Creative And Successful Set Designs

Filled with dozens of photos, illustrations, and technical diagrams, Todd Muffatti’s Creative and Successful High School Set Design guides theatre teachers through the preparation and design steps necessary to build an appropriate and effective stage set. Using his 40-year career as a professional set designer and university professor, Muffatti shares tips from his creative process and offers practical ideas about how to approach and accomplish imaginative set designs for high school theatre. Creative and Successful High School Set Design discusses the spatial relationship of the auditorium and stage, the factors to be considered when choosing a script, and the research necessary to arrive at a proper visual metaphor for a production. Muffatti covers many design style options and creative approaches that don’t require extensive building expertise, large amounts of time, or great expense. He shows how a small stock of basic scenery can be used to creatively serve multiple set designs with minimal additions. Muffatti outlines the skills involved in the design process — from sketching and drafting, to set dressing and model building — and provides illustrations to offer further guidance. Creative and Successful High School Set Design instills in high school drama teachers the imaginative, practical, and safe set designing habits that will help lift their students’ dramatic performances to their highest levels of achievement.

"'Creative and Successful Set Designs' is a helpful resource for set designers, theater teachers, and performing arts directors to use to help avoid common pitfalls when creating the world of their production. Muffatti takes examples of sets from some of the best known works of drama and details the best ways to fully bring the set to life"--

Creativity is a highly valued skill set that drives a significant portion of the global economy. It does not depend on a random stroke of genius, but instead on inspired hard work that creatives dive into, fueled by a sense of purpose and meaning with the potential for well-being and happiness--and a job that pays. This book lays out a three-part Creative Success Now Methodology consisting of the mindset, authenticity set, and skill sets that can empower you to pursue the creative life--both for your personal journey toward success and because the world needs your ideas. Ultimately, this book will help you to solve the many problems you encounter as a creative person so that you can live as a successful creative in the twenty-first century.

Creative block presents the most crippling—and unfortunately universal—challenge for artists. No longer! This blockbuster of a book is chock-full of solutions for overcoming all manner of artistic impediment. The blogger behind The Jealous Curator interviews 50 successful international artists working in different mediums and mines their insights on how to conquer self-doubt, stay motivated, and get new ideas to flow. Each artist offers a tried-and-true exercise—from road trips to 30-day challenges to cataloging the medicine cabinet— that will kick-start the creative process. Abundantly visual with more than 300 images showcasing these artists' resulting work, Creative Block is a vital ally to students, artists, and creative professionals.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • At last, a book that shows you how to build—design—a life you can thrive in, at any age or stage • “Life has questions. They have answers.” —The New York Times Designers create worlds and solve problems using design thinking. Look around your office or home—at the tablet or smartphone you may be holding or the chair you are sitting in. Everything in our lives was designed by someone. And every design starts with a problem that a designer or team of designers seeks to solve. In this book, Bill Burnett and Dave Evans show us how design thinking can help us create a life that is both meaningful and fulfilling, regardless of who or where we are, what we do or have done for a living, or how young or old we are. The same design thinking responsible for amazing technology, products, and spaces can be used to design and build your career and your life, a life of fulfillment and joy, constantly creative and productive, one that always holds the possibility of surprise.

Design is a growing and important field these days. Of course, in order excel as a designer, you need to be deeply in touch with your creativity. Being a designer involves looking at something a different way from how everyone else looks at it. But just how do you learn to do that? And what do you know when you're a creative person, but your creative juices just aren't flowing? That's where the advice of The Design Book: A Guide Book for Designers comes in. A Design Book is actually a two-volume collection including two very popular books on creativity and innovation by acclaimed business author Can Akdeniz. The set includes Go Nuts: The Art of Creativity and Innovation and Kill the Normal: The Secrets of Revolutionary Designs.

A real-world introduction to advertising design in today's industry Advertising by Design is the most comprehensive, up-to-date guide to concept generation and design for advertising. Step-by-step instructions and expert discussion guide you through the fundamentals, as you develop the deeper understanding that connects the dots and sparks your creativity. Interviews with leading creative directors provide a glimpse into the real-world idea generation process, and case studies of successful ads allow you to dissect both the process and result to discover the keys to effective advertising. This new third edition has been thoroughly updated to reflect the industry's shift from print and TV ads to fully integrated transmedia campaigns, giving you invaluable insight into a broad range of media channels. New concepts and strategies for social media, digital media, pull marketing, creative content, and more are discussed in depth to help you tell an engaging story using every tool at your disposal. Ancillaries include PowerPoint slides and quizzes bring this book right into the classroom for a complete introduction to advertising design. Students seeking a career in advertising need the ability to generate idea-driven campaigns and adapt them for use in print, mobile, television, and social media formats. This book provides the well-rounded instruction required to succeed in the digital age. Master the fundamentals of advertising design for a range of media channels Integrate print, web, social media, and more to convey an engaging story Jumpstart your creativity with lessons from top creative directors Build your knowledge base around the reality of modern advertising Effective advertisers blend ideas, information, and entertainment in a way that reaches a range of audiences through a range of media types; this requires deep mastery of idea generation, copywriting, and graphic design. Advertising by Design helps you develop the skills and knowledge today's advertising industry demands. "With its colorful, current examples, insightful interviews and relevant and thorough content, this book is the winning text for me." (Journal of Advertising Education, Sage Journals - Spring 2017)

