Smarter Creativity

The Week's Links (2/26/12)

Antonio Ortiz — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 18:14:26 +0000

All the links posted to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ this week:

A small red bundle of love (What I learned this week) owl.li/1hEhFG
Make yourself a cup of coffee and read this: Innovation and the Bell Labs Miracleowl.li/9irSB
Weird, or just different? owl.li/9hYw2
Reading a book really is better the second time round - and re-reading can offer mental health benefits owl.li/9cxHJ
Significant Objects: A Doll With A Storyowl.li/9hc2l
Life’s Messy. Train Your Brain to Adapt.owl.li/99YqL
Fasting can help protect against brain diseases, scientists say owl.li/99Ylm
Kids and Sleep Through History: They Have Never Gotten Enough, but Who’s to Say How Much They Really Need? owl.li/99YgC
Copyright and Fair Use Tips When Bloggingowl.li/9cPEX
2 movies inspired by Snow White are coming, you should check out Snow, Glass, Apples audio play by Neil Gaiman instead. owl.li/9fJgs
New code lets websites opt-out of Pinterest.owl.li/9cxgw How much will this affect the site’s rapid growth?
Move Over Search Box, Google’s Home Page Gets A Share Box owl.li/9cxb6
Forbes has joined a group of 30 clients using Narrative Science software to write computer-generated stories.http://owl.li/9cx6b
Creativity Top 5 owl.li/1hA92V
Unusual music packaging owl.li/9cAMq
The 1-Step Plan for Super-Productivityowl.li/9cAGJ
5 Cool Sites To Help You Choose Which Book To Read Next owl.li/9cABU
Herb Lubalin on his PBS Logo owl.li/1hyO9M
Dali’s Surrealism as Marketing Tool owl.li/9cy5X
Production Company of the Year 2011: B-Reel - Creativity Online owl.li/9cVpO
Gandhi’s list of “the seven blunders that human society commits, and that cause all violence”owl.li/1hxOBO
I tried to watch Game of Thrones and this is what happened owl.li/9crP7 So very true.
Clever and humorous “Art Addicted” campaign advertising Team Detroit for College for Creative Studies. owl.li/9crsX
The making of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo opening title sequence owl.li/9cqwm
Brainstorming Doesn’t Really Work, another must-read gem by @jonahlehrer for The New Yorker owl.li/9a4uz
Seven misconceptions about how students learn owl.li/99YcC
Royal Shakespeare Company production to be broadcast to 3,000 UK schools this summer.owl.li/97ib2
6 things we learned about journalism from Social Media Week owl.li/97i1z
Building New Habits Through Advertisingowl.li/1hvS1K
100 best Typefaces of all times owl.li/94EW0

A small red bundle of love (What I learned this week)

Antonio Ortiz — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 16:20:05 +0000

Kevin Clash is one of the most talented and hardest working men in entertainment and no one knows who he is. He is the puppeteer behind Elmo. Being Elmo is a fantastic documentary about his life and how he got to become one of the most iconic characters ever created.
Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite writers. Despite reading his blog and following him on twitter I had somehow missed that he was creating an adaptation of his novel American Gods as a series for HBO. He is currently writing the pilot. Very much looking forward to this when it airs.
Through the fantastic Radiolab I learn of a new podcast called 99% Invisible. No, it is not about economics, it is about design and how good design is 99% invisible to the user. The podcast tone and style make it a sibling of Radiolab.

Creativity Top 5

Antonio Ortiz — Thu, 23 Feb 2012 13:59:19 +0000

via creativity-online.com

Herb Lubalin on his PBS Logo

Antonio Ortiz — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 15:16:12 +0000

In this great video, Herb Lubalin explains the genesis of his logo for PBS as it evolved through client feedback.

via underconsideration.com

Gandhi's list of "the seven blunders that human society commits, and that cause all violence"

Antonio Ortiz — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 20:30:06 +0000

Wealth without work.
Pleasure without conscience.
Knowledge without character.
Commerce without morality.
Science without humanity.
Worship without sacrifice.
Politics without principles.

via listsofnote.com

Another great find by Lists of Note, which you should be following, as well as Letters of Note.

