Tim Metz

To Constrain, or Not Too Constrain?

Post #4, 2014.10.11 | Prologue

Which is easier:

A.) Coming up with a great graphic design from scratch; a blank “canvas”, no rules nor specific requirements, and no existing guidelines to follow.

B.) Doing the same, but this time within tightly set requirements; based on existing elements and with very clear rules on what is and isn’t allowed.

Anyone not experienced in creative work*, might be tempted to choose option A. Without limitations, you can do whatever you want. Life is sweet.

Imagine you’re in a supermarket to run some errands for me. Not the local 7-Eleven, but one of those places with 35 brands of toothpaste, 15 different types of chorizo and where you can pick up a mortgage** on your way out. The kind of setting our ancestors would look around and wonder where things have gone wrong with us (that’s another matter though, I’m sure we’ll get to that at some point as well).

Under such circumstances, which is easier: having a clear shopping list with five items, or the assignment to “get something for dinner tonight”? I’d put my money on the shopping list: a clear goal allowing for a “targeted search”. The second option will leave you wondering what to cook, before you can even begin to look for the right items.

The same logic applies to (creative) assignments. A clear set of requirements and materials limits the options, hence focusing the creator’s thoughts and efforts. This is usually much easier than starting from complete nothingness, with infinite possibility staring you down.

There’s an additional benefit as well: the “end-user”*** will have some idea of what to expect. This is why TV formats follow a fixed structure. The viewer wants to be surprised, but only within the regular constraints (items) of the show. If each episode was completely random**** (i.e. today a quiz about techno music and tomorrow an interview with stamp collectors), most couch potatoes would be traumatised, instantly zapping away in search of solid ground.

This blog will therefore also put up some guidelines and rules. You will have some idea of what to expect, while I can work within some constraints. But not too much.

— — —

** Creative here is used in the broadest sense of the word (not only referring to the arts), as in “using the imagination or original ideas to create* something*”.*

*** Here’s an example of when Costco started selling mortgages in 2012:* “On the New Shopping List: Milk, Bread, Eggs and a Mortgage” — New York Times.

**** The reader, viewer, client or consumer of whatever the creator is creating.*

***** From 2006 — 2008 I was involved in the creation and production of* As The World Spunks, the first Dutch daily “TV” show on the internet. It was “broadcast” on the notorious online youth magazine Spunk. At first we had no format whatsoever. The only restrictions were “each show should deal with some topic which is trending on the internet” and a time limit of a few minutes per show. We would just pick a theme each day and build a show around that. This was incredibly difficult, both for us and the viewers (though we did have a lot of fun). This made us realise TV shows work with a fixed format for a reason, so we applied this to our little online mini-show, by creating regular items such as “The Shopping Basket” (highlighting a crazy item for sale online somewhere) and “The Favourite Youtube Movie of…” (in which Dutch celebrities would share their favourite video from Youtube). This worked wonders and led the show to win the “Dutch Bloggies” for best video blog two years in a row.

Other references

— — —

Related postings:
The Rules of the Game
Prologue | Post #5, 2014.10.13