Creativity Squared: Seeing the World as a Blank Canvas with Eugene Ng
Eugene Ng is a VP, executive creative director at Jack Morton, with over 10 years of experience telling stories through brand experience. Eugene is based in Singapore, where he leads Jack Morton Asia’s creative team of strategists, creatives, art directors and designers with a hands-on approach, overseeing strategic creative outputs for B2B and B2C integrated brand experiences, marketing campaigns, communication & content strategy, creative technology, O2O activations, events, conferences and more. A tech geek, Eugene is always on a constant search for new and engaging creative technology to enhance experiences both online and offline, creating memorable moments through interactive storytelling.
Person
Anything goes with me really. In both personal and professional life. I do have a set way of doing things, but it’s not always my way or the highway. I tend to be very open to ideas and what others want to do. Of course, at the end of the day, there will be some sort of a ‘Eugene’ element integrated into life choices or professional output. My friends always point out the way I look at the world. It's unconventional to say the least. Mostly because of the way I talk about things and choose to do things. It might not be what an everyday person sees as ‘normal’ – there’s always a fresh perspective, always a little touch of different. I love solving problems; I have a tendency to make others’ problems my own and that’s one of the reasons I am so passionate about my work.
I see the world as a blank canvas, if you remove all limitations, everything can become a canvas for your creativity.
I believe that creativity is something you can learn and teach. You can learn to change your perspective on how you see the world and you can pick up new skills – there are even creative processes, such as design thinking to aid you in creative problem solving. However, on the other hand, having a passion for it is definitely innate, it’s either you like it or you don’t, and I believe one cannot live without the other – it goes hand in hand. I was never an art student back in school, I was more of a science and math student. I was actually ‘forced’ to pick up a design course. Since then, I’ve learnt to draw, to write, to shoot a film, do photography etc. My passion grew when I realised that I could solve problems in other ways – through art.
I’m 110% extroverted. Too much time to myself gets me depressed, I do enjoy quiet time to myself but I enjoy being around people more. I love hanging out with people, observing their behaviour, listening to others, and understanding their point of view. It not only provides me with insight on how people see the world differently, but it also gives me inspiration.
When it comes to routine, it's give and take. Whatever works. I’m extremely flexible. I would love to have a routine, however when priorities constantly change so do routines, it’s just the nature of the industry. There are some things that I’m passionate about, such as going to the gym. That is the one thing I have very specific routine for and if that routine is compromised, I get really upset. Dedicating that time to my physical and mental health is really important to me.
Everything is an inspiration for me, however, I do get extremely excited when the ‘stuff’ is related to what I do, from creative technology, to art exhibitions and any sort of experiences from retail to theme parks.
Product
When it comes to assessing whether an idea or a piece of work is truly creative, I try to understand the problem the idea is trying to solve. As long as it is effective in solving a problem it’s a good idea. The most creative work can really surprise you with the simplest solution. To me, it is having an eye or perspective that no one thought about. And ideas that adopt a storytelling approach never fail to fascinate me. Cool, and simple, yet moving ideas always clicks.
When I started off as a designer, I looked at new ways of crafting art and effective ways I could solve challenges through design. As I moved toward becoming a creative, I focused on creative problem solving and story-selling. The more you see, the more experience you’ve gained, you’ll realised the benchmark to amaze you gets higher and higher. You’re sort of desensitised to it, unfortunately. When you have ‘sort of’ seen it all, nothing really amazes you anymore. However, the criteria for me now are how we are ideating to solve problems in a fresh way. Telling a story. When an idea becomes more solution based, you’ll be able to qualify the creativity better, understanding the fresh perspective the creative has behind the idea.
I used to work in a silo back in China, it was the nature of the environment I was in. Since I came back to Singapore, I have been working with a collaborative team of exceptional creatives and designers, and I would say I am most proud of the creative campaign we put forth for Magnum. The Magnum Pleasure Auction really solved a lot of challenges for our clients and for their consumers. It was driven by an extremely strong insight that the idea of money being no object, even if for a moment, is one of the things in life that gives us true pleasure. We created the Magnum Pleasure Auction: a virtual, gamified space where Pleasure Seekers could earn exclusive Magnum gold coins and bid for limited-edition Magnum merchandise and experiences. Needless to say, the results were astonishing, and making Magnum the number 1 ice cream in Singapore is one of my biggest achievements.
