Strict limits for creative people

Yana Frank, designer-illustrator, blogger, author of books on design and creative time management believes that creative process and discipline are consistent concepts. At a meeting with her readers in Kyiv Frank answered many questions about her personal and professional life and also told about how one can do everything in six hours per day.

Yana Frank (also known online as Miu Mau) was born in 1972 in Dushanbe to the family of graphic artists. 1998-99 art-director at Tagesspiegel-Online, Berlin. 1999-2001 creative-director at I-D Media also in Berlin. 2001-02 creative-director at Berlin Branch of Lebedev Art Studio.

Author of the books 12 Seasons, 365 Days of a Very Creative Person, The Muse and the Beast, Secret Knowledge of Commercial Illustrators.

Frank believes that the proper organization of working time is very important in life. When a person looks at time he spends doing different things he realizes that a few hours each day are simply wasted and it might be a great reserve. At the same time Yana believes that we should have enough rest. “The problem is not how long we sleep but in how efficiently we use the rest of the time,” said Frank.

Designer does not agree with the idea that strict limits make it impossible for creative people to work: “Each project should have a deadline. Strict limits make it easy to work and help to see the horizon. I spent my childhood in Asia and there I learnt about a method that makes it possible for a man to cross desert. Desert is marked with barrels so that a person with average eye sight standing near one of them could see the next one. When a person is moving and is able to see each next barrel he can go long distance. Seeing only horizon can quickly demoralize a person, it becomes extremely hard to walk ahead after only a few kilometers.”

At the meeting Frank spoke about the organization of working process following the 45-15 system, which she described in the book 365 Days of a Very Creative Person: “Before I get started I set timer for 45 minutes. During this time I work on the most urgent matters. Then I spend 15 minutes looking through my e-mails – every day I receive nearly 2,000 e-mails. After that I again set my timer for 45 minutes. I work for at least four hours in such mode. I always have from two to four projects that I work on at a time and I manage to do everything just fine.”

Five people at Artemii Lebedev Art Studio and another 35 people at Illustration Agency where Frank used to work are using her system. Frank tested her method for the first time on her son.

Frank did not bring her books to the meeting in Kyiv but she promised her fans that she will finish a new one by the fall. She did not tell the audience much about this new book because she “recently has become superstitious.”