Has Creativity Also Been Locked Down?

Lockdown has been the best thing to have Happened to Me!

Typical Responses

1. This dude Lost It.
2. They should have regulated the sale of Alcohol a bit more

iii. Don’t Tell My Wife – PLEEEEEASE.   She put me to work even harder

1. Rich Guy – Six servants and an unlimited supply of diversions. Let’s storm his mansion
2. Respect that he putting on a brave face. Check his trousers held up by string.

But Look a Bit further – and for a tiny few it is the genuine truth.

Creativity needs distance, space and a lack of distractions.

Creative people will use this opportunity to Deep Dive into their sphere of activity, or step back and widen their horizons.

All of us have struggled to come to terms with this imposition. Confusion, Distress, Outrage – have swept through our minds.  But as we got used to the isolation – all of us adapted to the new normal and began to enjoy some aspects.  No Commutes, Better family time. 

People in our line of work really had nothing to look forward to, other than a notice of when work will begin. But we pride ourselves on creativity right ?

Guys converted their bedrooms into techie studios. Wives were banished to the other room. Lighting boards were set up and visualizers were plugged into the Bedroom TV.  Let the On Line tutorials begin.

The net offered dozens of offerings.  Very few held my attention as some eager, talking head droned on in clichés about how wonderful they were.  If a few nuggets emerged from some guy obviously unused to talking on camera – they were lost simply as it was impossible to practice what the head was preaching.

One particularly earnest guy was excitedly exhorting event guys to confess in the feedback box - on how his generators were the best and his team was the best and his connectors were the best.... You get the idea.  Some complicated calculation to justify how he markets his generators as 125 Kva (The ‘va’ silent or non-existent) when all his other despicable competitors supplied 100 Kw (‘w’ silent in this case) FOR THE SAME PRICE.  Outrageous! 

One of the disadvantages of on line is the speaker does not get to see the disgust or derision on our faces. I quickly learnt to switch my camera off and read mails while being actively engaged on a web chat.

I hated the on line stuff where I had to wear a smart shirt and nod enthusiastically to support a friend or butter up my superior.  Bob Dylans ‘ You Gotta Serve Somebody ‘ playing on repeat in my head. An aside – keep the song close.  Best way to de-stress and de-compress after any meeting or occasion when you gotta be nice and agree with whatever crap the guy who signs your check is sprouting on about.  

In a Zen moment – I decided I did not like myself in this avatar so I better do something about it.

So I started to dream.  What if..... ?

What if – I could shoot the idiot who pipes music into my elevator? Thankfully I did not have to take out my Gun. I just had to ask nicely – on many occasions, sometimes with bulging eyes. The music was changed and today all my building guys step out of the elevator whistling tunelessly.

While on elevators – I sneakily inserted cosmetic diffusion gel into the Cheap LED lights.  The use of make up to come down and buy fruit dramatically reduced.

These tiny victories encouraged me. I was off. Guidance comes at the right moments.  A wise friend (as in, he reads books and does not do web chats) gifted me a wonderful book ‘Inside the nudge Unit’. Life Altering.  How a tiny course correction can lead to huge changes over time – and nobody notices.  I wish I had read the book 50 years ago.  As any sailor (or pilot) can tell you even a degree shift can over a distance land you in another country entirely?

Not Including China of course.  Can’t lose those guys wherever you look.

So I started sending ‘ What If.....’ notes to my friends.  Most were ignored. But some responded with positive action.  This lucky guy who has a huge garden was encouraged to paint all his garden light reflectors Black and add a tin snoot, so we can’t see the source of the light – only the glow on his frees. The Lighting levels are dimmer – but we see more of his natural garden as there are No bright source lights to distract us. Took us 30 years to figure this out.

Another guy who heads one of the largest  lighting companies in the world (No Name dropping) was complaining that no matter where he placed his web cast light – His face looked sharp and drawn. I had a roll of matt scotch tape on my desk. I pointed my camera to the roll and in a minute he was digging into his desk – some fuzzy pictures and he was back in soft focus and happy.  Very sheepishly – I am promised a steak dinner next time.  When I can travel to claim my reward I have no clue – but the promise is encouraging.

Encouraged by my giant strides in home lighting I turned to home automation and quickly realised the value of Steve Jobs.  As In (My Opinion) most people regret Home automation (or get bored with it) as the interface system sucks. Some guy had the wise idea that assigning the control of home lighting to your phone. It’s a great way to save costs on switches. 

Unfortunately Steve Jobs (or someone with his aesthetic sensibilities) has not had a crack at designing home interface controllers. So every time this guy got up at night to go to the loo – he had to enter security codes to get into his phone. Wear his glasses to find the app, scroll to the bathroom light section and have a mini light show as he blinked thru his shaving light, shower light, vanity light and finally find the pot light.

He cursed his architect out the next day – who immediately recommended he install a sensor. So now every time his dog comes within 12 feet of his loo – the bathroom light blinks on. True, he does not have to switch the light on when he enters the loo – but his pot is outside the range of his sensor – so God forbid he takes longer than Five minutes on the pot – he is plunged into darkness. Now I know why my Friends Tag Line ‘From Vari Light to Toilet Light’. Bless your foresight baba.

So Now I am deep into designing a simple home automation controller that does not need miles of cabling.

Designing Lighting Desks has been an unresolved dream.  Got into countless discussing with Board designers who glare at me.

Exasperated Q to Me: Why don’t you just spend the money and buy a bigger desk?  

Smartass Answer from me: Cause it won’t fit in to the boot of my car. If I spend my money on a bigger desk, I won’t have any money left for a bigger car.

My pet peve about Lighting Desks is the desperate need to remember the correct sequence of punching buttons with strange names to do the simplest things.

.....That’s what I’m thinking on these days.  In the next issue I promise you some provocative challenges to our Lighting Board Designers. Until Then. Keep your creativity alive on whatever project you can get your hands on.  You’ll need to be buzzing  hen we get back to work.....