The creator, a creative director, explains and demonstrates the 'Lotus Method,' a Japanese ideation technique for generating cohesive creative concepts. He starts by explaining the theory, then uses notecards in an overhead shot to visually walk through the process: starting with a core concept, branching out to eight related ideas, and then using each of those as a new center. He applies this method to a fashion collection concept ('Death & Rebirth') to show its practical use and concludes with a call-to-action for viewers to comment for a free template.
Post caption
You know that feeling when you are stuck? When the next drop has no anchor, the campaign has no root, and you are building from nowhere because the last collection did not give you anything to build from.
That is the moment most brands make a mistake. They chase what is trending, or resort to what worked last season. It’s easy to lose the thread.
Your creative process should keep you tethered. One core idea. One message. Everything branches from it and everything comes back to it.
Transcript
Is how to generate ideas like a creative director. Now better collection that you've ever loved started as a single idea, but the most successful collections have been when designers have been able to take that idea and build that into an entire world. Now this technique is called the Lotus Method. Now quick context, the Lotus method or lotus blossom technique is a Japanese ideation tool. You put the one worse idea at the center and force yourself to generate eight different topics stemming from that center. Think of them like petals, but then the beauty comes. Each one of those petals becomes a new center for another generation of eight ideas. So when it comes to a collection, the center is your seed and the core focus of what your concept is. So let's say death and rebirth. And your eight petals, they can be anything around silhouette, fabric, color, texture, better, place, emotion, and your muse. Now let's take one, color, and make it a new center and pull eight ideas from that. Something like rust, oxidized copper, faded denim, moss. You kinda get the point, right? But the best part is the fact that your collection stays cohesive because every single idea traces back to the core focus cohesive because every single idea traces back to the core focus and sense of your collection. So if you're a creative director or fashion brand and you wanna come up with new unique ideas, comment Lotus and I'll send you a template. And until next time, peace.
