2 Great visual concepts about Humans

Received these in an email from a good friend/designer. I would consider these to be award winners.

I'm not sure where these originated from or who's portfolio they came from but, they're amazing. Very simple, in comprehension--complex in execution.

Slacktivists

Via Designer's Who Blog, in reference to Design Altruism Project and quoting David Stairs:

"My concern with the popularity of Facebook design groups and socially conscientious design blogs is that, rather than muster wider awareness, they will cause both a false sense of general accomplishment, and result in donor-fatigue.

The growth of a category of what are called “slacktivists,” people who use their interest in design/politics to justify joining online groups and building websites for remote non-profits, fails to address the world’s problems with feet-on-the-ground solutions.

At the end of the day isn’t it the person with the most mud on his or her shoes, not the one with the most conference speaking engagements, who is doing the important work?"

As Cat noted, this is something worth thinking about however, I believe David was politely suggesting that we do less thinking and more doing.

Remember this gem? I do.

5 Principals of Invention

Scientist: Jacob Bronowski
" A man brings together two facets of reality and by discovering a likeness between them, suddenly makes them one."

Writer: Arthur Koestler
"...and mental occurrence simultaneously associated with two habitually incompatible contexts."

Mathematician: Jacques Hadamard
"...invention or discovery takes place by combining ideas."

Poet: Pierre Reverdy
"The more distant and distinct the relationship between the two realities that are brought together, the more powerful the image."

Psychiatrist: Anthony Starr
"New discoveries in science and mathematics often consist of a synthesis between theories or concepts which have hitherto been regarded as unconnected."

Five completely different disciplines arrive at the same conclusion.
All separated by semantics not thoughts or actions.

Typedia

"In a nutshell, Typedia is a community website to classify typefaces and educate people about them. Think of it like a mix between IMDb and Wikipedia, but just for type. Anyone can join, add, and edit pages for typefaces or for the people behind the type.

We love type, and we have a burning desire to learn as much as possible about typefaces: where they come from, who made them, and why they look the way they do. We want everyone to be able to share in that rich knowledge and enjoy the art and artists of type design. Over time, we think Typedia could grow into a great educational resource for people to learn about their favorite typefaces and discover new ones."

Typedia

Whuffie Bank

The Whuffie Bank A nonprofit organization dedicated to building a new currency based on reputation that could be redeemed for real and virtual products and services.

And from their twitter profile (@whuffiebank); In a world where reputation is wealth, only those that do good and well onto others are the richest.




And here is what Wikipedia has to offer. "Whuffie is the ephemeral, reputation-based currency of Cory Doctorow's science fiction novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom. This book describes a post-scarcity economy: All the necessities (and most of the luxuries) of life are free for the taking. A person's current Whuffie is instantly viewable to anyone, as everybody has a brain-implant giving them an interface with the Net. The term has since seen some adoption as a synonym for Social capital, including its use in the title of the Tara Hunt book The Whuffie Factor.

Fluid HTML: Flash and HTML Markup

Free to use and will have an open API for developers to contribute code and objects.
Vist Fluid HTML for more information.

I wonder how Adobe feels about this. Despite what some have said, I'm not sure it is a competitor to Flex or Flash Builder.
I'll need to poke around some.

Crowdsourcing is Schmoofty Part 1

Years ago (so odd, typing that), just after the Desktop Publisher's Scare, in between the Dot Bomb Massacre and during the subsequent Bubble-Bursting of every other middle-men industry, we had the Clip-Art Cornucopia–

Endless stacks of CDs in Staples, Office Depot, Creative Guy/Girls cubicle and links to complimentary websites all selling video, audio, sound-bites, icons, logos, typefaces, photography (web and print-based), even short story ideas and scripting/screenplay summaries. The supply of usable, open-sourced-creative (for $19.95) was endless. How long ago was that–8, 5, 4 years ago?

It was an interesting marketing premise; Large quantities of creative assets available to the masses (who considered themselves creative thinkers but not creative executers) that needed a special something to support their project, presentation or campaign. That special something to compliment and effectively communicate their new idea, product or service. Let's call this small, almost forgotten age, The Age of Schmoofty. (shoe-moo-f-t)

People argued and debated and celebrated; "This is great for creative people!", "This is great for businesses!", "This is great!". If greatness begets greatness, nothing remains great. In-fact, it becomes mundane. Schmoofty was mediocrity.

Companies where happy with everything being Schmoofty. It meant lower overhead and costs accrued by third-parties (those pesky creative elitists)where eliminated. Then–the internet happened, on a mass scale, this time around. Social-Media happened. Communication between markets, micro or macro was becoming seamless. All-smack-in-the-middle of the Schmoofty age...damn.

