#57: What Nolan (& cinema) can teach us about creativity & innovation
I can go down this rabbit hole all day, everyday
I just finished watching the film, Interstellar (2014), again for probably the hundredth time already. It is an experience, every time. You learn something new. This is, after all, a Christopher Nolan film. It is to be expected. If you are familiar with his work, I think you can agree with me when I say he has a thing for leaving audiences in awe as a side effect of his work.
Cinema, when done right, feels like magic and art at the same time. As a viewer, it transports you to a different world where time is irrelevant. Cinema, at its best, is a core application of what an orchestrated experience is. From the visuals to the sound design all the way to its foundation of script (copy) and acting, nothing is a coincidence. Everything has a purpose.
You, as the viewer, can sit back and lose yourself into the design of it all. Once you’ve developed a taste for what great means in that world, you won’t be able to unsee it. You’ll want to experience it over and over again. There is a reason why even up to this day, Oscar-nominated films remain to be as relevant and as popular.
Before I continue, here’s a list of items I want to cover for today’s post:
Cinema as a source of inspiration
Why designers should think like cinephiles and film directors
I’ve been a cinephile all my life. I’ve always loved a good film, the experience of it, shared and solo. Like any contemporary film lover, I look up to Christopher Nolan and his work. His reputation is well deserved, and his filmography speaks for itself. As much as I admire him, this post is not about Nolan, the person behind the work. This is about the magic / art of his work—cinema, in general— and what we can learn from it, from an innovation and creativity perspective.
Here’s a breakdown of my thoughts on this:
WRITING
You can’t skimp on the quality of the writing. Everything else will fall apart without this. The writing of a thing is a direct reflection of the quality of thinking that went into it. It is the invisible thread that governs experiences. You, as a viewer/reader/user feel the way you do after using X precisely because of the writing. It is true with films, as it is with most technology products and companies.
The application of this to any and all forms of creative work in technology is endless. Crisp & thoughtful writing leads to clarity of thinking. The clearer your thoughts are, the free-er your mind would be for some serious problem solving using creativity. From UX copy to conversational design all the way to R&D work, there’s a real need for designers to be equipped with this.
The thing is, words are the entry point to a good first impression. Everything from the way someone talks to their style of written communication tends to leave an mark on the receiver. You can tell a lot about a person’s influences, no matter how narrow and wide it is, simply by the way they:
Compose an email
Reply on slack / teams
Conduct themselves during meetings / socials
Write their documentations
Organize their digital workspaces and so on
A reputation is basically the sum of someone’s multiple first impressions. Whatever reputation you would want to establish for yourself, make it a good one. Design it, own it and constantly develop it, otherwise the world will do so for you. One of the most effective ways to do that is to check your writing skills.
EXPERIENCE DESIGN / SENSORY DESIGN
Experience is best design with multi sensory in mind: sight, sound, kinetics, spatial etc. This was evident with Memento, certainly even moreso with his latter works like Interstellar, The Dark Knight and Dunkirk. From the score to the art direction, everything about a Nolan movie is a mastery of sensory design—if that’s even a word. It is brilliant, and surreal and unforgettable. It often turns viewers into storytellers afterwards.
In design and technology, this quality could be translated to recommendable. What was the last product you’ve recommended to a friend? A thing designed so well, it’s practically effortless for you to spread it through word-of-mouth. That’s the goal.
Mastering this would especially be the focus of most products & companies in the next few decades.
IDEAS / CONCEPTUAL THINKING
Perspective is an anchor, it is an edge, a leverage, a unique pull. Do everything you can to make this a unique one. Aside from being character-driven, Nolan films excel on his specific, signature themes:
Pushing the the finite nature of time (Memento, Inception, Tenet, Interstellar)
Deception (Inception, The Dark Knight Trilogy)
Morality and mortality (Interstellar, Inception, The Prestige, Tenet)
His filmography speaks for itself. His name commands a presence that trumps his A-List lead actors. I’m not from this industry but i’m quite sure that this is an especially difficult status to achieve. It is, normally, the other way around.
All of this was possible for Nolan because of his impeccable cinematic style. I’m a firm believer that as designers, just like Nolan, we can learn how to develop our own to be just as good. This is where concepts like design languages, philosophies and frameworks work best.
How & why we do what we do is important. I wrote a case study of my brain to explain my thinking on this.
Technologies come and go but great stories are timeless, and—arguably—will never be outdated.
Why designers should think like cinephiles and film directors
Film directors are master orchestrators. They are the sum of all that is good (and bad!) of a film. It is a role that requires a lot of rigor, and depth and a deep respect for thinking, at least if you want to produce a substantial product. There’s a purpose to what they do, why they do what they do and how they do it. This is as evident with Nolan’s work as with most of his contemporaries who are considered as auteurs.
Designers should be no different. For the most part, our work is not consumed and created in silos. This is especially true with anything that involves messing with people’s behaviors and experiences.
Our work is most effective and powerful when we take ownership of it. The more intentional we are about the things we do, the better the outcome of it will be. No position is too small, a task too mundane and a problem too menial.
If you can’t do a small thing right, it is hard to imagine doing the big things any better.
Think like a film director. Improve your taste, refine your skills, check your attitude & develop your style / language as a creative professional.
These are little seeds that will pay dividends to our futures in the industries we’re a part of.
The whole point of the big picture is not just to see it, but also to create it. We’re all designing every part of our professional life one day, one client, one pixel at a time. Once you start to take some control of it, it changes everything.
In a good and bad way, depending on how you see it. Just like everything else.
Just a few of the influences for my thinking on this subject:
Links worth your time:
A free handbook: Make Something Wonderful from the Steve Jobs Archive
Public directory of coaches, coaching programs, & career advisors from Amy Santee
The New Way to Create Content & Code from Lockhead on Marketing
I know this is a long post so if you made it this far… thank you.
I appreciate your time,
Nikki
Got a quick second? Would love your thoughts, feedback on my platform
“The thing is, words are the entry point to a good first impression”
You gave me an aha moment there ❤️