It has come to my attention that I may/may not have accidentally skipped forward a week in the readings and left the ever important ‘Design Fiction’ content in my dust. (Props to Tom Lewis for the guide on posting a GIF into your blog.)

Carrying on. This week’s real reading – an article from Matthew Ward; a designer and educator, who explores the importance of DF (Design Fiction, not dairy-free) in a creative line of work.

Ward makes the point that those who work in consultancy must constantly fight the ‘dark matter’ to have their work made. What is dark matter? In this context, I’d like to believe that dark matter is ‘the box’ in which one’s ideas become unoriginal and somewhat dull. He argues that thinking laterally and ‘pushing the boundaries’ of one’s discipline allow them to design creatively, to remain original and most importantly, to have one’s work made.

I was particularly drawn to point number six (being open to experimentation) on Ward’s manifesto, perhaps because it is what I feel lacking from my own creative process. I think that I get set on one really specific idea and refuse to let myself change it for the better/worse – which might act as a creative block and refuse me the opportunity to really develop any of my work and learn from mistakes.

The importance of consuming literature to learn what makes a strong, interesting, complex yet subtle narrative is not overlooked and Ward suggests in his 12th point that immersing oneself in writing will not do any harm.

Ultimately, this reading provided me with a deeper insight into writing fiction and how the creative process can be aided by means of ‘pushing the boundaries’, experimenting and reading, a lot.