The hottest Creativity Substack posts right now

And their main takeaways
Category
Top Art & Illustration Topics

Experience More Epiphanies in 2024

The Recovering Academic • 376 implied HN points • 19 Dec 23
🔬 Science Creativity
  1. Epiphanies can come suddenly, triggered by external stimuli and internal processing, leading to a unique pleasure and breakthrough.
  2. Creating optimal conditions for epiphanies involves changing surroundings, allowing for diversion, and being open to different experiences.
  3. Distinguishing between pseudo-insight and real epiphanies is important; genuine epiphanies offer practical solutions or profound impacts on an individual's life.

Hooked On A Feeling

Everything Is Amazing • 923 implied HN points • 18 Nov 24
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Good writing should make readers feel something. When words connect with the senses, it creates a deeper experience, almost making them live the moment.
  2. Felt writing is more impactful because it uses vivid details to evoke memories and emotions. This helps the reader connect with the story and remember it better.
  3. Mastering felt writing can help you communicate more effectively. It's about picking the right details to engage readers quickly and make every word count.

How to Create Your Own Stunning Ebook Effortlessly With Canva

Kristina God's Online Writing Club • 539 implied HN points • 12 Aug 23
🪑 Design Creativity
  1. You can easily create an eBook without being a graphic design expert. Canva provides user-friendly tools to help you design stunning eBooks.
  2. There are many resources available that guide you through the eBook creation process. This makes it approachable for anyone, even beginners.
  3. Offering free eBooks can be a great way to share your knowledge and connect with others. It’s a good strategy to engage your audience.

The Scan Artist

escape the algorithm • 279 implied HN points • 30 Jan 24
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. The poem 'Pad' by Steven Zultanski dives into the concept of copy and repetition through a lengthy exploration of objects and capabilities
  2. The Instagram account 'everything.can.be.scanned' is part of a trend focusing on comprehensive stunts, showcasing scanned reproductions of various everyday items
  3. Artists like Kenny Goldsmith and projects like 'everything.can.be.scanned' emphasize on attention to detail and the mundane in their work
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The Topography of Thought Edition

Why is this interesting? • 965 implied HN points • 24 Oct 24
🚌 Education Creativity
  1. Your writing style can show how you think and might predict your success. It's not just about the words you use, but how you organize your ideas.
  2. Some people can express a lot of different ideas briefly, while others might take longer to get through them. This can affect how effectively they communicate their thoughts.
  3. Understanding how successful people manage their ideas can help us improve our own writing and storytelling skills. It’s useful to have data to back up what we believe about writing.

Anniversary

Castalia • 699 implied HN points • 24 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Writing is a personal journey, and it's important to express yourself authentically without worrying about pleasing others. This way, you can share your true thoughts and experiences here.
  2. There’s a shift happening in writing that values individual voices over traditional publishing authority. People want to hear from real individuals rather than just big organizations.
  3. Writing can be an ongoing process where you learn and grow while sharing. It's possible to merge your work and personal interests, making writing something you love to do all the time.

🤯 10 surprising ideas about design

Design Lobster • 519 implied HN points • 16 Oct 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. In design, being obvious can be a compliment. It requires a creative mindset to see things as they truly are and eliminate the unnecessary.
  2. Design that makes people look good resonates more. A little flattery in design can go a long way in enhancing user experience.
  3. Embracing bad ideas in the design process can lead to wider exploration and better solutions. It's about challenging assumptions and sparking fresh ideas.

The Art of Psychosis

Litverse • 259 implied HN points • 07 Feb 24
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. Creativity can be seen as a form of divine possession rather than a conscious process.
  2. Insanity and inspiration are intertwined, with creativity often flowing from a state of being 'possessed.'
  3. Artistic expression for some individuals like Jim Morrison involves a deep connection to spirituality and a belief in being guided by external forces.

One page diary

Austin Kleon • 2158 implied HN points • 14 Jun 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. Creating a one-page diary is a simple exercise that encourages you to reflect on the best thing that happened each day. It helps you practice cheerful thinking by focusing on the positives.
  2. Using tools like a brush pen and a slow writing method can enhance your diary experience. This slows you down and allows for more thoughtful reflection.
  3. Incorporating video into your diary practice can make it more creative and engaging. Filming your process can help you share your work, even if it's just for yourself.

Keep

ASK MOLLY • 511 implied HN points • 07 Sep 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. The post discusses self-reflection and paying attention to one's emotions.
  2. It emphasizes the importance of believing in what you feel and not dismissing your emotions.
  3. The content is geared towards paid subscribers.

I cannot defend this defense of slop

Sex and the State • 32 implied HN points • 29 Dec 25
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Lowering the cost of making and sharing media didn’t produce a creative golden age; instead it concentrated attention on a few winners, made mainstream culture more repetitive, and harmed trust in institutions.
  2. Automating discovery with AI isn’t a guaranteed fix—replacing human gatekeepers with profit-driven algorithms can repeat the internet’s problems and worsen content quality and polarization.
  3. Funding models matter: historically profitable intermediaries underwrote risky, less-commercial art and journalism, so if AI generates large profits we should funnel some of that money to human curators and to projects that aren’t immediately profitable.

