Ted talk on creativity through play

Hi everyone, sorry for not updating the blog in a few days, I fell into a small pattern  of self indulgence, but I'm back with a quick snippet of interesting information.  

Just today I discovered another interesting talk by Tim Brown which I feel is almost directly linked to the talk below by Ken Robinson.  Tim Browns talk is about the link between creativity and play and as I am, this following weekend about to start a 'teach english as a foreign language' course, find this talk incredibly pertinent to the subject I am about to embark on.  It's also a lot of fun to watch.

More talks at ted.com

Presentation + More from Ted.com

In this mornings lecture we were introduced to a variety of methods on how to present yourself during a presentation, how to prepare and how to deliver what you want to say to your audience.  This involved how to hold yourself, boys ignore those pockets and girls leave that hair alone.  We were also introduced to powerpoint methods, a simple effect was how I just utilized bold in some text to highlight a point and draw your eye immediately there, afterward you may or may not read the remainder of the text.

There is so much more to this, but it is already quite late as I type this and I am tucked up in my bed.  However before I go, I will introduce you to another fantastic speaker from ted.com, Sir Ken Robinson, note how he uses rhetorical question throughout to engage his audience

sketch furniture

I was just over at Fiona Campbells blog and she had an awesome video on a program that allows individuals to sketch their own furniture and then have it replicated and built for real using some form of cad cam, it's a very cool video

ted.com

Today we had a lecture from the head of Master of Design Hazel White, who talked about her recent visit to Hong Kong for the design and emotion conference (I'm going to have that double check that heading because I'm fairly certain that is wrong), providing us with a list of speakers on variety of subjects that could be of use to a number of us.

Hazel also introduced us to a fantastic website simply titled ted.com  which is where a large number of innovators congregate to share their thoughts and ideas.  Below is an example of a fantastic talk by Jan Chip Chase a researcher for Nokia communications.

Ok I can't get the video to upload but here is the link to the video hosted by Jan at ted.com.

David Townson group proj after lecture & seminar

This is a post I meant to put up ages ago but never got around to it until now.  The following video and images are of our first miniature group project, the team consisted of Arlene, Gio, Fiona and myself and our task was to design a service around the idea of luggage.

We came up with an idea for transporting luggage around an airport via an electrically motorized carrier system complete with benefits and friendly service provided by staff.  Remember this is entirely fictional and as of yet as not been applied in any physical capacity, at least by us anyway.

This was conducted during the seminar after a lecture by David Townson on service design which I think everybody found interesting and informative.

Bit of a Batman geek

Just found a nice interview from the La times with Christopher Nolan talking about, what he describes as the pivotal scene in this years 'The Dark Knight'.  Although this may seem a bit nerdy it is in fact a really good dissection on character and identity.  This is part two of a 3 part interview with the London born director and there are further links to parts one and two at the website, enjoy.

In response

It seems, and quite fairly too that a fellow blogger has seen fit to publish a post pointing out the inadequacies of my previous post, showering the clothing company howies with praise, well deserved praise. 

I only sought to bring to howies to the attention of my fellow bloggers.  Yes they are owned by Timberland and if you care to read more about the deal they brokered with Timberland, in which original owners David and Claire Hieatt maintain creative control over the company and retain their ethical policy then feel free to click on this link to the howies website.

Another interesting piece of information brought to light by this discussion is the recent involvement drinks/smoothie company 'innocent' has with McDonald's, some might say that innocent is selling out or rather they are using a corporate giant to allow their brand (brand is a horrible word to use but it is necessary in todays modern world, even oxfam brand themselves) and values more international recognition, considering that a large majority of societies youth eat at McDonald's.  The guardian as an interesting column on the piece online.  Innocent have added their own online blog with their thoughts on the matter.

For further reading there is a guardian piece on the opening of Timberland's new ethical store in London 2006 and a small description on some of their ethical products and themes.  Also there is a book, 'eco chic, the savvy shoppers guide to ethical fashion' by Matilda Lee in which I believe the company Timberland is met in a favourable light, although I will have to double check this information.

