For the love of sampling
Ever since the early days of my design career in the mid nineties, I've been researching design theory and creative ideation. Where do our ideas come from, and how do we come up with new concepts that add value to people's lives? In today’s post: sampling.
Sampling is an art in itself…as long as if it’s integrated into a new, meaningful context. I stumbled upon the video 'Everything Is A Remix' by Kirby Ferguson via Monotype's lovely blogpost on design of good typography and type. Their blogpost focuses on the history of concepts, and remixing several concepts into a new design. This is not a new insight per se, but it is spot on nevertheless. Also, the blogpost addresses respecting predecessors of 'new' concepts. For instance, the Star Wars scene in which Luke Skywalker witnessing the utter destruction of his home by stormtroopers, and the remains of his aunt and uncle. This scene practically is a one on one copy of a film that had been made years prior.
The label 'copy' doesn't do this creative choice justice, because in most cases, design elements are 'samples' of other creations. Right? Do we mind? Is it a violation of creative purity? No, of course not. We all enjoy music (both 90s music and 60s art pieces and other creations, because bold artists dared integrating samples and transforming those into new ideas. Also, many have loving feelings about 'old' concepts and products returning into today's eneryday life. For the love of retro: Urban jungle. Today and the originals from the 1970s.
Some designers try to avoid sampling, out of fear of not being original enough. From my point of view, any concept that is sampled and combined with original elements, and adds new context and value to its purpose, is a succesful design and proof of creative thinking. Of course, there are many more design methods than 'just' sampling and combining to create new context. Perhaps the biggest challenge in getting over the fear of sampling, is getting over one’s fear of sampling.
Don't get me wrong, I don't suggest adapting the nasty habit of copy-pasting as a fix for any creative endeavour. On the contrary, copy-pasting (which is just blatantly stealing) completely turns me off and I consider this the death of creativity, the end of healthy business and the complete disrespect of other people’s creative processes and achievements. #sorrynotsorry On the complete other side of the spectrum, I guess many people’s amygdala just gets stuck in total freeze mode whe asked to come up with a new idea. The sheer panic of feeling destructive hangup feelings like impostor syndrome, perfectionism and other pesky party poopers can be rather daunting and debilitating. Some teach themselves to get comfortable in feeling uncomfortable (my fave peeps), others choose to steal other creatives’ ideas (not my fave peeps).
Long story short, there’s nothing wrong with using samples of other ideas as a starting point for a new concept, applied within a new context. If you trust the creative process and go with it, the initial inspiration alsways evolves into something completely different (really). You can create new creative concepts on demand. Within 25 minutes, if you like. It’s a skill, and it’s not something that is only for some fortunate geniuses that wander our earth. I teach creative ideation methods in my online and in real life courses and programs. For over one hundred and fifty times, I've been able to teach my students to come up with a new, useful original concept for online campaigns within 25 minutes. It's not even hard, if you know how to approach the challenge. And there's a myriad of ways to trigger your creativity on demand.
And for the love of samping: Eminem sampled Labi Siffre.