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“The state of creative industries- perspiration and Inspiration” was the title of the introductory lecture. The creative industries are very diverse and the range of lectures reflect that, including 47 different speakers. Never underestimate the power of networking.

They also have a creative futures website which has information on the speakers and the event.

He began outlining the purposes of creative futures week;

To provide an insight into what it is like to work within the creative industry. To provide exposure to a diverse range of speakers and subjects. To meet and network with professionals. To help develop future career. To meet requirements of academic studies.

You can be a creative person but not actually be strictly creating, for example you can use creativity to help the community. Stuart is upbeat and feels there are a lot of ways for us to be creative in our future careers after we graduate.

He then went on to talk about the current state of creative industries, giving us some statistics;

The UK creative economy accounts for 2.55 million jobs. Since 2011 Creative industries employment figures grew 8.6%. The creative economy grew 6%.

He tells us the creative industries is a strong area to be involved in.

GVA of the creative industries contributed £71.4 billion to the economy in 2012.

Mon Lecture 1

GVA of creative industries increased by 15.6% since 2008 (UK economy = 5.4%). The second largest growth sector in the UK after real estate.

So employment is on the increase and the creative industries is a great sector to be in, as the graph below illustrates.

Design

Accelerates new ideas to market. Makes stronger and more compelling brands that stand out in the market. Creates new products and services that have transformed existing markets or opened up

new ones. Approaches design and products in new ways.

Mon Lecture 1

For every £1 businesses invest in design, they gain over £4 net operating profit, over £20 net turnover and over £5 net exports

Design is customer centred- the benefit is the greatest when design is intimately related to solving problems, especially customers’ problems.

Design is most powerful when culturally embedded- it works best when it has strong support in the organisation, especially from senior management.

Design can add value to any organisation- design can benefit manufacturing and service-based organisations, small, medium or large.

But it is hard to quantify these benefits of up-front: likely to stifle investment and sponsorship of the process. This is a catch 22 situation as we know design is likely to benefit, but how do we get people to invest?

What can be done ensure maximum economic and business potential is realised?

These are the 8 recommendations from the design council to articulate these values, these points are geared towards business helping individuals.

Don’t limit the context in which design can operate- Sector non-specific and scalable, design can apply to anything.

Use design to differentiate- Focus on client needs, not the competition. Question current practice, explore the alternatives.

Integrate design and branding- Reinforce the brand and its values in your approach. Introduce a design process- Make it transparent, structured collaborative and strongly

led Trust and support your design talent- Embed a culture of trust from top to bottom of

the organisation. Illuminate and influence the value of this internally and externally. Creative people tend to think differently to business people and offer a new perspective, build a good relationship.

Embed design into your organisational culture- Problem solving and a customer focus should be part of the organisation’s approach.

Design your work environment- Collaborate, share ideas, work as a team. People with defined roles can shut themselves off but collaboration can be very beneficial

Don’t let the designer’s role be a straitjacket – Understand organisations aims and functions and promote them. Champion design internally and externally.

24% of those in the UK creative media sector work freelance. The sector doubled in Wales between 2009-2012 Major sectors include

- Wales: TV- Scotland: Interactive media- Northern Ireland: Interactive media

Stuart showed us a graph representing the portion of workforce who are freelance in each creative area.

Mon Lecture 1

Another graph shows the size of the creative media sector on a national scale. Wales contributes 10% which is quite a lot

UK Government push

Mon Lecture 1

2014 was declared the year of creative industries They are exporting and growing the sector

–  hmp://youtu.be/DJQyLxxMJkQ!!

The man in the video said the creative industries grew by 10% last year much bigger than the rest of the UK economy (Embed video, youtube ‘How can UK government help creative industries). You couldn’t be in this industry at a better time, it’s going from strength to strength

We then moved onto the section of the presentation entitled ‘Perspiration’, about how hard work can get you to where you want to be. Not only do you need to work hard but you also need to keep know how to create opportunities. He gave us some advice to consider from his personal experience:

Trust your intuition, this is very important but don’t let it go stale and be sure to keep yourself up to date with fresh information.

Never stop being a student, always learning new skills and knowledge. Be open to new experiences. Life experience is your biggest skill. Value in breadth and depth, keep improving your skills and learn a wide range of them. Learn how to ‘play the game’, not just watch it, know what’s going on as it can be a nasty

game and learn how to prioritise too.

Inspiration. Stuart advises we stay open to new ideas and don’t underestimate inspiration.

Tells us qualities we value and aspire to. May be transient or permanent. Sometimes shared, sometimes solitary. Shouldn’t be neglected or rushed. Indiscriminate; anything may make a connection, ideas can come from good and bad places,

people and situations. Marries well with motivation and also returns bad ideas. be aware of the bad ideas

Stuart passionately holds on to bad ideas to use. He advises us to think of the top 3 worst ideas in a situation before the good ones. The bad ones will help to inspire more workable ideas. He gave us example of bad ideas for a menu in a restaurant for blind people, a hamburger audio of cows in the slaughter house. He suggests making a web of inspiration like his, a mind map of people who inspired him.

Stuart showed us part of his web of inspiration, which consisted of images of people or things which inspire him he advises that we make one ourselves.