Theresa Montague

Supplementary Article #7

Accident is the mother of invention… that was the fortune inside my cookie when I opened it last night. I don’t know why, but I thought it was kinda cool that I got that as my fortune while I was trying to find a seventh supplementary article. We’ve all heard of great inventions and innovations that were made by mistake. Sometimes a fluke can turn out to be something great.  For example, coca-cola (was supposed to be medicine), chocolate chip cookies (were supposed to be plain chocolate flavored cookies), post it notes, penicillin, tires, and silly putty were all in some way accidentally created. Knowing that accidents can make way for great ideas and inventions is something everyone should keep in mind when they are attempting to create. It’s important to the creative process that a person keep going even after they’ve screwed up because it may not be a bad thing at all. If the lady who messed up on her chocolate cookies had decided to just throw out her messed up cookies, what would our world be like? No chocolate chip cookies… sounds like a nightmare to me! So, let’s all try to keep this little piece of advice in the back of our minds, and before I go I’m going to leave you all with a two quotes that I found over the semester that I thought might help our creative thinking…

“Creativity is a type of learning process where the teacher and pupil are located in the same individual.”    - Arthur Koestler

“It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always be right by having no ideas at all.” - Edward De Bono

Supplementary Article #6

This picture is of one of the walls in my dorm room.  At the beginning of the semester I asked my best friend, Nichele to put these pictures up for me. I had printed them the year before with the intention of sticking them up on my wall. Well, I never got around to it and the pictures stayed in the envelope my entire sophmore year. This year I made sure those pictures were the first things I unpacked and they would be the decorations I put up. The only problem was that I didn’t know how I wanted to do it. I had always had it in my mind to put them up in the shape of a star or a heart or something like that. Lucky for me, Nichele couldn’t stand the fact that I was trying to turn this project into brain surgery. She decided to take matters in to her own hands and do it for me. Clearly, she didn’t give me my star or heart but I love what she came up with. She put bunches of pictures together in a little collages. I don’t think the picture really does it justice; I think it all looks kind of crazy in the picture I posted, but in person it looks cool. It’s the first thing anyone sees when they come into my room, and everyone who’s seen it thinks it’s really cool and creative. More than anything I love the fact that I can just lay in my bed and look up at all the people I love!!

Supplementary Article #5

We all know that Christmas is coming up in just a few weeks. I’m not sure about anybody else, but I’m having a really hard time coming up with gift ideas. It seems as though nobody in my family knows what they want for Christmas. Everyone gives the same response of, “I don’t know” or “It doesn’t matter; just get me anything.” So, I figured I’d search online for gift ideas. I found this site called FindGift.com, it claims to give people unique gift ideas. I checked it out and it’s not that bad. It lets you search for gifts determined on the sex and age of the person you’re giving the gift to, as well as the occasion. I searched for gifts for my sister and my dad. Most of the gifts they gave me were corny, irrelevant, or overpriced, but there were also some pretty good ones. Even if the particular gift they suggested wasn’t one I wanted, many of them gave me inspiration for another gift. It’s not a bad site to go to if you need a push to start thinking of different gift ideas.

Here’s the link for it: http://www.findgift.com/

Environmental Outing #5

On Friday, November 7th, I went to see our classmate/soccer star Phill Fisher play in his last game on FIU’s field. This game against Southern Methodist University was really important because the win would take our Golden Panthers to the conference finals. Although I don’t know much about soccer, I was excited for this game. This was my first time watching our team, and I’ve been at FIU for a little more than 2 years. I’ve never been much of a soccer fan, I’ve never watched a game on TV for longer than 5 mins. For me, soccer is way to crazy and fast paced. This game was no different. One minute we had the ball, the next the other team was kicking it half way down the field. My friend, Nichele was with me that night, and she told me that it was a good thing that the game was going that way because it meant we weren’t letting the other team dominate the ball. I can agree with that; I think we did a good job of defending our side. Our team played very hard, but sadly, we lost 2-1. But on the bright side, our 1 goal was scored by Phill!! I’m not sure if I’ll be going to any soccer games next semester because I’m really more of a football and basketball fan, but if never see another game, I’ll be happy that I saw this one.

