Breakthrough!: Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination [Paperback]

Alex Cornell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 12, 2012

All of us struggle at one time or another with creative block. Always striking at the worst moment, it can leave you feeling completely paralyzed. Take solace in knowing that you are not alone. It happens to everyone and is actually an inevitable part of the creative process. Breakthrough!is a lively compilation of strategies for combating creative block offered by a who's who of leading graphic designers, typographers, cartoonists, photographers, illustrators, musicians, writers, and other creative professionals. Because every block is different, they offer a wide variety of solutions-from cleaning the house and eating spicy food to making a plaster cast of your hands and feet-that are surprising, amusing, at times weird, but always inspiring. Breakthrough! is rocket fuel for any creative individual in need of a catalyst to get ideas flowing again.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A small but potent compendium of field-tested, life-approved insight on optimizing the creative process from some of today's most exciting artists, designers, illustrators, writers, and thinkers. At once practical and philosophical, Breakthrough! promises to help you burst through your own creative plateaus. Whether or not it succeeds, one thing it's guaranteed to do is make you feel less alone in your mental struggles -- and what greater reassurance than that could there be?" -- Brain Pickings

"When color-coding your pens finally loses its appeal and the blank computer screen continues to mock you, borrow a tip from Alex Cornell's new book, Breakthrough! 90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination. He surveyed creative leaders, who have plenty of tricks." -- Fast Company

"We can all relate to the frustration that ensues when we run up against creative block. Well, no need to fret. Alex Cornell has compiled '90 Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination' from a line-up of stellar creatives. Christian Helms, Alexandra Lange, Debbie Millman, and others share what works for them to get over the block." -- Communication Arts

About the Author

Alex Cornell is a San Francisco-based designer and musician. He currently works as cofounder and designer at Firespotter Labs and ÜberConference, an Andreessen Horowitz and Google Ventures-funded startup. Recently he passed over three million views on YouTube, where he maintains a periodic online musical presence.

Product Details

• Paperback: 176 pages
• Publisher: Princeton Architectural Press (September 12, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1616890398
• ISBN-13: 978-1616890391
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #148,324 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Alex Cornell is a San Francisco-based Designer and Musician. A graduate of Duke University, Alex cofounded Firespotter Labs in 2010 and has designed and launched Nosh, Jotly, NoshList and ÜberConference. Recently Firespotter raised $15M from Google Ventures and Andreessen Horowitz.

Prior to Firespotter, he spent three years studying design as apprentice to Scott Hansen (ISO50), as well as writing for the blog and running the studio. He has also worked for IDEO, Plancast, Signpost, and many other Bay Area companies as a UI/UX and brand designer.

His work has been featured in many international magazines, publications, and blogs - most recently in The Modernist (Gestalten 2011). Recently he passed over 3 million views on YouTube where he maintains a periodic online musical presence.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Some good ideas to help deal with artist's block. August 29, 2012

By E. Swope VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

As a scientist who has spent over half my life studying creativity (and gone on to become a working artist) I picked this book up with some trepidation, and fairly low expectations. I have literally read upwards of 100 books on creativity, and in my experience, the books written 30+ years ago (when it was not a hot area) were, for the most part, a good deal better than the majority currently making the rounds. That is easily explained, as the people writing then did it out of love, passion rather than to turn a quick buck. All that said, I was not expecting a lot from this book. I have to commend Alex Cornell, more editor or curator (than author) of this collection of essays, for not overstating what it gives you, not imbuing it with too much gloss or ego.

The book is a collection of essays from a variety of working artists who were asked how they deal with "creative block". There is some overlap in the recommended strategies, but that is par for the course, and points to an aspect of the process; that the mind needs to be relaxed for those ideas to "gel".

My favorite quote comes from Chris Russo, who says "If the remedy was exact, I'd patent it, design the packaging and make some money." The truth is, there is no "cure-all". Each of us has different triggers, different backgrounds, different things which work to get them going. There are, however some good ideas in this little book and enough of a variety that I think many people would find something of benefit in it.