Why do entertainment executives hate entertainment?

Read Max • 3108 implied HN points • 23 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Entertainment executives may lack love for movies and TV, affecting the quality produced.
  2. Industry trends show a shift towards prioritizing 'prestige' over more traditional entertainment.
  3. There is a growing disconnect between what audiences enjoy and what executives believe is valuable content.

The End of Rebel Wisdom and What's Next

The Bigger Picture • 1178 implied HN points • 18 Nov 22
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Rebel Wisdom is coming to an end, but new initiatives are on the horizon with a focus on sensemaking, philosophy, and cultural context.
  2. David will collaborate with Perspectiva on a new project in 2023, recasting Rebel Wisdom's YouTube channel and courses.
  3. Alexander will continue with a new Substack called 'The Bigger Picture' starting from tomorrow, featuring exclusive content on trauma, heterodoxy, and pop culture.

Energy in the gap

Austin Kleon • 1578 implied HN points • 11 Oct 22
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Creative tension is the gap between what you create and what you wish to create. It's common for beginners to feel disappointed because their work doesn't match their high standards.
  2. Everyone starts somewhere, and it's important to push through the awkward early stages of creativity. Many people give up here, but sticking with it is key to improvement.
  3. Reading and learning from others can help process your own creative thoughts. Books often show us that our ideas are not as original as we think.

Warp & Weft

Austin Kleon • 1718 implied HN points • 06 Sep 22
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. Weaving has two main threads: the warp, which is the tense thread on the loom, and the weft, which moves over and under it. This can symbolize how we create things from both old ideas and new ones.
  2. The concept of warp and weft is often used in writing and art to describe how we all borrow from traditions and influences. Nothing is completely original because we all build on what came before us.
  3. Anni Albers' work connects weaving to creative expression, showing how different materials can inspire and shape our artistic processes. Learning about materials can open up new creative possibilities.

#134 Designed (not) to last

Design Lobster • 479 implied HN points • 12 Jun 23
🪑 Design Creativity
  1. Ephemeral user interfaces could enhance experiences by creating interactive elements within message threads.
  2. Designers can learn from Andy Goldsworthy's approach of transforming natural materials into symbolic compositions.
  3. Life is ephemeral, so make the most of your designs and creations to have a lasting impact.

Metaphysical caviar

quite useless • 412 implied HN points • 08 Nov 23
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. The newsletter offers new paid options for subscribers
  2. Value is distinct from utility - caviar is valuable despite not being a necessity
  3. The paid subscription options range from $8 per month to $800 for an extravagant option

Grow

ASK MOLLY • 471 implied HN points • 02 Mar 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. The importance of trying, failing, and trying again.
  2. Valuing your own perspective and not always conforming to others' expectations.
  3. Respecting boundaries by not giving unsolicited advice.

The Writing Process #1

So Here’s a Thing • 471 implied HN points • 15 Apr 23
📚 Literature Creativity
  1. Ideas for writing can come both actively and passively - sometimes they drop into your head, other times you need to create the right circumstances for them to appear.
  2. You need to understand what triggers your creative mind - it could be a specific place, activity, or even reading certain types of books.
  3. The creative impulse needs nourishment - figure out what fuels your creativity to keep it going.

Man vs Machine

Sunday Letters • 59 implied HN points • 16 Jun 24
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Paying close attention to small details can help you understand the bigger picture. When you focus on one thing, you can see connections to the whole world.
  2. Creativity is in everything we do, whether it's making music, writing code, or having conversations. Each act of creation holds lessons and reflections of our lives.
  3. Failures are not just setbacks; they're opportunities to learn and grow. By examining our mistakes closely, we gain insights that can lead us to future success.

Jim Morrison's Religion of Recklessness

Litverse • 239 implied HN points • 01 Feb 24
📚 Literature Creativity
  1. Jim Morrison's art and lifestyle reflected a religion of recklessness, showcasing a fine line between self-destructive behaviors and artistic genius.
  2. The myth of the 27 Club, including Jim Morrison, romanticizes addiction and early death, blurring the lines between virtues and vices.
  3. Morrison's approach to art creation, characterized by unconscious expression and channeling spirits, challenges the idea of conscious creativity and self-control in artistic processes.

The worlds inside us: a personal essay

Design Lobster • 419 implied HN points • 30 Oct 23
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. Nurturing imagination and inner sight is important for personal growth and creative processes.
  2. Society often undervalues the role of imagination in design, but it is a fundamental aspect of creating something meaningful.
  3. Disappointment can be a result of high imagination, but it should not deter one's commitment to nurturing the wonders of the mind's eye.

