Quote from Debbie Millman

Quote from Debbie Millman:

Every job is hard. Design is hard, marketing is hard, and working at McDonald’s and Starbucks and Walmart is hard. Why does it feel “easier” to do something we don’t love than to do something we actually feel passionate about? I think we lose our courage to pursue our creative dreams when we feel that the only way we can make a living is to conform. I realize now that making a living doing what you love requires a personal belief that you have something meaningful to contribute. What makes this particularly difficult is that making a living doing what you love doesn’t come with a real “rule book.” There is no single process for anything. In many ways, making a living doing what you love is an anti-process! For example, you may have a process for being creative, but the actual act of living creatively is organic and (nearly) involuntary: you have to do it—you have no choice—or a part of you dies. If you are considering settling because going after what you want seems too hard to do, remember that hating what you do every day is even harder. I guess this is a long way of stating that I believe one of the most important skills necessary to succeed as a creative leader is to, at all costs, avoid settling.

Design the Life you Love, a book by Ayse Birsel

12.4.15 / A LIFE DESIGNED
by Steven Heller

Ayse Birsel is co-founder and creative director of Birsel + Seck, a product design studio in New York City. She has developed a seminal book titled Design the Life You Love that teaches non-designers how to create a meaningful life using a unique creative process known as Deconstruction:Reconstruction™. “With this graceful, playful and human-centered perspective,” she says, “we design the products, organizations, work, services and experiences people love.” In this interview, she describes how design and drawing can change lives and loves.




What prompted you to do your book?
My father is a lawyer who’s always been interested in what I do, even though I didn’t follow the family tradition of law. He’s been telling me I need to write a book since my earliest days as a product designer. It was like a leitmotif of our conversations, but I couldn’t understand why this was so important to him, and moreover, what I’d write about.

Fast forward to Design the Life You Love. People who came to my workshops started to ask me if I had a book, or if I was writing one. They wanted something to take home with them and, as importantly, to share with others-their husbands, wives, kids, parents. Suddenly this idea of writing a book didn’t seem so crazy (sorry, dad!) or out of reach.

But writing was a whole different story. I wrote the first draft in Microsoft Word, which was a nonsensical idea for a designer. It was so boring that I haven’t read it since. For the second draft I tried to write with a friend who is a brilliant writer, so much so that I could only hear his voice. That’s when I realized I had to do it myself or not at all. The third time was the charm, and I owe a lot of that to Leah Caplan, one of my oldest collaborators, who showered me with inspiration and examples of similar illustrative books (including Keri Smith’s Wreck This Journal, which I loved for its style and playfulness) and helped me find my visual voice. That’s when I started to draw my book, and then I’d write about what I drew. Drawing rather than writing was the turning point. You’d think that would have been obvious, but it wasn’t. It took me three years to find my voice.

Tell me why life can be reduced to a design problem.
I think of my life as my biggest project. Life is just like a design problem, full of opposing needs and wants, constraints and challenges. You cannot have everything. If you want or need more, then you have to resolve some dichotomies, and design thinking is a great tool to help do this.

You know what is interesting though? Life deconstructed fits on two pages. Two! And that is a relief. Seeing your life on two pages gives you a sense of control-all that complexity, the enormity of life is actually manageable. It is not dissimilar to planning an incredible banquet and making a shopping list of what you're going to need. The idea of the banquet is overwhelming but once you have your list you know what to do. Life is not that different; it feels massive until you break it down to its ingredients and see that you can hold them on two pages. And those pages become your ingredients for what you want to make of your life, what you need more of, what you need to leave out, and what are your essentials.


Can non-designers design their life?
Ah! How much I love non-designers. Ordinary people are extraordinarily creative when given a design process and tools. Not only can they design their lives, they do it fearlessly (designing your life takes courage) and with gusto. Here it’s really important to frame life as a project within the context of design. Life is a complex problem and you need to think like a designer to get to something valuable: that means with optimism and empathy, holistically and playfully.

Over the years I’ve met some amazing people through my workshops. These people are often at a turning point in their lives and drawn to the idea of using design to reflect about what’s next. So they come to DLYL already with a personal challenge or problem set, which is a great place to start designing. No problem, no design. Their questions are universal: My kids left for college and I find myself an empty nester; my kids are little and my parents are aging, and I’m in the middle; I’m finishing college and I want to think about what’s next; I’m not happy at work; I’m retiring ... what does the next phase of my life look like? My role is to share my process and tools with them, inspire them with great examples of creative thinking from art, design, cooking, fashion and business. They do the rest and they do it beautifully.

