Have an Open Mind: My own creative manifesto

Karim Rashid created his own creative manifesto, giving a 50-point guide to life and creative design. Of the 10 that I read, the first one really spoke to me. It was “don’t specialize.” To me, this means, “be a jack-of-all-trades,” and that is term someone has used to describe me in the past. I am, in fact, a jack-of-all-trades. I am an audio post-production major, but not only do I understand audio for film, I also am proficient with audio for music and theatre. Outside of audio, I am a pretty good photographer, and excellent leader/teacher. I have bicycle maintenance skills, I am a rock-climbing instructor, and I’m an Eagle Scout. That’s quite a few skills, in quite a few different areas, and I haven’t even told you all of my skills. I certainly have not specialized my skills in any one specific area. With that wide variety of skills comes tips one can give to help others broaden their horizons as well, and here are some of mine.

1. Get out and do something. You’re not going to be able to be recognized for anything if all you do is sit inside and play video games all day. You’re not going to have an earth-shattering idea that improves someone’s life if all you do is play Minecraft all day. For me, what worked was getting a job with an outdoor recreation facility. It became my job to go outside and do something, which led to that becoming a habit.

“Nothing in the world is more common than unsuccessful people with talent, leave the house before you find something worth staying in for.” –Banksy

2. Have a purpose for what you do. Going off of what Banksy said, people are too content nowadays with just doing stuff for themselves, with only short-term benefits. However, your successes will be so much sweeter if you are doing what you do for a reason.

I am a Young Life leader, and what we do is we give high schoolers and middle schoolers a place to come and hang out, and have a great time. We give them a chance to go to camp in the summer, and get away from their homes. The homes they live in might be broken, they might be abusive, they might be in the poorest county in Ohio (here. Athens). What we do, we do for a purpose: to give kids somewhere they can be themselves and get away from the hard things in their lives. And that purpose makes our efforts worthwhile. Without that purpose, we would have no reason whatsoever to do what we do, and it would be worthless.

3. Your work is never done.

“A great work of art is never finished, it is abandoned.” –Josh Antonuccio

There will always be a way to improve what you do. You will never be completely satisfied with your works. You have to learn to make it the best work you can make it, and put it out into the world to thrive. Who knows, maybe you will be discovered by someone big for it. What is guaranteed, though, is that there is someone out there who will be able to build upon it.

4. Work together with someone. It’s the idea of collective intelligence. To use a cliché, two heads are better than one. When you have a great idea for something you want to make or do, bounce that idea off a friend, or someone you know has experience with something similar to what you want to do. Get their ideas on the subject, because they will have ideas that you won’t even dream of. If their idea is a good one, incorporate it, and it will make your end product that much better.

5. Look at someone better than you, and emulate them.

An acquaintance of mine named Randy Marshman once told me “the only way to get better at something is to find someone better than you at it, and try to emulate them.”

That advice really helped me become a better photographer. Browsing the Internet on StumbleUpon, I have seen many amazing photos. I have taken bits and pieces of things I’ve learned from each of those photos and used them to improve my picture taking. I’ve watched friends of mine in the photojournalism school taking pictures, and incorporated their methods of photography into mine. Through all that, I have seen a major increase in the quality of my photos.

6. Have original ideas. If you have an original idea, you will be more likely to shatter someone’s world or improve their life. If you’re the person someone bounces an idea off of (see number 4), your original idea could be the one they never would’ve ever dreamed of, and you will have improved their project.

“One Original Thought is worth 1000 Meaningless Quotes.” –Banksy

7. Stand by your ideas and creations. I suppose that is a little bit redundant, seeing as your creations are your ideas, but stand by them nonetheless. Not everyone is going understand the point you’re trying to get across, and if they do, not everyone will agree with it. If it is truly a great idea, there will be those that oppose it. Your creation, unless it is a robot with state-of-the-art AI, will not be able to defend itself. Since it is your creation, your brainchild, you will need to be there to defend it, and convince people that it is relevant and necessary.

An example of application of this would be the game of Apples to Apples. Say you play your card, and the person judging discards it. Since you played the card, you obviously believe that it is relevant and necessary. Being that it was discarded, you are going to try your hardest to convince the judging player that your idea was the best of them all. The same goes for your creation, the likes of which the world has never seen. You need to convince the judges that it is the best idea, and they need to include it in their lives.

8. Don’t be afraid to raise controversy. If you raise controversy with your ideas and actions, then that is evidence that the offended party has a mind that is not open enough. If they take offense at what you do, take that as a teaching opportunity. Pull them aside, and, like I said above, convince them that your idea is worthwhile, and the best one out there at that point in time. Use the time you have with them as a way to open your mind a little bit, too. Get their opinion, and, if it’s a good one that you can understand, maybe use it to amend your idea/action.

9. Be able to handle defeat. You won’t always come out on top. That’s just part of strengthening yourself. Again, to use somewhat of a cliché, pick yourself up when you fall, and learn from your mistakes. Learn what you did wrong, why your idea wasn’t accepted as you’d hoped, and correct that. You will come out a better man…or woman.