Building New Habits Through Advertising

Antonio Ortiz — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 14:45:06 +0000

The malleability of habits isn’t news to Madison Avenue: Effective commercials show how people can be quickly trained to do something new and then keep on doing it. The secret, it turns out, is the quick combination of a memorable cue and a rewarding experience.

via How Habits Hold Us by Jonah Lehrer for online.wsj.com

The Week's Links (2.19.12)

Antonio Ortiz — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 16:24:04 +0000

All the links posted to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ this week:

The Future Of Ethics In Branding owl.li/94tPX Can ethics and advertising work hand in hand?
Mystery (A TED Remix) owl.li/91CNr
Super Bowl Halftime Show Stage Constructionowl.li/1hsoxq
What’s on the Menu? Help transcribe The New York Public Library’s historical menu collectionowl.li/94nVU /via @brainpicker
Copy, Transform, Combine: Everything Is A Remix, The Complete Series owl.li/1hseBH
Copy, Transform, Combine: Everything Is A Remix, The Complete Series owl.li/98vVl
Infographic: Designing the Perfect Blockbuster Movie Poster owl.li/94iGW
Eddie Izzard’s Fake McCartney Bio Speechowl.li/94iyH This is how you do a tribute toast.
Nike’s new marketing mojo owl.li/94k6q How they wrote a new playbook for the digital era.
MoMA Plans Kraftwerk Retrospectiveowl.li/97io4
How do you create? (A TED Remix)owl.li/91CKX
Check out this student made The Dark Knight Rises title sequence, in the spirit of Se7en.owl.li/94j6o
Studio 360 asks, are computers creative?owl.li/94koU
The Moth and 15 other orgs in 6 countries receive MacArthur Genius Grants owl.li/978a0
A Look Inside Mobile Design Patternsowl.li/94i0b
Social Media and Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needsowl.li/1hqCZq
Apple Announces OS X Mountain Lion. Check out a sneak preview. Available to Devs today.owl.li/96RM7
How NASA Makes Those Incredible High-Res Images of Earth owl.li/94g0Y
Netflix’s Head Of Content Sarandos On Original Programming Strategy owl.li/94gbX TV will be very different this time next year.
The Race For The Second Screen: Engagement And Insight owl.li/94hwp
The Race For The Second Screen: The Show’s The Thing owl.li/94gyV
The Race For The Second Screen: 5 Apps That Are Shaping Social TV owl.li/94gvS
Storytelling (A TED Remix) owl.li/91CIw
Without books, can cinema survive?owl.li/94eTa
Fast Company’s The World’s 50 Most Innovative Companies 2012 owl.li/946II Some surprises and unknowns.
Scott Belsky: Is It Urgent, Or Is It Important?owl.li/1hp7FZ
TED launches TED Quotes owl.li/94Ech
Visual Arts Briefs » Steven Heller, Debbie Millman and Alice Twemlow on the 2012 Campaign Logos owl.li/8YlEK
12 Hand-Written Love Letters From Famous People, From Henry VIII To Michael Jordanowl.li/94DRW
Creativity Top 5: February 14, 2012owl.li/1ho0nN
The money has gone, so make love our alternative currency owl.li/94btQ
The Meaning of Life (A TED Remix)owl.li/91CFH
Valentine’s Day and the shocking science of romance owl.li/93UZy
Love, Explained: The Science of Romanceowl.li/93Uql
Have You Ever Tried to Sell a Diamond? - A Classic Article from The Atlantic 1982 About The Diamond Industry owl.li/94c6I
What is Love? owl.li/1hnyve
On Valentine’s Day 1884, Theodore Roosevelt’s wife & mother both died. His heartbreaking diary entry from that day owl.li/93Smu
The Cabinet of Dreams owl.li/93NWK Grey London’s window in Soho is a Valentine’s gift shop for charity.
Understanding Kickstarter owl.li/91wmd Insight in light of the recent campaign that raised $1M in 8hrs. owl.li/91wme
The Meaning of Work (A TED Remix)owl.li/91Cnw In case you missed it.
The Miraculous NASA Breakthroughs That Could Save Millions of Lives owl.li/91waX This is amazing.
How Higher Education Uses Social Mediaowl.li/91sys
Critical Thinking: A Field Guide In 6 Short Filmsowl.li/1hlX4o
Focus Tips From The 99 Percent owl.li/8Yd4v
Why does Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ make everyone cry? Science has found the formulaowl.li/91zMv

