Last week I was contacted by Scott Belsky from Behance, an impressive project.

The Behance team studies exceptionally productive people and teams working in the creative fields. We document the methods and resources that productive creative professionals use to push their ideas forward.

After clicking around and liking what I read (especially their tips for meetings), I went back to Scott for an overview.

The Behance team convened because we were frustrated with the creative community. All of us had witnessed the mismanagement and eventual demise of great ideas conceived by brilliant creative professionals. We realized that great achievement requires much more than a great idea. As we began interviewing creative professionals, we started to notice a few themes. For starters, creative people from across industries self-report a lack of productivity. We heard a lot about being “extremely disorganized” or struggling with prioritization. In addition, we learned that creative professionals, especially freelances, struggle to present themselves professionally. MySpace is looked down upon. Personal websites are expensive and high-maintenance, and other niche creative sites fail to attract potential clients and collaborators from other industries.

Since early 2006, we have focused on developing methods to help creative professionals organize their work and then productively share their work. Many people found our first project a bit surprising for a start-up technology company: a paper product line! In February 2007 we launched a product line of notebooks and “Action Pads” along with a new methodology for project management. We developed the “Action Method as a way to emphasize the focus on “action steps” and minimize the time spent managing “reference items” (notes and articles), and “backburner items” (those ideas that you just need to set aside for some other time). With this method, we were encouraging creative professionals to seriously consider their approach to staying organized. Too often, design for productivity is an afterthought. We think that a successful system for managing ideas needs to be simple, well designed, and action-focused. With so little time in a day, notes and filing systems are overrated.

While the product line consumed about 10% of our time, the other 90% was spent on building the Behance Network. For over 14 months, we debated the philosophical and practical needs of creative professionals that want to manage portfolios and represent their work professionally. Why create a network? Networks provide a few crucial ingredients for productive creative careers:

Accountability

If you don’t share ideas with a group of people that will hold you accountable, new ideas will be overridden by everyday demands…

Cross-pollination

Most ideas originate at the intersection of different creative realms (i.e.: a photographer comes up with a new idea through her work with a musician…). If you silo yourself, or become isolated in one particular group (i.e.: just designers), you will not experience the enlightenment from the clash of different talents.

Freshness and Truth

Without feedback from a network of trusted confidants - an inner circle - your work may become stifled and stale.

Professional Opportunities

New jobs and connections in the creative community happen through circumstantial interactions. Without a network to maximize these “circumstances,” your opportunities for growth are limited.

The Network Effect

Your latest project may solicit little interest from your close peers and clients, but how about the peers-of-peers and clients-of-clients?

You can’t do it all alone.

Networks help you engage new collaborators and hire resources to push ideas forward.

The Behance Network, just launched, is the culmination of our efforts. The network is an open platform for creative professionals and teams to present their work and take full advantage of a network of peers, industry leaders, and potential clients. Powerful but intuitive tools enable participants to build multimedia portfolios and navigate the network for new opportunities. Of course, the future of the network depends on how it is used. We are eager for feedback and suggestions from network participants. Ultimately, we hope that it helps brilliant creative professionals make ideas happen.

Scott, Matias, Dave, and Chris
Behance Team

Thank you Scott, for taking the time to explain Behance. We’re certainly looking forward to seeing more of you!

For more on Behance, Scott’s ABC interview is online.

until the next
Business Briefs,
cat