A strange experience today. The Boss was talking about the need to come up with an idea for a store Christmas tree. He didn't want one that was loaded with merchandise; he's done that on previous occasions. And there's been a problem with the stuff under the tree getting wet. So he asked me if I could help, since I'm 'artistic.'
Which I don't really consider myself. I can paint miniatures in a way that's not terribly embarassing, but I'm massively the suck when it comes to putting anything in two dimensions. Nevertheless, within fifteen minutes, we had a concept that he was pleased with.
What I don't understand is how I'm different from him. He could have easily come up with the Donkey-Kong Christmas Tree. Princess Peach at the top, Kong 'throwing' barrel decorations down the tree, perhaps with a garland to indicate the platforms, and Mario at the bottom. It's a simple idea, which I got from looking at the Donkey-Kong themed energy drinks in the cooler. And my quesion is, why didn't the Boss have this idea? Is it because I spend time coming up with stuff? Because I pay more attention to my surroundings (ie am more easily distracted)? Is this sort of thing innate? Something I've developed where the Boss never did? Am I less afraid of failure so I start and am confident that if one idea fails another will be useful because that's the way I work?
But it was all so easy. Just chunk up one idea and then another (my first was to have a Pac-Man tree. Inspired by the Pac-Man energy drink sitting right next to the Donkey-Kong drink. The next pitch was likely to be a Red Bull treee).
It's just strange to me. What do people do if they can't come up with ideas?