Environmental Outing #4

On October 29, I went to the ICC Fashion Show that was being held in the lounge of one of the housing buildings at the UP campus. The fashion show was put together entirely by students of the SJMC organizations. The models in the show were all students. I’m not sure who the handbag designer was, they only mentioned her name a few times, and I never remembered it. The bags were nice though. There were bags for all occasions, and most of them were cute.

Although the flyer said it was put on by the Integrated Communications Council, which consists of members of the SJMC’s 3 major clubs (AdScene, PRSSA, and AWC), I later found out that the fashion show was the brainchild of Paul Ashe who is a member or AdScene. Paul was the MC for the night, he was entertaining and did his best to keep the small crowd interested. He talked a lot about the SJMC and what it has to offer to current and future students. I think the fashion show was a great idea and a good way to showcase the talents of both the students and the designer. The show was also a great advertisement for the SJMC. Each attendee was given a bag with a brochure about BBC and SJMC. It was all a very creative way to advertise the SJMC to the students at UP campus!

Supplementary Article #4

Today, I was talking to my friend Natalie and she telling me that the new Britney Spears video for her song “Circus” had been leaked on PerezHilton.com. She was going on and on about how good it was, and forced me to watch it on my laptop. I thought it was kind of ironic that she was talking to me about it because just the other day, almost EVERYONE in our class was talking about Brit’s new cd and her comeback that isn’t really a comeback. So, I watched the video and I gotta give it up to Britney. For having gone off the deep end, she looks almost as good as she did in her prime! The video is super creative and visually its eye catching. There’s so much going on and you really do get the feel of a circus when you watch it. There are people on stilts, fire eaters, elephants, and lions! I think Barnum would definitely be proud. I’m going to try to get the video on her, but the original site I watched it on had everything written in Chinese (or should I say Mandarin?) but I’ll put the link just in case any of the Britney fans haven’t seen it already.

http://www.tudou.com/programs/view/oDSf8DcOUto/

Reflective Essay

I came into this class feeling as though I had very little creative ability. Now as the course is ending, I still feel as though I don’t have a lot of creative ability, but I’m optimistic that this will change. I know now that it’s possible to improve and enhance my creativity. Taking this course has giving me the foundation to doing so. I’ve learned that I can learn how to be creative. Of course a majority of creativity is innate, and while I may or may not have been born with a creative gene, I’m confident that I can learn how to be creative or at least think creatively.

I really wish we could’ve gotten around to doing more of those brainstorming activities while we were in class. It seemed as though most of the kids in class found it to be tedious, boring, or difficult. Sometimes I felt this way too but at the same time I liked it. It was a good challenge because it gave me the chance to really think hard and come up with creative ideas. It only got tedious and boring when I stopped coming up with ideas. Through these exercises the main think that I learned was stop thinking of my ideas as stupid. I know now to respect every idea I come up with and to write it down regardless of if I believe it’s good or bad. This rule was reinforced when I had my creative interview with Mrs. Balepogi.  She told me that sometimes the best ideas come from just saying whatever comes to mind and that, while it may not be a winner at first, it’s possible to build on that idea and eventually end up with exactly what I’m looking for. I’m going to make a serious effort to always follow this rule because it’s a key component to creative thinking and becoming better at being creative.

There is one day in class that sticks out in my mind when I think about how to get the most out of brainstorming. I’m pretty sure it was the day that we had the Obama celebration party; Phil was trying to come up with a new idea for his Target campaign because the previous one we came up with wasn’t going to work. Professor Cal was trying to get us thinking and said to us, “If Target were a person, what would he look like? How would he dress? What kind of food would he eat?” I don’t know why but I thought it was so cool that she asked us those questions because they were different and they really helped. By asking those questions it opened up a whole new mindset for us, got us to look at the product in a different light, and ultimately led us to come up with new ideas. I’m going to try to use that trick whenever I get stuck trying to come up with new and creative ideas.

