Very clever animation of a student project that combines my love of post-it notes and stop motion animation.
It also describes my day today!
Where are the stimulus funds going? Here it is visualized!
Finished the taxes today, which made me think about that stimulus package again and just where all of that tax money will be going (technically, it’s not just this year’s taxes, but you know what i mean).
I love information graphics, and love, love, love this site (I refer to it often). I found a great treemap of the stimulus spending there:
Trouble with Twitters
Either you know someone like this, are you are like this yourself. Either way, a fun commentary on our “twobsession” with twitter.
Textual Harassment
This week, I heard a news report about “textual harassment” – where someone gets harassed through text messages. Now first, you may not feel this is as invasive as harassing phone calls, but when you think about it, some people have to actually PAY for these text messages, depending on their cell phone plan.
Thank goodness this site http://www.thatsnotcool.com has tried to find a way to help you resolve issues like these before it moves into stalker status and you have to get the “law” involved.
You can pick from any number of issues you see in online social spaces or for mobile devices. In addition to textual harassment there’s something for that frequent IM-er, or when you need to dispel an online rumor or even when you’re confronted with a profile photos that’s just a little too revealing.
I promise this will make you day. Hope you never need to use them, but you likely will!
OBEY the power of the poster
I have to thank a coworker for pointing me to this site, Obamicon.me. I’d seen these “Obama-ized” icons on people’s profile pics, but couldn’t figure out where they had been coming from. Actually, they probably should be called “Fairey-ed” icons after the poster designer, Shepard Fairey.
I had first heard of Fairey years ago when the sub-culture “OBEY” stickers were popular. I’m guilty of sticking a few of them myself. It’s funny to think about how his artwork has become ubiquitous – it’s truly taken on a life of it’s own. Much like I remember Fairey’s stickers of the past being subverted. There were so many parodies of “xxx has a posse” stickers.
The Obama poster had a different purpose, but the desire of the public to manipulate art for their own purposes remains the same. It’s “frogress” I suppose.
Gladwell on Creativity – AIGA GAIN Conference
I’m always in the middle of reading multiple books at any given time (probably a bad habit). At the moment, two of those books are by Malcolm Gladwell – Blink and Outliers.
I was happy to see this video posted of a presentation Gladwell made at the October 2008 AIGA GAIN conference for design and business. In it, Gladwell discusses some interesting insights into the creative process, and how we, as humans, innovate.
In this are a couple of lessons:
1) The “magic” behind creativity and innovation is largely driven by devotion to practice and mastery of your skills
2) Experimentation is an evolutionary process. Most of us are “experimental innovators” who through a series of trial-and-error create something great (vs. having an effortless flash of innovation – the “conceptual innovator” as Gladwell describes).
Any of you who make your living off of your “ideas” knows how difficult it is to come up with something truly great. Gladwell’s presentation underscores the need for all of us to be constantly looking and applying what we learn in our everyday practice. Always be a student. Don’t be afraid to try (or fail).
http://www.aiga.org/content.cfm/video-gain-2008-gladwell
To Kill a Mockingbird
Just finished watching “To Kill a Mockingbird,” which I hadn’t seen in quite some time. I’ve always appreciated this movie not only for the look inside human nature, but also for the subtle artistry in the storytelling. This is especially evident in the title sequence – a work of art in itself that really can’t be fully understood until after you’ve seen the movie. I love how at a quick glance it seems innocent, but actually represents complex themes disguised in those symbols and drawings.
Watch the full title sequence.
A Christmas Cookie Story (from CNN)
This story about an Ohio bakery was getting heavy rotation on CNN this week (CNN, I’ve discovered, is an odd, but new, guilty pleasure for me.)
At a time when we seem to be reading more stories about the unemployment line, or faceless corporations slashing huge numbers (see the tech layoffs list or just do a search on google), it was actually a pleasant surprise to see this story of Lance Inc. doing the right thing for it’s workers – which is probably why it was receiving so much attention in the midst of all that bad news.
I doubt any of those Ohio workers felt they were entitled to a gift from the new company, nor was Lance required to be so generous to them. Sometimes the right thing for employees is that unexpected gesture that reminds them that the company is not faceless – it’s run by people too.
Be happy. Do something. :)
It’s a “smovement”? From the website:
About your outlook:
It’s all about attitude and action.
Being positive and having a sense of urgency.
Being pleased to serve.
Having effect.
It’s about mattering to the world, all with a smile.
About your customers:
You need to approach them happily, with a smile. And then you need to move quickly to get them their drink (or in this case your service to them) so they can enjoy it and move on.
You’re not doing them a favor. They’re doing you a favor. They don’t have to buy the lemonade (a proxy for your services) and they don’t have to buy it from you. You need to smile and move.