#135 Think like a designer 🧠

Design Lobster • 459 implied HN points • 26 Jun 23
🪑 Design Creativity
  1. Slow hunches are vague ideas that over time can lead to important insights or innovations
  2. Infospaces, like messy studios or book-strewn studies, can facilitate creativity by physically activating more of our brain
  3. Thinking about new tools and interfaces can lead to discovering easier ways to tackle difficult concepts

Our Human Creativity Is Becoming More Uniform Due To ChatGPT

Cobus Greyling on LLMs, NLU, NLP, chatbots & voicebots • 39 implied HN points • 09 Jul 24
🕹 Technology Creativity
  1. Using ChatGPT for creativity can lead to less unique ideas among different users. This means many people might come up with similar concepts.
  2. People might feel more creative while using ChatGPT, but this doesn't always result in original or diverse thoughts.
  3. Reliance on a single AI tool can limit the creative process. It's important for new tools to encourage individual input instead of providing complete solutions right away.

the new moon in pisces for writers

astrology for writers • 452 implied HN points • 19 Feb 23
⛪ Faith & Spirituality Creativity
  1. The literary community is facing challenges and losses, like the closure of Catapult magazine and tensions at the New York Times.
  2. The New Moon in Pisces symbolizes a chance for new beginnings, healing, and creativity.
  3. Creativity and spirituality are intertwined, offering hope and inspiration during difficult times.

The road to hell, part 3 of 3

Thoughts on Writing • 499 implied HN points • 21 Jun 23
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Criticism of purpose has come from across the political spectrum from the centre to the far left, indicating a shift in traditional beliefs about corporate involvement in social issues.
  2. Business can play a vital role in society without the need for a higher purpose narrative, focusing instead on ethical challenges and human concerns.
  3. Creativity is the opposite of purpose, encouraging an open mindset that values exploration and curiosity over predetermined goals, suggesting a need for a greater emphasis on creativity in industries like advertising and design.

The DIY writing residency

quite useless • 452 implied HN points • 07 Jul 23
📚 Literature Creativity
  1. Persistence in writing is important, but flexibility and adaptation are key.
  2. Consider finding your own way to create the ideal writing environment instead of traditional residency programs.
  3. Choosing a well-paying job unrelated to your passion can provide stability and the freedom to pursue your creative endeavors without being solely dependent on them.

300 words for 300 posts

Boundless by Paul Millerd • 283 implied HN points • 09 Jun 25
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Having a regular writing practice helps keep creativity flowing. It's a great way to express thoughts and connect with others.
  2. Quality doesn't always need to be perfect; what's important is to keep sharing. Sometimes, just getting your ideas out is the best part of the process.
  3. Building a community around your work can lead to unexpected friendships and opportunities. Engaging with your audience is rewarding and fulfilling.

Warm Holiday Greetings from The Hinternet

Justin E. H. Smith's Hinternet • 639 implied HN points • 24 Dec 24
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. The author feels a strong connection to their work and has embraced writing authentically without worrying about others' opinions. This has helped them tap into deep creative ideas.
  2. In 2024, the publication grew significantly and became more like a magazine, bringing on staff and accepting guest pieces. This has created a sense of community among younger writers.
  3. The author hopes to increase paid subscriptions to support future projects and plans for 2025. They welcome all kinds of support, whether it's through subscriptions or simply sharing their work with others.

Hayao Miyazaki: 9 Creative Lessons

SatPost by Trung Phan • 254 implied HN points • 28 Jun 25
🎨 Art & Illustration Creativity
  1. Miyazaki believes in the value of hard work and the pressure of deadlines. He feels that tight deadlines push creatives to do their best work, though this can be stressful.
  2. His creative process involves lots of routines and rituals, as well as continuous adjustments to ideas until he finds the essence he wants to express. Observing everyday life and nature sparks his imagination.
  3. Miyazaki values the importance of having one clear decision-maker in creative projects. This helps avoid conflicts and ensures that everyone aligns with the vision.

Trashy mementos

Austin Kleon • 1678 implied HN points • 29 Jul 22
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. A trashy memento journal is a fun way to keep little things that you might not want to throw away. It helps capture special but not overly significant memories.
  2. Two book recommendations include one about autism that offers a fresh perspective and another by an author known for her creative storytelling.
  3. Playing chess can be great for quality time and learning. A clever chess book design can also make the learning process more engaging and fun.

A Substack Sabbatical

Atlas of Wonders and Monsters • 746 implied HN points • 19 Nov 24
🎭️ Culture Creativity
  1. Taking a break, or a sabbatical, can help refresh your creativity. Just like nature needs rest, people often need time away from their usual work to recharge.
  2. Publishing consistently can be tough, and it's okay to change the schedule. Writing less often can lead to better quality pieces that you're prouder of.
  3. A sabbatical is a great time to explore new ideas and bring fresh energy to your projects. It can lead to exciting changes, like a new name or focus for your work.