Creating a Creative Brief for Yourself

Planning out your creative time!

When I know I will have a block of time dedicated to creating, I don’t want to waste it scrambling for what to work on. To prepare for that time I gather information in case I am feeling particularly stuck. I like to create my own resource of creative briefs and inspiration. Here is what I included in that preparation.

TRENDS

I am always keeping track of current trends to reference for projects so I review those and choose ones that stand out to me. When I am preparing for creative time I will make note of the trends I am feeling particularly inspired by in case I want to incorporate them into my work.

CONTESTS

I sometimes like to enter contests such as the Spoonflower Challenges. I will make note of upcoming contests and their due dates in case I feel inspired to enter a design.

PROMPT LISTS

I often gather prompt lists from other artists and use them as warm-up exercises. There are many artists that share different prompt lists either on social media or in their email newsletters. Sometimes, I just need to get the ball rolling, and starting with a prompt is helpful to do that. Some artists that have great prompt lists include Lisa Bardot, Charly Clements, and Jehane’s Golden Thread.

PERSONAL PROJECTS AND CLIENT PROJECTS

Then of course I have my own list of projects that I have on my to-do list as well as client projects. I also like to gather moodboards I haven’t used yet, sketches, or a list of products I have been meaning to design.

I will gather all of this information ahead of time so that I am ready when I have those creative moments. I often attend a monthly Drink + Draw event and I find it helpful to bring this information along so I don’t have to overthink what I want to work on. It tends to make my creative time more productive.

I’ve created a Google document to use for this process so I thought I would share it in case you want to plan out some productive creative time.