Having recently worked on a project that had our team questioning what the future of another industry looked like, it got us thinking about the future of creativity. Creativity has been around for, well, forever. And it has evolved from a single thought to the creation of a multi-billion-dollar industry.
While people often debate what creativity is, there’s no doubt that it is part of our everyday lives. Creativity is the natural order of life and part of being human. We’re seeing more and more companies looking for interesting and unique ways to stand out creatively, and today we’re going to discuss some of our predictions for the future.
Virtually creative
Augmented reality, artificial intelligence and virtual reality have already found their ways into our everyday lives. From welcoming an ‘Alexa’ as a staple resident in our homes, to covering our imperfections on social media using beauty filters, or even the ‘Robovacs’ we have cleaning our floors automatically, it’s clear that technology is taking over, right?
Our Co-founder Naeem Alvi, believes that bots will never take over humans completely, “There’s just no way a machine could imagine and have the ability to think and create the way humans do.” Creativity is the natural order of life, it’s part of being human and it comes in so many different forms.
Jonny Keys head strategist at Notepad commented saying “Creativity is taking place on all these new channels but is also being commoditised in the process. I think the strength of real, crafted creativity, is it stands us in stark contrast to technology and where we’re made to think the world should be going. Actually, creativity, connects us to being human – which is something we neglect because of technology”
The argument against AI being able to demonstrate creativity is the fact that an algorithm can only do what it’s programmed to do, so it can’t possibly do anything novel (i.e. be creative, come up with new ideas and imagine). Any result or product of the algorithm is just a demonstration of the programmer’s (human) creativity, not the machines.
The rise of green and clean
Climate change and environmental devastation have been in the headlines for years, it’s now or never to make real change and save our planet. It becomes increasingly clear as we work with our clients we see people and their businesses becoming a lot more environmentally conscious. It’s not a choice anymore, it’s standard practice.
The younger generations are also making it clear that brands and businesses should take the lead in pushing for a better future. Today, these young people care about a company’s values, impact and purpose, it is essential to be aware of the environment and taking steps to minimise the impact. Our creatives must also consider planet and people, aligning with the bigger picture and going into the future its looking rather green.
There is no such thing as ‘perfect’
We’ve already seen huge shifts via social media. In the early days, Instagram and YouTube were all about creating the perfect aesthetic. But today, we’re actually seeing real, authentic people on our social media feeds, stories and vlogs.
And in my opinion, if you aim to please everyone you’ll end up pleasing no one with unoriginal, dull work. Life and creativity are messy and completely subjective, so you have to push boundaries and imagine the unimaginable.
A refreshing opinion from Andy Norman, one of our designers here at Notepad says: “It’s awesome to see so much being drawn, rendered, edited and created, but sometimes it feels like there’s an element of craft that’s being sidelined and the creative practice gets distilled and devalued as a result. More and more people expect outstanding and high-quality results within a few hours, but it just doesn’t work that way, creativity takes time and consideration as well as plenty of wacky ideas and a vivid imagination.”
The shade of ‘cancel culture’
It’s mad how careful people are nowadays! Risk-taking and failure are both essential to creativity, learning and improvement. The word ‘fail’ and cancel culture have created a pessimistic outlook and mindset, where slipping up simply isn’t an option anymore. This fear is concerning and could only become more oppressive as we head into the future.
Our Co-founder Naeem says “Everyone’s a little too scared to be creative because people feel like they need to play it safe, nobody wants to get ‘cancelled’.” Here at Notepad, we don’t shy away from the wild and wacky; we believe that taking risks is the key to unlocking audacious creativity and wonder!
At Notepad, we push ourselves to the limit and beyond, helping our clients to overcome the fear factor. Nothing is permanent anymore, attention spans are short and originally matters. We have to be willing to take risks, unlock creativity, and create brands that stand above the rest.
Conclusion
We love seeing our creative and unique ideas come to life whilst working with some brilliant, action led brands and we’re sure the next few years will bring newfound creativity and advancements in the world of technology that will just blow our minds.
We see things differently, we experiment, we think outside the box, we have fun, we make mistakes, and we truly love every part of being creative. We’re open to playfulness, and this is what allows us to break the norms, create new ones, live with wonder and curiosity and take risks to set ourselves and our clients above the rest.
If you want to work with a forward-thinking, creative, branding agency get in touch for a chat about how we can help you become unstoppable!