Super Bowl Halftime Show Stage Construction

Antonio Ortiz — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:00:26 +0000

Last Friday I wrote about 48 things I learned from the Super Bowl. On that list I mentioned how talented and fast the production crews have to be during the halftime show. The crew had 8 minutes to move several tons of stage equipment, set up the most complicated stage they’ve ever used, wrangle 600 volunteers, put on the show and then take everything down in 7 minutes.

I like the behind the scenes of creative work, I thrive there. Which is why I am glad that fans at the stadium filmed some of the work behind the scenes. While on tv it was all medium shots and close ups of the performers, at the stadium a show of a different kind was taking place.

Copy, Transform, Combine: Everything Is A Remix, The Complete Series

Antonio Ortiz — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 15:30:49 +0000

For more than a year I’ve been following the documentary series Everything is a Remix, written and remixed by Kirby Ferguson. I’ve posted all the parts of the series so far and today here they are all compiled in one location for easier viewing. This is a must-see series for anyone who produces creative work.

I am in awe of the amount of work that it clearly took to create this series. I am also highly appreciative of the depth of information presented. If you want further background, including a master list of all the works sampled throughout the series, please visit EverythingIsARemix.info.

If you want to support Kirby, and really we all should, check out his next project This Is Not A Conspiracy Theory at Kickstarter.

Part 1: The Song Remains The Same

Part 2: Remix, Inc.

Part 3: The Elements of Creativity

Part 4: System Failure

Two extras were created by Rob G. Wilson, with the support of Kirby, to further expand and themes expressed by the series.

The Matrix

Kill Bill

Lastly, always remember that life itself is a remix.

Social Media and Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs

Antonio Ortiz — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:15:19 +0000

Scott Belsky: Is It Urgent, Or Is It Important?

Antonio Ortiz — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 15:15:38 +0000

In the past we have featured a series of videos by Scott Belsky, author of the national best-selling book Making Ideas Happen and CEO of Behance, where he discussed approaching work with a bias towards action, reactionary workflows and project plateaus.

In this short talk from the 99% Conference he discusses the need to distinguish between what’s urgent and what’s important.

Creativity Top 5: February 14, 2012

Antonio Ortiz — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:43:50 +0000

via creativity-online.com

What is Love?

Antonio Ortiz — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 15:53:35 +0000

The Jubilee Project is celebrating Valentine’s Day as Generosity Day, a day of sharing love with everyone. Let’s make the day about love, action and human connection, because we can do more than just cards, chocolates and flowers.

Critical Thinking: A Field Guide In 6 Short Films

Antonio Ortiz — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 15:30:31 +0000

Australia’s TechNyou has created a six-part short film mini-course on critical thinking. Althougth intended for young students it is perfect for inquisitive minds of all ages. The series is written by Mike McRae and James Hutson, who also directed and did the animation, and is funded by the Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research of the Australian Goverment. (How great is that? And why does the US not have a Department of Innovation?) Additional educational resources, including a teacher’s guide, are available through their website.

Part 1: A valuable argument.

Part 2: Broken logic.

Part 3: The man who was made of straw.

Part 4: Getting personal.

Part 5: The gambler’s fallacy.

Part 6: A precautionary tale.