Having spent 10 years in China, I’ve witnessed the digital transformation the country went through during the SARS pandemic. We are on a similar trajectory now that we have faced the Covid-19 pandemic. The digital transformation in the APAC region is exciting as we see consumers’ behaviour change as they become more digitally savvy. There are a lot of lessons we can learn from China in terms of adopting technology and this opens the door to new opportunities as to what we can do in the region creatively. Especially around the metaverse. What’s frustrating is the speed of adoption, and it takes time for that behavioural change to catch up. We have tons of cool and exciting technology that we can use in our creative output, however, it’s all useless if consumers are not ready for it.
Process
Some would say creative people think freely. However, I am rather process driven. I have a design thinking process that I HAVE to go through in order to tackle a brief. It’s really coming up with a solution or story that works for the audience, everything else is just method and a blank canvas for you to play with. It always begins with identifying a challenge or problem that I’m trying to solve.
Fortunately for me, I’ve had many mentors who have sung the same tune. As an art-focused creative, I live by the design thinking methodology. It really helps when we are presenting our ideas. There are no right or wrong ideas, except if they are the most suitable solution to solve the challenge at hand. Gone are the days where adopting cool new tools was enough to define ourselves as ‘creative’. What’s truly creative for me is how we are solving problems and design thinking is a process that really helps iterate the efficiency of an idea.
Every project is unique. However, it is always good to be constantly looking out for inspiration and have them ready in your pocket till the right brief comes along. I have a set of ideas that I want to bring to life, and now I’m just waiting to find the right brief/client to do that with.
When you're stumped on a project, I suggest two things: do nothing or talk to people. The more you force it, the harder it will be for the idea to come to you. Ideas always hit you when you least expect them to. Let your subconscious mind do the heavy lifting. Listening to myself talk through something out loud sometimes helps me to unravel the gaps I’m trying to fill. Talking to other people really helps me too,
I also believe that work can never be ‘done’. There is no ‘PERFECT’ idea. There is always a better idea, a better way of doing things. It’s a continuous process. I always think that when you think it’s done, it’s not, until you test it and then you’ll find there’s more work to do. We are in the people business, so people’s reactions define our next steps. Of course, we do have to work on a timeline, so we can only get it to the best we possibly can and keep the process going wherever we might land.
Press
This is a story that I haven’t told many people. Back in secondary school, I was not an art student, I was more of a science and math student. Logical, always looking forward to solving a problem. When I was doing my diploma, I wanted to be a biochemist. Unfortunately, I was diagnosed with colour vision deficiency, and suddenly, I was left with two options for what to study: design or accounting. Without any previous art experience, I took the leap of faith and went with design. How I managed to get through design school living with colour deficiency is a whole chapter of hilarious stories for another time (haha). My passion grew from there when I realised that what I was doing in design school was essentially solving problems. Yes, there are arts and crafts lessons, but the foundation of the education is essentially to solve problems. I might not have the best design in school or at work, but it’s my keen eye constantly looking for new challenges and solving them in creative ways that has got me to where I am today.
I honed my craft through constant learning. Always throwing myself in the deep end, taking on challenges and rising above them. Never being too afraid to do something that MIGHT NOT be in my area of expertise. Even if you do not become the master of it, the learning process widens your knowledge and might come in handy in the future, you never know.
I realised I perform better under stress. I guess most creative likes to procrastinate. When I have too much time, I tend to bounce around many ideas without deciding on one, after all I am a Libra. When this form of procrastination puts me in a situation and it’s crunch time, new ideas hit and they’re often not even from the list of ideas that I’m bouncing around.
My advice to clients looking to get the best out of the teams and agencies they work with is to trust the creative process and trust your creatives. Often clients can get prescriptive, and it really hinders the creative process to nurture great work. Brainstorm and work with your creatives and agencies like they’re partners, after all, great work most often comes from from collaboration.
Agencies can best facilitate creativity with an open culture. At Jack Morton, when it comes to ideation, it is a very flat culture, everyone’s voice is heard. It is not always because I’m an ECD or CD and therefore my idea is the best idea. Different life experiences and exposure can really spur in new ideas and perspective. We are all creatives and every individual has the ability to inspire another.
