Strategy to Conquer Creative Monsters
On this episode of #PeekIntoProcess I met with longtime friend and collaborative creative partner, DJ Field @notthatkindofdj to discuss the creative monsters that we oftentimes find lurking in the dark.
Or simply read the highlights below.
The Basics
Erin:
Today we're going to talk about how to fight creative monsters. Creative monsters known as overwhelm, procrastination, disorganization, and lurking deadlines.
#PeekIntoProcess is a series that delves into the process behind branding. I believe the magic is in the process. It's what Jones + Co. is all about. And there's no better person to talk to about this than DJ Field. DJ Field is a creative director extraordinaire and one of my favorite people, so we're gonna break it down today - we're gonna get vulnerable and dig in on how we use brand strategy to overcome things that get in our way when we're trying to create. Alright, so why don't you give us a little bit of an introduction of who you are and your brand.
DJ:
Well, I'm DJ Field, I'm from Boulder County, Colorado, by way of Indiana. And I've been doing this for over 10 years now, which is wild. I come from a background in music. That's how I got into this, and I started working with you in 2017.
We were working in an agency and I was there for a week and then you're like, “I'm moving to Florida”, and I tried not to take it personally. But we still were able to bond and build a relationship, and just so everybody knows, you and I work really close together on a lot of the Jones + Co. projects, and you work with me on a lot of Not That Kind of DJ projects.
Erin:
That's true. So, you didn’t mention your brand, can you fill us in because I love puns.
DJ:
Well you know my name, DJ, which I've had my whole life, it stands for Daniel Joseph, but no one ever called me that - ever. My family's lazy and in fact, they just called me D. My whole family's called me D but anyway, you know it's tough actually having my name because it's established as so many things already. Disc jockey, obviously, I can't tell you how many times I tell people my name and they gave me these - “when I was growing up DJ Tanner, DJ Roseanne”. You know what I mean, like, a lot of DJ. So what was kind of interesting for my particular brand, Not That Kind of DJ, it's just really a reaction to that. And I always think it's a win when you can a) kind of stand out and b) you can make people smile.
Erin:
Alright, let's start at the baseline of the process - what does a creative director do?
DJ:
Sure, I didn't really know this when I went into advertising but there are so many different kinds of creative directors. For example, there are creative directors who are mostly writers, there are some who are mostly designers, there are some who just mostly deliver big concept platforms. And my first job at a big agency there was like five different kinds of creative directors, but I'd say overall it's a person who solves creative problems, and just with whatever kind of skill set they bring to it. At my first agency there was a guy named Ronnie and he was actually solely a concept director. It was a really cool thing for me to work with all those different varieties of people because I realized what kind of creative director I wanted to be. And I mean obviously, you and I are in branding, so branding is my passion overall.
Erin:
All right, so for you, a creative director is somebody who solves creative problems. Let's talk about some of those problems. Before we get into how you manage some of the creative monsters in our heads, I want to just talk about the idea of concepting. Something we're doing at Jones + Co through #peekintoprocess is to start breaking it down. It's not an easy concept to discuss or turn into a process. I don't think that it's necessarily serendipitous that all of a sudden, it happens. Although, if the pieces are in place, it can feel that way. But first, tell me what do you think is the hardest thing about concepting?
DJ:
I think we've talked about it before in the past, but I really do think it is like, getting started. I mean, there's all these components we actually have to do. First, you just have to listen to the client, a lot, to understand what the creative problem is, or what they're going for. What a win looks like for them, and there’s the process of hiring you and working together. I really do think the hardest thing is to get started, but once you have all the information at hand, and somebody who you work with, it's fun. After you get past that point, it's just fun. Then it starts to flow again, natural. It’s getting past the hurdle of, “Okay, how do we attack this?” And that's why, you know, we'll talk about this more but like as a creative person it's so fun to go through that process. It's just hard for me, in particular, to map out how that process is going to play out, or how to even start, so that's why I need you.
Business & Branding
Erin:
And I’m here! I mean, in our business and branding, there are deadlines. And so, even that thought of “you have this amount of time to concept” can be a monster. Right? Alright, let's talk about these monsters. Let's name the monsters, the monsters that get in the way of creativity. There's overwhelm, procrastination, disorganization, and lurking deadlines.
DJ:
I have such a love/hate relationship with deadlines because, for example, you see guitars and a piano and all kinds of things behind me. I make music, mostly just fun. And so there are no deadlines. You know, I'm a 40-year-old guy making disgusting punk rock music, so there's not like a lot of people waiting for it, or like a huge audience. So I've been working on my current music for like, ever, because there's no one else in the creative process - there's always something you can add or a different way you can change things. So, on the one hand, deadlines as a 40-year-old grown man still give me those knots in my stomach, like I had when I did something wrong when I was nine years old, I don't have that same sense of like “ahhh”. But they're so helpful because without them A) we would never get anything done and B) our clients would never have solved these creative problems because we'd be like “give it two more weeks.”
Erin:
I agree that there are some positive spins on deadlines, one in particular, the one that I battle with from a creative standpoint is, I don't want to call it over-delivering, but over manipulation, or “stop, the work is done!”. I don't know what you would call that, but without deadlines. It's the same process instead of just like, oh, we'll keep going. It could be better. And I think a lot of times with concepts, the initial idea, the initial spark tends to be the best idea.
