Big things small...

Even just messing with scale produces some of the coolest results in design.. here's a fun little collection of examples.

A great tribute to the power creativity...

Few words are needed with this post. Trust me, it's worth the time to watch this video.

Enjoy!

Enduring design

Great little video that speaks to enduring design.

A good reminder... (to ALL of us to get busy)

Thanks to Murray Mitchell as I found this image on their site.

Steve Jobs on Creativity

“Creativity is just connecting things. When you ask creative people how they did something, they feel a little guilty because they didn’t really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after a while. That’s because they were able to connect experiences they’ve had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they’ve had more experiences or they have thought more about their experiences than other people. Unfortunately, that’s too rare a commodity. A lot of people in our industry haven’t had very diverse experiences. So they don’t have enough dots to connect, and they end up with very linear solutions without a broad perspective on the problem. The broader one’s understanding of the human experience, the better design we will have.” – Steve Jobs, Wired, February, 1995

Creativity = Resourceful

It'll be hard to come up with a better (and more useful) example of creativity equalling resourcefulness.

Hope over here to see the video!

A 'different' kind of Banner Advertising...

A new spin on an idea at least a million kids had (had at least part of the idea any way).

GUARANTEED RETURN ON INVESTMENT

If this project has taught me anything... it's certainly that personal projects PAY HUGE DIVIDENDS.

At an absolute minimum you're guaranteed your own personal satisfaction– isn't just that worth it? You're likely to 'feel rich' simply by doing something YOU love at your OWN choice.

And who knows..? Bigger things may come too.

Ji Lee: The Transformative Power of Personal Projects from 99% on Vimeo.

Could this possibly be true?

It's kind of mind bending to even consider– which {indirectly} is a good form of creative stimulus.

Uncontacted Amazon Tribe: First ever aerial footage from Survival International on Vimeo.

Man or machine? No matter-- I LOVE it!

I truly love it when someone takes a simple/known idea and 'flips it on it's head', does, 'The Never' rather than, 'The Always'!

They're calling this guy the Human Spirograph,.. no matter what he is– I am IMPRESSED!

Enjoy more here...

More soon,

Dave

Testing,.. Testing-- is this thing on?

How true...

I really love/hate the truth of this -- I've frequently heard these words muttered in galleries and museums. I most hate to admit, these words have sometimes coming from my own mouth.

So why post it here? Well, I guess the moral of the story would be-- 'If it's *that easy* just use it as inspiration and get busy!'

day 151 - Progress

Now,.. now,.. what?

This one's kinda hard to explain, at least as far process goes. It started out as a 'print' i pulled off of the surface I was working on (a stainless steel roller cart I bought at a yard sale a while back) while working on another piece. I noticed an image in the reflection so I laid down an fresh sheet of paper, burnished it down-- and pulled (the base image of) this.

The other night I pulled it off the wall and started to add to it... so here it is-- 'in progress'. No telling where or what's next. I never really know that though now do I?

dave

day 150 - I feel kinda bad...

I feel kinda bad-- it's been a while (again).

But, nothing good comes from feeling bad now does it?

As this realization came over me I knew it was time to shake it off and just step back into the studio.

No pressure, no stress– just show up and see what imagery comes to meet me.

I'm glad I did-- today-- this is who came to visit,..

Thanks for coming back-

dave

day 149 - Better than a kid playing in a bucket..

Is there no limit to the warnings they need to give to protect us... from ourselves?

You'd like to think that the folks smart enough to work at these places would be able to make these decisions on their own!???!

I guess this one is just for the irony.

day 148 - Old things new...

Sometimes it's about taking something (like a window from an old pharmacy), making a few modifications, and giving it a new life. In this case a message center here at home.

The original glass makes for a good dry erase board, I had a piece of metal cut for a magnetic note board, and cut down an inexpensive cork board and inserted it. Also, found a nifty little magnetic box to hold the pens etc. at Ikea.

day 147 - Your own inspiration... 'Get IN / Get OUT'

This little diagram should sum up where our own inspiration *should* come from. Unfortunately we live in a world that usually favors the head over the heart. Trust me-- no, better yet, trust yourself.. this is where your gold truly lies.

day 146 - A little bit of inspiration...

Some times we're so close to our work (and ourselves) that we can't see our own skills and greatness.

Someone printed this quote out and shared it with me years ago. Ever since it's been a nice little addition to my work space as well a darn good reminder.

day 145 - 'Where ideas come from' (one more link)

Another link talking about creativity and how innovation happens...

Kevin Kelly and Steven Johnson on Where Ideas Come From

Two lines from this article that make complete sense to me (yet somehow seem to escape most business/corporations),...

"If you look at history, innovation doesn’t come just from giving people incentives; it comes from creating environments where their ideas can connect."

And,...

"the idea that the most creative environments allow for repeated failure."

For what it's worth-- the world desperately needs more creativity,.. as it's the way to solve practically any problem.

Day 144 - My version of Day 142

A few days ago I posted an animation/video, 'Where Good Ideas Come From: The Natural History of Innovation' (by Steve Johnson), and mentioned that it reminded me of something I had done a while back. It's a static illustration I had done to help communicate my thoughts with respect to creativity and innovation within the workplace/business environment. It took me a while to get my head around it, and I think I did a pretty good job (if I do say so myself ; ) of capturing and communicating the issues at hand. So much so, as soon as it was done, I saw more clearly than I ever had-- where and why the challenges reside.

Keep in mind there's a lot of story to be told in order to fully explain this-- the diagram itself could easily aide a full presentation, and if the details were expanded, practically each item illustrated here could be a chapter in a book.

Take a look and let me know your thoughts-- as always please share the good, bad, and otherwise.

Thanks-

Dave