The Penny Drop.

I love cheese. So, this Friday was pretty special for me. But it wasn’t just the blue cheese that we got to devour at reflections that was so great. It was realising that this week a penny had dropped for me. The studio has been a lot quieter this week which meant there was the opportunity to spend more one on one time with the brilliant mentors.

I was chatting with Andy about the one week brief we had all been set, showing him some initial ideas and routes for our presentation on our ‘organising thoughts’. Through just having a chat and working through the ideas it clicked. I finally realised what it all meant about elevating ideas. Before I thought Andy was just moving his hands around, but then I realised that it was a bit like Sherlock Holmes in his mind palace. He was orchestrating the ideas and thoughts surrounding them into something that made complete sense. The organising thought.

– Take your initial thoughts and elevate them.

– How does the brand or the product fit within society?

– What is the brands behaviour like?

– Once you have got your big idea (the organising thought) then lock it down.

– Then from the big idea – if it’s right – you should easily be able to come up with lots of different routes.

– Then using the big idea, you can bounce all of the different routes off it. Allowing you to work out if those routes fit within your big idea and allowing you to scrap them if they aren’t right.

– Bouncing the ideas back and forth also allow you to add more elements to your big idea. Like Lego bricks clicking into place.

– Once you have got everything you want down, step back for a moment. Revisit the ideas and then work out what routes you think are best to take it forward.

A few other things from this week:

– One day briefs are great for taking your mind off other briefs.

– Have fun with it. Make a dumb joke.

– Going the extra mile gets noticed.

– Go and talk to the mentors because one conversation can change everything.

– Do everything with energy, empathy and synergy.

– Getting your ideas down and getting feedback is really useful (I’m loving the new presenting initial ideas system).

– Step back.
– Help each other. Huddle as Penguins.
– Make sure you go and ask Ian to help push your design’s forward.

Also, go and see the The Japanese House: Architecture and Life after 1945 exhibition at the Barbican is utterly brilliant. You can get £5 ticket’s if you’re under 26. So, do it.