Kick-starting Creativity

Being a creative professional in this age of interwebs can be pretty awesome. One of my favourite parts of my line of work is the communal aspect; I follow my favourite designers’ twitters and blogs, keeping myself up to date with what’s coming down the pipeline and feeling like I am in some small way connected to this sprawling online network of talent. While I mostly consider myself a lurker, I’ve always wanted to get more involved and join this creative network.

Up until recently, it was hard to get a creative project off the ground without proper funding. And if you’re the type that likes to tackle these types of things on your off hours to keep the creative juices flowing — as I am — then that funding tends to come out of your own pockets, and therefore is pretty limited. Working at Dashboard keeps me pretty damn busy, but an important part of me growing as a designer is spending a good chunk of my spare time exploring and experimenting in my personal endeavours.

I did say up until recently though, didn’t I? Enter Kickstarter, a massive funding platform for creative people and their projects. It allows people to pursue their various ventures by providing them with a platform to showcase their ideas risk-free, and in turn encourages “backers” to invest in their project. Backers can donate as little or as much as they like, and in return they get their own reward, the value of which is dependent upon the amount of their pledge.

The wide array of projects up there is pretty inspiring to see, not to mention the amount of people opening their wallets to see these ideas come to life. Very recently, designer, illustrator and creative person Frank Chimero launched his own project on Kickstarter and reached out to his Twitter followers with staggering results; his goal of raising $27,000 was exceeded by $85,000. As I see it, anyone who works hard enough for long enough will eventually receive their due recognition, and the online realm is a great place to turn to for that type of support.

I’m seriously toying with the idea of submitting my own projects for consideration. And even if I don’t end up getting my funding, I’ll probably learn something invaluable in the process.