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What you do is to take the different bits of material which you have gathered and feel them all over, as it were, with the tentacles of the mind. You take one fact, turn it this way and that, look at it in different lights, and feel for the meaning of it. You bring two facts together and see how they fit. What you are seeking now is the relationship, a synthesis where everything will come together in a neat combination, like a jig-saw puzzle.

— A recipe for producing ideas circa 1939 (via explore-blog)

(Source: )

Muppetypography from Lucky So and So

…the mistakes that produce these regrets are all errors of omission. You forget your dreams, ignore your family, suppress your feelings, neglect your friends, and forget to be happy. Errors of omission are a particularly dangerous type of mistake, because you make them by default.

— Paul Graham (via putorti)

(Source: paulgraham.com)

The Dangers of the Minimal Viable Product  →

jeanphony:

Think beyond the product to the full offering and business model. Competitive advantage comes from innovative ways of creating, capturing, and delivering value. Success requires fine-tuning more than features and functions.

Great advice… This is the difference between Interaction Design and Product Design

Fall down, make a mess, break something occasionally. And remember that the story is never over.

— Conan O’Brien

typeverything:

Typeverything.com

A still from a features opener for Wired UK by Aske aka Sicksystems, made from hand-carved plywood. See the video here.

Stuck solving a problem? Seek the obscure, says Tony McCaffrey, a psychology PhD from the University of Massachusetts. “There’s a classic obstacle to innovation called ‘functional fixedness,’ which is the tendency to fixate on the common use of an object or its parts. It hinders people from solving problems.” McCaffrey has developed a systematic way of overcoming that obstacle: the “generic parts technique” (GPT)…

Here’s how GPT works: “For each object in your problem, you break it into parts and ask two questions,” explains McCaffrey…

“1. Can it be broken down further? and 2. — this is the one that’s been overlooked — Does my description of the part imply a use?”

— 

A psychological technique to get you unstuck when problem-solving. Or, try a more creative approach.

(↬ The Morning News)

(Source: )

stole from Ryan Sims’ talk

Stop trying to get your clients to “understand design” and instead show them that you understand what they hired you to do. Explain how the choices you’ve made lead to a successful project. This isn’t magic, it’s math. Show your work. Don’t hope someone “gets it,” and don’t blame them if they don’t — convince them.

— Quote from Mike Monteiro’s new book “Design is a Job” (via @smcrowe)

(Source: scottboms.com)

David Shrigley is one of my favorite visual artists!!!!!!!!!!! 

 :D

austinkleon:

What does David Shrigley do all day?

I have a big fancy drawing board and I sit in front of that and draw. I start off working for the sake of working, almost randomly. I just draw and write things down just for the sake of it, and it’s not until several hours later that these things start to make sense. I make a large number of drawings and discard around 75 per cent. If I’m working hard I might do 30 or 40 drawings in a day. They’re all completely different. I only do anything once. That’s the rules. I always work on a standard paper size. The drawings I’ve done for the Hayward Gallery show are quite big, acrylic on paper. I could only do 15 of those in a day. I could make about 50 of the smaller ones if I’m working really hard and really late.

I usually write a list of things to draw – a big, long list. If I want to make 50 works there are 50 things to draw. I write a list sometimes weeks before. I just look through books, the internet and just write something down. The starting point is usually ‘man being mauled by a lion’ or something. Sometimes I won’t draw it literally or it’s a text thing but that’s it started. I can fill 50 sheets of paper and once they’re done I’ll go back and add some images to text or text to image. It’s quite a regimented way to work. Sometimes the lion becomes a dog or a horse. ‘Man being mauled by a horse!’ The simple thing I’ve learned over the years is just to have a starting point and once you have a starting point the work seems to make itself.

Emphasis mine. Filed under: routine, David Shrigley