It's an easy read, not heavy on jargon, or cute catch phrases. Genuine advice from working artists who took the time to share what helps get them going when they get stuck.... Anyone who works in a creative field has been there, and it is not an enjoyable place to be, so anything which helps is a little gem. I suspect that most artists would agree that if even one of these strategies helps get them going again it was a worth-while read.

If I could I would give the book 4.5 stars. It isn't perfect (but doesn't claim to be). It's another piece of the puzzle, and maybe the piece which helps you solve yours. Read more ›

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Surprisingly Useful Collection of Ways to Overcome Writer's Block September 3, 2012

By W. A. Carpenter VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I must admit to some skepticism when I started reading Breakthrough!: Proven Strategies to Overcome Creative Block and Spark Your Imagination. This seems to be another collection of one page emails by famous people on a single topic - but in this case I didn't know who most of these famous people were. It turns out that they are designers, artists, musicians, and other creative types from New York City, England, and Scandinavia (for the most part) sharing hints on how to overcome writer's block (or other forms of creative blocks). There is surprising unanimity on the best approaches - basically you should take a walk, observe the world, and otherwise distract yourself from the problem at hand.

However I was delighted to find such an interesting array of ways to give this basic advice in 90 different voices. The editor, Alex Cornell, deserves a lot of credit for choosing well and keeping the book interesting. The book designer, Elana Schlenker, also deserves a lot of credit for intelligent and interesting design with creative pull quotes. There are a number of different things about the book layout. The colophon, usually found on the reverse side of the title page, is the last page of this book. Each page has a wide printed margin - which fades from black to blue as you go from the front of the book to the end. The font choices are distinctive but readable. Reading it was fun.

Even though I do not make a living in any of these creative fields, I found the advice inspiring and useful for dealing with the kinds of problems I face in my very different field of work. Recommended.

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Buyer Beware August 30, 2012

By Terri J. Rice TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

I loved the idea of this book. I am a painter who gets stymied for a clever subject so the title appealed to me, the idea appealed to me, expert advise appealed to me-from 90 clever people no less.

Nope. 90 people being clever is not the same as 90 people helping you to be clever.

An entire page states: "Just sweeping the floor helps sometimes." Or

"No two creative blocks are alike," a whole page for that!

"Let gravity pull you down." Say what? How the &^%$ is that going to help?

"Surf the web. Write inane tweets. Check out your high school friends on Facebook. Feel smug."

If you need a pep talk, you might find this trite book useful. If you need real help overcoming a writer's block, a creative block of any kind- not going to help. Add to that, it's a little pocket size book of around 150 small pages.
This compilation shows what a book looks like when you totally lack spark and imagination and wrote it in spite of a creative block.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Lots of Ideas to Overcome Creative Block September 6, 2012

By Janet Perry VINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

The real value of this book is that each of the 90 creative people (and groups) tells you how they overcome the inevitable creative blocks in their working lives. While their solutions might not end up being different, each expresses their solution differently.

That makes it a very uneven book to read straight through, but it makes it an excellent resource for creatives to keep on the shelf. Having a block? Open the book at random and read a few entries, try some of the ideas. If it works, great. If not, repeat.

Even so, I didn't find the book without faults. Its origins are from a blog where creative people from different disciplines were asked to answer the question "How do you overcome creative block?" Befitting its origins, the answers aren't long. To turn this into a book, graphic design, focusing of pull out text and simple shapes, was added.

I'm not a graphics person, but a fiber artist and writer, so I ended up feeling as if this was both padding and an awfuol lot of visual noise. Someone else might feel differently, but, to my mind this was a fault.

In the end, I found this book useful but not necessarily enlightening. I didn't find any earth-shattering new ways to deal with creative block, but often its good to be reminded of things you already know, so you can act on them right then.