What am I doing for ideas that are different from others? (Part 1)

Hirota: What do you do or pay attention to in order to generate ideas that are different from others?

Yagi: I've kept a blog since college, recording things that caught my interest or my thoughts on movies. While I'm involved in design professionally now, I occasionally recall that pure mindset from back then. I consciously ask myself: "Would the me from that time be proud of what I'm creating now?"

In the beginning, I kept it in a notebook.

 

Hirota: Do you ever look back at your old blog?

Yagi: I do look back occasionally. When the things I was thinking about and the trends of what I liked started to gather, the direction of what I wanted to create became clearer. Even if the perspectives, worldviews, and designs of things I like seem disparate at first glance, when I analyze them, I feel there's always some common thread.
When I first joined the company, I went through a period where I lost sight of what I wanted to create. Back then, my collection of favorite things guided me, like saying, "This is what you want to make!" Lately, I try to incorporate even a little bit of what I personally find appealing into every project.

Hirota: What I'm careful about is going to bed early and waking up early. I was taught that individuality is important at Dentsu Inc., so I thought, "I'll do something different from everyone else," and the habit I arrived at was going to bed early and waking up early (laughs).

Yagi: Early to bed, early to rise...! What time do you get up?

Hirota: I wake up around 5 a.m. and try to be in bed by 10 p.m.

Fujimoto: That's early! I also get most of my ideas in the morning, but it's usually right after pulling an all-nighter (laughs).

I also think about ideas while taking walks.

Hirota: First off, my health has improved, and since the phone doesn't ring in the morning, I get so much work done. Most of my development ideas come to me in the morning too. There's a spot on my commute where the morning sun looks beautiful, and witnessing that moment of sunrise brings me such happiness.

Fujimoto: If I could switch to being a morning person, I really would... But I'm a worrier, so I can't just think, "I'll come up with something after I wake up tomorrow." I can't sleep until I do. When I'm really sleepy, my brain just won't work, so I tell myself, "Have the courage to sleep!" and go to bed.

Hirota: There's another great thing about going to bed early and waking up early: when you get home early, you can properly observe things like "what the housewives are buying at the supermarket" in the evening. If you always come home late at night, we—who should know consumers best—end up failing as consumers ourselves. I think that's incredibly important.