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Ilona Koglin, from the German interactive design magazine WEAVE, interviewed me at FITC Amsterdam about creativity. I’m not about to attempt a Vulcan mind meld here, I just like to talk with my hands.

Let’s break away from the smiley, happy, uncreative people. Smiling can only damage reputations. Be miserable, darling – immediately! It’s really cool. Misery is the new black.

Designbridge.com, the source of this quote, is speaking with tongue in cheek. But I used to think this way. I used to believe that depression and demons and distractions and addictions and bad behaviour was the path to creative genius. Now I believe that creative genius happens in spite of this way of thinking. So much energy goes into being unhappy, that if you can free yourself from it there’s an almost unlimited source left over. When I quit smoking and drinking I thought my life would become stale and boring. But that was the residual addiction speaking, not reality. After a few months, a few years, the exact opposite is true. I am more creative than ever: without as many anchors dragging down my ambitions. Don’t buy into the hype that misery is genius. Misery is misery. Genius comes from being different, trusting yourself, and doing what you believe in without compromise. I refuse to be a suffering artist on purpose just for the sake of masochism and martyrdom.

Logorama is a short, animated film that manages to trash just about every brand you can think of in 16 minutes flat. It begs to be watched over and over again, as every single detail of this Oscar-nominated world is made up of familiar logos. There must be an army of lawyers with defamation suits waiting to challenge ‘fair use’ and ‘parody’ laws on this one. And don’t watch it with the kids, as there is cartoon violence and enough cursing in the dialogue to make you wonder if Quentin Tarantino didn’t do a bit of ghostwriting here.

Thank you to @jaygoldman for finding the full video.

After my presentation at FITC Amsterdam, the Dutch Cowboys talked to me for a few minutes about Chaos and Creativity, the subject of my lecture. They have posted it on Vimeo and at InteractionDesign.tv. Thank you to Patrick (interviewer) and Marc (designer/videographer) for cutting through the chaos of the noisy, crowded room to ask me a few questions.

In the interview I mention that not everyone is cut out to be a creative genius, just like we’re not all cut out to be Michael Jordan. I was at a party a few years ago, where I met a man who had just taken up painting. I made the faux pas of asking him if he was any good. This got his full attention, as he turned to me and asked very loudly if I was any good at sex. Point made: you don’t have to be good at something to enjoy doing it. But you get better for trying. That is the purpose of The Creative Method and Systems.

A very short while ago, I was asked to speak about digital marketing in front of about 50 fourth-year Ontario College of Art and Design students. I came up with a quick list of ten things I would tell myself if I were about to start in the industry today:

1. Have an elevator pitch.
2. Don’t get pigeonholed.
3. Collect connections.
4. Train your brain to think faster.
5. Know when to go analog.
6. Research research research research research research research…
7. Creative Commons is your BFF.
8. Use real-time brand focus groups.
9. Learn to stop worrying and love the web.
10. It’s just advertising.