Hats Off (or on) to Creativity

In fourth grade, three times a week, we had a writer’s workshop in which we wrote and illustrated our own books. I was working on a highly anticipated suspense story. It was widely known as the most ambitious idea in the class, and that’s a lot of pressure for a seven year old. When it came time to read my story, it had all the makings of a spooky thriller, but it failed to impress. And just like that my dreams of being the next Stephen King were over.

Thankfully, I could still turn to my favorite books for the stories I so wished I could write. Among my favorites were the works of Dr. Seuss. Even as a twenty year old, those stories still resonate.

The New York Times recently ran an article about my beloved author and his infatuation with hats. So many of his characters wear hats or some form of headwear, most notably being The Cat in the Hat. But Dr. Seuss’ obsession with hats began long before he started drawing illustrations. He collected hats and would have guests wear them as costumes at dinner parties.

Dr. Seuss often incorporated hats into his advertising work. “[Hats] could give that character a lot of personality,” said Robert Chase, co-founder and president of Chase Art Companies. In one ad for Flit insecticide, Dr. Seuss showed a mosquito bursting out of a woman’s flower-decorated hat. “The ad helped jump start his career as a commercial artist and copywriter,” writes Leslie Kaufman, “And became part of one of the longest-running campaigns in advertising history, built around the line “Quick, Henry, the Flit!”

Dr. Seuss’ ads had a level of personality and creativity that I aspire to have in my own work.  Hat’s not only inspired the drawings in his ads, they inspired the man himself. For him, hats brought a level of playfulness and imagination to his work. They were a way of thinking through his stories and bringing them to life. Michael Frith, editor in chief of Beginner Books at Random House in the 1960s, remembers sitting and working with Dr. Seuss on a book. He said, “[We were] two grown men in stupid hats trying to come up with the right word for a book that had only 50 words in it at most.”

As silly as that sounds, the hats helped Dr. Seuss think outside of the box. The best illustrations, the best stories, and the best advertisements come from that sort of thinking. So if finding the right words for a tagline means wearing a silly hat, do it. If creating the perfect image for a magazine requires walking around with a flower pot on your head, so be it. Great work is inspired by great play, and that is what Dr. Seuss proved with his love of hats.

Dr. Seuss was much more than a marketing juggernaut or a pillar of the publishing industry, but an inspiration to your inner creative self. And with that, I leave you with a quote from “Oh the places you’ll go”

“You’re off to great places!

Today is your day!

Your mountain is waiting

So . . . get on your way!”

A Snapshot of Olivia Bee

Olivia Bee was 15 years old when she shot her first photographs for Converse. Now 18, she’s captured photos for Nike, Fiat and Subaru. Levi’s has used her photos. She did a campaign for Adidas and she worked with TeenNick and the cast of Degrasi. Photos of her friends will appear on the cover for Le Monde d’Hermes. But she didn’t start out taking beautiful pictures.

Image taken by Olivia for Converse.

In her TED talk this past December, Olivia talks about high school, following your dreams, and disregarding reality. In middle school, Olivia was only mistakenly placed in a darkroom course. She didn’t think anything of her photos, except that they weren’t very good. But she stuck with it because she was passionate. And despite being told later in school by some unconvinced teachers that  “taking photos is silly,” and “you need to go to college to be successful,” Olivia continued taking photos.

Image by Olivia for Hermès Paris.

For an 18 year old, she has some wisdom that I sure wish I had back then. She understands that what we are taught is “smart” in school, is not the only way to be smart. She is a firm believer in self-motivation and learning through doing. In her TED talk she says, “You have to do stuff besides the stuff that you have to do.” I believe that is the key to being successful in anything in life.

Image by Olivia for Levi’s.

Her photos have been featured in so many ads because they resonate with the consumer. She captures the feeling of youth. If you are young, you want to be young and cool. And if your youth has escaped you, you want to be young and cooler. Everyone would like to be young forever. Olivia’s photos capture reality and present it in a way that is dreamy and mesmerizing. Olivia’s work stands out in the industry because her style is the opposite of many big name photographers. She doesn’t work with supermodels, but her friends. In a world saturated with models and glamour shots, ads that have real people, living out real adventures, are very appealing.  I think this is an exciting direction for advertising, where ads no longer look like they are selling a product at all, but a lifestyle, a story. Olivia’s photos are so seductive because they are so representative of our lives at any given moment, making them resonate in our minds long after we’ve viewed them.

Image by Olivia for Fiat.