Creativity in Action

On September 9 another meeting was held under the project “Active Youth for a Sustainable Future – the NGO Sector as an Opportunity for Development”.

In the previous meetings and workshops, we touched on important points on the topics of social entrepreneurship, volunteering and the practical steps of creating a product, and now it was time to deepen the knowledge by digging a little more into the topic and learning after we already have the idea for a product (or maybe maybe even a prototype), how to make it interesting, complete and how to present it to our audience in the best possible way.
Again, our meeting was divided into two parts: a lecture panel and a hands-on session, in which well-known faces in the Varna creative circles took part.

How it all started in a garage.
Imagination –> Idea –> Exploration –> Development
During his presentation, Nick introduced the participants to product design:
* What is product design?
* What is most important in combining functionality with aesthetics?
* Developing vision and messages
* The creative process of building a complete look
He recreated the whole experience of turning his idea into one of the most recognizable brands. From the dreamy thoughts about how young people look, how they communicate at concerts and festivals, through the organization of events and the materialization of ideas, the purely practical regularities of the product-need relationship; the added value of the packaging; product life cycle and brand sustainability.
During the hands-on activity, I helped the youth to develop an interesting box for a family product with an additional application of the box itself.

With a well-designed product, we all know that in the end what will grab us is the well-taken photo. Gerry talks about the intricacies of product photography.
* What is product photography?
* How to do it?
* How important is doing well to be successful in the context of the NGO sector?

How the look and quality of a photo creates a sense of security and professionalism, how important it is to break away from the white background and show your product in its natural environment.
The participants were able to practice all of this during the hands-on session where they selected several products from Karin Dom’s Family Store and Gerry provided guidance in photographing them.

But how do we differentiate our product, how do we recreate the noble idea behind it – how do we convey a cause? Here words come to the rescue, or in our case – Rada in words.
Introducing words as her best friend, strongest weapon and greatest love, Rada revealed what creative writing is all about:
* Why do words matter and how do they dictate our perceptions?
* How to convey a message to different audiences?
* On creative block and how to overcome the white sheet problem
Together with the participants, they worked on composing engaging messages and adapting texts for the various social networks. They used what they learned to write engaging content and a pitch for one of our family store’s future products (a fruit of their work in previous workshops).

We have just a few more meetings and topics ahead of us on the possibilities of the NGO sector and the realization of creative results in a fresh and pleasant atmosphere.

The project is supported by the “Youth Projects 2021” program of the Municipality of Varna
and aims for young people to see opportunities in the non-governmental sector
for personal and professional growth, for changing attitudes,
to improve the environment, to advocate
and an active civic role and position.