In Today’s Digital Chaos, There’s Hope for the Modern Creative
Workfront Executive Creative Director Ben Child has a message for creatives attending Adobe MAX: “You’re not alone.”
You’re not alone if you think doing your best creative work is hard. If you feel like a servant to your corporate overlords, waste more time suffering through timesucks (meetings, emails, etc.) than doing the creative work you were hired to do, or fear what our world of mounting digital distractions is doing to your creativity — you are not alone.
Workfront’s 2020 State of Work report backs up why it’s never been harder to be creative:
- We waste 60% of our time on things like unnecessary emails and meetings.
- We spend only 43% of our time doing the work we were hired to do.
- We (42% of us) have a difficult time getting work done thanks to digital distractions.
No wonder turnover is up 88% since 2010. We’re burning out. At home, we wake up to a cacophony of digital noise and start our day with a stress response, adrenaline pumping, cortisol levels surging. At work, we trudge through disorganization packed with productivity landmines: unclear priorities, ineffective processes, and dangerous miscommunications.
In his multimedia session at Adobe MAX, Ben brings years of experience running creative teams at Adobe, Domo, and now Workfront to address a rising concern — that creatives are losing the battle to digital entropy. A documentary filmed by Ben’s team reveals creatives’ fears about what the future of work looks like and how they’ll keep their creativity alive. But there’s hope. Ben will share specific strategies proven to help creatives spend more time creating and less time tweaking.
Ben’s session will validate and quell creatives’ fears, and remind them that their work is significant. He’ll also equip individuals and teams with methods for improving the creative process and getting back to their creative core, including:
- Balancing structure and creativity. Learn how to strike a balance between structure and creativity to deliver mind-blowing creative work that delivers results for your organization.
- Being strategic. Learn what it means to be strategic and what questions strategic creative teams ask themselves every day.
- Using process to get organized and collaborate. Learn how to guide your clients/stakeholders into following (sometimes painful) processes that result in better outcomes. See how Workfront’s creative team dismantles complicated problems into simple solutions to deliver great designs (hint: the creative brief is your bible).
- Reclaiming time for creativity. Learn how to reclaim your creativity despite the onslaught of digital distractions. Step away from things that fight for your time. Track down what inspires you.
The session’s most important takeaway for creatives? Never stop creating.
In addition to Ben’s session, make sure to catch Workfront creative Ryan Braman do what he does best — make art — in the main hallway outside the conference exhibit hall. Ryan has a reputation for creating beautiful things, like the mural that adorns Workfront’s studio. We’re excited to share his talents with you.
Register to attend Ben Child’s session—“Create More. Tweak Less. Getting Back to Our Creative Core”—on Tuesday, November 5, from 1:15 PM to 2:30 PM.