There are a couple tricks I have devised to make the process super accessible:

• Lots of drawings. What could be so hard about a book that has a drawing on every page?
• Be playful and don't judge your ideas. The right one will emerge eventually and you will recognize it when you see it. So go with your gut, with whatever comes to your mind. The good, ugly, weird and funny!
• Draw and write to use both your right and left brain. Drawing and writing use different parts of the brain. You need both to design. That is why the book starts with a drawing exercise, same as all my workshops. Just draw something! I've learned over time that everyone can draw. You don't need to be Rembrandt, you just need to draw. Stick figures welcome.
• Gather inspiration. Every designer needs some inspiration to open up their minds to beauty and genius. The same goes for designing your life. In the book I ask you to think about other people who've influenced and/or inspired you. When it comes to life, look for inspiration in others. They inform you about your values, and you need your values to anchor your design. Let me leave it there but if you have the book, turn to the Heroes exercise and do it. Again, it is about serious play!

There are plenty of exercises in the book from people who have come to the workshops. They guide you alongside the process and show how you can design your life.

Will designing your life make you truly confident or falsely secure?
I think that on the spectrum between truly confident and falsely secure lies the designer's state of mind, energized and determined by the potential and power of your ideas.

There are three emotional states in design:

1. Bound by what you know. This marks the beginning of the creative process where your preconceptions are still holding you in current reality.
2. Freed by what you can imagine. This is the middle of the process, helped by inspiration, rich with possibilities and potential ideas. The process swells.
3. Energized by what is possible. This is towards the end when your logic kicks in and you start to make choices and converge towards the big idea.

When you have a good idea, you become excited by it and you see the possibilities. You know that inner, intuitive feeling you get when you know you're onto something. You're past the initial moment of inertia where you are bound by what you know and feel stuck. You're in that moment of convergence on the IDEA, the one that is just right, the one that rises to the top and says, pick me!, the one that gives you the courage to share your idea with others and bring people along to help you realize it.

That to me is the state of mind of designing your life. Confident enough to prototype it and secure enough to share it with others so that you can collaborate together, but also honest enough to know that, like any designer, you need to protect and nurture your idea until it’s strong enough to stand on its own. And even then you need to continue to evolve it over time.

[From The Daily Heller. Permalink.]

Quote from Martha Graham

“There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. . . . There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us dancing.”

—Martha Graham, to Agnes de Mille

Play!

Loved this TED talk.

Play is necessary for creativity, productivity, learning, and much more. People who play more are happier, healthier, have better relationships, and are more open to trying new things.

http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_keil_a_manifesto_for_play_for_bulgaria_and_beyond

Quote: Stefan Sagmeister

How do you go about ispiration/having ideas?

Stefan: The process I've been using most often has been described by Maltese philosopher Edward DeBono, who suggests starting to think about an idea for a particular project by taking a random object as point of departure. Say, I have to design a pen, and instead of looking at all other pens and thinking about how pens are used and who my target audience is etc., I start thinking about pens using.....(this is me now looking around the hotel room for a random object)....bed spreads. Ok, hotel bedspreads are...sticky....contain many bacteria...., ahh, would be possible to design a pen that is thermo sensitive, so it changes colors where I touch it, yes, that could actually be nice: An all black pen, that becomes yellow on the touching points of fingers/hands...., not so bad, considering it took me all of 30 seconds. Of course, the reason this works is because DeBono's method forces the brain to start out at new and different point, preventing it from falling into a familiar grove it has formed before.

The Agony of Creation

The creative process can be broken down into steps, followed methodically, and achieve results every time. Occasionally, the creative person has a “eureka” moment when an idea pops fully formed into the mind. Most ideas are born of agony.

Even when you follow the process, you always have moments of self-doubt. Will your audience recognize the value of your concept? Or will you look like a fool? Will you be able to explain how you arrived at your proof so that others can see the brilliance of your solution? The more “out of the box” your thinking, the harder it will be for the people in cubicles to accept.

Sometimes you follow the process, but you just can’t come up with that spark that makes it fun. For any number of reasons, you lack the motivation. You fear the well has finally run dry for good. You consider applying for a cashier’s position at Target. Fear will kill your creativity faster than anything. This is the time to remind yourself that you are talented, you can solve this problem, and go do the things that renew your spirit. Take a look at creativity triggers. Then overwhelm the impasse with quantity.

Then comes the agony of the critique, where you witness your “baby” cut apart, watered down, and compromised for political purposes. Everyone on the committee will want to “contribute” by offering another suggestion that you’ll have to address. The best advice I’ve heard for overcoming the torture of a hundred little revisions is “Do better work.” Proofread, correct any obvious mistakes, look at it from different distances and angles, take a break and look at it again. I try to only present proofs that I am happy with myself. Never present something that you have to apologize for. I do not take criticism personally. I try to use every suggestion as on opportunity to make the project better. 

