Tapping into new environments when stuck-ness sets in

Steven Acres, Associate Creative Director

Fun Facts:?

??: Has exceptionally good aim (baseball, shooting clay pigeons, beer pong — you name it)

??: Cat dad to Bishop, Merlin and Tiny?

??: Prog rock is his music genre of choice

??: Plays the drums

In the advertising world juggling is quite common — not in a literal sense, but if asked, few creatives can pinpoint a moment when their time was devoted to a single client or project. While that’s the reality of advertising, occasionally juggling leads to switching gears so often that stuckness begins to sink in. Mythic’s associate creative director, Steven Acres, describes this scenario as the perfect storm for overwhelm and what most often leaves him feeling stuck.?

“A lot of the time it happens when I’ve just had back-to-back-to-back projects,” Steven said.?

In scenarios like these, Steven added, getting in the right headspace can be difficult because if there is something that’s really stumping him or taking longer than expected, stopping to address a more urgent task means it could take longer to get back into the initial project.?

Most recently, Steven found himself stuck while working on a naming and logo project for a new mixed-use, multi-family real estate project in Charlotte’s Plaza Midwood neighborhood. By the time Steven got stuck, the Mythic team and the client had already landed on the property’s name: Commonwealth. But when it came time to come up with a logo, stuckness left Steven spinning his wheels.?

“I think we went back and forth for a few weeks trying to figure out what represented the name Commonwealth because that word has a lot of associations,” Steven added.

Despite having a final deck ready to go, Steven had an idea lingering in the back of his mind that he wasn’t ready to let go of, so he decided to bounce it off of Alex Liebold, SVP, Creative Director, to see if it had any legs.?

After what started as a bit of spitballing (and, admittedly, some pretty far-out conversations about the possibility of a jackalope logo), Steven tossed out the idea of a squirrel with conductor hat since the client originally chose an acorn logo and the area has quite a bit of railroad history.?

“Then, after a bit of back and forth involving an acorn mascot with feet, Alex suggested a squirrel with a monocle,” Steven explained. “Then I started mocking up the squirrel with different accessories, and bam, the crown came to mind for the Queen City.

Plus, the squirrel logo he pitched directly tied back to the name of the property, particularly when the words “common” and “wealth” were separated. Luckily, Alex bought into the idea, and so did the Commonwealth team, and the squirrel logo has been a hit ever since.?

At Mythic, Steven is among the top contributors to the “Plant Parents” Matter Most channel (an online chat service similar to Slack), so it’s not surprising that he used an observance from his environment to inspire his creative work amid the depths of stuck-ness.?

“I think a lot of creativity is having existing knowledge or experience to pull from and going to different places,” he added.?

Steven admits changing or even tapping into his environment can serve as a reset during those periods filled with rapid-fire projects that can leave him feeling stuck. Sometimes, this happens close to home as Steven explores the delicate art and science of bringing his and his wife’s gardening vision to life.?

“We had an idea of what we wanted,” Steven said, explaining how they worked with a nursery to make the vision a reality. “We wanted a path that goes out and around, so you can see it starting, but you can't see where it goes. It kind of invites you in.”

Steven and his wife had certain plants in mind, one of which was a persimmon tree, so the aesthetic piece of the puzzle was more or less ironed out, but the science of knowing where to place everything was the real challenge.?

When he’s not tapping into his inner creativity by designing an environment in his own backyard, Steven is globetrotting and collecting experiences from all corners of the world. From Germany to Japan and Bolivia to Romania, Steven said his adventures abroad give him a chance to “relax his eyes,” get a little uncomfortable and experience the unfamiliar, which provides him with the inspiration needed to constantly come up with new ideas when he does return to work or ends up feeling stuck.?

“I think it just puts you in a completely different headspace,” he added. “Then when you get home to what's comfortable, it’s like a reset button.”

Steven explained that he often feels more refreshed and full of new ideas after exploring these new environments, and often, he draws on these experiences when stuckness sets in.?

In a world where attention spans are limited, we're glad you stuck with it and made it to the end of this article because we certainly think it was worth the read. If you like what you saw and want to know how you can partner with a team that's brimming with creative ideas, reach out to our CMO, Taylor Bryant ([email protected] ), and get a conversation with Mythic started today .