Simple colorful shapes inspire creativity
Ramona making things when she was three years old. Photo by Growing Tree Photography
I come from a family of teachers and creativity. My mom was a maker, a talented seamstress, and a cook. She learned those skills from her mom and inherited her talent as well. My siblings and I are all creatives. I learned to sew and cook from my mom and I was lucky enough to have parents that encouraged my painting.
Parents can have influence over their kids’ Creativity
I was fortunate to have parents who knew the value of creative thinking and had the resources to make our home a hotbed for creativity. They lived in Sweden for a year before I was born. Even though I’ve never been there, our home gave me a warmth towards the Scandinavian design aesthetic. My mom filled our home with simple Swedish objects, Marimekko sheets, and colorful artwork. This and their appreciation of art led to some wildly creative kids. All three of us forged careers as creatives. My older sister was a published writer and my brother is a talented craftsman and industrial designer.
The Power of Simple Shapes in Product Design
Simple colorful shapes are the cornerstone of PFB product design. That’s because simple shapes jump start the imagination and encourage storytelling. This is good because getting creative is a big deal. It makes us better problem solvers, helps us adapt to new situations, encourages critical thinking, can lead to fulfilling sources of stress relief, and more. Humans, we must create! The OG PFB designs started as baby decor but simple colorful shapes can inspire positive creativity for all kids, ages 0-110.
Photo by Growing Tree Photography
Encouraging Creativity and Storytelling in Children
For little ones, simple shapes are building blocks of visual understanding and I created the PFB animal silhouettes to feel friendly and approachable. Also, when you look at a simple animal shape, it's like a seed waiting to grow into a story tree, and storytelling is everything. Our brains are wired to process information in a narrative format, so being a good storyteller is a really valuable skill, but of course, you need creativity to get there.
Simple shapes kick our imagination into gear. They free up the left brain and send us into right-brain mode. That’s because when we see an image of a fleshed-out animal, we immediately start to categorize the species and pull up all the facts we know about it. It becomes a knowledge game, but simple shapes invite us to fill in the gaps with our imagination. The suggestion of the image alone allows for more fluidity in the stories we tell, and the world needs creative stories! That’s because making, creating, and expressing are necessary to the human experience! I think we are moving forward towards a world where everyone will feel like a creator, and I hope that PFB inspires people one simple shape at a time.