DJ:
Yeah, I would tend to agree with that. I would say that with a lot of creative things, not just advertising strategy, it really does seem like the best ideas come the quickest and the easiest, which is really strange.
Erin:
It is strange. Yeah, well what if the idea doesn't come? So what's another monster, like, because it doesn't always just happen, right.
DJ:
Yes, I would say this comes from collaboration because if it's just you, you are the owner and founder of your business and if you don't surround yourself with other people, if it's just you working alone in the room. Yeah, it's easier to get stuck. And that's why I think not just with the people on your team internally, but also it's just so important to have a good collaborative relationship with your client, where you have honest dialogue . And to your point earlier, you are such an over-deliverer, you really are. I would like to say I'm the same way. We're definitely not ‘phoning-it-in’, people. So deadlines do make that really helpful, like for this Instagram story cover real quick, you know, and that just trailed off for two hours and I was like, ‘Oh, well, I do have clients so I'm gonna get back to work’.
Erin:
But it's fun, right? You know the deadlines help us. I know the detail that you put into your work, and just for the audience, one of the most amazing things that you do is editing photos. I wouldn't even call it editing, manipulation of photos that create something that doesn't exist in the real world.
DJ:
Oh my god. I've driven creative directors crazy because there's this like “oh my god, tone it down, this is beautiful. It's done.” To use the word my wife doesn't like me to use, I can be very “extra” with my design, which is a bad thing in design when people get to where it looks so surreal. That can be a bad thing. There's tension between those two things.
Erin:
Well you bring up a good point too and that is surrealism. I've had clients, even right now I'm working on concepts with them for a positioning concept where I will write it and they’ll be like ‘that's beautiful, but it's too ethereal’, or ‘I can't understand how that's gonna play out.’ Then I realized how much I have to talk through it. And that, although I love the idea, I’ve gotta let it go because it's just a little bit too complicated.
You can put an idea out in the world, you have become so in love with this concept or the creation, and the client obviously has as well. But you don't always get the right reaction from the consumer or the customer if you haven't gone back to strategy and the insights, and the whole reason, the whole thing that you're trying to solve in the first place.
DJ:
Yep. Totally agree.
Erin:
So, as you know Jones + Co.'s positioning is all about the more inputs, the better output. And so, I love to be overwhelmed with data, information, inspiration, whatever I can get. And I find it a challenge, and a good challenge, to be able to sort through it, to try to find that nugget. But, I sort of like data overwhelm, but I don't like overwhelm when it comes to client deadlines all happening at once, which can happen. And if you haven't mapped out the strategy, you can get caught up in trying to get it done quicker than it needed to be done, and not paced out. I think that's part of the branding process that helps me with the overwhelm, is the step-by-step-by-step. So first we have the research, then we have the insights, and we have the position, and so it feels a little bit more manageable. How about you, when you talk to me about overwhelm?
DJ:
Sure, what you just said can be overwhelming. That's another reason I love working with you, is you love diving into research and detail, as do I, but putting a framework around that like with stakeholder interviews for example. You have a really good and unique perspective on the problem you're trying to solve. So, the level in an organization you'll talk to these 20 people. But like you said like tracking them down and scheduling them and rescheduling them and all that stuff. Yeah, all that terrifies me, it does. But like you were saying, the more inputs, the better the output. I totally agree with that - all the best writers are also ravenous readers, and so on and so forth. You know you can make so many parallels to that. But I love that because you not only are able to bring together that information and then sift through it, but you're able to present it in a way that makes sense to solve the problem and I think that's so impressive. That's a skill set I'll be honing for the rest of my life.
Erin:
All right, so how about disorganization?
DJ:
Well, as you know as an entrepreneur. I'll just have a “Come to Jesus” honest moment here. You know, when you're in an organization, doing what we do, like an agency, there are so many people responsible for so many things, but when it's just you in your own office, and everything is up to you, invoicing, collaborating with people, there were just so many things that you're responsible for. And it almost becomes kind of like a monster, in and of itself. Do you remember the commercial from years ago, where it was like “Is running your business getting in the way of running your business?” I mean it can really feel that way like when you have not only the needs of a client, but then you have to put a structure around that, as it relates to your business. It can feel like a monster.
Erin:
It's all the things that I think from a disorganization standpoint, from a creative monster I would love to create for my brand, every day, all day long, because it's so much fun - it's this creation that you started and it's growing and it's evolving, it's collaborating and all these things are happening but you know we are creatives that are hired to create for other people, too. That's where I can get sometimes. I'm going to mash the monsters together, or I can probably even procrastinate a little bit on some of the client work if I'm excited about something I'm doing for my brand.
DJ:
I would say with procrastination though, it's actually much harder to procrastinate when you own your own business. Because if you don't do it, nobody else is going to. So, if you want to keep your business going, we build our business on our reputation and the work we deliver for our clients. And so, if we don't deliver or get started, we're not going to be in business very long.
That's something I find very helpful in working with you, I'm like, “Oh I just want to focus all my attention on this because either I have passion around it, or maybe I haven't quite understood the solve from the client.” One of the most helpful things when you and I get started talking about something, we identify what's most important. “Hey, this isn't as important as we thought. Hey, this isn't going to be as scary as we thought”. And that's another thing when you work by yourself or you don't hire people like us to work with - the monster can almost be like something that's not even real. It can seem so much scarier than it actually is. And just the simple act of talking it out with somebody - that's a monster that's killed just with that.