Sources of inspiration
The way I see it, inspiration comes in two flavors. The first kind is spontaneous inspiration, which is the kind that usually takes you by surprise. You might watch a movie, and a character will inspires you. Sometimes in conversations with other people, you might be inspired to change the way you think about things and approach your work from different directions. We have little control over this kind of inspiration, other than placing yourself in situations that allow for it, and ceasing on the opportunity when we experience it. The second and more common type of inspiration is the kind that we actively pursue. Read more…
Touchy subject
As kids we love to touch things, but as we get older we are taught that usually touching is bad. I remember taking my little brother to the Museum of Modern Art, and when he saw the Bicycle Wheel by Marcel Duchamp he did what any self-respecting 10-year-old boy would have done in his place. He came over and spun the wheel. It is easy to imagine what happened next – the guards awoke from their trance, and seeing the opportunity to actually do their job flocked over to us, scolding me for being inattentive and him for daring to touch the great work of art.
Parents are constantly telling kids not to touch things – whether it’s something that’s fragile or dirty or dangerous, the typical reaction is: Don’t touch! So what does that do to kids in the long run? I think it develops an unfulfilled need or mild fixation. This isn’t necessarily a need to touch things that you’re not supposed to, but rather something that sits in the back of our minds and elevates the concept of touch to a higher level.
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10 ways to boost your team’s creativity
If you happen to be a direct or an indirect leader of a creative team, you may be asking yourself: How do I push my team members to be more creative? What concrete things can I do to get my team to come up with bigger ideas and more innovative solutions? You have to look at what kind of environmental and psychological conditions are conducive to creative problem solving. By their nature, creative tasks force us to think beyond the realm of the ordinary. We have to look at the problem from different angles and allow ourselves the opportunity to fail. When trying to boost creativity, you must find ways to broaden your team’s views and thinking. Here are some ideas that you may be able to apply in varying degrees of scale depending on the level of authority you have within the company.
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A vision of invisible technology
Let’s think about the purpose of technology in our lives. We have needs, and it is the purpose of certain technologies to satisfy some of these needs. This may sound like a simplistic view, but it can actually be applied to a wide range of technology and how we interact with it.
Suppose I want to know what the weather will be like today. I have a specific need. I pick up my phone, unlock it, find the weather app, and launch it. The weather app dials out to a service, returns the weather data and displays it in the form of graphics that tell me if I should bring an umbrella to work today.
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The instinct to butcher design
As the lights go down and it comes into view for all to see, probe, and judge you take a breath and stand back. You’ve worked on this design for days, improving it with each session. Refining, fine tuning, strengthening it. After applying all of your experience, formal and non-formal training, your knowledge of current trends and the client’s marketplace you’ve created something that you’re truly proud of. Every decision has a reason; every color, every icon and typeface serves a purpose.
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