You don’t necessarily have to do things yourself if you want it done right, but sometimes, it can be awfully rewarding. We’ve got a flurry of activity going on around the office in advance of our open house. It’s not just the cleaning and organizing and standard preparations that you’d expect. We’re building furniture, moving walls, rearranging things, hanging signs and lights – we’re advancing the design of our space and creating a special environment. And it’s a lot of fun.

When we moved into the new office space at the end of 2010, we were excited about all the new-ness. Not having offices. 16-foot ceilings. Being downtown. Having a patio. We also had a lot of ideas on “other” stuff we could do, as the Creative Minds all saw potential no matter how cool things already were.

Well, over the past couple weeks, we’ve been putting the ideas into action and I am so impressed with what’s happened. For us, it was just an extension of what we do. We solve problems, we think, we design, we create and build. Sometimes all of those things happen on the computer. Sometimes they are printed or materialize as signs, billboards, television commercials, websites, postcards, radio ads… you name it. This time, however, we’ve started with raw materials and made THINGS. We’ve taken pallets and scrap wood and built walls, benches and tables. We’ve handcrafted signage for the building. We’ve put the ideas into action and added sweat, tears and yeah, a little blood, and actually made some things. It looks really good. It feels great.

Doing the work and getting your hands dirty can really help keep you rooted and connected with how stuff actually happens. It helps you to solve problems better when you are the one who actually has to do the work to make things happen. There’s also simply the feeling you get after having created something real that doesn’t just exist when the electricity is on.

I’d love to hear about the types of “real” things that you do that help keep you in touch with the real world, and what types of work you’ve seen to help influence the creative process. And if you’re in the neighborhood – stop by and say hi. We can show you around and let you see all of the things we’ve been working on.