This week I’m highlighting a few of my favorite creators our of our latest CUT30 sessions, breaking down how you start a “creative vault” to upload your personal or brand toolkit in any creative field, and sharing some visual inspiration collected over the last week.

Enjoy!

-Oren

Creative Creators

I am knee deep in this current CUT30, but want to shout out a few recent grads and current students who are crushing it making creative short form content

Isabel, Jason and Yaw are slowly turning into three of my favorite creators- all art directors with different perspectives and backgrounds.

Highlights
Tatum going viral talking about Olympic logos.
Teo documenting mixing music.
Jaskaranbir building a local IG page.

Waitlist is live for our next session September 24th
https://cut30.co/

Building Your Creative Vault

Today, we're diving deep into a topic that's close to my heart: how to level up as a creative, designer, or brand. We're in an exciting era where there's an abundance of courses teaching the basics of e-commerce and brand-building. You can find well-done playbooks for launching a brand or improving your design skills on YouTube. But what happens when you've mastered the basics and want to go deeper? Why aren’t there any methodologies for how to build your creative toolkit in a time where its more valuable then ever?

That's where my concept of the Creative Vault comes in. It's a framework I've developed to help creatives streamline their process, improve their work, and build unique trademarks.

You can watch the full overview on Youtube here, and I break it down step by step below:

The Creative Vault: A Framework for Getting Better

The Creative Vault is a framework, I think a good comparison to Steven Pressfield's concept of "the resistance" from "The War of Art". It's a model to help you uplevel your skills and build a playbook that's uniquely yours. Here are the three key organizational concepts within the Vault:

1. Aware and Documented: Ideas you know about and have documented, but haven’t actually tried

2. Known and Tested: Ideas or concepts you know how to do or have tested once.

3. Mastered and Recurring: Elements you've used multiple times successfully.

Let's dive deeper into each stage.

Quick context - think of this in terms of your craft. If you’re a graphic designer, something in your vault might be how to use halftones, curving type in illustrator, font design, swiss poster layouts. A videographer? Specific color grading, shot types, capcut effects etc. A copywriter? Direct response copy types, tones of voice, various flow templates. A creative director? Campaign ideas, activation types etc. Making a clothing line? Various fabrics and patterns. It’s about anything you can move from “aware of” in your creative toolkit to “competent at”.

Stage 1: Aware and Documented

This is where you store ideas, bookmarks, and references. For example, in my Vault, I have concepts like "oversized scale" in campaign creative direction. I've seen brands like Jacquemus use massive props in their launches, but I haven't executed it myself yet.

Stage 2: Known and Tested

These are skills or concepts you've tried at least once. Using the previous example, if I had run a campaign involving oversized props and knew the fabricators to call to get something made with a timeline, and on short notice it would move to this stage.

Stage 3: Mastered and Recurring

This is your go-to playbook as a creative - things you do repeatedly and know work well. This will be a mix of

Practical Steps to Build Your Vault

All it takes to map this out is a spreadsheet with three columns and a bit of intention.

1. Document Everything: Start by organizing all your bookmarks and ideas into a document in phase one

2. Practice and Test: Move items from Stage 1 to Stage 2 by actually trying them out. Do spec projects, create personal SOPs, insert yourself into work projects, do your own creative, whatever helps you build

3. Identify Your Strengths: As you progress, focus on what you're truly great at and want to be known for.

Why This Matters for Your Brand

Whether you're running a clothing brand, a design agency, or working as an independent creator, having a well-stocked Creative Vault sets you apart. It's about moving beyond the basic playbooks and developing unique, high-quality offerings that your audience can't find elsewhere, and always progressing to add more versus having them stay in your bookmarks or shared Slacks.

Action Plan

1. Audit Your Ideas: Go through your bookmarks and document all your creative ideas in Stage 1 of your Vault.

2. Set Weekly Goals: Regularly try to move items from Stage 1 to Stage 2 by testing them out.

3. Strategize Your Expertise: Decide what you want in Stage 3 - what do you want to be known for?

Remember, this framework isn't just about collecting ideas; it's about creating a strategy for your creative career. It helps you bridge the gap between what you think you can do and what you've actually mastered.

Kitchen Sink

New products out at valuablestudios.com with some of our new art direction.

Hyper Reports

Check out our market reports. We spend many hours researching markets, categories, and brands & products within the consumer space so you don’t have to.

• How to Source Blanks 101 — HERE — a guide to finding and producing your own merch

• Reports on Running, Golf, and Tennis — HERE — a guide to each sport, the market opportunities, and how to launch your own brand

Inquiries? Shoot us a note here: [email protected]

We’d love to chat!

Oren & Clayton ❤️ you