In what ways are formats, standards and best practices getting in the way of your creative work?

I’ve been thinking a lot about that lately.

A couple of friends are working on a project that I encouraged them to pursue together. Every few weeks they share what they’ve created so far and I am always surprised. Even if they are executing something I suggested it is always delivered in a way that is completely different from what I imagined. Part of this process has been an ongoing conversation about formats, standards and why are things the way they are. 

This project has led to a lot of questions: at which point did the formats or the media used change the creative process? Did composers write symphonies because that is what the vision was or because that was the expected form the composition should take? CDs (remember those) held approximately 75 minutes of music, but did albums need to be 75 minutes long, or could they contain less music? In the digital age, what form would an album take? Can the album be reinvented? (One could argue that iTunes LP is the album reinvented, but that is exclusive to iTunes, what would the universal new shape of an album be?) Are plays creative works meant to be read or seen in production? Is the theater of the imagination better than an actual theater? What is a theater? What is a book? A magazine? What is a website? An advertisement? Is an open source environment better than a closed system? Is HTML5 better than Flash?

Restrictions can be very helpful to the creative process. Limitations often yield the best creative solutions because of the discipline they enforce. But I worry that over time we’ve conditioned our creative process to fit the things we know to be true making innovation evolutionary rather than truly visionary. Having true visions devoid of formatting restrictions has become something we are not trained to do. 

It is exciting to be at the threshold of so much change in media and technology. This is a perfect opportunity to not only create smart work, but to also take the time to question the forms the work will inhabit. 

As someone that is currently looking for interesting projects and collaborators I am always asked to submit my resume first. The resume becomes the summary of my career as well as a billboard for my personal brand. The resume is the one thing that determines whether the conversation stops or continues, but there is no way that it could present the full picture. And so, all this thinking about formats, and inspired by remix/mash-up culture I decided to do an experiment. 

I created an EP for my resume. I developed the Antonio Ortiz Resume EP 2010, an interactive PDF which includes my original resume and nine remixes and an EP exclusive. I experimented with content and with format to present a more complete picture of my career and how I work. I’ve already thought of additional remixes to create in the future and have asked some friends to be guest remixers and create their versions of my resume while I return the favor. 



Download the EP PDF here. Please take a look, see what you think. Feel free to share with anyone you think would enjoy it or find it interesting. What other remixes would you suggest? Would you remix your resume? Your personal brand? Would you allow others to do so? 

And if you, or anyone you know, would enjoy collaborating with me, please let me know. 

In what ways are formats, standards and best practices getting in the way of your creative work? 

And what are you doing about it?