@fakeplasticbrands argues that creativity is a disciplined, learnable practice fueled by deliberate research, cultural exposure, and cross-disciplinary thinking — not innate talent. The creator packages applied creative frameworks (ideation methods, pitch skills, taste cultivation) alongside curated cultural references (design archives, film, print). The through-line is that sharpening perception and building a personal visual/intellectual archive is what separates interesting work from generic output.
Deliberate research — competitor analysis, market study, product immersion — is the hidden engine that transforms vague intuition into concrete, pitchable ideas.
book book A Technique for Producing Ideas — James Webb Young via DXYYkGvDOyB“You are not born creative and you are certainly not born with any sort of taste. Anyone trying to tell you otherwise is capping you.”
Applying a skill set from one domain to a problem in another produces genuinely novel solutions precisely because that combination hasn't been tried before.
book book Hit Makers: The Science of Popularity in an Age of Distraction — Derek Thompson via DXYYkGvDOyB“Learning to defend your ideas is the best way to learn how to sell your ideas to a roomful of people who don't necessarily want to buy them.”
Selling ideas — persuading a room through confidence, conviction, and willingness to fight for your position — is as important as the creative output itself.
person person Alyssa Liu via DW-xI_VDljN“Stop trying to solve everything in your head all at once. Most creativity is not from lack of ideas, but it comes from trying to solve a problem before you've even started looking at it.”
The modern amplification of humanity's survival instinct to isolate and optimize potent things, now applied to commodifying individual identity and personal quirks for brand value.
brand brand The Ordinary via DVHPEv6jN-8“Throwing your unique skill set at a problem probably hasn't been done before” — cross-domain application is the actual source of novelty, not originality from scratch.
This is the source texture behind the notes: a curated path through the harvested captions so the page reads less like an abstract summary and more like a map of what @fakeplasticbrands actually kept returning to.
The second best thing for me in the world is finding new sources of inspiration on the internet for me to deep dive into. The best thing in the world is me coming home to my kid. imagine having a visual archive, that’s easy use, searchable by color and...
visual cultureYou may or may not like this, but research is one of the most powerful tools in your toolkit. Coming up with good ideas and being creative is driven by intuition and fuelled by research, insight and knowledge. Two do my favourite books on research and the...
domain taxonomyIts every where I turn. The people around me who make the most waves in the water are also ready to pick up something new, and to give their shot at solving a problem. I don’t think they see problems or fields as requiring a new specific skill to solve -...
research / readingIt took the the most part of my twenties to figure out how to actually get a room full of people to listen to my ideas, and it definitely wasn’t by letting them speak first, and speak last. And as a creative, selling ideas and convincingly transmuting your...
visual cultureThere is a innate human desire to extract, to identify the most potent element, and refine it optimise it and reused it. It was once a great survival trait and took us from tribes to organised settlements. But the modern era and our vices turns this into...
domain taxonomyHow do you automatically make something more interesting? You create something that hasn’t been seen before, or feels different, somehow balanced, but mostly, slightly unusual. The simplicity in creative thinking is often staring you right in the face, and...
place / toponymTired of your stuff breaking? I got a solution for all those brands out there. DEFEAT SHRINKFLATION. Article on substack: garden3d.substack.com
brand / market signalI asked you guys to share your favourite personal project and a sentence about it, and what your shared was incredible. From playlists made for lost loves to astronomy apps. When I posted the story I kinda expected a load of graphic design and photography,...
visual cultureI only own issue 10. But I’ve been rotating the pages as framed art for the past few years. Everything they make is ultra limited, hurry and get an issue before they are gone for ever. don’t ever stop what you’re doing ❤️
visual cultureLINKS TO COLLECTIONS BELOW: https://archive.org/details/ravezines https://archive.org/details/manuals https://archive.org/details/ https://archive.org/details/Fine-Art-History https://archive.org/details/david-rumsey-map-collection
place / toponymI experienced those prices for too long, I don’t even want to think about how much money I spent on flour, water and some heat.
class / capitalThis also applies to people and personal brands, what are you hiding that is deep down a quality in disguise? I for one, produced music for over 10 years and never really shared it with the world. It has shaped me.
brand / market signalThese cards go back to the raw transcript and caption material. They are intentionally fuller than the concept library: each one keeps the source clip visible, names what it contributes, and preserves a short line from the material without turning the page into a transcript dump.