I’ve always had the dream of being more creative, but that’s a dream that any and everybody could have. Now, I’m proud to say that I have a slightly different dream. My new found dream is to be like Phil Fisher! From being in class with Phil all semester, I’ve grown to admire his creativity. Regardless of the activity we were doing in class, Phil would come up with some of the best ideas. For example, when we had to come up with mantras for our problems, Phil came up with some great ideas, especially for Vanessa. I’m not sure if thinking creatively comes naturally for him or if he has to work at it, but I plan to work at mine so I can be as good as he is. No, I want to be better than he is. Like most dreams, this one may never come true, but it’s not going to be because I didn’t try. I’m going to take everything I’ve learned this semester, build on it, and make myself more creative. It’s not going to be easy, so wish me luck!

Environmental Outing #3: Creative Interview

Creative Interview

Lourdes Carreras-Balepogi is the founder and President of Chispa Marketing, a company that specializes in marketing, public relations, and event planning here in Miami.

What does creativity mean to you?

I’m going to quote Bruce Turkel, a successful ad executive. He said, “Creativity is finding new ways to do old things.” It’s how you think outside the box and how you work with what you have in order to be successful.

Were you always creative?

Yes, it started when I was 3. I had an imaginary friend name Milta who was a 40-year-old Cuban woman with beautiful, long, red, Farrah Fawcett type hair, and worked at Burdines. I would call her and talk to her everyday. It got to the point that my mom took her to the doctor because she was worried that I might have a problem. The pediatrician told my mom it was a sign of creativity and intelligence and I agree.

What’s your creative process?

It depends, just like with any process it starts with brainstorming. I don’t have a set formula though because it depends on the project, budget, client, and their expectations. It varies so much that there can be no formula. Really the best thing is just to brainstorm effectively. Oftentimes that involves blurting out whatever comes to mind.

Do you ever get in a slump? How do you get out and keep creativity flowing?

Sure, but I think that happens to any creative person. To get it flowing again I put it away and don’t force myself to think about it.

How long will you put it away?

Depending on the deadline, I may put it away for a few hours, a day or longer.

Is creativity a major factor in your career? What do you do on a day to day basis that is creative or deals with creativity?

Yes, it’s definitely a major factor. A lot of times people think creativity only deals with art. Creativity doesn’t just deal with art; it’s more of an art form. In my job and with the current economic crisis, I have to be creative with how I provide for my clients using the limited funds/resources they may have.

Are you more creative alone or with others?

I think that a good creative person works with other people. When working with staff I tell them to just blurt out whatever they’re thinking because a lot of times it may trigger someone else’s thoughts which could ultimately lead to coming up with a concept.

Out of everything you’ve done, what is your most favorite creative idea/piece of work?

My company and my company tagline. Chispa in Spanish means spark. Growing up I was always told I had “chispa”. So I really feel like I was able to use my creativity and express who I am through my company. Playing on the word spark and turning it into an action verb with those nouns on the end… I’m really proud of that. It was totally my idea and decision to use this for my company.

Who do you look up to creatively?

Bruce Turkel, and he inspired me a lot in the beginning of my career. I did a non-profit management series with him and it was all about creativity and branding. I actually got to meet him on a cruise one of my clients were having. I was finally able to tell him how much his seminar inspired me. I would quote him all the time. He’s brilliant. (This all happened 10 years after I attended his seminar)

What advice would you give to someone in this field or any other creative field?

My advice would be to do what I did. Devote yourself and love what you do, but just enough where you’re working hard and giving the 100% but still be selfish enough to not let yourself burn out and you keep the perspective of what your job is because there’s a very fine line.

Was it hard to get to this point in your career?

No, it wasn’t hard getting my company, but I worked very hard for 10 years. I was completely devoted to any job or titled that I had. I always thought proactively and never complained about a process or situation until I had a solution for it. So when I was ready to open my company, I had the support of so many people that I had met through out my career, and they were ready to hire me. All of my clients came through recommendation and a majority of them know me from the work I did in the past 10 years.