Is the agony worth it? Do you have the inner confidence to present something that's never been seen before? Are you comfortable with being the one who thinks differently? Everyone has to decide that individually.

How to Be Creative

from the Wall Street Journal article by Jonah Lehrer

Recent research into the creative process reveal some "hacks" for how to achieve that elusive eureka moment. The characteristic that most creative people share is not genetic, but environmental. Creative types hang around with a diverse set of people. They are also curious about many things and pursue their interests with passion. Creative insight occurs when one "connects the dots" between different subjects.

Most innovation comes not from experts, but newcomers to the field. A fresh perspective is not limited by tradition or habit.

The right state of mind also contributes to creative breakthroughs. Being relaxed, having fun, laughing, even getting a little intoxicated, all increase creative problem solving. Daydreaming and that twilight state between sleep and wakefulness are moments ripe for creativity.

Getting outside of your workspace is important. A short trip to the coffee shop or library will increase your creativity. Traveling the world and exposing yourself to other cultures will supercharge your creativity.

Finally, a playful spirit is essential. Having the mind of a child and getting deep pleasure out of your work is extremely conducive to creativity.

Anybody Can Be Creative

From the Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2011:

David Kelley, founder of IDEO and d.school at Stanford, says that to "unlock creative potential," people must become "open to experimentation, more comfortable with ambiguity, and less afraid of failure."

Having a specific problem to solve is the best start. In Kelley's class, students "define the problem themselves through research and direct observation."

The next step is "ideation" or brainstorming and visualization. The third step is prototyping.

Kelley encourages many little experiments and failures along the way, leading to better and better solutions. He found that collaborating with with others who have "radically different points of view" leads to a better learning experience. As his students gain confidence, they become more innovative.

In their book The Innovator's DNA, Dyer, Gregersen, and Christensen say the key skill for generating innovative ideas is associating. Some people do this more naturally than others. But everyone can do more associating by "questioning, observing, networking, and experimenting." The more you do, the better you get, and the more confidence you have.

Texture

Derived from the Latin word meaning "to weave," texture arises from interwoven parts. In the visual arts, a tactile quality is created by weaving or layering materials. In music or literature, sounds or words are interwoven to create the texture. The word also describes the surface of a work.

Textures can be

• plush
• velvety
• deep
• smooth
• rough
• sharp
• shimmery
• metallic
• crusty
• plasticy
• cracked
• flaky
• glassy
• matte

Textures are more interesting than unadorned surfaces, and ask to be touched. They can draw a viewer in by asking questions or revealing answers. For more interest, depth, and mystery in your work, add some texture.

Line

A line is the path of a single point through space or time. If your creation lacks continuity, consider the concept of line.

In a story, the line is the plot. In music, the line is melody. Visually, lines can divide or enclose. They may have varying weights and colors.

A line can have many different qualities, and these qualities can vary as the line progresses. Some possibilities are:

• stability
• energy
• strength
• peace
• smoothness
• roughness
• tension
• uncertainty

Lines can pulse or undulate, they can wash over you in waves. They can ripple or flow, they can be jagged or smooth. They can climb and build, or descend and release. Lines can spiral in on themselves, or outward. Lines can be continuous, or they can start and stop.

Another function of lines is to connect. Many lines can form a network or web of connections.

Lines appear where distinctly different objects meet, such as rooftops meeting the sky. Be aware of the lines that are created unintentionally.

We naturally follow lines to wherever they lead us. That is why lines are painted on the road. Use this to your advantage when you lead your audience to a goal, or simply on an interesting journey.

Quote: “Real creativity”

“Real creativity . . . works best when we aren’t searching for outcomes but are simply allowing them.

“Not knowing is where we naturally start in infancy. From there we make our way to speech, to knowledge, to delight and love, to making an entire life for ourselves, and to communicating. . . .

“At some point in our early development, we turn from intuition toward analysis (prompted, perhaps, by the predilections of the educational system), and the training of our creative ability gets pushed to the side.”

—Sean Kernan, Communication Arts, January/February 2009

Kernan goes on to suggest that there are ways to wake up your creativity. Invoke spaciousness in your mind, “a kind of Buddhist emptiness full of potential.” Perceive without judging or categorizing or interpreting. Allow an experience to be absorbed into the emptiness in order to have it fully.

True creativity is not recycling the same old ideas with a predetermined intention. It happens when you make space for it. It requires patience because it can’t be forced. Results are “individual and unpredictable.”

