Your Friday Quote
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Simplicity is not the goal. It is the by-product of a good idea and modest expectations.
Remaindered Links Vol. 2
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Peguin Design Award winners and short list.
Wired puts going green into perspective.
Dubai continues to challenge conventional architecture.
Charles and Ray Eames Stamps!
Your Friday Quote
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If it matches the sofa it’s art. If it demands attention it’s culture.
Your Friday Quote
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In all affairs it’s a healthy thing now and then to hang a question mark on the things you have long taken for granted.
J.K. Rowling Commencement Address
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Last week J.K. Rowling gave an inspiring speech at the Harvard Commencement titled “The Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” The entire address is somewhat lengthy but worth the read. Below are a few paragraphs that stood out to me.
“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.”
“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.”
“You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
Your Friday Quote
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Don’t get set into one form, adapt it and build your own, and let it grow, be like water. Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless — like water. Now you put water in a cup, it becomes the cup; You put water into a bottle it becomes the bottle; You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Water can flow or it can crash.
Be water, my friend.
On a More Serious Note
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I have a friend who believes that when it comes to movies dealing with critical issues, don’t watch it if you don’t plan on doing anything about it. His argument for this is that it just desensitizes us to a point where it becomes the norm to not react to the injustice that we’re seeing. Movies such as Hotel Rwanda or Blood Diamond. I have to admit that I saw both these movies and to his point, although deeply moved and disturbed by the injustice of it all, didn’t do anything about it. So when NBC Nightly News and Today did a news report on the crisis in Congo, I tuned in remembering my friend and knowing that I no longer wanted to ignore these critical issues happening around the world. As I watched, I learned that the war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has caused more than 5.4 million people to die since 1998. But more than this staggering number, it was a personal story of a young woman that moved me to tears. She had been brutally raped over a period of 2 days by soldiers who had also killed both her parents right in front of her eyes. Instead of harboring anger and hatred by what had happened to her and her family, she thanked God for saving her from death and had hope for her life. I was blown away. I have since gone online and researched more about the conflict in Congo, the people and history there, and how I can help.
I am the first to admit that on many levels, I have been desensitized by the overload of all the bad that is out there and the hopelessness I’ve felt being one individual in this massive world. But whether you decide to take action or not, I do think it’s crucial to keep our minds active and aware of what’s going on around us. That something or someone will trigger a passion in you for you to say enough is enough and actually do something about it. And I’ve learned that if you haven’t felt the passion yet, just taking the step to do what is right will inform and shape your heart.
For a very compelling and powerful photo documentary on the crisis in Congo, check out http://mediastorm.org/0022.htm
The New/Different Rule
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A simple rule for developing breakthrough ideas
On May 14 I spoke at the University of Washington on the use of process within strategy and design projects. During this presentation, hosted by design faculty member Annabelle Gould, I articulated what I see as the major tension within process: repeatable versus unexpected. That is, a process should be the result of a proven methodology that can be applied over and over again—you don’t want to have to make it up as you go each time you start a new project. At the same time, you don’t want the same process to start churning out the same results. Generating the same results is great for homogenizing milk, but not in creative endeavors. For us, new ideas are entirely the point. So we want an expected approach to yield unexpected ideas. That’s the tension.
For creative professionals, a great process is a repeatable approach for putting yourself in position to connect with the unexpected. Note that I think it’s about putting yourself in position to connect with the unexpected, not that the process itself will spit out new ideas. That’s what your brain is for.
When it comes to using process to get to great ideas, I apply what I call the New/Different Rule. Creating new, unexpected ideas is the result of either:
1) Putting yourself in position to receive new information that helps you think about something in a different way.
Or . . .
2) Creating a different way of brainstorming so you come up with something new.
The first is usually about research. While the term research can sometimes sound a bit overstarched and monolithic, research can be a fantastic means of debunking assumptions. And that’s all about getting access to new information that will help you think about something in a different way. When we started working with the Seattle Symphony, one of the assumptions we were working with was that celebrity guest artists were important to have on the cover of sales materials because their celebrity images sold tickets. However, the research we did with subscribers and other ticket buyers revealed that the truth was citizens identified their patronage with the orchestra—not the guest artists. They were passionate and definitive about this. This new information fueled our creative explorations in a totally different direction.
The second is about architecting better brainstorms. During my talk at UW, I revealed a dirty industry secret: most brainstorms don’t work. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, and I’ve participated in plenty of brainstorms that didn’t generate anything more than some interesting tangents and maybe some toilet humor. Coming up with breakthrough ideas requires a more thoughtful approach to the brainstorms themselves. Putting “brainstorm” on the calendar and then hoping for the best isn’t enough. Last summer when we were concepting for Boeing’s communications at the 2007 Paris Air Show, we structured our brainstorm around a different question: what are the bad ideas? I know this sounds counterproductive, but it worked. Sure, we came up with some stinkers, but we also came up with some concepts that eventually inspired the idea. And we never would have arrived there without approaching the brainstorm in a different way.
So there you have it. The New/Different Rule. Put yourself in position to receive new information that helps you think about something in a different way. Or create a different way of brainstorming so you come up with something new. I’d love to hear how it works for you!