Everyone looking for that something special to compliment their new ideas, products and services, noticed their Schmoofty looked like everyone else's Schmoofty. It was similar, if not, a simple iteration of an identical Schmoofty being used by another Creative Thinker (sans the ability to do). You used a flag in your logo or an image of a house for an ad or an icon placed in a layout to represent a service or message–you and 30 other companies. Schmoofty had its skirt pulled up. Markets where communicating with each other. They began sharing and exchanging their favorite ideas, products and services. But the market–people who thought that they found something unique and special, saw the same schmoofty used for something entirely different. It seemed that their favorite companies and brands hadn't been that unique after all. Schmoofty wasn't looking so unique, as everyone was pulling from the same creative assets.

Schmoofty looking similar to other Schmoofty was bad. Some argued it was competitive. In-fact, it meant that only a select few Schmoofties where being noticed. Everything looking the same meant, nothing was standing out. Everyone pulling from the same creative assets meant no one had anything unique to say or demonstrate. Ideas, products and services where lost among the homogenization of Schmoofty. It was sad for many, profitable for a few, detrimental to those pesky creative elitists.

Schmoofty left a bad taste in everyone's mouth. People seemed to think that nothing was going to replace Schmoofty. Everyone stopped believing in Schmoofty because everyone had the same Schmoofty. Some charged more for it. Others simply copied another company's schmoofty-ness while the newer companies inadvertently copied Schmoofty.

CREATIVE THINKING - Revisited

Original post

Not just for creatives

I suppose that schools do not discourage creative thinking.
They simply can't offer the specialized attention any developing human ( toddler, teen or adult ) needs for cultivating creative thought. Parents; family; friends; co-workers; all social interaction is inherently dependent on information and access. And the rate at which we receive it.

Educational institutions function in a top-down format with their learning 'curve.' Which is more accurately described as a pyramid. Current technology offers top-down; left-right–episodic learning. Knowledge, sagacity, inspiration–is all growing directly in relation to the amount of people contributing to it without regard for social or economical barriers. Language barriers don't exist. Growth of knowledge is sustained by a systematic growth of interoperation without ration. Distribution of knowledge and experience without constraints or ethical reservation generally held by the decaying foundations of science, religion and politics within interaweb 1.0. Nothing is inferred by an over zealous teacher, politician, religious figure or our own parents. Learning is truly becoming organic. An unsettling truth has no place to hide. Expression, in itself, has no traditional form. Creativity needs to be redefined as a whole, if that is even possible.

Schools and parents teach expanding boundaries or rather, a trickle effect of information in a very discriminant and controlled manner. Expanding boundaries is an oxymoron with far to many negative connotations. Its not that schools inhibit creative thought, they simply can not support the processes needed to cultivate it. Creativity does not apply to manual dexterity or music. Creativity could be generally considered; the combining of things that where previously unrelated to create something new. Anything. Tell me what is not art within the world. Show something that wasn't created by someone. Someone who didn't consider themselves and artist or creative person.

Creative thinking occurs within everyone, within every field and discipline. Accountants, Artists, Writers, Doctors, Plumbers, Oyster shuckers–anyone.

The irony here, something that is truly new will not have words that can describe it. At-the-least, not upon initial introduction of the idea. That defeats the purpose. This also means, people need time to refine their own creative thoughts. As they are fresh in our heads, we struggle to make them tangible. Something worth expressing to someone else.

Creativity can be found within every aspect of everyone's life. The inherent problem with creativity–its sporadic. Not very manageable. This applies to schools and companies alike.

How quickly can a school, institution, company or organization offer knowledge and integrate the end-result ( the application of the knowledge and it's advancement ) back into it's curriculum or culture? Can we teach something, have it advanced upon, and re-teach it in it's new form? So that students aren't graduating with outdated knowledge– so that the creative application of existing knowledge is available to those that are looking for more? I realize that this is not profitable from a business perspective. Creativity, as a commodity, must be reproduced consistently. Accurately. Under controlled circumstances. Yeah-sounds creative to me–yet we all manage. Everyone creates.

Learning is traditionally a z-line; a straight line with small spikes. Creativity is considered more fluid and organic. Technology today, has the ability to bridge the gap. This explains why accredited colleges and famous academic institutions are releasing entire curriculums online. For free.

You are not the only creative thinker in the room.
You are unique. Just like me.

I'm going to play with some play-doh and sniff my fingers.

Durex and Facebook = SexTree

Reminds me of that site that was going around--you could add names of people and they would have to approve or disapprove of your relationship.

