Nick Egan’s creativity was formed within the punk rock movement. So it’s no surprise that his ideas on ideas are nothing short of beautiful anarchy. What is art? How is education failing the creative process? How did he almost fail out of art school but become a huge artistic success anyway? Join your host, Will Burns, for  this episode of the Ideasicle Podcast to find out.

Click on the picture of Nick to play the podcast. Or subscribe to the Ideasicle Podcast through iTunes and never miss an episode by clicking here. You may want to look at Nick’s web site while listening, so you can see some  of the work he refers to: www.nickegan.com.

Nick Egan’s bio:

Nick is a British-born director working since 1976 in the industry of art, design and film for music, as well as the advertising business. This includes album designs, art direction with photographers, music videos since the 1980s, TV commercials, and web design. In the 1970s Nick was well known as a record sleeve designer connected with the Punk Rock Movement, designing sleeves for The Clash and, Bow Wow Wow and later for Dexy’s Midnight Runners. He established a long lasting working relationship with Malcolm McClaren, manager of the Sex Pistols and Vivienne Westwood. He worked on McClaren’s Duck Rock and Fans album, with art direction for Westwood’s early fashion shows in London and Paris. He has directed music videos for Duran Duran, Alanis Morisette and Oasis, among others.

We cover a lot of ground:

  • Great story about how Nick presented an album cover design for The Clash to the record company. Priceless.
  • We discuss Sir Ken Robinson’s position around education and how it’s corrupting children’s creativity.
  • Great bit about how sometimes Nick’s creativity is unstoppable and he just needs to see it through.
  • What is art? Can it be anything? Nick thinks so.
  • We discuss the role of pressure in creativity – it’s not all bad.
  • The unique role of clients in the creative process, particularly in the ad world.
  • The commoditization of the craft and how it’s more important than ever to be talented.
  • We debate how one knows an idea is a great idea.
  • The dreaded “overthinking” and how deadlines can prevent it.

Check out Nick’s latest work below for Duran Duran, shot primarily with a FlipCam!