New Blood Festival: PRACTICE>THEORY
Day 1: A round up of career advice for emerging creatives
Knowledge is power, and practice makes perfect, but to thrive as a creative, what is more important: PRACTICE>THEORY?
We've collated some of our favourite piece of advice from Day 1 of New Blood Festival and our stellar line up of Industry experts including Founder of Uncommon studio, Nils Leonard, Founder of F*ck being Humble, Stefanie Sword Williams, Fail Better talks workshop, and Global Design Director at Nike Lydia Pang and Creative Director Tyrone Drake's live debate with our D&AD President Kate Stanners.
Each session explored the intricacies of Practice vs Theory in the context of being an emerging creative looking for tips on how to get started in the creative industry. What do employers value more? A solid knowledge of design fundamentals, or a willingness to get stuck in and learn on the job? Is building a portfolio more valuable than critical and academic rigour? And in a world where offices and creative studios are temporarily closed, how can you start to gain valuable experience and continue your creative learning?
Read on for our top takeaways...
Here's a round up of our favourite quotes...
Theory can only take you so far. Once you've done something, you've done it.
Nils Leonard, Founder, Uncommon London
Be more scared of being generic. Don't replace your personality by trying to be too professional.
Stefanie Sword-Williams, Founder, F*ck Being Humble
Resist imposter syndrome at the start of your career. Networking isn't optional, it's essential.
Stefanie Sword-Williams, Founder, F*ck Being Humble
The word ‘no’ has just been banned from your vocabulary.
Fail Better Talks
Save your strength and polish the turd when you need to.
Fail Better Talks
“Constraints breed creativity” - but practice makes you flexible.
Fail Better Talks
My creativity was born out of practice, hacking html and personal branding on Myspace.
Lydia Pang, Global Design Director, Nike
Graft, not craft. I didn't get the job because I'm the best art director or best designer, I got it because I have a clear set of values and I'm not afraid. I'm imperfect but I've got loads of practice.
Lydia Pang, Global Design Director, Nike
Know the rules before you can break them. Take the idea of structure, and break it to give you freedom.
Tyrone Drake, Creative Director, Art Center College of Design
We design instinctively. We design for how we feel. But we need to remember we're not designing for ourselves. What we're designing needs to communicate.
Tyrone Drake, Creative Director, Art Center College of Design
For more creative career inspiration and creative industry advice for emerging talent head to our Inspiration for emerging creatives landing page. We'll also be releasing some of the New Blood Festival 2020 talks in full in the coming weeks, so keep an eye on the New Blood channels for more info.