UPS learned 10 things from Brown Bailout

In dealing with FedEx's Brown Bailout campaign, UPS managed to acclimate quickly and effectively using social media as the corner-stone for their counter campaign. Below, you will find 10 things they learned. I think a lot of these compliment existing or traditional PR tactics but there are some new, simple rules, as well. My personal favs are 1, 6, 8, and 9. As I mentioned in a previous post, Utility + Message = Experience ≠ Branding. Social Media is not a pyramid, it is a mountain range.

1) When the issue is emotionally charged, don’t get emotional - stick to facts and correct misleading ones.

2) Pick your battles.

3) Be nimble.

3) It is helpful to have a monitoring program in place before a crisis hits when you have the luxury of time.

4) Start Twitter accounts now to build a credible voice and presence in the channel before a crisis hits.

5) Know when to intervene with an “official” vs a conversational response.

6) Educate internally.

7) Monitoring key words can be tough - UPS the company and ups the verb yield very different results.

8) Words without credibility fade. The truth does prevail. Errors, misleading materials, misguided conversations eventually get sorted out.

9) Being young doesn’t mean you are comfortable with social media and commenting or engaging with the public. Training is critical for everyone in an organization.

10) Bottom line, it’s clear crisis communications begins before a crisis. Tools will change, but given the speed of social media, preparation is critical in containing a crisis caused by a customer, competitor or an employee.

Jump here for the source.

Alex Bogusky on The BuzzBubble

Running time, 10:55

Why Retail Is So Important

As Followers and Rich Reputations develop further, equating into authenticated-transparency and a meritocracy of ideas, products and services engulfs the creative classes, users will migrate away from their computers.

1) People will be openly-open about the nature of their business. Perhaps, even to the point of boredom. Retail will need to pick up the slack, in that, it should be providing the ultimate experience for new ideas, products and experiences.

2) We will be inundated with new ideas, products and services. Many people agree, even those old neoclassical economists, that micro-markets will emerge and prosper faster within an environment of rapid development and prototyping. However, distribution and production still lag in many ways--in comparison to the rate at which we can develop ideas, products and services. Catch-22 and the rule of Top-Down-Bottom-Up, has hindered the technology market for years. Do not expect users and visitors to understand the benefits of your offer, just yet.

There are traditional PR tactics used by the larger technology developers but I doubt they'll be able to continue with those methods as search increases to, literally, real-time search. Before you finish your lie, people will have responded. Choose those press releases carefully.

3) People, Users, Visitors--searching for information, have already mastered the techniques of not searching. In-fact, Delivery, is the new search. Mobile devices prove this. As the war of Screens ( TV, Monitor, Phone, Digital Display ) continue, we'll find ourselves within a tight dichotomy of information that pertains to new ideas, products and services.
a) Searcher
b) Escapist

In this case, very few will find themselves in front of a computer. With communication about new ideas, products and services traveling faster, being delivered by friends and harvested by mutual contacts, people are less likely to wait for the information. Instead, it will be served up to them. Via a life-stream, sales-stream or social-stream. These streams are synchronized already for many expert interwebbers and social media folks.

As stand-alone services, they will eventually collapse under their own weight and need to continually feed off of its existing network, bleeding it dry. Or, they'll have understood that experiences resonate best with tangible goods. They resonate best when you can share the experiences of the new idea, products or services. I imagine building materials and technology will change faster than the internal model of world's largest brands. I'm also suggesting that a brand simply re-invest in something that has been around, as a fun-tactic-technique, which is; Event Spaces and Experiential Marketing. If the gap between mobile and internet closes, the computer monitor does eventually become obsolete as a means to communication of new ideas, products and services.

This may seem far-fetched ( it really isn't ) but, we should be cautious with they way we assign value to these networks and the technologies we use to communicate to them. You may find that you've completely detached yourself from a real, living, breathing, social network.

The kind you can share with anyone, at anytime, in the real world--offline.

Crowdsourcing or Guess work, Part 2

As many traditional ad agencies continue to struggle with the pace of the Internet and emerging mobile and media technologies, some have begun to crowdsource their work. In an attempt, obviously, to generate buzz for their clients. Interesting.

Some agencies claim they're providing their client's with a viable resource. Others claim to have turned a new leaf, in that, they see a true value in tapping the masses for their approval, insights, unfettered talent.

I wonder though, imagine if those agencies had simply opened their existing internal process in the same way. An opportunity for every seasoned professional, within the agency, to add or contribute. To reshape or even vote up or down, the value of the creative being presented.

Hmm. Lower over-head, less revisions and over delivering on client work. This may have even generated ideas that might have been previously inconceivable due to their complete inability to look past their own narrowed perspective for the client. Or even if, the client themselves, had a hard time accepting the creative being presented. The Agency and Client could look to their entire company for support, ideas and innovation.

However, they've decided to simply tap other resources.
After all, it was the Agency's idea to use Crowd Sourcing to generate a new idea.
Like, wow-man.