How to Have Great Ideas is the essential guide for students and young professionals looking to embrace creative thinking in design, advertising and communications. It provides 53 practical strategies for unlocking innovative ideas. Strategies include improvisation techniques, changing the scenery, finding hidden links, looking to nature for inspiration, combining unusual systems, challenging set boundaries and many more. Each strategy is packed with great examples of successful contemporary and historical designs – from a designer dress made out of an old typewriter to ticket machines powered by recycled bottles in China, via the reimagining of famous brand logos and mis-use of photocopiers. Packed with practical projects to kick-start inventive thought in idea-blocked moments, this book explores creative thinking across all visual arts disciplines.

As students prepare to enter the world of work, there are many decisions that they need to make about what type of career they want: Freelancing? Working in a design agency? Setting up their own business? They also need the practical advice about how to work with clients, how to organize themselves, billing, etc. Through interviews with people at all levels of design, the author provides down to earth and straight forward information that is relevant to today's students looking to start a career in design.

You'll appreciate this design career guide if: You're a recent graduate and looking for a job as a designer You want resume and interviewing advice, as well as tips for working in the design industry You'd like to learn how to avoid common pitfalls of asserting yourself in the design industry What They Didn't Teach You in Design School by Phil Cleaver provides advice on the stage from graduating, and getting into a studio and staying there as a valued designer, and explores best design practices. Though predominantly serving as a useful guide and bridge in the first year of your career as a designer, it should also be considered an essential tool that can be consulted when you're unsure of what to do next. Begin with the essentials of beginning your design career, like building your resume and portfolio, seeking out opportunities, and preparing for and securing interviews. More than just helping you get a job, however, this career guide serves to help you succeed in whichever design position you land. Learn how to effectively work with other designers and your own clients, keep up to date with the industry, hone your business skills, and much more. From the day after graduation to the completion of your first year as a design professional, this career guide will help you stay on top of your game. In What They Didn't Teach You in Design School you'll find: 11 chapters covering topics ranging from software skills, print production, and designer relations, to good design practice, web skills, and working with external suppliers Helpful design advice that you'll want to return to again and again A word from the author: "Working in a studio is hugely different from studying; this book is aimed at helping you through the transition and giving you the ammo to climb this massive new learning curve." --Phil Cleaver

With 233 (to be exact) hints, tips, and pieces of advice, Now Try Something Weirder shows those in the creative industry how to have great ideas (every day). Internationally award-winning graphic designer Michael Johnson draws on more than 30 years' experience (his CV clocks up eight creative posts, three dismissals, and the launch of his own business) to share his ultimate secrets to enviable success ... who said you should keep your secrets closely guarded? Looking to improve the way you work with clients, understand and question design briefs, deliver knockout presentations—and generally gain covetable creative confidence? Sometimes the solution is staring you in the face.

Offering insights from the spheres of anthropology, psychology, education, design, and business, Creative Intelligence by Bruce Nussbaum, a leading thinker, commentator, and curator on the subjects of design, creativity, and innovation, is first book to identify and explore creative intelligence as a new form of cultural literacy and as a powerful method for problem-solving, driving innovation, and sparking start-up capitalism. Nussbaum investigates the ways in which individuals, corporations, and nations are boosting their creative intelligence — CQ—and how that translates into their abilities to make new products and solve new problems. Ultimately, Creative Intelligence shows how to frame problems in new ways and devise solutions that are original and highly social. Smart and eye opening, Creative Intelligence: Harnessing the Power to Create, Connect, and Inspire illustrates how to connect our creative output with a new type of economic system, Indie Capitalism, where creativity is the source of value, where entrepreneurs drive growth, and where social networks are the building blocks of the economy.

