Emphasis

Establishing a hierarchy of importance is essential in a creative work. Unless you are Jackson Pollack, you will want some elements to stand out from the rest. The number one newbie mistake is trying to give everything equal emphasis. The result is that everything becomes lost.

What if a movie had no climax? A news article had no headline? A song had no refrain? Like any other rule, there are exceptions. When you want to fade into the background, like elevator music or wallpaper. Or when you join the cacophony, like a wall of posters or graffitti. Remember, when everything demands attention, very likely it will all be tuned out.

How to create emphasis? Make it bigger is the most obvious way, but there are others. Adding contrast is the most effective. Use color—bright colors stand out from neutrals. Add space around something to draw attention to it. Shine a light on it. Once you have your style of emphasis, use it in different degrees to create a hierarchy.

Only you know where you want the audience to direct their attention, so put the emphasis there.

Why Be Creative?

From Carloyn Hax, March 2, 2010

Dear Carolyn:

I recently broke up with my live-in boyfriend of three years. I have been through break-ups before but this has really hit me hard. I still live in the same condo (I own it) and I find it harder and harder to stay there. I cannot sell it in this market, so I am really struggling to get it together.

Va.

I'm sorry. If it helps, people have been finding ways to live with their ghosts since well before there was such a thing as a real estate market.

Since one of your problems is grief, and another is the physical setting, combine the two to find, if not a complete solution, then at least some relief. Work through your grief by updating your apartment -- paint, rearrange furniture, re-route foot traffic. Make the familiar unfamiliar. Start hosting a new set of memories.

Making big changes on a small budget forces creative thinking, and that forces your brain to work on something other than re-living your past three years. If you have some good old friends or even some encouraging new ones, find friendly ways to include them.

Time is going to do the most work to help you through this grief, but a project can make that time go faster and in a happier direction.