I think I may have found one of my future hobbies. This cat over at POPcycles! takes old bike frames and refurbishes them into practical works of art. How cool is that. I love the simplicity of single gear bikes with a retro feel to them. Maybe it will be a side business or perhaps a non-profit to put bikes in the hands of folks who can’t afford one. I could just see me some day having a workshop behind the house being known as the old coot who gives bikes away. With gas prices surely to continue to climb over time, I’m betting on the ever increasing adoption of the bike as an ideal mode to scoot about town.
Category Archives: Creativity
Another Example of a WordPress Site
Filed under Creativity, Reviews, WordPress, web design
It’s always fun to do a little show-and-tell. So class, today I want to show you my latest WordPress site. It’s for the IEEE EMC 2009 Symposium that our company, ETS-Lindgren is serving as one of the principal hosts. The site is just gaining steam and will have some pretty nifty code features in terms of scheduling, interactivity, visual tours etc. The graphic design was outsourced which was a real help in getting things moving. The niftiest feature on the site so far is the promo video which is a nice look at Austin. I had the pleasure of working with a local studio to manage and provide the creative direction for the project. The video imported nicely into Flash with progressive download enabling a higher resolution than embedding the video. This method of import resulted in a fairly nice end product for the web. The event takes place next summer so I’ll do a revist to the site sometime down the line when there’s more to talk about.
The Rhythm of Writing
Filed under Creativity, Ponderings, Productivity, Writing
Ever hit a dry spell in your writing? Was it a mental block, life distractions or just in a funk? I’ve never been much for a loss of words but noticed that the rate of posts this last week slowed-down considerably from the rhythm I’ve been keeping in the weeks preceding it. In my case I hit a very busy point where a number of areas of my life required a great deal of attention. Work spiked among other items requiring a new campaign involving a micro-site and a video. Video production is a very taxing process for me.
So I’ve been pondering this issue of creative proliferation that drives much of what makes-up a decent blog post. Nothing too overly profound, I think the creative flow is like a sponge. The more time there is to soak-up thoughts and ideas through reading, contemplation and experimentation gives birth to new thoughts, new ideas. These new ideas serve towards some valuable information that is worth sharing. It’s a fascinating process, one I richly enjoy.
I’ve noticed in times of high demand for creative juices at work the sponge can get dry if it’s coupled by a harried schedule, other outside stresses and a change in routine of some sort. Life rhythms get out of balance and more energy is required to bring things back into a normal stride.
The shift of seasons has had an effect on my creative process. Family rhythms have changed with school back in session. The weather is changing and the hectic pace of the Fall is now in full swing.
What have you noticed about your posting rhythms? Is there one key aspect that affects your creativity? Or do you find a specific combination of positive or negative elements to peak or valley your flow?
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The Wow Factor
Filed under Creativity, Productivity
What is the Wow Factor. In short the Wow Factor is people’s first impression when they say, "wow that is really cool." Digging a little deeper however, it is much much more.
- The Wow Factor is excellence in motion. First and foremost the Wow Factor is the result of top quality work that often involves blood, sweat and tears.
- The Wow Factor drives innovation. With each new major roll-out of Windows or Apple’s operating system, with the premiere of the high-end BMW or for us Texans the newest Ford pickup (tongue in cheek), there is a Wow Factor. Business thrives on offering the latest technology aimed at impressing people enough to let go of their current model to upgrade for the latest features.
- The Wow Factor is more than being showy. To truly impress folks it takes more than a shiny gloss over an old bag of tricks. It takes real ingenuity.
- The Wow Factor builds your career. A few key homeruns on projects will leave a lasting impression and will open doors for advancement.
- The Wow Factor is sometimes serendipitous inspiration. Some of my best work is the result of dumb luck combined with experience. It just happens. Call it inspiration, a "thought spark" perhaps.
- The Wow Factor follows failure. The proverbial "if life hands you a bowl of lemons make lemonade" is very true. Often through adversity, trial and error, testing and proving are required to come up with a real gem of a concept. This may be the most encouraging concept of all.
- The Wow Factor is profitable. Getting it right, really right and finding a way to market that product or skill can be very profitable. I often tell my girls, "find something you love to do and become the best at it and people will pay you to do it. You’ll never work another day in your life." I believe it. Most days I don’t work, not in the sense of drudgery. I love to create and solve problems.
- The Wow Factor builds credibility. People will respect what you have to say and see you as an authority on the subject. Experience, well-honed skills and effective execution of key projects will prove-out your God-given talents. Everyone has them, just keep exploring to learn yours.
- The Wow Factor is right timing. Timing is huge. Sometimes the Wow Factor is delivering what was promised when you promised it. Sometimes it’s knowing when to throw-in an extra feature or accomplish a task unrequested and unexpected.
- The Wow Factor leaves behind a legacy. Truly amazing art or ingenuity will outlast your time at a position or maybe your lifetime. Maybe the Wow Factor in your life is the investment in your children or the love you show your husband or wife.
Everyone has the potential for greatness in their life. You might not be a Michael Angelo or an Albert Einstein, but you have natural gifts, abilities and perspective that is unique and very valuable to work, family and society. You are made in the image of God. Talk about the ultimate Wow Factor.
Young Thought Sparker on the Rise
Filed under Creativity
I want to give a heads-up to the blogosphere community about a talented young lady. She did a top-flight job on the Concordia Athletics site while I was webmaster for the school. She resides in the Dallas area. If you are looking for a freelance artist or to hire, check her site out at: http://www.iamdanigurl33.com/Main2/. Dani’s in her last year at the University of Texas in Dallas finishing a degree in Art and Technology. She was a delight to have on the team. I love up-and-coming talent.
New Look for Thought Sparks
Filed under Creativity
After messing around with logos, I decided to go a different direction with a collage concept. The imagery is a mix of classical thinking and street art. The whispy flame is a hint of an idea mulling around between well developed and emerging concepts, order and disorder melding together towards new insight.
I enjoy blogging because it is an organic experience. The written expression and interactivity with other bloggers makes it a delight. So too could the visual construct of the site take on an organic feel that is molded and shaped over time.
Photo credits
Aristotle: Eric Gaba, July 2005 from wikipedia.org
Museum: Slavomir Ulicny from http://www.sxc.hu
Flame: Meaghan Bee from http://www.sxc.hu
All photos used under Creative Commons.
Binary Conversion for Children
Filed under Creativity, Just for Fun, Philosophy, design
This evening for fun, I taught my nine and 11 year-old girls how to convert binary numbers to decimal and back to binary. They got the concept in about 20 minutes which shows what a little attention from a parent and enthusiasm of a youngster can do. It was fun to watch my oldest going on to do a few more IP addresses just for kicks. I showed them one of my style sheets and how I use hexidecimal conversion every day in web design.
A week ago friday I got an RSS News Feed working for my work. Not a difficult thing really, took me a half-day focused attention, but I had a similar delight in understanding something new and getting it to work.
The same wonder I have with problem solving and technology I want to pass on to my children. Get really good at what you really like to do and you’ll never work a day in your life. People will pay you to do what you are passionate about. I really believe that and it’s exciting to teach my children to do the same. Their creative minds come-up with innovative ways of looking at things. They enjoy creating new crafts or building new things in the backyard.
What fun life is for those who approach it with wonder and excitement.