Welcome to Conspire’s Super Happy Fun Friday Link Time, a weekly collection of cool discoveries from around the Web. Most times the goal is to get you thinking differently about communication, collaboration, culture, and life in general. Other times, LOLCAT ATTACK! Submissions are welcome, and you can send them to conspire@mindjet.com for consideration.
Advice from Artists on Overcoming Creative Block (and Other Things)
If anyone knows about the trials of creative challenges, it’s artists. Lucky for us, they have a few tricks to share that can help get you over the hump, whether you’re trying to write a business blog, come up with an exciting new web design, or even need to ramp up team brainstorming sessions. From Brainpickings:
Not too long ago, Alex Cornell rallied some of our time’s most celebrated artists, writers, and designers, and asked them to share their strategies for overcoming creative block. Now comes Creative Block: Advice and Projects from 50 Successful Artists (public library) — a lavishly illustrated compendium at once very similar in spirit and sufficiently different in execution, in whichDanielle Krysa, better-known as The Jealous Curator, asks artists from around the world working in various media to crack open the vault of their unconscious and explore the darkest elements of the creative process, from overcoming idea-stagnation to dealing with both self-criticism and external naysayers. In addition to sharing their broader thoughts on the demons and rewards of creativity, each artist also offers one specific block-busing exercise — a “Creative Unblock Project” — to try the next time you feel stuck.
But what makes the project particularly noteworthy is that while it features reflections from visual artists, most of their insights apply just as usefully to other creative endeavors, from writing and to entrepreneurship to, even, science.
Read more here.
Lonely Freelancers and Remote Workers: Rent A Desk In A Cool Office Space
It’s safe to say that working remotely, for whatever reason, has three key benefits: lack of commute, access to personal amenities, and pajamas. That said, continuous telecommuting can get a little lonely sometimes. Enter Deskcamping, the Match.com for solo workers and unused workspaces. From Gizmodo:
Since founder Nick Couch launched a bare-bones, curated version of Deskcamping geared toward artists and designers a few years ago, it’s grown into a super user-friendly incarnation—but from the entries I saw, definitely still with a creative edge. As of now, however, it is only available in Berlin, New York, and London.
Even simply browsing the listings is a nice way to kick off the somewhat daunting experience of trying to find a new, not-your-sofa niche. And this is a clever fix for a growing shift towards an untethered workforce, where the only thing you need is a functioning Wi-Fi connection to be on duty.
Be wary: much like the best sharing economy accommodations, this kind of thing can get pretty expensive. But, you get what you pay for, and if you’re tired of working from the couch, this could be the right path to take. Learn more here.
The Era of Open Innovation [VIDEO]
Open innovation is one of those semi-fledgling business concepts that makes some leaders a little nervous — after all, it’s utterly reliant on transparency and partnership, which often goes hand-in-hand with relinquishing control. But many decision-makers are also aware that failure isn’t the end-game it appears to be, and transparency can be an incredibly valuable way of boosting employee engagement. In this TED Talk, researcher Charles Leadbeater “weaves a tight argument that innovation isn’t just for professionals anymore. Passionate amateurs, using new tools, are creating products and paradigms that companies can’t.”
Watch the video here.
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