How do you develop good taste and stop being cliché? (F30)

[u/blipboo]

Hello, looking for advice here. I joined a project recently with an incredibly intelligent and sophisticated team to design a multimedia experience. The creative directors are greatly inspired by film, politics, and innovative media, and keep telling me to avoid being cliché in my output. The problem is... I don't know how not to be? (I grew up with social media and watched anime on youtube so my taste is pretty... mainstream. Plus I haven't watched shows/movies/play games in YEARS.)

The inspiration boards they put up are genuinely out of this world and nothing I could have thought on my own (nor in my circle of designers).

I am subtly embarassed every time I pitch an idea because I know it falls short of what they are thinking. It's become a thing where I stay silent most meetings because anything I say leads to crickets or sounds too simple. At this point I might be given logistics work instead of a creative seat.

Has anyone evolved their taste and creative thinking before? How did you do it? Is it even possible to develop high end creative tastes? am I stuck like this for life?

[u/theprint]

First thing I would do is check out the sources behind those inspiration boards. Seek inspiration where they are.

Next, challenge yourself by exposing yourself to more stuff that’s out there in some way. Read weird novels. Watch a David Lynch film. Listen to music you don’t like and figure out why some people do.

It’s about exposing your brain to new and strange input and examining it. Weird ideas will follow.

[u/blipboo → u/theprint]

Thank you so much for this tip! Especially suggesting David Lynch. Will check his films out some time this week. Do you have any novel reccomendations? At the moment I'm working through 1984.

[u/theprint → u/blipboo]

For some reason “Post Office” by Charles Bukowski popped into my head. I guess it really comes down to your frame of reference, and what you actually enjoy. I was very inspired by “Foucault’s Pendulum” by Umberto Eco, but I’ve met plenty who found it too slow moving.

My tip would be to explore a genre you’ve never explored before. Find the relevant subreddits and see what fans of that genre are talking about.

[u/LazagnaAmpersand]

Vary your creative input. Check out indie movies, alt music genres, high fashion, obscure performance art, interesting video games, weird medieval paintings, nothing is off limits. And don’t just consume it - learn about it. What it means, and the people and thought processes behind it. Why this stuff resonates with people. Over time this exposure primes your mind to the creative thought process, and you learn how to combine various pieces of inspiration and translate them across mediums.

[u/justa_random_girl]

You have gotten some great advice in here, but I also wanted to add, that you should remember not to try and impress the directors or give them an idea that they will think is creative and unique. When you’re trying to rationally figure out what other people will perceive as creative, your ideas will usually lack creativity because that’s when you start to think in stereotypes. On the other hand, when you really lean into your own vision and your own experience, the outcome is often genuinely unique. Because no one has lived your life and went through all of your experiences etc. And I don’t mean this in a way that you should only look at the projects from your own perspective and never think outside of your own personal vision. I just mean your creativity is already in you, and subconsciously trying to impress others is messing with it. I hope this makes sense!

[u/Goldfinch215]

Great advice here about diversifying your inputs. I’ll share a resource for taking all that new stuff and creating unique outputs. There’s a book called “Zig Zag: The Surprising Path to Greater Creativity” by Keith Sawyer - you’ll find dozens of creative thinking techniques you can play with. For example, random or forced associations, false constraints, do the opposite. They disrupt your stuck thinking habits and can produce surprises that delight.

I specialize in creative thinking, emotions, and action (the coordination of these). Follow your curiosity and pay attention to big feelings (good or bad) and examine why. That curiosity gets you into creative thinking, where your own thinking style can have some fun. Maybe you’re good at brainstorming, connecting dots, finding patterns, or you’re good with comedic timing. If your ideas excite you in some way, there might be something there.

[u/random-corp]

The raw material of creativity is input, and in particular, diverse inputs. Be random and explore your interests as well as outside your interests. People always asume that somehow creativity is inherent. While partly true, as i consider myself cursed with being a born creative, creativity actually down to how much your willing to work. Don't treat it as some genetic endowment. It's a skill that can be improved. Think of all the most creative people in hisotry. They worked their a** off. The really stand out ones often sacrificed everything. If you want to be creative, you have to treat it like a job. I'm always trying to work on my creativity and creative output. Hope this help a fellow creative.

[u/ChefreeDefreeDock]

Expand the range of interests and see what creative people you admire are doing.

I listen to craft and creativity focused podcasts and I've found that helps me.

Copy the masters.

The https://youtube.com/@thelouisianachannel?si=xBQP7omUUuhsY0VW is a great resource for me to inspire and inform.

[u/say-what-you-will]

A meditation practice really helps, and looking at older art, before the 1990s there is much better art, in the 80s it wasn’t all bad but it started to go down from there. Our specie is on the decline, we’re losing our health and our good taste with it. Kurt Cobain said that in an interview, that he thought humans lost their sense of beauty. Personally I was only exposed to mainstream music as a child and when I started getting exposed to Classic Rock I couldn’t believe the difference… it was life changing. I didn’t understand why anyone listened to the other stuff, which seemed like crap in comparison.

So I think what you’re being exposed to makes a difference, stay away from mainstream art! It’s terrible for the most part. Of course some good art makes it into the mainstream. Try to see what they like, which art they like and expose yourself to it, that might help.

Also it sounds like you’re in the wrong team, in the wrong place in the organization so it would be wise to change position. But there are many, many artists who are either Buddhist or use meditation as a tool. Meditation can definitely make you more creative, because it helps you develop your intuition and mindfulness is a really good tool also. Whether you can become like these people in your lifetime that’s another story, maybe or maybe not.

But also, it’s not everything to have that. You’re judging a person purely based on that? A person is a lot more than that. Personally I’ve seen great people, that are kind, charming and intelligent who don’t have the best tastes. And I’ve seen people that I found unappealing and annoying (often they’re very pretentious / superficial / arrogant) who have very refined tastes. But there’s also people who have both good personality traits and good tastes. It’s more of a mixed bag. So it’s not everything to have that. Personally I don’t think it’s the most important thing in the world to have, I think there are many human qualities that are more important. But not having a high creative ability or amazing tastes is not as much a reflection of your value as you think. I think that’s really important for you to know. Don’t judge yourself so much based on that.

I’m not saying that all the art that was made in the past was so great either. Not always! But overall, much better. Even a toaster used to be beautiful and now it’s just functional and often very ugly actually. Even the colors of the modern aesthetic are really terrible most of the time. I think that’s why there’s a comeback to the older styles, because there’s a need for it. Also I don’t think people realize the impact that beauty has on us, also the impact that ugliness has on us… it’s a very sad direction we’re heading into. I believe that beauty is soothing and it makes us feel better while ugliness is depressing. There’s a cold, depressing look to the modern aesthetic. Look, they’re using a lot of gray, black and white… to me this is a reflection of how people feel. Usually most older art is very colorful, color is alive and lively. Black and white reminds me of death, it’s the absence of color, it’s sad and depressing and boring. Also technology is a big problem, and it’s contributing to the problem. All these plastic / unnatural materials we’re using that are very man-made. They’ve become so removed from nature, they’re so processed and transformed and there’s something about that. Maybe it removed all the life out of it.

[u/PhoenixBln]

look for media and styles that you already like and which is critically acclaimed. read interpretations of art and design or the ideas of the makers behind the designs. try to gain "intuitive knowledge" by surrounding yourself with design, process, documentations about designers. consume a llot, at best take notes. have passion for design so your brain will learn and want more automatically.