10. Have an open mind. This is the most important one. This is the key to not being specialized. This is the key to being able to accomplish numbers 1-9 above. If you don’t live with an open mind, you will not be able to learn from your mistakes, you won’t be able to draw in ideas from people who think differently than you, you won’t be able to utilize the most important tool you have – the rest of the world, connected to you via that Ethernet cable plugged into your computer, or the WiFi you’re connected to. If there is one thing I would tell people is the secret to growing and strengthening oneself, in many areas, it is this:

You. Must. Have. An. Open. Mind.

Blog 10A: Written response to FREAK FACTOR

In David Rendall’s manifesto “FREAK FACTOR: Discovering Uniqueness by Flaunting Weakness” he gives ways to get around one’s weaknesses and use them as strengths. He gives nine ways one can utilize their weaknesses. They are all valid, and great ways to boost your standing in the world, but three stood out to me.

One of those three is his point that there is nothing wrong with you. We are all human, and we all have weaknesses. With every weakness, though, comes a corresponding strength. Rendall gives three examples of weaknesses that come with a strength, one of the being disorganization. He says that with disorganization comes creativity. The guy who discovered penicillin found it by searching through his cluttered desk. Albert Einstein had a messy desk, and is quoted as saying, “if a cluttered desk is a sign of a cluttered mind, what is an empty desk a sign of?” Another weakness Rendall talks about is dyslexia. A lot of millionaires and CEO’s of big companies have it. The author tells us that experts believe dyslexia leads the sufferer to be more able to see the bigger picture of things and think outside the box, leading to them being better strategic thinkers. The third weakness Rendall illustrates is addiction. He tells us a story of Todd Crandell, who was addicted to drugs, but is now a very successful triathlon participator. He didn’t get over his addiction; he just switched it from drugs to triathlons. All these are examples of people who saw their weakness, saw that there is nothing wrong with them, and used their strengths – the strengths they wouldn’t have if it weren’t for the weakness – to thrive. This is a great way to use your weakness to better your life.

The second point that stood out to me was not because it is a valid point, but because I did not agree with it. That point is that you shouldn’t try to fix your weakness. A study was done about people that tried to fix their weakness, and more than half of them said the same thing: it doesn’t work. They said that it was a slow, and very difficult process. They said it was painful; that no one really wants to work on a weakness. They said that trying to fix their problem distracted them, and kept them from giving their all to another project. The main point is that when you correct a weakness, it doesn’t give you a strength. It doesn’t give you something valuable to use against anything. I used to be afraid of heights, and I have now gotten over that.  However, it actually did give me a good skill. I got a job teaching rock climbing and rappelling after I got over my fear. I fixed my weakness, and it did give me a new strength. Getting rid of that weakness has shown me that I can actually do it, and I have a new kind of courage; a courage that will allow me to have more fun. I love rock climbing and rappelling now, and I plan on going skydiving. I would not have this valuable strength of courage if I had not fixed my weakness, so that is why I don’t agree with this point.

The third point that stood out to me I do agree with, however, and that point is that you should build on your strengths. Rendall says that your strengths are “what you love to do…what you do well.” He tells us why you should build on those strengths, and that’s because it feels good to. When you strengthen your strengths, you get a feeling of accomplishment. He also says that you should work on your strengths because that’s where you have the greatest potential. When you keep growing in your strengths, you will be able to accomplish more and more in that area. In high school, I realized that I have a great strength when it comes to media technology. I built on this strength by getting involved in different places in my school where I could learn more. I got to be the Editor-in-Chief of the yearbook my senior year by doing so. I showed so much growth in my strength of using a camera and the computer software that the advisor asked me to fill that position. I also got involved in the drama club as the techie. I got so strong in my technical skills there that whenever there was a problem of any kind (tech-wise), I would be the first person they could call. The point is that I inserted myself into positions that would enable me to build upon my strengths, and it worked. That’s why I really agree with this point that Rendall makes.

My strengths as far as the creative process goes would be the arrangement of ideas. Like I said above, I got really proficient with the editing and display software we used for our yearbook. When I am given bits of a story, and told what the end product should be, I can arrange the bits, the individual ideas, in such a way that it gets the big idea across effectively. However, with that strength comes the weakness of not being as effective at thinking up the original ideas, and I’m fine with that. It’s more fun for me to arrange the ideas than think them up anyways. 

Blog 9A: Reflection on gaming presentation

Reflection on the gaming project

As is obvious, we are human, and when we do things, not every point we want to make comes through. One point that I feel didn’t really come through in our game presentation is how the player achieves the goals and objectives in the game. We told the audience that there will be progressively harder problems through the game, and when we talked about the console design, we said, “math problems use the number pad, and word problems will use the keypad.” We didn’t really clearly illustrate that there will be a mix of problems; there will be word problems, math problems, problem-solving puzzles, and other problems that use a wide variety of skills, building upon those skills to achieve the main goal of the game – to learn.

Another thing that I feel didn’t really come through is how the player’s balloons get popped. We said that they get popped if the player gets the answer wrong, and that there will be a drop-down dictionary when we talked about the mechanics of the game. I feel that it could possibly be misleading that there is a dictionary for use in the game. The dictionary will be just for when the player needs to use one of the helps, and if the dictionary and other hints are used too many times, the balloons will start popping. The goal of our game is for the player to learn throughout the game, and if too many hints are used, they will not learn anything.

