23/6/2010

Today we talked about novelty, creativity, innovation and invention. A creative person is one who generates new ideas while creative process is how new ideas, solutions and invention are produced. We are also showed some definition of creativity, and all of them differ from one another, there are some scholars who even say that creativity cannot be defined. But the most important thing in creativity is that it has to have personal, social and cultural boundary. Without any of those, your so called creativity might not be accepted and it would just waste away. 

From www.savagechickens.com

Novelty is the quality of being new. There are 2 types of novelty, subjective novelty and objective novelty. Subjective novelty is the perception of something as new by an individual or group of person. In other words, subjective novelty means that your works might not necessarily be original, but people have considered it as novelty, making it seem novelty. Objective novelty is some thing that is new for humanity in this development through age. For example the tires. It is a great invention, but people still need to get used to it because all this while they've been walking. 

From www.hardwaresphere.com

Originality is not a decisive feature of creative work and novelty in creativity is always based on what has been created before. It means that, like I said in the previous post, there is nothing original, we only make creative works by using what has been done before, only putting it in a new look. Creativity is a generation of new ideas or new ways of doing things. Inventors are those who take existing knowledge and create new ideas, for example, the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison, but now other inventors use their creativity to think up of new light bulbs like florescent light bulbs etc. Innovation is a process of making improvements by introducing something new, the realization of creative idea in a social context. For example, computers started of with PC, then it became a laptop. Is laptop considered original? NO, it is the innovation/improvement of the PC. 

From www.istockphoto.com

We as designers are to take boring work and make it to fun work. For example, newspapers were a bore, but if we designers are put in charge, we will design newspapers, making it attractive. Designers can change everything, However, our creation must be useful to us and society, if it's not useful, don't bother creating. Designers main job is to satisfy every customers' expectation. When they pick up a product designed by us, they will expect it to be better. 

Fom www.allthelyrics.com

Evolutionary innovation is brought by incremental advances in technology or processes. There are 2 types of evolutionary innovation as well, continuous evolutionary innovation and revolutionary innovation (aka discontinuous innovations). Revolutionary innovation require a good deal of learning, for example internet and computers. 


Creative people can be divided into categories: aesthetic organizers, boundary pushers, inventors, and the rarest group of all- boundary breakers. 

The Kurogane and Fye Trailer

Ahahaha... I just love this fan made trailer. Just found it recently on Youtube. I love how he/she took different parts of the episodes and made it look totally new, with a different storyline too. The clips are from Tsubasa Chronicles, aka mother of all crossovers. If you know CLAMP stories, you'll know what I mean. It's a combo of all their stories! Awesome right? This trailer focuses on Fye and Kurogane friendship, and another take on how they would probably meet if they have their own movie.

Anyway, all credits goes to its creator 'NotShortOuranFan' (YouTube name).

16/6/2010

Today we learned that some of the things we think are creative are actually wrong. For starters, everyone is creative, especially children. But we are taught out of creativeness because our society don't think it's important. The class had an argument/debate about creative and fun. Most of us might say being creative is fun, but some say that that's only applies when you are working on an individual piece. Creative becomes not fun or tiresome when we have to work in a large industry where many ideas will clash and clients might not like your idea etc etc. For me, I think that it's all about the process, being able to give it your all during the process makes you even happier when you finally finished it. It's all about knowing how to insert fun in creativity.

From www.ravensbrain.com

The lecturer, Mr Yap told us that there are 2 types of task motivation, intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation is that creativity comes from within, that we naturally want to be creative. Extrinsic motivation is a creativity that comes by solving problems given to us. In other words creativity is generated by giving you a motivation from the outside. Mr Yap asks us which is more important, many said intrinsic, but I disagree. I think that talent can only go so far if you keep using it, and that's when extrinsic comes in. I think that I'm using my creativity to solve problems everyday, even if it doesn't seem creative to others. That's why Necessity is the mother of invention, complacency kills imagination. Without a necessity for solving problems, we won't need to use creativity, hence we lose imagination.

From sitemaker.umich.edu

There are also 2 ways of thinking, vertical thinking and lateral thinking. Vertical thinking is thinking done by many of us, it's like we think step by step, going up a ladder. There's a major problem in vertical thinking, is that there's only one way of thinking, you either go up the ladder or down the ladder, through the same route you went. You won't be able to think outside the box with vertical thinking. Lateral thinking however, is aka creative thinking. That means that you will think by jumping from one ladder to another, going round and round, think from A then C then back to B. We can think more creatively because you see more when you go horizontally.

