The Value of Restrictions

Last Friday I got the chance to attend another inspiring creative morning hosted at the Ad Directors Club in Manhattan. This time the guest speaker was talented designer Matias Corea, Chief Designer and one of the masterminds behind Behance.

As expected, the session was great. Matias shared several examples of things that stimulated him creatively as well as others that were just awesome to watch. He talked about architecture, print and digital as some of the many valuable sources of inspiration out there.

Now, personally, there were two things that got stuck in my head as I left the room early that morning. Two quotes that Matias said and that I believe clearly represent his work philosophy.

“Restrictions can be the
starting point for your best work”

It is amazing how much value we can find in the so many "restrictions" we normally have to work with. Budgets, mandatories, contextual limitations... things we can't avoid but perhaps use to our advantage just by looking at them from a distinctive point of view. As the world continue to progress it is imposing not only new possibilities for the future but also new restrictions. Whether we use these to led us into uncharted territories or the same old ones, is now part of our job descriptions. It has always been.

“You don't want to be interesting.
You want to be good. If you're good
then you will be interesting”

Although I do believe good is a quite subjective term in business like this, there is no doubt that you can easily separate what's truly great from what's not. And it is not by awards or popularity. You can tell what's good by the impact it has on people's lives. That's why for me the sometimes infamous "You are as good as your last________ never gets old. Because it is true.


Lastly, I would like to end this post the same way he closed his talk. With the only mandatory that does not represents a restriction to anyone: don't ever forget to have fun. And the video below is a good example of how you can have fun with anything. Enjoy.