Artists, like humans, contain multitudes and when it comes to the spaces we create in, they all look different. If we do find ourselves on the messier side, we also know that there’s a difference between a mess you love, that inspires, and keeps the connections flowing, and a mess that blocks, hinders, and holds you back. A fun mess and a depressing garbage mess are two very different things. Mess can also be cyclical—certain projects create more mess than others, and sometimes things just get out of control and you know eventually you’ll reel it back in again.

The Mess of a Creative Space

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Sometimes the process of thinking looks like needless chaos from the outside

But thats what creatives should be doing.

Banging on random objects just to see what it might shake out.

Creatives need to make a mess in order to arrive at clarity.

messes are the artist’s true friend

- Bird by Bird

The first is that people need clear workspaces to be able to create. We cannot do our best thinking and our best work when all the “stuff” from the past is crowding and cluttering our space. That’s why that archiving step is so crucial: you’re not losing anything, and it can all be found via search, but you need to move it all out of sight and out

Tiago Forte • Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential

Mess meister Eric Abrahamson notes that when analyzing the state of a desk it is important to consider that two forces are at work—those that produce the mess, such as working toward a brutal deadline, and those that reduce it, such as tidying up. So your desk could be clear either because you’ve cleaned it up or because so little goes on that it n

Sam Gosling • Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

In his book Keep Going , author and artist Austin Kleon juxtaposes this messy, networked approach with organization and neatness. “Creativity is about connections, and connections are not made by siloing everything off into its own space. New ideas are formed by interesting juxtapositions, and interesting juxtapositions happen when things are out

Sari Azout • The End of Productivity

To come up with new ideas, you have to have space to be messy, to procrastinate, and to let your mind wander and free-associate. But there needs to be a balance. You eventually need to channel it into something concrete, or you won’t produce anything.

Tiago Forte • Building a Second Brain: A Proven Method to Organise Your Digital Life and Unlock Your Creative Potential

Sam Gosling • Snoop: What Your Stuff Says About You

Sari Azout • The End of Productivity

Dasha Nekrasova • Jon Rafman and Dasha Nekrasova on the Horror We Call Life