To make our presentation better, we could’ve easily put in a couple more sentences clearing up these things. If we really wanted to get the entire point across, we could’ve designed the game, coded it, and played it in front of the class, demonstrating everything needed to get the point across.

A strength we had, though, was that we illustrated clearly what the main goal of the game was. We were even able to give a more long-term goal for the game – to allow the player to “be able to pass the ACT.”

This was probably our strongest part of the presentation, because we all agreed on what the goal was to be before we started designing the rest of the game. We decided that our game should break away from the common element of violence, and give the player some worthwhile skill that will help them get through their education, which is the gateway to their career. 

Blog 8B: Reflection on the Hero/Villain assignment

Andrew Sewell's animations
Angela Salerno's animations

Above are the links for a couple of my peer's animations, which I will critique, beginning with Andrew Sewell's.

In Andrew Sewell’s group, they used color very well to depict the motives of their hero and villain. For the hero, the hue they used was a blue and orange with low saturation for his costume. The setting is a bright environment, lending a nice feeling to the character. The villain on the other hand, was set against a darker background, with more saturation in his costume. The outfit is monochromatic green, with shadows, looking ripped and tattered. This serves to give the audience a darker feeling about this character.

These characters were well thought out, especially in the animations. The way they moved depicted their intentions. When the text showed that the villain was flipping over a car because it was in his way, the subtext told the viewer that he was evil. With this kind of animated violence, the audience the creators would be going for would probably be older kids who have started reading cartoons and playing violent video games.  The same would go for the hero, who can fly and has a force field.

Both of Andrew’s animations are laden with tension and release. The hero flies and flies, until you finally see a cloud come and there is action with the lightning and force field. The villain walks and walks, until there is action with the car, and then he walks and walks again until there is action with the building. This was a very effective use of tension and release, as it keeps the viewer guessing about what’s going to happen next, and it keeps them interested.

Angela Salerno’s group’s animations are also well done. With the hero animation, it is evident that there is parallel movement. As the character is flying from left to right (as shown by the action lines flowing behind her), flowers and clouds go by from right to left underneath her. This serves to show how fast the character is moving, and in what direction. Also, as the character is moving, there is overlapping movement in the tutu she is wearing. When one moves, the clothing they are wearing isn’t completely still; it moves with the person. By making the tutu move as well, it helps to show that the wearer of it is moving as well, and not just remaining completely still.

The same thing goes for the cape of the villain. As he is flying, the cape moves, showing his movement. The action lines around his knees show the weight of his movement as he lands and bends to absorb the impact. The follow-through shows that it was a heavy action that required physical impact.

In both animations, the theme is quite artistically shown. Angela and her partner combined active and didactic methods in such a way that it allowed the viewer to be able to see which character was the hero, and which was the villain. In the hero animation, when a monster comes up on the right side of the frame, the character punches it, didactically showing that the character will have none of that monster. The audience then actively makes up their mind that the big, ugly thing was bad, and the character is a hero by knocking it out. With the villain, the creator of the animation showed the thoughts of the character, didactically showing that he wants to destroy the world in a big ball of fire. When the character goes down and throws a fireball, the audience is allowed to actively decide that he is evil.

In Brandon Reid’s group, they also used good design tactics on their characters to convey what they do. The villain, whom they dubbed “Eyesore,” is quite obviously alien, with a triangular head, showing that it can’t be trusted. The hues they used were all dark colors, with varying values, but the lightest color is a grey. This coloring, along with the ugly alien physicality, allows the viewer to just get a bad sense about this character.

The hero, on the other hand, gives the reader a good feeling. His head is square, showing that he has power and can overcome the evil he fights. His coloring is all bright colors: red, blue, and yellow. These are split complimentary colors, and the fact that they go well with each other lends to the idea that the character blends well with his powers.

The fact that the hero is holding a lightning bolt is an allusion to Zeus, who is an all-powerful god. This even further implies his power as a fighter of evil. His smile implies that he enjoys doing what he does, which is also another characteristic of a hero. I mean, who wants a hero that doesn’t like helping people? That’s not a very effective hero. All this subtext is stuff you can get by looking at the hero and villain (aliens are evil people, which is obvious because of all the movies that are out about aliens wanting to destroy the world as we know it). 

These animations were very well done in such a way that it showed the intentions of the characters. 

Hero and villain of me and Stephen Hicken

The first one is Stephen's animation depicting the hero - a swordfish. The second one is mine, depicting the villain - an octopus.

Blog 8: My superpower

Here is a link for a site discussing super powers:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/178/superpowers
Listen to Act One of it, it's only 14 minutes. Then listen to my beautiful voice telling you what super power I would have, why, and what I would do with it, by clicking play down below. I also tell you about Klaw, who you can see below.

Blob 6A: Video response to "How to Be Creative"

How To Be Creative

Above is the link for a manifesto giving 26 ways to be creative. Below is a video of me summarizing a few of those: