1 Sep

Landscape not Portrait

Coaching, Mentoring and Support, Consultancy, Team Development, 01/09/2017
Simple steps to increased creativity

This blog is the first in a trilogy covering simple tips to develop our creativity. Human beings are all creative beings but some more than others and some with more difficulty than others. Discover here how turning your paper round could turn your creative life around.

There are three reasons why I use landscape rather than portrait to get my creative juices flowing. Using landscape can be as simple as turning your pad around or altering the orientation of your Word document. Sometimes it is more difficult because traditional materials such as flip charts come in portrait as standard – you rarely see a landscape flip chart. It could mean breaking with tradition and moving from Word to PowerPoint for proposals and reports as well as presentations. So, what are the three key reasons for using landscape?

  1. Portrait leads to lists and Landscape leads to pictures

Try thinking about plans and strategies with a portrait sheet of paper in front of you. It is very difficult to stop yourself producing a list of “things to do”. Turn your sheet round and suddenly your mind will tell your hand to draw something; a picture, a diagram, a flow chart, a mind map. A few minutes in landscape will improve your outcomes dramatically. Try it and see what happens.

  1. Portrait starts at the top and Landscape starts in the middle

When you have a piece of portrait paper or a computer page in front of you, the natural thing is to start at the top of the page. This starts your mind on a linear journey. When you have a landscape page in front of you, suddenly there is an urge to start in the middle. This gets the creative juices flowing. Lines flow out freely from the middle with pictures attached and the mind is on a creative journey. Let your mind work differently.

  1. Portrait bores and Landscape inspires

How many times have you started reading a portrait document and got mentally fed up as you’ve ploughed through the lines of prose? Produce your documents in landscape and see the difference. I’m not just talking about presentations, which are naturally produced landscape thanks to PowerPoint, but how about client reports, proposals, handouts for training, pictures of management models and board papers? They will be filled with inspiring pictures, stories and creative layouts and have less narrative, lists and prose. Pick one, change it and see the difference. If it bores you, what is it doing to your clients and your business?

“I’m not creative!” is a frequently heard cry in offices up and down the country. Turn your paper round and see life differently. Go landscape and inspire yourself and then your clients, colleagues and customers will be inspired too.

Ivor Reveley is 4i Solutions’ Director People Management