Pogus Caesar is a national treasure. His many projects as a photographer, director, artist, and archivist transcend language and defy perfectionism in the way great art should. The sheer humanity and honesty in his images spoke to me, and I needed to hear his story. Those iconic images from the 1985 Handsworth riots fired me up through my love of activism through artistic expression. His images of cross-cultural friendships are profound, and we discuss his early experiences of moving from St Kit...
Feb 05, 2025•1 hr 35 min•Ep. 256
Covered in this week's instalment of 'The Creativity Diary': A tough week of financial panic The personality clues in the culture we're drawn to The human fundamental of listening and being heard for mental wellbeing The battle to be trusted with a diverse skillset in a title-based market Young life and silent death: a motorbike in the graveyard Musings on joining dots and using the world as our art school in a world obsessed with automation As ever supported by Illustration X https://illustrati...
Jan 29, 2025•27 min
Content writer Caroline Christie shares her thoughts on the time a research facility funded by America’s largest telecommunications organisation became a studio of some of New York’s most renowned and avant-garde artists. We're discussing the need for bigger thinking and cross-pollination of artists with other industries to resolve our collective problems and promote broader creativity. Caroline wrote an article for Little Atoms on Bell Labs and EAT (Experiments of Art and Technology), and their...
Jan 22, 2025•1 hr 42 min•Ep. 255
Covered in this week's instalment of 'The Creativity Diary': Lively children fighting and why it's healthy An anxiety explosion and what I learned about structures and routines Boxing Day 1997 and magic in utter boredom and frustration Energy diversity and why it can help creative businesses Baby Gorilla: what a silly imaginative character for the kids has done for my own creativity As ever supported by Illustration X https://illustrationx.com Get your 1/3 off 'PIT STOP' one-stop creativity foun...
Jan 15, 2025•38 min
In this edition of The Creativity Diary: Listening properly. Some reflections after reading Dr Rageshri Dhairyawan's Unheard: The Medical Practice of Silencing. Reading wide and reading well: why only reading about the topic you're trying to master doesn't work for everyone, and is not conducive to creativity. I was the only person in the world to see this sunrise and why that reminds us of our value and unique power. An uncomfortable eccentric in Ryman Stationery and shaking up the peace. The s...
Jan 08, 2025•33 min
The final episode of The Creative Condition for 2024 is a deep dive into the lessons of the world's greatest-ever polymath Leonardo Da Vinci. And who better to present them than a Fly-fisher of over 40 years and author of the amazing Fly Fishing with Leonardo Da Vinci – David Ladensohn!? Leonardo saw no boundaries between all of life's wonders and spent his life exploring them to identify the patterns. A man who painted the Mona Lisa, designed bridges centuries ahead of the capabilities to build...
Dec 18, 2024•1 hr 43 min•Ep. 254
The second installment of The Creative Condition podcast's 'The Creativity Diary'. This edition contains thoughts on: The maturity trap: why an encounter with a police officer, my dog, and a tennis ball conjured a 14-year-old 'fitting in' mindset. The inarticulable sense of belonging somewhere at the right time. Appearance and perception AI bots commenting on posts and the subsequent etiquette dilemma as AI ups its bot game The importance of getting the house in order before trying to create Rea...
Dec 11, 2024•23 min
For over 25 years, Duncan Wardle drove creativity and innovation at Disney. He sent Buzz Lightyear into space with NASA, almost had Roger Rabbit eliminated by agents after Princess Diana was put in danger, and oversaw a U.S. President-sanctioned parade for a special turkey at Disneyland. But more importantly, he's sharing the inner workings of his creative thinking in a superb new cookbook-style recipe format book, The Imagination Emporium. He joins me to cut through a monstrous amount of topics...
Dec 04, 2024•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 253
The dark nights are here. It takes more work for those of us on the wintry side of the globe to manage our thoughts and not fall victim to the harsher conditions. Pulled from the 'Anatomy of Creativity' coaching framework and my experiences/the wisdom of others, here are 8 suggestions to help you maintain optimal creativity and good mental health while we're under Gotham skies. Supported as ever by founding sponsor Illustration X: https://illustrationx.com The list: 1. Get offline 2. Get out mor...