A passion for interior decoration might lead someone into the dynamic world of television and film set design. Using color, style, and technology, set designers create a diverse array of environments that portray characters and tell a story. However, what does a set designer do before, during, and after a production? This book outlines what skills students might need to be a set designer, successes and setbacks related to the job, and the responsibilities involved in this exciting and creative profession, while also explaining how skills developed in amateur set design experiences might lead to other careers.

Written by designer and creative educator Rachael Taylor, Power Up Your Creativity is a guide to cultivating a positive and productive creative path, from how to develop creativity, to building a productive practice, to achieving success (and defining on your own terms what that means/looks like).

The authors of #1 New York Times bestseller Designing Your Life taught readers how to use design thinking to build meaningful, fulfilling lives. Now, in the original DESIGNING YOUR WORK LIFE, they apply that transformative thinking to the place we spend more time than anywhere else—work—and show readers how to create the job they want, without necessarily leaving the job they already have. Designing Your Work Life teaches readers how to create the job they want—without necessarily leaving the job they already have. “Increasingly, it’s up to workers to define their own happiness and success in this ever-moving landscape,” they write, and chapter by chapter, they demonstrate how to build positive change, wherever you are in your career. Whether you want to stay in your job and make it a more meaningful experience, or if you decide it’s time to move on, Evans and Burnett show you how to visualize and build a work-life that is productive, engaged, meaningful, and more fun.

The design sector has expanded rapidly in recent years, and now covers a wide range of specialist disciplines from branding and communications to product, commercial interiors and digital. Yet design firms often lack long-term vision, strategies and plans, and research from the Design Council shows that far too many suffer from poor profitability. Shan Preddy believes that the more a design firm knows about business, the more successful it will be, both creatively and financially. That's why she has gathered over 80 design-sector experts from different fields - advisors, practitioners, clients and representatives from design organisations - to provide you with information, suggestions, guidelines and thought-provoking opinions. Whether you're experienced or just starting out, How to Run a Successful Design Business: The New Professional Practice covers everything owners and managers of design firms need to know.

Design Research shows readers how to choose the best method of research in order to save time and get the right results.The book makes readers aware of all the different research methods, as well as how to carry out the most appropriate research for their graphic design projects. All stages of the research process are considered in a dynamic and entertaining style, covering audience, context, trends, sources, documentation, dissemination and more. Students and designers can benefit from this text by learning fresh ways to analyse information obtained by data gathering, and how best to test and prove decisions. The resulting, well-rounded solutions will be informed, innovative, and aesthetically fitting for the brief.

From Ed Catmull, co-founder (with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter) of Pixar Animation Studios, comes an incisive book about creativity in business—sure to appeal to readers of Daniel Pink, Tom Peters, and Chip and Dan Heath. Creativity, Inc. is a book for managers who want to lead their employees to new heights, a manual for anyone who strives for originality, and the first-ever, all-access trip into the nerve center of Pixar Animation—into the meetings, postmortems, and “Braintrust” sessions where some of the most successful films in history are made. It is, at heart, a book about how to build a creative culture—but it is also, as Pixar co-founder and president Ed Catmull writes, “an expression of the ideas that I believe make the best in us possible.” For nearly twenty years, Pixar has dominated the world of animation, producing such beloved films as the Toy Story trilogy, Monsters, Inc., Finding Nemo, The Incredibles, Up, and WALL-E, which have gone on to set box-office records and garner thirty Academy Awards. The joyousness of the storytelling, the inventive plots, the emotional authenticity: In some ways, Pixar movies are an object lesson in what creativity really is. Here, in this book, Catmull reveals the ideals and techniques that have made Pixar so widely admired—and so profitable. As a young man, Ed Catmull had a dream: to make the first computer-animated movie. He nurtured that dream as a Ph.D. student at the University of Utah, where many computer science pioneers got their start, and then forged a partnership with George Lucas that led, indirectly, to his founding Pixar with Steve Jobs and John Lasseter in 1986. Nine years later, Toy Story was released, changing animation forever. The essential ingredient in that movie’s success—and in the thirteen movies that followed—was the unique environment that Catmull and his colleagues built at Pixar, based on philosophies that protect the creative process and defy convention, such as: • Give a good idea to a mediocre team, and they will screw it up. But give a mediocre idea to a great team, and they will either fix it or come up with something better. • If you don’t strive to uncover what is unseen and understand its nature, you will be ill prepared to lead. • It’s not the manager’s job to prevent risks. It’s the manager’s job to make it safe for others to take them. • The cost of preventing errors is often far greater than the cost of fixing them. • A company’s communication structure should not mirror its organizational structure. Everybody should be able to talk to anybody. • Do not assume that general agreement will lead to change—it takes substantial energy to move a group, even when all are on board.