Intro
Most people put on music while they work.
Some dig out "Focus" playlists.
I've tried it all.
Binueral beats.
Focus apps.
Endel.
I found my favorite technique (by far) when I was 14.
When I was in in middle school, I loved writing while listening to one of my favorite songs over and over on repeat.
I would do this out of sheer emotionality.
I'd put on a Rise Against song, hit repeat on my iPod Nano and bury myself in a drawing. Often the drawing was informed by the song.
Much later in life, I learned that this was a popular writing technique.
I heard Kanye West put the perfect name to the technique in an interview he did about My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy.
He called it "dimmers."
Legend says he put on "The Holy Mountain" movie by Alejandro Jodorwosky on loop through the recording process.
If you listen to the theatricality of his album, the influence is clear.
In this exercise you dim the inputs from the rest of the world, to allow only specific waves, hues, and aspects to exist.
If you're working on visuals, dim the sound.
If you're working on sound, dim the visuals.
From this curated stance, you create.
This exercise works best for the exploratory aspects of a design.
