Welcome back for another chance to commune creatively. Last week, we transformed the simplicity of a stapler’s form and function into a source of diverse, creative lessons. A person familiar with how the power of the office stapler can transform your life is actor Stephen Root, aka “Milton” from the 1999 film “Office Space.” Here’s to all the memorable moments you created swinging little more than a Swingline.
This week, we’re moving from the heavy metal staying power of staples and taking a moment with our softer side. This week’s creative nudge, the adhesive bandage, like any cool character, goes by many names like “plasters” if you need one traveling England. I looked up what Aussies call them because generally, they’re a go-to for silly names of things. But like most Americans, they use the brand name Band-Aid instead of the generic and way less poetic “adhesive bandage.”
It's a strange thing: I open the medicine cabinet and a dizzying waterfall of sizes, shapes, and styles of bandages spill out. Is all this “choice” really helping me solve my problem? Or just leaving me feeling ill-equipped and doubtful about what to do?
This paradox mirrors our own creative process. We have seemingly endless tools, materials, and time slots available, but sometimes that abundance is overwhelming, making it difficult to help ourselves in a healthy, focused way.
A bandage is a powerful symbol. It's a visible sign of a wound, perhaps a mistake of our own making, but it is also a sign of care, of protection, of a deliberate act of mending. Like a bandage on a finger, our creative work can also be an act of self-care. Sometimes we need to cover a raw idea, a rough draft, or a small, self-perceived flaw to protect it as it heals.
Now, let's explore how a tool for healing cuts and scrapes can be used to nudge ourselves in a more creative and compassionate direction, using one or more of these care packages:
A Bespoke Band-aid (Design & Empathy):Adhesive bandages are made for physical cuts, but what if they were designed for other kinds of minor wounds? Design and describe a bandage for a small emotional wound, like a forgotten birthday or a hurtful comment. What would it look like? What would it feel like? How would its design help to mend the boo-boo?
The Wound Uncovered (Narrative & Storytelling): Think of a time you had a small cut or scrape that required a bandage. What was the story behind the injury? Where did you get it? What were you doing? Write a short, detailed narrative that focuses solely on the moments leading up to and after the minor injury, treating it like a pivotal scene in a story.
HaHa Flaw (Conceptual & Visual): Take a piece of your own creative work—a drawing, a paragraph of writing, a piece of music you're working on. Find an element in it that you perceive as a mistake or imperfect. Instead of fixing it, place a literal or metaphorical bandage over that section. This one’s about learning to accept rather than delete flaws in our work.
Sensible (Sound & Tactile): The bandage is a multi-sensory experience. It has a distinct sound when you unpeel it, a specific tackiness of the adhesive, a soft feeling to the gauze. Close your eyes and focus on these sensations. Write a descriptive piece or a poem that only uses the sensory details of unwrapping and applying a bandage.
Bandage Blueprint (Engineering & Reimagining): The generic adhesive bandage is made of three key layers: the non-stick gauze, the absorbent pad, and the adhesive strip. Using this layered structure as inspiration, create a blueprint for a brand-new kind of creative project or process. What are the three layers of your idea? What is the "adhesive" that holds it all together?
The adhesive bandage is a useful symbol for a fact of life: we all get hurt, and we all have a need for care. These small sensible strips address our rough edges and misjudgments and small flaws. They create space for us to heal and grow stronger over time. The next time you find yourself with a tiny scrape, or you notice a small imperfection in your work, remember the lesson of the bandage; to mend is to show care, and to show care is one of the most powerful creative acts of all.
This column was written with the help of Google’s Gemini Advanced, a powerful generative AI writing tool.