“We can provoke creativity by setting aside knowledge, control, security, outcome, comfort and limits, thus making room for learning and creating to resume.”

Drugs

After bringing up the Beatles is a good time to talk about drugs and creativity. After my first lecture on creativity as a new graphic design teacher, one of my students asked, "What about drugs?" Many artists have extolled drugs as opening up new ways of thinking and new perspectives. People who are open and curious will naturally be open to and curious about drugs. The danger is addiction. An addict can no longer be creative without the drug, and the side effects eventually lead to health problems and possibly death. Addictions destroy relationships and stunt your growth as a human being. Taken to the extreme, addicts commit immoral and illegal acts. This blog is loaded with healthy ways to increase creativity.

Example: Olympic Diving Camera

Creative people are curious and seek out new information and new experiences. The more ideas you have floating around in your brain, the more raw material you have for creative expression. Here is an example:

"On TV, a diver walks out onto a platform. The camera fixes on him. He waits. He leaps. And then--somehow--the camera stays with him as he plunges. In the instant it takes him to break the water's surface, the picture suddenly cuts to an underwater shot--and we watch in disbelief as the dive culminates in a burst of bubbles.

"The [DiveCam] is based on the brilliant insight that objects fall at the same rate regardless of mass. A Tuscan named Galileo came up with it about 400 years ago. . . . It's sophisticated, yes, but only because it's simple. They put the camera into a pipe and drop the camera.

"The idea for this wizardry came to David Neal, now NBC's Olympic production supervisor, in what he recalls as a Isaac Newton moment. It was in the lobby bar of the Ritz Carleton 13 years ago in Atlanta ahead of that city's Olympics. He and an associate has been to the diving venue where they had climbed the 10-meter platform.

"'When you stand up there,' he says, 'it makes you marvel at what these athletes will do. We were thinking: What must it be like to plummet from that height? How can we capture that sensation?'

"At which point the apple landed on Mr. Neal's head: 'Why not let gravity do the work?' On the requisite cocktail napkin, and in keeping with Sir Isaac's univeral laws, he sketched a cartoonish doohickey. . . .

The DiveCam has 53 feet of custom-extruded aluminum piping. "The falling camera rides a rail on the inside of the pipe. A glass strip runs along the pipe's full length; the camera takes its picture through the glass."

--Barry Newman, The Wall Street Journal, August 13, 2008

When Linus Pauling taught at Cal Tech, [almost*] all of his exams were closed book. He maintained that only what you have in your memory bank is available for creative thinking. If Mr. Neal didn't know Newton's laws of motion, he wouldn't have had his flash of insight.

[*see comment]

Creativity Killers

• Stress:Although some of us work best under pressure, constant low-level stress will suck away your creative juice.
• Comfort: Staying in your comfort zone will not yield creative results.
• Criticism: Criticism that drags you down will eventually break your spirit. You are better off in the long run getting away from a client who micromanages your work, or who dwells in the negative, or who tries to make you feel incompetent. However, constructive feedback is essential if you are trying to make a living as a creative professional. The best clients will know how to deliver criticism in a positive way that makes the end result even better. Most of the time, the best answer to criticism is: do better work.
  
• Distractions: When you are in the creative zone, you completely lose track of time. Anything that brings you back to real time will stop the flow: a phone ringing, an appointment at a specific time, a chore that needs to be done, a bill that has to be paid. Take care of the necessary tasks before you start a creative project so that they don't hang in your mind. Make list of everything else so that your mind can let go. Then get away from the phone, and don't check your email.
• Judgment: In the creative realm, you don't make judgments. Your work is neither good not bad, it just is. After you have fully expressed yourself, you go back and judge, edit, and refine.
  
• Insecurity: “Who are you to call yourself an artist? What makes you think you can rise above the average? You've never done anything extraordinary before.” We are all creative by nature, and we are all capable of extraordinary things. Remove negative thoughts and distance yourself from negative people. The struggle to stay positive and confident will always be with you, but it is worth the effort.
• Television: Has been proven scientifically to reduce brain activity.
• Perfectionism: Trying too hard is self-defeating. Creative people are not afraid to take risks, and not afraid to fail. Even the greatest artists have laid some eggs. Furthermore, some of the greatest creative breakthroughs were mistakes. Recognize that everything you create has merit. You will learn and improve the more you create.
  

What is creativity?

"The ability to transcend traditional ideas, rules, patterns, relationships, or the like, and to create meaningful new ideas, forms, methods, interpretations, etc.; originality, progressiveness, or imagination."

Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006