Hank and John Green are people who I’ve known about longer than I’ve known who they were, and far before I would realize the scope of their impact and contributions to the world.
Everyone in my cohort probably knows of Crash Course, also known as the day your teacher didn’t feel like making an actual lesson plan and instead put on a very entertaining animated video that covered topics from world history, psychology, etc. Ultimately these videos were not to replace the learning of content in-depth but provided a great aid in understanding broad and complicated histories and concepts. It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic I dove down the rabbit hole that is vlogbrothers YouTube channel and the other amazing creations of Hank and John Green.
John Green, author of The Fault in Our Stars and Looking for Alaska, started a project called Brotherhood 2.0 with his younger brother Hank on YouTube in 2007. They were some of the first content creators on the platform as we have come to know it today. On YouTube, they helped build the Nerdfightaria community, which enabled Hank and John to branch off into new projects and endeavors.
Hank and John are the founders of DFTBA and Complexly; they have projects such as Crash Course, the Awesome Socks Club, Dear Hank and John Podcast, and vlogbrothers YouTube Channel. Hank and John also created Vidcon and Podcon, in addition to both being authors of fantastic books. What amazes me about Hank and John the most isn’t just their ability to create new ideas, both weekly with podcasts and videos, and larger projects such as the Project for Awesome; it is their capacity for kindness in their pursuit of creativity and content. Hank and John give back to communities in need constantly. The Awesome Socks Club is just one example in that 100% of the profits from it go to charity.
Hank and John have made several videos about their creative processes and how they continue to produce such a volume of amazing ideas. In a video titled “A thought is not an idea,” Hank explains his process of divergent thinking, collecting, and ultimately convergent thinking that results in an idea. First, he has “a list of thoughts that aren’t really going anywhere”, and later on pooling them together to create an idea that combines elements of his thoughts such as a monthly sock subscription and funding independent artists, to then create a monthly sock subscription with unique designs done by independent artists. While this process has produced many amazing vlogbrothers projects, Hank mentions how this process is also riddled with failure. There is a website titled Days Since Hank Green Started Something New, in which there is a link to a spreadsheet of all of Hank’s Ideas (some of which are jokes), only some of which continue on the process of being made.
In the next part of the process, once the idea has been made, Hank and John discuss them to see what ideas are worth expending effort on. In a video aptly titled “How John and I Talk About Ideas”, Hank explains that the brothers spend a lot of time bouncing ideas off of each other, so much so that they have come up with a shorthand for idea categories.
Walkman: a
technically difficult idea, in an area they don’t have enough expertise in, and
will defiantly be done by someone else in time.
You can’t scale a Person: ideas that rely on
one person too much, making it unsustainable
Newman’s Own: A
good idea that becomes much better when you donate all the profit to charity.
Top Ten: an idea
that would be successful but wouldn’t add value to the world.
Emperor of the
World: ideas that would be great if everyone would just get out of my way.
This framework allows the brothers
to collaborate together in an effective way about their ideas. In addition, they
also have the Nerdfightaria community which both provide initiative for and
support of these projects, which Hank also explained, produces domain
constraint for the projects that are made, because the ideas have to align with
the values of the community.
Every week John and Hank create
videos on a random assortment of topics ranging from Gas Stovetops to news and
international affairs to giraffe sex (no, this isn’t a joke). Their podcast is
similarly somewhat creatively chaotic giving dubious advice to podcast
listeners, which always somehow loops around to existential crises and death,
because why not. Hank is also a Tik Tok sensation, with John currently emerging
more on the platform, providing bite-sized entertainment. All of their projects,
on a smaller and larger scale, add value to people’s days and the larger community.
I hope you all go check some of it out, you won’t be disappointed.
YouTube Videos Mentioned/Sources:
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A thought is not an idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjCMnRt54Lw
CrashCourse videos were also a big part of my education experience growing up. I wasn’t aware of how many other creative outlets John and Hank have started and continue to pour into. I wonder when they started their YouTube channel back in 2007 if they had plans for how many people they wanted their content to reach or if it was more of a creative outlet for them to begin with. When I watch their videos, I don’t usually think about all of the work, restructuring, planning and time that goes into what they create. I thought it was interesting how you included how Hank is open about his “failed” ideas and how not all of his ideas translate into reality. Being able to come up with a lot of ideas is a fundamental part of their creative process and it is fascinating to see how they group their ideas and think through which ideas are worth pursuing. I wonder if the Green brothers feel a similar level of excitement or uncertainty as they emerge on TikTok and navigate the platform as they did when they first started creating on YouTube.
ReplyDeleteI think the most interesting thing about the Vlogbrothers is just how expansive their reach is. You pointed this out pretty well in your discussion of their different creative outlets: books, lifestyle content, personal anecdotes/stories, educational videos, etc. It is wonderful how they use creative means to give back to charity as well. But even more impressive is the longevity of their influence. Not many people, particularly not those in entertainment are able to be continuously relevant and successful, especially not across multiple platforms. They, of course, don't shy away from change and innovation (as seen through their integration into TikTok as the platform has continued to grow). The ability for Hank and John to last this long also speaks to their ability to manage their taxing jobs and avoid burnout in such a creative field. Definitely a cool case study when it comes to long term creative projects.
ReplyDeleteI remember watching Crash Courses to get me through high school. Their videos were always so informative yet easily digestible. I really only know them through the context of their Youtube series and not much else, so reading this and seeing more aspects to their life was pretty cool. I think it's so cool to see how "human" they are in these different vlogs outside of their Crash Course setting.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan, I really enjoyed your analysis of the creative processes of the Vlogbrothers. For many years I have been a fan of the works of both John and Hank Green individually, while also some of their joint projects. I recently read John Green's essay collection The Anthropocene Reviewed, and even in this individual work, there are many connections to the collaborative creative process between himself and Hank like you mention in this post.
ReplyDeleteHi Megan! I too am a big fan of the Vlogbrother's videos. Most of Hank's science videos really helped me get through biology. I had no idea about the collaborative process that John and Hank use, so I'm really glad you discussed that in this blog entry! That collaborative process is so important, and also timely, considering how last class we discussed the importance of collaboration for creativity.
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