Nov 27, 2024•51 min•Ep. 252
Synoptic Office is an award-winning design agency founded by Caspar Lam and YuJune Park. They work globally with leading cultural, civic, and business organizations to communicate ideas, build experiences, and cultivate new audiences. We talk about their work across design and education, and their brilliant projects digging into cultural institution archives to bring art to more people via technology. Caspar and Yujune also share the history of the agency. https://www.synopticoffice.com/ Please ...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 251
The first of an ongoing series of thoughts, ideas, suggestions, and tips around creativity and its inner workings. Biophilia, eco-anxiety, the unconscious mind, less-screen time, Yorkshire Sculpture Park, the imagination in children and adults, 24/7 news cycles and elections, and more are covered. Music by Dirty Freud Supported by https://illustrationx.com https://ui.org.ua to help the Ukrainian Insititute The Creative Condition book is out now https://bentallonwriter.com/shop Ben Tallon Illustr...
Nov 13, 2024•34 min
We're heading into dark nights season. These panic-fuelled days can be tough. Here in the UK I often lament the dreary, soggy, TO-LET addled high streets and the way they assail already tested moods. So I picked up the colour psychologist bat phone and called Justine Fox. Justine is an expert in applied colour psychology and we're getting into the opportunity to do more with our urban environments, to promote more consideration for the impact of colour, and what needs to happen to shift percepti...
Nov 06, 2024•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 250
Lights off, blankets on, The Walking Dead on, forget about the world's insanity for one hour. Many of us can relate to that feeling, but what are the deeper themes? I drill down into the sense of comfort I get when I watch survival horror, or played those old Resident Evil games. It's not that I want everything to collapse, but could there be a better balance? What is 'evolutionary mismatch' and what can we learn from this comforting feeling about the foundations of our creativity? Please take a...
Oct 30, 2024•57 min•Ep. 249
I don't care what you do. I care who you are. What moves you, what excites you, what you're bad at, what you find funny, what trauma you've suffered. That's your brand. Not your logo, or website, or profession. These things matter, but without knowing yourself and projecting it in everything you do, they are irrelevant. Today I'm discussing a recent loss of confidence, how it was remedied, and what I learned about the personal brand I always trusted and made a creative industry career possible. ...
Oct 23, 2024•48 min•Ep. 248
Natalia Talkowska is a Polish-born, award-winning CEO and Founder of the pioneering neuroscience-led strategic storytelling agency Natalka Design . Founded in 2012, Natalia and her team redefine how businesses communicate, using neuroscience-led visual storytelling for instant ideation and problem-solving to create strategic creative that really resonates with people. Working with renowned brands, including Google, Disney and The British Royal Family and leading agencies and consultancies, inclu...
Oct 16, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 247
Takeaway learnings from: The New Yorker staff writer and author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyla Chayka details the trajectory of the internet from human-curated and cultivated passions to algorithmic conformity and sameness. Please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! And please, TELL A FRIEND ABOUT THE SHOW! To see the information on the group and individual coaching opportunities, head here! https://bentallonwriter.com/shop for The Creative Condition ...
Oct 10, 2024•11 min
The full length episode is also available now! The New Yorker staff writer and author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyla Chayka details the trajectory of the internet from human-curated and cultivated passions to algorithmic conformity and sameness. Please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! And please, TELL A FRIEND ABOUT THE SHOW! To see the information on the group and individual coaching opportunities, head here! https://bentallonwriter.com/shop for T...
Oct 09, 2024•42 min
The New Yorker staff writer and author of Filterworld: How Algorithms Flattened Culture Kyla Chayka details the trajectory of the internet from human-curated and cultivated passions to algorithmic conformity and sameness. Please take a moment to rate, review, and subscribe to the show! And please, TELL A FRIEND ABOUT THE SHOW! To see the information on the group and individual coaching opportunities, head here! https://bentallonwriter.com/shop for The Creative Condition book and the brand new 'A...
Oct 09, 2024•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 246
Creating a vision on paper helped me to make sense of a very scattered brain and regain some momentarily displaced passions, so I wanted to share the exercise with you. I was shocked at how many needs, hopes, and fears I brought to the surface during this exercise from The Creative Condition coaching program. Why have a vision? How fantastic can it be? And what about real-world constraints? I'd love to see yours, so share at [email protected] or on Linkedin or Instagram and we can discuss it! ...
Oct 02, 2024•37 min•Ep. 245
Here are the key takeaway learnings about creativity from: After many years working as a full-time illustrator as Miss Led, Joanna Henly has grown. Returning to the show for the 3rd time, Joanna reflects on her 5 years helping others as a mentor, balancing it with her art practice, and the personal understanding and acceptance it's required. We get into sensitivity, the importance of 'white space' to think, process, and develop relationships with all things key to optimal creativity. Joanna move...
