The long lost art of creating with your hands
We would LOVE to tell you that every decision we make at Off Grid is researched and considered, but that would be a lie. Mostly, we try out new ways of working so that hopefully it might stop us from going insane...
Starting the agency with an already different stance on how to run a business seemed to free us up to think about what else we could do differently. The industry had us believe that Graphic Design, by trade, was a profession where you sat in bare brick offices in the trendy parts of town, with bikes hung on the wall and expensive coffee machines, whilst you tip tapped away on a Mac worth more than your car for hours and hours a day. The introduction of 'agile' and 'scrum' working did rock the boat a little with multiple opportunities to stand up - oooh, the joy.
We did, initially, fall into this exact way of working when we first started the agency. We did what we had always done. Graphic Designers make graphics on a screen.
It was only when we started to grant ourselves the freedom to get outside that things changed. We'd often take our sketchbooks with us to sit and write and draw as an act of being more present and mindful - before returning to our Mac jails for the rest of the day.
Slowly remembering how to create with our hands felt unfamiliar and nostalgic. These sketchbooks that accompanied us started to creep their way onto the desk, drawing a scamp for an idea or playing with the shapes for typography.
Once we started our print shop, the experiments and techniques we’d been exploring started to spill over into our agency work. We started the shop as a creative outlet, to allow us to flex our muscles freely and experiment without a brief. It was never the intention for it to become a design lab for cultivating new techniques for our agency work - but in a wonderfully fortunate turn of events, it has done just that.
'Studies show that working with your hands provides a hand-mind feedback loop. When your hands get activated by physical touch, endorphins and serotonin (pleasure chemicals) get released in your brain, and levels of cortisol (stress hormone) decrease.
It can also increase neuroplasticity in the brain meaning an increase of neuron integration so you’ll form new bonds of equal creativity! And we all know how creativity impacts your mental health by providing tremendous benefits for both personal and work life.
With the use of your hands, people have called this the effort-driven circuit; which is activated through effort, concentration, and pleasure.' - Thriva Blog
Who would have thought, there is actually a boatload of science to back up why this approach flippin' worked. We had lost that connection to what we were doing, and there is a reason that about 90% of design agencies seem to be pumping out the same stuff. When the only ‘inspiration’ that you have in front of you in what you can find online e.g. Pinterest Dribbble, etc - you find yourself facing the same images over and over again. The same images that everyone else is seeing.
As children who were rarely not drawing animals (personally - horses out of her 'Horse Encyclopaedia', I think we'd now term this, manifesting) there is also a playful joy to this method. Getting all of your best pens and paints out was always a reward and a moment in time where you get to create landscapes, animals, and monsters and get lost in the new worlds you created. Work is allowed to be fun, and in fact, if you're enjoying what you're doing - you're going to be doing some of your best work, right? Does anyone ever really produce their best work when they're stressed, pressured and miserable? Well - we don't.
The point of what we’re trying to say is to just try and do something different. That doesn't have to look like creating art for some of you - but step away from the screen for a while and see what happens.
Such as:
Writing. As two classically borderline dyslexic designers who have been often chastised for spelling at school and beyond, we recently decided 'but we really like writing' so thought we'd start doing it anyways. It started with journaling, writing down ideas, plans, or just musings in a beautiful leather bound book.
Mind Maps. A chance to get your best pens out here. Got a problem, write it down in the centre of the paper and let ideas start to spill out on the page surrounding it. Let it grow and run off the page. We use this to start projects, letting our minds wander and think about a brief in a different way
A Hobby. Wouldn't we all love more hobbies, if only we had the time? But maybe just try 10 minutes a day? Do a quick sketch, start a cross-stitch or whittle a spoon. Get that connection back to your hands and away from a screen.
Grow your own food and flowers. Not to go all classic ‘mid thirties’ on you, but my goodness does pottering in the garden feel wonderful. Especially when you’re prepared to get your hands mucky.
“Getting your hands dirty in the garden can increase your serotonin levels – contact with soil and a specific soil bacteria, Mycobacterium vaccae, triggers the release of serotonin in our brain according to research. Serotonin is a happy chemical, a natural antidepressant and strengthens the immune system. Lack of serotonin in the brain causes depression.”- Permaculture blog
Reestablishing a connection with your hands doesn't have to be something you do in your working day - we’re well aware that a vast majority of our jobs do have us tied to the screen - but try and find moments when you can to craft, dig, kneed in between. The mental and physical benefits will drift into the rest of your day.
Kim & Sally x