Get Creative With Typos
A quick and silly way to tap into your creativity
If I’ve learned anything from writing and working in advertising, it’s that doing something other than what you’re supposed to be doing can lead to a breakthrough. Over fixating on a task sometimes works, but sometimes that fixation works against us and we need something to help us relax our brain muscle long enough for it to get back to functioning.
If you look at what I do on social media, I have something light to do every day. Little creative exercises that flex different muscles and quite often help me relax long enough to stop getting in my way. That means I have something I do every single day of the work week, with options for the weekend.
For Mondays, I do something called Visual Typos.
The premise: take a common name or phrase, give it one typo, make a silly visual to go with the typo. Also, I put a 20 minute max on my visuals so I don’t overthink or over polish. I favor silly, messy, and kinda clumsy versus perfection even though sometimes I land on a visual that I’m actually pretty proud of. Also, I don’t use generative AI. I use pictures and elements on Canva but do the entire artwork myself, no shortcuts.
The idea is to get you to always have your mind open for creative ideas and for you to be resourceful with tools available, but to actually do the thing. You want something quick that can let your brain disengage from what you’re doing long enough to get fresh ideas and at least for me, it works like a charm.
My brain works best when it can relax long enough until it craves hyper-focus. Then I am able to do a crazy amount of work in a small amount of time. From writing a batch of poems, to writing a short story, to writing several blog posts, the hardest part is starting, which we can talk about another day. For today, it’s all about the typos.
As a copywriter in advertising, communications, PR, and marketing, I read through menus, item descriptions, and even instructions out of curiosity and fun. I’m fascinated with how we use language to transmit a message, capture an identity, or even explain something.
Still, typos happen, and we’re all human. And face it, some typos are hilarious.
So I’m always on the lookout for an idea that I can turn into a visual typo. I write it down and let it sit there for days, weeks, months, and then when it’s time to do a typo, I pull up the list, see which one catches my attention, and click start on my timer.
20 minutes.
No break.
Polish not required.
Just CAPTURE the silly typo.
For me, it’s a whole lot of fun, which is essential to what I do on social media and I’ve been doing Visual Typos for years and ideas for them come from anywhere. Quite often, I do any of my social media posts as a way to relax, because sometimes your brain needs that break. In addition, the visual typos have taught me SO much about creativity.
Ideas can come from mistakes. Sometimes even great ideas.
A small change can bring a big idea.
If you’re laughing while you’re doing something, it’s worth your time.
Time crunches can lead to some funny tidbits.
Sometimes the crappier something is, the better it is. I.e. you don’t always have to have an ultra-polished end product.
Also, I use Canva because it’s a free program with a lot of features, but I’ve known to do these visuals on Power Point. But the idea remains the same. Find an idea. Execute it by any means necessary within 20-30 mins. If you’d like to try doing your own Visual Typos, feel free to post and tag me here or on Instagram, Threads, BlueSky, or Facebook and I’ll happily repost.
Hope you’re having a great day and til next we connect in words.
Peace, love, and maki rolls
JD
Enjoy a few Visual Typos and feel free to share with friends.