From socialstudies.mpsedu.org

We also learn that in the design/creative industry, it's hard to claim full originality of our artworks. That's because our ideas come from seeing other people works or it clashes with another ones idea. In other words, there are no new ideas, only ideas that are a combination of old concepts/ideas.

In conclusion, creativity is an ability, an attitude and a process. We need some talent in creativity, we need to have the ability and attitude to work hard to achieve our goals, and most importantly, We must always take account into the process, because process is what makes the design. The more you work hard in the process, the better the design. 

This is my friend Jesynthia. For this week assignment we are required to photoshop a friend's photo. This is mine. Doesn't she look like a pop star???

Dry Tears Piano Version

Well...since we are suppose to have 2 entries per week, here's what I found on the web. The song it's called 'Dry Tears'. This was supposed to be the original aka unedited version of the song. The official song is much more slower and sadder, this piano version seems a bit to fast for my taste, but that's just me. Go search online/YouTube for the real thing.

This is NOT my video. All credits go to 'emilandersson91' (YouTube name), the writer and creator of this video and song.

9/6/2010

Today was the 1st class of Creative Studies. Our lecturer, Mr Ahmad Radzi bin Mohd Bedu explained to us what the subject was all about and the things we are going to learn etc etc. He told us that in this class we will be train to think creative, because most of the time we don't think at all. We didn't believe him at first, and kept insisting we were all thinking, so he gave us a test. He ask a fellow classmate what was his name, and after he told him his name he asked if he was thinking, the classmate replied yes. But Mr Ahmad said he wasn't because he was just recalling back his previous memories, and not actually thinking. He continued asking questions to different students, giving them a more difficult question each time. When a difficult question was asked, the student would pause a few seconds before answering, that according to Mr Ahmad, was thinking. Finally we understood what he meant. When the student told Mr Ahmad his name, it was quick, like a reflex, whereas the student had to think before answering the difficult question.

From sharynheili.wordpress.com

After that, he told us that we would not be in this class if we think 24/7. He gave us an example. First he asked another student what was the first thing he did when he woke up that morning, and he told us that he brushed his teeth. Mr Ahmad then asked if he was thinking, and he replied yes. Mr Ahmad told him he wasn't thinking, just recalling back his memories. He said that if we think 24/7, then when we woke up, we will question whether it was night or day, and that will take about 30 minutes, after that we will brush our teeth, but we will question whether there was any cockroach that was in there, and whether we will want to brush our teeth, that will take about 1 hour. And then while we are crossing the street, even though the road is empty, we will stand there thinking what if a Ferrari suddenly flew past us at 300 m/h and hit us. By the time we reach the classroom it will be 5.30 already. Mr Ahmad said that thinking takes up a lot of energy, so our brain is to think to not to think.

From www.cartoonstock.com

Then, he showed us a black and white picture with blobs and strips and asked us what it was. The 1st thing I saw was a giant scorpion or worm, but that wasn't the answer. He gave us to see a slideshow of all the creative people in the world, and how creative thinking can be used for good or bad purposes. For example, Thomas Edison used his creative thinking to make the world a better place by inventing new things, while Hitler used his creative thinking to take over countries. That is why we must always think of value. The person who created the atom bomb was creative, but as a result killed millions of people, he regretted making the atom bomb. That is why when we think, we must put a lot of things into consideration. If our design is good, but will kill thousands of people, there is no point to it because no one will buy it. That is one of the values, we must make sure our design will be accepted by the public and will be able to sell so that our clients will buy it.

From www.thethinkingblog.com

Then he showed us a picture of a lamp post and an elephant, and asked us to tell him what are the common things shared by the 2 things. Some said it was color, others said it was the size. One of my friends said both of them are hard, but none of the answers we gave were correct. Finally we gave in. Mr Ahmad then told us the answer that made us think why didn't I think of that! The answer was-Both of them are not your friends, both of them are not in this classroom etc etc. He told us we are not thinking outside the box, which is why this class will make you think. Mr Ahmad said he will give us so much to think, that we will feel like dying and will hate their guts. Just hearing him telling us that makes me kinda scared. For the last picture he showed us the same picture as the 1st one, black and white with blobs and stripes, This time all of us was able to answer correctly, it was a cat. He asked us why we can figure it out now, we told him it was because the 1st time he showed us this picture it was upside down. The picture that we see now is the traditional thinking while the upside down one was the creative thinking.

From www.cartoonstock.com

Lecture was over so he told us what our 1st assignment would be, to create a blog and wrote down what we learnt that week, which is what I'm doing now. The second assignment will be group work which we all hate, and he told us that in this class we have to do A LOT of research and thinking in order to pass. I'm now really dreading to go to the next class, because after the class I realized I wasn't as creative as I thought I was. Sigh...I hope I can improve...