Falling into a rut is the worst thing you can do

Falling into a rut is the worst thing you can do. -- MTJ

After the game Bubble Bobble became a hit in the game industry, MTJ, creator of the game, decided to approach the next version differently.

Typically, when companies develop the next version of a game, they keep some aspects from the previous version — characters, stories, elements, the name of the game, etc.

MTJ decided to abandon them all and developed Rainbow Island. In some places, this next game got a bigger hit. When asked why he chose to do that, this was what he said.

I believe he made up his mind to stay creative and challenge himself to try diverse initiatives. It turned out good for him.

In my opinion, you need to make a good use of your judgement to decide when to follow the rules or break them. Some rules benefit you, for example, a design system allows you to put together designs fast. However, others hinder your creativity  —  “the reason why you should do this is that we’ve always done this way”.

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Discover Creativity & Perfectionism

I joined an online creativity workshop on Udemy by Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat Pray Love. Elizabeth says, being creative doesn’t mean that you have to be an artist; but if you want to stay creative, you need to find a way to make it a routine and form a mindset. Mostly importantly, you need to stay curious. Also, keep in mind that perfectionism is the enemy of creativity — don’t wait till you have everything to start executing.

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Nir Eyal: Behavior Design

Nir talks about behavior design in this excellent video. He gives a nice intro to this concept and several great examples about how companies (e.g. Facebook, Pinterest, Zynga) change user habits, and what every designer should know about creating products that users love. I strongly recommend this video if you are a product owner, product manager, UI designer or UX designer like me.

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