Note From Tongal: “4 Books Every Creative Should Read" is part of a series of Tongal Community-written blog posts that were originally sourced in the Tongal Blog Open Call Project. Read more Tongal Community-written posts here and then Pitch us a topic you'd like to write about for the Tongal Blog!
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There are a million different ways to improve as a creative. Observing other people’s work, watching YouTube tutorials or simply going out and experiencing the world to expand your horizons. However, for this blog post, I’m going to focus on something we probably all don’t do enough of - reading - with four books that have really improved the way I work.
To grow as a Creative it’s important to not just focus on your own area of expertise. If you’re a Videographer, don’t just read about videography. If you’re a Copywriter, don’t just read about copywriting. Tempting as it is, if we want to think differently, we need to branch out to other creative areas and even beyond.
That’s why the books I’ve chosen focus on a wide range of different aspects of creativity, critical thinking, and human behaviour. Hopefully, they will help you as much as they’ve helped me. So, in no particular order:
The Choice Factory by Richard Shotton
As much as we might not like to think about it, we’re in the business of selling. Selling ideas, selling experiences and selling products. And in order to truly be effective at selling, we need to know what influences people’s behaviour when they buy.
In this book, Richard Shotton tackles cognitive biases that affect our choices and behaviour, with a specific focus on how they affect our decision-making when it comes to purchasing.
Through the course of Shotton’s book, you’ll gain a deeper understanding of why people do what they do and how you can take advantage of things like mood, price relativity, social proof and much, much more, in order to make your work more effective.
These are behaviours that we all display virtually every day without realising it. So If you want to understand your audience’s motivations - and your own - you need to read this book.
Creative Mischief by Dave Trott
One of the UK’s greatest living Copywriters, Dave Trott has worked with stellar names on some inspiring campaigns throughout a career that’s spanned almost half a century.
All of Dave Trott’s books (he followed Creative Mischief with Predatory Thinking and 1+1=3) are so easy to read and yet absolutely packed with ‘I wish I’d thought of that’ and ‘Wow, I never looked at it that way’ moments.
Part autobiography, part ‘how-to’ and part collection of anecdotes from the world of advertising, you could probably breeze through each of them in an afternoon. But rest assured, Creative Mischief is guaranteed to get you thinking differently about the creative process and how you can find new ideas anywhere and everywhere.
Six Thinking Hats by Edward de Bono
You may know Edward de Bono as the godfather of lateral thinking - a method of problem-solving through which you use creative and unusual reasoning. We’re all probably familiar with a lateral thinking puzzle or two - those intriguing yet infuriating questions that make absolutely no sense until you hear the answer, which then suddenly seems painfully obvious.
Well, Edward de Bono also created a different way of brainstorming that has proven to increase creativity and efficiency.
When discussing an idea, instead of having people inevitably advocating different sides of the argument, de Bono proposes having everyone ‘think in the same direction’ in order to generate more comprehensive assessments of the idea.
When discussing something, everyone in the room is instructed to think for the idea, then against it, then with their gut, then with their experience, and so on. Each different direction of thinking is assigned a metaphorical ‘thinking hat’ that has a designated colour.
For instance, white is often associated with purity and clarity, which is why it represents factual information. So if the person leading the brainstorm said “Can everyone please put on their white hats” everyone would then discuss only the idea’s clear, inarguable facts. You would later supplement the facts by discussing your emotional instincts (red) creative thoughts (green), logical and practical thoughts (black) and so on.
This method of brainstorming allows you to really make use of all the brainpower in the room. Instead of arguing for or against something with sides that might be rational or emotional or factual - you all think together with sequentially different points of view, which helps generate a greater amount and greater quality of information.
Life's a Pitch: How to Sell Yourself and Your Brilliant Ideas by Stephen Bayley & Roger Mavity
These days, having great ideas isn’t enough. You also have to be able to sell those ideas to the people who can bring them to life. Whether that’s the judges at Tongal, your Creative Director or your client - everybody has to be reached in a way that will resonate with them and that will position you as the answer to their problem.
Bayley’s and Mavity’s book explores all the aspects of what makes an effective pitch. Interestingly though, the book is actually split into two - each written by one author entirely separately from the other.
Confidence, the control and transfer of power, human behaviour, body language and more - all of which will help you become better at pitching your ideas, if you can master them.
Mavity’s outlook is pragmatic, comparing the mechanics of how you pitch in business to how you pitch yourself in life - and how you can do both of them better. Bayley is more philosophical and thought-provoking - looking at the effects of perception and behaviour and how you can leverage them.
While there’s a certain degree of overlap between the two books, both are interesting, helpful and definitely worth a read.
BONUS BOOKS:
Here’s a quick look at a couple of books on my reading list:
If that name sounds familiar, it’s because it should. Rhimes is the award-winning creative powerhouse behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, who also helped produce How to Get Away with Murder and several other hit shows.
The Creative Habit: Learn it and use it for Life by Twyla Tharp
As the title might suggest, in The Creative Habit Tharp tackles the age-old question of what truly makes someone creative, and how you can grow your creative muscles through exploring, changing and optimising your certain habits and behaviours.
If any fellow Tongalers have some tips or recommendations for books that all creatives should read, please feel free to share them in the comments below!
