Ever have one of those days where slotting cleanly into your assigned role as an account coordinator, creative director or brand manager simply isn't going to cut it? We all do -- and it's on those days that we're most likely to seek out new sources of inspiration.
Italian ad agency Admcom posits that every day can and should be one of those days. They've rolled out a fun project called Year of Creativity (YOC for short) that let's people break out of their (often self-assigned) work roles and 'try on' new, interesting, entirely made-up and wholly surreal professions. Maybe you don't want to be a teddy boy or a saint in artist's clothes (as Oingo Boingo suggested way back in the Eighties), but how about a Day Dreamer, a Carnivorous Plant Nutritionist, a Polar Bear Washer or the Jack of Spades?
OK - so maybe you don't want to be any of those either, but YOC serves up 362 others to choose from. Their point is that all of us have (and should take) the opportunity to reinvent ourselves every day. And that, in doing so, we will see things in a whole new way, be inspired by the things we previously found insipid and tap into a wellspring of creativity.
And what is YOC's mechanism for change? If you didn't figure it out from the image above, it's the lowly business card, that dull cardboard rectangle that you hand to strangers when you meet them at conferences, social events and business meetings.
The YOC site lets visitors search or scroll through 366 different, creative business card designs -- each emblazoned with a different imaginary job title and representative image -- personalize any of them with a name and phone number, save and send, and even potentially print for free. With 366 to choose from, you can literally be someone (or at least something) new every day for an entire year.
Some of the job titles suffer from Italian-to-English translation or read like they were spewed forth by a random phrase generator, but the premise behind the project (that even something as mundane as a business card can be transformed into a spark of inspiration) is a compelling one.
Besides, it's Friday (the 13th no less) -- give yourself permission to play a bit today.
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