Develops Research as creative infrastructure through this source: non-creative skills that make you a creative machine.
I really can't think of a single skill that puts you in more of a leverage point to sell your ideas than this.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Research as creative infrastructure, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Cross-disciplinary problem-solving through this source: There is a single trade that all of the best creatives have in common.
I keep seeing it in people who are consistently successful, not just creatively, but in almost any field out there.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Cross-disciplinary problem-solving, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Pitching as core creative skill through this source: The more you bend for everyone and try to fix everyone's problems, the less useful you actually become.
The more you bend for everyone and try to fix everyone's problems, the less useful you actually become.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Pitching as core creative skill, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Hyper-extraction through this source: Alyssa Liu's post-double gold fame is a perfect example of our species obsessive desire for extraction.
Alyssa Liu's post-double gold fame is a perfect example of our species obsessive desire for extraction.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Hyper-extraction, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Creativity as cultivated practice through this source: You are not born creative and you are certainly not born with any sort of taste.
You are not born creative and you are certainly not born with any sort of taste.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Creativity as cultivated practice, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Visual-first / external ideation through this source: I want you to close your eyes, and believe me, you have to close your eyes for this to work.
I want you to close your eyes, and believe me, you have to close your eyes for this to work.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Visual-first / external ideation, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops The ordinary made visible through this source: There's a creative technique that's responsible for some of the most iconic brand moments in the last 10 years.
There's a creative technique that's responsible for some of the most iconic brand moments in the last 10 years.
This gives the page primary-source backing for The ordinary made visible, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Develops Tension and juxtaposition as design tools through this source: It has come to my attention that not enough creatives are by intention using friction to make fire.
You know nothing about the product or what I'm about to tell you, but the simple act of mashing two things together that shouldn't go together has already grabbed your attention.
This gives the page primary-source backing for Tension and juxtaposition as design tools, turning the concept from a label into an actual clip-level argument.
Deliberate research — competitor analysis, market study, product immersion — is the hidden engine that transforms vague intuition into concrete, pitchable ideas.
Applying a skill set from one domain to a problem in another produces genuinely novel solutions precisely because that combination hasn't been tried before.
Selling ideas — persuading a room through confidence, conviction, and willingness to fight for your position — is as important as the creative output itself.
The modern amplification of humanity's survival instinct to isolate and optimize potent things, now applied to commodifying individual identity and personal quirks for brand value.
Divergent thinking has only a 10–20% genetic component; the rest is shaped by how much art, culture, music, and experience you actively let in and pay attention to.
Deliberately placing things in opposition — wrong context, incomplete information, abused scale — creates friction that grabs attention and makes work feel unusual and memorable.
Rather than solving problems internally, flooding yourself with literal images of words and feelings to mood board outward — understanding through images rather than decorating with them.
A brand strategy of surfacing what everyone already experiences but no one shows — putting the hidden ingredient, process, or backstory at the front of a campaign.
via DXYYkGvDOyB
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “Research as creative infrastructure”: Deliberate research — competitor analysis, market study, product immersion — is the hidden engine that transforms vague intuition into concrete, pitchable ideas.
via DXYYkGvDOyB
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “Research as creative infrastructure”: Deliberate research — competitor analysis, market study, product immersion — is the hidden engine that transforms vague intuition into concrete, pitchable ideas.
via DW-xI_VDljN
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “Hyper-extraction”: The modern amplification of humanity's survival instinct to isolate and optimize potent things, now applied to commodifying individual identity and personal quirks for brand value.
via DVHPEv6jN-8
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “The ordinary made visible”: A brand strategy of surfacing what everyone already experiences but no one shows — putting the hidden ingredient, process, or backstory at the front of a campaign.
via DVHPEv6jN-8
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “The ordinary made visible”: A brand strategy of surfacing what everyone already experiences but no one shows — putting the hidden ingredient, process, or backstory at the front of a campaign.
via DW-xI_VDljN
Used in @fakeplasticbrands to anchor “Hyper-extraction”: The modern amplification of humanity's survival instinct to isolate and optimize potent things, now applied to commodifying individual identity and personal quirks for brand value.