HDSF was intrigued by the METROPOLIS article, “How the Pandemic Jump-Started Creativity,” by Amanda Schneider. The article addressed recent findings published by WeTransfer, in their 2020 Ideas Report.
WeTransfer asked 35,000 creatives how the pandemic affected their creativity. According to the report, “61.6% of people in new jobs say they’re having more creative ideas than ever.” Maybe this should come as no surprise. After all, we’ve had no choice but to become more creative. Transitioning to remote work, collaboration, and relationships have forced a degree of creativity. Moving out of a busy office also has its benefits. For one, we’ve found our focus is better with our constant interruptions. Surprise!
As posited in the Metropolis article, “In many ways, creativity has been the thing that has kept businesses open. Think of all the schools that transitioned to e-learning, the restaurants that shifted their indoor dining outdoors, or even the alcohol distilleries that switched operations from producing alcohol to making hand sanitizer. Creativity spurred success, and the most successful were those who found unique ways to remain relevant in our new, digital world.”
Holly Fraser, editor in chief at WeTransfer, observed: “What’s interesting about now is that creatives are having to find new ways to display their work. Artists don’t stop being artists because galleries are closed. For example, we were faced with closing our partnerships with the Summer Exhibition in London at the Royal Academy of Art and the creative agency Uncommon, because people couldn’t safely attend in person. This exhibit has run for 252 years and survived two world wars, so we had to figure out a way to make it work. We transferred the exhibit to an online platform, complete with a ‘lucky dip’ wallpaper, that allowed users of WeTransfer to click the wallpaper screen to see a new artwork from the exhibition each time, and a ‘The Show Must Go On’ commentary video with features from exhibition judges and curators. In the end, we had three times more people view the Summer Exhibition on WeTransfer than were able to go to the physical exhibition in London.”
Our challenges have always been our opportunities. We continue to embrace them, learn, and to expand our creativity!