Sep 26, 2024•13 min
(The highlights edition of this episode is also out now) After many years working as a full-time illustrator as Miss Led, Joanna Henly has grown. Returning to the show for the 3rd time, Joanna reflects on her 5 years helping others as a mentor, balancing it with her art practice, and the personal understanding and acceptance it's required. We get into sensitivity, the importance of 'white space' to think, process, and develop relationships with all things key to optimal creativity. Joanna moved ...
Sep 25, 2024•1 hr 33 min
(The full-length edition of this show is also out now) After many years working as a full-time illustrator as Miss Led, Joanna Henly has grown. Returning to the show for the 3rd time, Joanna reflects on her 5 years helping others as a mentor, balancing it with her art practice, and the personal understanding and acceptance it's required. We get into sensitivity, the importance of 'white space' to think, process, and develop relationships with all things key to optimal creativity. Joanna moved fr...
Sep 25, 2024•40 min•Ep. 244
The full-length and highlights editions of episode 243 are also out now! What we learned about creativity from: Professor Carlos Moreno, a specialist in the intelligent control of complex systems joins me to discuss the urgency to rethink the design of urban infrastructure in the face of the climate crisis among other collective problems. Author and pioneer of The 15-minute City, Carlos is a huge proponent of humancentric design, putting communities, creativity, and collective voices over capita...
Sep 19, 2024•14 min
The full-length episode is also out now! Professor Carlos Moreno, a specialist in the intelligent control of complex systems joins me to discuss the urgency to rethink the design of urban infrastructure in the face of the climate crisis among other collective problems. Author and pioneer of The 15-minute City, Carlos is a huge proponent of humancentric design, putting communities, creativity, and collective voices over capitalism-led planning. He explains his vision, why we have become so discon...
Sep 18, 2024•44 min
The highlights episode is also out now! Professor Carlos Moreno, a specialist in the intelligent control of complex systems joins me to discuss the urgency to rethink the design of urban infrastructure in the face of the climate crisis among other collective problems. Author and pioneer of The 15-minute City, Carlos is a huge proponent of humancentric design, putting communities, creativity, and collective voices over capitalism-led planning. He explains his vision, why we have become so disconn...
Sep 18, 2024•1 hr 30 min•Ep. 243
You can listen to both the highlights and full-length episode with Erin now! There's a lot of fear out there. Pitching. Testing. Neurotesting. Data power. Nobody wants to fail and so nobody succeeds in the way those big, juicy, swaggering advertising campaigns can when the right balance of idea, risk, and attention to detail is struck. Erin Riley is moving up from U.S. CEO of TBWA/Chiat/Day, one of the world's biggest advertising agencies, to Global CEO of TBWA and we sit down right after the ne...
Sep 12, 2024•11 min
The full length version of this episode is also out now! There's a lot of fear out there. Pitching. Testing. Neurotesting. Data power. Nobody wants to fail and so nobody succeeds in the way those big, juicy, swaggering advertising campaigns can when the right balance of idea, risk, and attention to detail is struck. Erin Riley is moving up from U.S. CEO of TBWA/Chiat/Day, one of the world's biggest advertising agencies, to Global CEO of TBWA and we sit down right after the news to discuss why sh...
Sep 11, 2024•37 min
There's a lot of fear out there. Pitching. Testing. Neurotesting. Data power. Nobody wants to fail and so nobody succeeds in the way those big, juicy, swaggering advertising campaigns can when the right balance of idea, risk, and attention to detail is struck. Erin Riley is moving up from U.S. CEO of TBWA/Chiat/Day, one of the world's biggest advertising agencies, to Global CEO of TBWA and we sit down right after the news to discuss why she wants to fight for creativity, to break through the alg...
Sep 11, 2024•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 242
The brand new tool for better consciously understanding and commanding your creativity is here. 'The Anatomy of Creativity' is a universe of components that inform, modify, and impact our creativity on any given day. By working through, and gaining a sense of how the components affect you, and influence one another, you can identify blind spots, opportunities for growth, and strengths to lead with. This is an explainer, and the map is available in print, or as a digital file for the price of a p...
Sep 06, 2024•13 min
What we learned about creativity from multidisciplinary artist Sara Prinsloo! You can listen to the highlights and the full-length episode now. Sara Prinsloo tells stories across many different mediums. She's an artist who draws upon her working-class roots and personality and is not afraid to use her flaws to blistering creative effect. From 'trashy Barbie' installations to sculpture and drawing, we discuss the links between her personality and this spectrum of work, and why pride in who you ar...
Sep 05, 2024•15 min