The Week's Links (2.12.12)

Antonio Ortiz — Sun, 12 Feb 2012 16:17:52 +0000

All the links posted to Twitter, Facebook and Google+ this week:

What I Learned This Week, Super Bowl Editionowl.li/91maT
Meet the New Kings of Kickstarter: How Double Fine Gamified Game Funding owl.li/8Z0qB They raised $1M in 8 hours.
The models for American Gothic standing next to the painting. owl.li/8YdQf Amazing find by @jkottke
Tim Berners-Lee Takes the Stand to Keep the Web Free owl.li/8Z0tr
The Mega Companies Behind 90% Of Mediaowl.li/8YcWJ
New research suggests less-creative people do more innovative thinking when they are instructed to conform. owl.li/8WuDp
Five days later, some things to consider about the Super Bowl owl.li/1hhWuU
The 100 Best Movie Posters of the Past 100 Years owl.li/8Wu9Y Some amazing older posters.
The top mistakes UX designers makeowl.li/8Ydze
10 Lessons for directors today by Terry Gilliamowl.li/8Wuqb
GIF: A Technical History owl.li/8VG6b
The BBC Unmasks an Internet Troll owl.li/8WtZT
The four key features that characterize Flow, or what 10000 hours of practice gets youowl.li/1hgph3
My Dinner With Clay Shirky, and What It Means to ‘Friend’ Someone owl.li/8Ykmw
Beautiful web type, a showcase of the best typefaces from the Google web fonts directoryowl.li/8SQ8p
Drawing Back the Curtain On Madonna’s Super Bowl Halftime Show owl.li/8XxNQ What it took to produce the massive projections and sets.
Apple to Stream Live Paul McCartney Concert to iTunes and Apple TV Tomorrow owl.li/8Xxsp
The Gunn Report 2011. Combines ad awards from around the world, to identify the most successful agencies, campaigns. owl.li/8VBQG
Five Advertising Ideas From Around the World You Need to See owl.li/8VXrQ
Layering: Multitasking That Actually Worksowl.li/8VB7A
Dancers Flow In to Lincoln Center After Opera’s Exit owl.li/8VCZz
Colourised photographs by Sanna Dullawayowl.li/8SQID These are amazing.
PBS Arts: Off Book, Exploring Cutting Edge Art - The Complete Series owl.li/1heZlb
Speaking of color, here is a refresher on the three primary colors, courtesy of a stop motioned OK Go and Sesame Streetowl.li/8SQTe
Color: a color matching game. owl.li/8SQlT How good are you with colors?
Creativity Online’s Lessons from Super Bowl 2012 owl.li/8VWPC
Celebrate the 200th Birthday of Charles Dickens with Free Movies, eBooks and Audio Books owl.li/8VRLA
You Will Never Kill Piracy, and Piracy Will Never Kill You - Forbes owl.li/8VgmP
Mark Zuckerberg, the Hacker Way and the Art of the Founder’s Letter owl.li/8T2hw
Scared Spitless in Zanesville: Esquire Creates Video Teaser For Animals An Article By Chris Jones owl.li/1hdSJ7
For the next seven days you can watch the recommended documentary PressPausePlay for $0.99 on iTunes US owl.li/8VGoZ
States Mulling Creativity Indexes for Schoolsowl.li/8T2ce
Solve For X owl.li/8VxKC Google’s new TED-like website.
Official Google Blog: What’s your X? Amplifying technology moonshots owl.li/8VxGl
Google unveils ‘Solve for X’ website, hints at TED-like think tank owl.li/8VxyB
The Technium: Next Phase of Commercialsowl.li/8Vx78
Stuffed Animals Sleep Over At The Library To Get Kids To Read owl.li/8T26Y
An Important Time for Design owl.li/8SQFx
Did Leonardo da Vinci Copy His Famous “Vitruvian Man”? owl.li/8T1pw
Creativity Top 5: Super Bowl XLVI Editionowl.li/1hcvva
Wired UK’s The Smart List 2012: 50 people who will change the world owl.li/8T1kI
Writing Tips by Henry Miller, Elmore Leonard, Margaret Atwood, Neil Gaiman & George Orwellowl.li/8T0Vl
Henry Miller’s Productivity Commandmentsowl.li/1hc4VN
Pricing Strategy for Creatives owl.li/8SQhE Must read.