colour of the background screen.
According to the New York Times, “the whoosh of a coffee shop can increase creativity”. Experiments show the effect of noise on creative thinking, with participants brainstorming ideas for new products while they were exposed to varying levels of background noise. The result found that a level of ambient noise typical of a bustling coffee shop or a television playing in a living room — at about 70 decibels — enhanced performance compared with the relative quiet of 50 decibels.
