GTD for Creatives

**tomgastall** · 05-26-2012, 04:28 PM

Trying out the web version of Wunderlist, so I can use it on multiple machines. It's a free organization app:

http://www.wunderlist.com

-Tom

**TRACERfire** · 08-12-2012, 07:28 PM

Oh man... when it comes to contributing to this thread I've certainly dropped the ball!
For this I really must apologise.

In the year (plus) that Kelly Sue started this thread I certainly have managed to keep busy.
Tis a shame that 'busy' and 'productive' aren't mutually inclusive terminologies.

The past several months have been a blur of university studies, some irritating health problems mixed with the woes (and some highs) of being a freelancer in a repressed economy.
This has been topped with the added shock that we're expecting our first child in early December.
As a result, my online presence has been severely curtailed. I do like the flow and general tone of these messageboards though and hope to spend a bit more time contributing.

As far as getting things done, I've developed quite an addiction to Evernote.
The auto-sync allows me to continually concentrate of "content creation" rather than "content management".
I'm still using the free account which, so far, has been more than sufficient.

The web clipper function is particularly useful when performing research that requires me to keep close track of references for citation.

I also Google Drive and DropBox to hold reference and research material, generally in PDF format.

A few things I've learned recently:

The iPad is a great tool, particularly for reading and research. Comixology is quite good too.
Choose carefully when presented with an opportunity to collaborate or work with someone. My father taught me that if someone offers you a lift in their car, a the minimum offer them 5 or 10 dollars for gas money. Tragically, not everyone had the same father
Show your work to people!
An author by the name of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has recently caught my interest. His book, one of many, "Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention" is a revelation of insight into how one's perception of "being creative" is much more than simply coming up with "good ideas". I'm still only part way through the book; but I'm in true and absolute love with this quote from an early passage:

"Creativity results from the interaction of a system composed of three elements: a culture that contains symbolic rules, a person who brings novelty in the symbolic domain, and a field of experts who recognise and validate the innovation. All three are necessary for a creative idea, product, or discovery to take place"

I originally come from an engineering design and technical drawing background. What endears me about Mihaly's writings is that he makes little distinction between creativity in the arts and creativity in the sciences.
I've been stuck somewhere in the middle and have struggled at coming to terms with this for many years. To me, the process of engineering design is as much about the division of labour, communication with colleagues and developed workflows as the process of creating a comic book. For example, the relation between a property developer (the client), an architect, the engineering services team and the building contractor isn't too disimilar to that of an editor, writer, artist, inker, letterer and remainder of the production team.

Hopefully I've dropped enough linguistic bombs to ignite further conversation about workflows and getting things done.
I'll be sure to check back regularly as it would be nice to get to know everyone around here a little more.

Thanks for listening and also for the kind words earlier in the thread. It's really appreciated.

Cheers.
-John-Paul McCarthy

**nickellis** · 08-13-2012, 02:32 AM

Welcome back! And to answer one of your last questions first - yes, well done on the bomb dropping!

Originally Posted by TRACERfire

As far as getting things done, I've developed quite an addiction to Evernote.
The auto-sync allows me to continually concentrate of "content creation" rather than "content management".
I'm still using the free account which, so far, has been more than sufficient.

The web clipper function is particularly useful when performing research that requires me to keep close track of references for citation.

I also Google Drive and DropBox to hold reference and research material, generally in PDF format.

I have never gotten Evernote to work well for me, but I definitely need a better research file system, so maybe it's worth another look.

(Currently I email myself links to a Gmail account I wasn't using - not really the greatest. I also want to investigate Zotero, an academic research/citing application, but there aren't any good iPhone/iPad apps for it, and that's where I do most of my internetting.)

Have recently fallen in love with Dropbox. So good.

A few things I've learned recently:[*]The iPad is a great tool, particularly for reading and research. Comixology is quite good too.

I concur. Also, with a keyboard (I use the Mac wireless keyboard and the Origami iPad stand) it's great for writing.

[*]Choose carefully when presented with an opportunity to collaborate or work with someone. My father taught me that if someone offers you a lift in their car, a the minimum offer them 5 or 10 dollars for gas money. Tragically, not everyone had the same father

Ugh. Yes. Need to remember this.

[*]Show your work to people!

Especially people who aren't obliged to be nice about it.