I think sometimes in these cases it is necessary for the little guy to require a step-up from the big guy in order to promote their values and way of thinking, however this debate could rage on and on for sometime and I think the closest we could come to a conclusion is through polls, surveys, discussions and essays.  There is also the issue not just about the materials used but whether the workers for these companies are treated fairly, it is a large organism of debate that has to be approached with an objective world view.  So for now I apologize to anyone who felt my previous blogs were lacking in history and information, I can only say that I will attempt to improve in the coming months, this is my first real attempt at blogging having been a bit dubious about the whole process but with practice I am/have come round to the ideas and benefits that blogging can provide.

Just visited my ex-girlfriends brothers blog (Pieter Stoaling) and he has posted an interesting blog about light painting, using a torch or candle, leds, phones, anything that creates a light to draw within a picture as long as it is dark and has a low iso setting and long shutter release. It's good fun and doesn't affect anyone adversely, like a form of harmless graffiti.

I have used this technique before to achieve interesting effects at gigs and concerts, but I once did it a couple of times with an old film camera, and you never entirely sure how it was gonna turn out until you went and got the film processed.

For this kind of thing you can buy an old cheap (but still good) slr camera off of ebay for a cheap price or even buy a camera of the lomography website which is still very popular.

Random dance

Found an interesting blog and video by psychologist Peter Lovatt who is interested in whether there is a connection between how men dance and their attractiveness to the opposite sex.  

There is more information on this in Tom Feilden's blog, the science correspondent for the today program on the bbc radio 4.  There is also a survey you can fill in having seen this video.

i-genius

I discovered an interesting link to an online blog this morning named i-genius.  It led me to an interesting individual called Jo Matthews who is looking into the role of media in development issues, specifically focusing on  Africa.

This is similar to my area of interest having just signed up for a tefl (teach English as a foreign language) course in November.  I am not entirely certain which direction my studies will take me, but I am hoping to keep it centered around this area of developing foreign language systems.

There are a large number of interesting people on this blog, doing a wide variety of projects to do with community and development, so I urge anyone reading this to go and have a look, you never know, you may find someone with similar interests and thoughts that could share their insight and opinions with you, or even provide you with a stepping stone or provide contacts. 

howies 13-up

Sometimes it's good to be a teenager, but then sometimes it's really shit.

This is a link I have been meaning to post for sometime now, but inexplicably never found the time.  As before it is another fantastic entry from the Howies cannon (I urge you to have a look) promoting social understanding amongst teenage hood, themes range from ambition, friendship and family right through to music, love, life and individuality.  

In my undergraduate dissertation I explored autonomy in our individual identities, through the medium of media, primarily focusing on music.  I still find this incredibly interesting and this website/blog showcased a very interesting new method of gathering information from very honest sources, those being this generations teenagers.

 

do lectures

Recently received an email from Howies (a fantastic ethical clothes company) detailing a number of lectures that occurred recently under the headline of 'do lectures'.  There are some interesting topics including one from the 'surfers against sewage' campaign.  Aside from individual videos of the lectures there are reading lists accompanying most of the lectures for further insight and knowledge.  The website is  www.thedolectures.com

Hear is an example of a lecture.

Cardboard man

Recently, (well this morning) myself and my friend, a fellow designer and Grays school of art graduate Drew Wilson collaborated on a piece of work that could or could not be expanded into a form of practice and communication that is also a lot of fun to create.  The following videos and pictures depict how myself and my friend created very simply and quickly a cardboard version of himself.  Initially his purposes were quite juvenile, in order to freak out his wife when she came home from work, but the idea and process could be developed into something more opportunistic for communications.  Perhaps in a childrens teaching environment or people suffering from problems relating to addiction, this could be a method for creating or re-establishing identity, it is a blank canvas that could be filled with visual, stories, poems etc.

communication through dance

I am interesting in looking at different forms of communication, both primitive and sophisticated, physical and verbal.  Although my research hasn't fully kicked off I already spotted some people (in Dundee high street on saturday) in the act of dancing.  There is of course many different forms of dancing, Scottish, Salsa, clubbing, but they all share one thing in common, it is a social tool, and people communicate and express themselves through movement.