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Wayne Rooney has been sent to Niketown in the US as he attempts to recover his form. Where would you send a creative to recharge their batteries?

Helping a designer to recover from an excess of prostitutes is easy. Straight off to a Swedish logging camp, relentless hard work and copious plunges into a frozen lake. However, for creative block, it’s a sabbatical on an isolated island accompanied by a rolling programme of fantasy conversations with John Steinbeck, Constantin Stanislavski, Marlon Brando, David Lynch, John Lennon, Alan Fletcher, Thomas Heatherwick, Jonathan Miller, Dirk Bogarde and many more. If that doesn’t sort the problem out, it’s time to hang up the old mouse.

Mike Dempsey, Founder, Studio Dempsey

We’re all far too cocooned in our swanky white studios, feeling important and valuable, believing the answers will always come to us. But in the words of a 1990s TV show, ’the truth is out there’. To recharge your batteries a creative just needs to re-engage with the real world, step outside, talk to real people, watch how they behave and remove their air of self-importance. I usually find a chat with my mum does it.

Jonathan Hubbard, Creative director, The Clearing

Everyone knows that all good planners listen to their creatives. So, of course, I had to do just that. Here are what some of my creative friends and collaborators had to say.
Ella Doran – ’To work with the Eames back in the 1960s.’
Richard Morris, Identica – ’Jonathan Ive’s office. Just a small chair in one corner for a week.’
Tim Ashton, Antidote – ’Year five of primary school. First to set a project and then to return to review the work.’
Wybe Magermans, Williams Murray Hamm -’A one-day city trip to Berlin.’
Ed Potter, Newl & Potter – ’The Ferry Inn, Salcombe, Devon.’
It’s funny, though. I thought I knew them all pretty well, but not one of them mentioned the pub.

Emma Perrett, Partner, The Smart & Beautiful Consultancy

We recently had a power cut, so I sent everyone out – off to the cinema, a gallery or anywhere but sitting in front of their iPhones having time sucked from them by Facebook. Personally, I find there’s nothing more inspiring than travel – even if it’s on the Tube. I once saw a tourist caught short on the Underground pooing into a crisp packet and thought it was hilarious. I told the story to a potential client and we won a project. Travel broadens the mind, makes you slightly more interesting and wins you work.

Simon Manchipp, Founder, Someone

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