[*]An author by the name of Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has recently caught my interest. His book, one of many, "Creativity: Flow and the Psychology of Discovery and Invention" is a revelation of insight into how one's perception of "being creative" is much more than simply coming up with "good ideas". I'm still only part way through the book; but I'm in true and absolute love with this quote from an early passage:

I originally come from an engineering design and technical drawing background. What endears me about Mihaly's writings is that he makes little distinction between creativity in the arts and creativity in the sciences.
I've been stuck somewhere in the middle and have struggled at coming to terms with this for many years. To me, the process of engineering design is as much about the division of labour, communication with colleagues and developed workflows as the process of creating a comic book. For example, the relation between a property developer (the client), an architect, the engineering services team and the building contractor isn't too disimilar to that of an editor, writer, artist, inker, letterer and remainder of the production team.

Interesting, will have to take a look!

Ok, more soon, welcome back again, and happy to see more posts in this thread.

N

**TRACERfire** · 08-14-2012, 10:52 PM

Originally Posted by nickellis

I have never gotten Evernote to work well for me, but I definitely need a better research file system, so maybe it's worth another look.
N

There is a clunkiness to Evernote that took me a bit of time to overcome. But when it comes to jotting things down in a hurry, and in multiple locations, it's been the perfect tool for me. Just this afternoon I took down a great deal of notes via web browser during a lecture and came home to them sitting safely inside the desktop install for additional research / follow up this evening.

A problem I've generally had with open source or near-free web tools is that I'm never fully comfortable that they're going to be around forever.
Having that bounce around the periphery of my head always makes me hesitant to embrace some of these tools. With the example of Evernote I was lucky enough to find something that I adapted to quite easily.

Originally Posted by nickellis

I also want to investigate Zotero, an academic research/citing application, but there aren't any good iPhone/iPad apps for it, and that's where I do most of my internetting.)
N

hm... I'll have to look deeper into Zotero as it states that it has citation capabilities for references.
If it does APA style consistently and accurately then I think we've found a winner.

Thanks for the welcome back Nick.

Oh... if you're looking for an additional method of backing up and sharing design and media files (ie PS, AI and files from music production packages such as Ableton Live) then there is a great little utility called Gobbler. You are allowed 5GB for signing up and additional "cloud-like" storage can be purchased as you expand. What I really like about it is that the utility keeps track of the content on you hard drives (local and networked) and suggests files for you to backup as you create then. Quite a smooth and transparent way of backing up, or sharing via URL to friend/colleagues)

https://www.gobbler.com/

edited to add:

Looks like Zotero does support the APA (American Psychological Association) style for citations
http://www.zotero.org/styles

I'll have a look at it over the next couple of days as the university here only accepts APA style for references in papers and reports.
Cheers for the tip!

**TRACERfire** · 08-15-2012, 01:04 AM

Browsing through my notes I found a reference to a website by the name of www.bibme.org
Yet another tool for assembling references and bibliographies.

The 'about us' page seems to describe the functionality of the site best:

BibMe is a free automatic citation creator that supports MLA, APA, Chicago, and Turabian formatting. BibMe leverages external databases to quickly fill citation information for you. BibMe will then format the citation information and compile a bibliography according to the guidelines of the style manuals. If you prefer, you can enter your citation information manually. BibMe also features a citation guide that provides students with the style manuals' guidelines for citing references.

**nickellis** · 08-15-2012, 08:26 PM

Zotero (from all accounts - I haven't used it yet) is brilliant for academic bibliographies. I'd be more interested in general reference and note making, and I really just want something that works well on the phone - so I'm going to try out Evernote again.

Thanks for all the other tips!

N

**TRACERfire** · 08-16-2012, 01:00 PM

@Nick

You're very welcome mate.

I've only just noticed that Evernote appears to be completely broken when accessed via Safari on the iPad.
I would definitely recommend using the App for it (both for iPad and on the OSX Desktop).

I've tried Evernote on a Android-based phone and it worked great.
Assuming it would work on a iPhone just as well (if that's your particular poison).

**TRACERfire** · 09-10-2012, 05:36 PM

Not quite "Getting Things Done" but here are a few books that I often flip through for inspiration.
Several sections of the Betty Edwards book are great to read as she makes a full-burst attack on the mid-century conventions of creativity.
Looking back to a book written in the mid-80s also provides me with some perspective as to where we are today in the world of design and what the public/web/blogosphere view and a good choice design-wise.