Archive for the ‘inspiration’ Category
Hip Hop Grannies
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Promise to yourself that you’d not let a number define you – Hip Hop Grannies defy stereotypes!
Google: Can you change the world?
Google is launching a new project called “10 to the 100th” (known as a googol) to find ideas that can change – I certainly assume it is for the better – as many people’s lives as possible:
At Google, we don’t believe we have the answers, but we do believe the answers are out there. Maybe in a lab, or a company, or a university — but maybe not.
Maybe the answer that helps somebody is in your head, in something you’ve observed, some notion that you’ve been fiddling with, some small connection you’ve noticed, some old thing you have seen with new eyes.
If you have an idea that you believe would help somebody, we want to hear about it. We’re looking for ideas that help as many people as possible, in any way, and we’re committing the funding to launch them. You can submit your ideas and help vote on ideas from others. Final idea selections will be made by an advisory board.
Do you have any ideas? Big ideas? Well this may well be one of the most straightforward ways you can leverage a behemoth like Google to bring your idea to light and hopefully improve the course of humankind. Google is committing $10million to implement five selected ideas.
Days with My Father – Philip Toledano
The portrait photos are great, the navigation style is interesting – but I feel shallow if I just commented on the design of Philip Toledano’s site about his interaction with his dad (age ninety-eight) who has no short term memory. It is an ongoing chronicle – do head on and be touched.
(Move your mouse to the bottom right corner for the next picture; towards the left of the screen for the ‘overview’).
Design Posters for Designers!
Frank Chimero is a talented graphic designer from Missouri, with a particular knack (as far as I see) blending wholesome goodness and bits of humor into nostalgic designs. This post features one of his series ‘Inspirational Design Posters’:
I decided to embark on creating some “inspirational” posters aimed specifically at designers. The topics range from various truisms I’ve discovered about the field in the past few years to snarky tongue-in-cheek comments. I think we designers spend an awful lot of time talking to ourselves, and I consider this my contribution to the monologue.
I quite like how most of his posters are simple and well-proportioned juxtaposition of just a few elements – and there’s no harm having a few of these to inspire you. Some of them:
That’s just 3 out of the 14 he has over at his website (with many other interesting/beautiful works!)
J.K Rowling’s Harvard Commencement Speech
Here’s a rather inspiring commencement speech from J.K. Rowling delivered at Harvard this year – a mixture of one part Harry Potter jokes, one part serious message and three parts earnest advice like that from a mother:
Part 1:
Part 2:
If you’ve never failed…
Something to get inspired for the weekend – carpe diem!
Inspiring Video
A very powerful message encoded in a very clever narrative – it’s all a matter of perspective and choice, isn’t it? If that previous sentence seems a little cryptic – just watch the video titled Lost Generation – I just don’t want to spoil it.
What are you doing now that is making your world, and this world, a better place?
Dear God
In a similar spirit to projects like PostSecret and 6 Billion Others, Dear God is a project that aims to allow people around the world to share their dreams and prayers – think of it like, peeping at God’s inbox.
Dear God is a global project for people around the world to share their innermost hopes – and fears – through prayer.
It doesn’t matter what your version of God is…Jesus, Allah, Buddha or simply a spiritual universal energy… praying to a higher power soothes and heals. It’s scientifically proven that people who pray are healthier, happier and more resilient.
Share your prayers here and help us create hope one prayer at a time. Simply send us your personal letter to your God and/or a picture that sums up your message visually. (Dear God will source a picture if you don’t have one).
Here’s what the site look like:
Content wise, it shows ordinary folk’s ordinary prayers (often in extraordinary circumstances), highlighting a sense of common emotions/struggles that we all share. However, I do feel somewhat alienated by the presentation.
Visually the website is certainly very polished – the people behind this project are after all a design agency. However, it is this invisible sheen on the site – almost like the shrink wrap around a package – that seem to have made it lose a certain sense of authenticity amidst the postcard perfect (stock?) images. In a way, it felt too – dare I say – polished. That this is a ‘post-production’ piece. Insulated. And perhaps that much less personal and direct.
Contrast this against Post Secret – where the individual postcards were made by those who were praying (or more often, screaming out against an invisible force); or the 6 Billion Others project, where you can actually see the person’s face as they talk about their dreams/struggles into the camera.
I get the feeling that the prayers on Dear God became more like pages lifted off an ad campaign – and that much more superficial, even if the text content is as real as it gets. It also reminds me of a recent post I read on the authenticity of a designed experience – could the slickness and polish that design often (by default) bestow rob the project off its authenticity and impact?
In this case, I think it’s a really delicate choice between the raw and the polished. Sometimes, it is more apt to serve chilled juice in a fancy clear crystal glass on the rocks, topped with the little plastic umbrella and a sliced orange. In other times, it’s just about sticking the straw through the coconut.
In the Grand Scheme of Life
Some posts back, I blogged about Carl Sagan’s insightful and inspiring take on the smallness of mankind in the grand scheme of things – Earth was really just a speck in the universe, and humans are, in turn, specks on this little blue dot.
Here again, is yet another take on the smallness of Man in the grand scheme of Life. A visualization we might all be familiar with – the branches of life zoomed out in each frame to reveal its place and proportion in the overall picture.
And with this perspective, does the further divisions – the artificial divisions that we have erected in our existence – race, nationalities, religion, origins – start to fade away, and perhaps seem somewhat less surmountable?
Creating Value of out Thin Air (or Rubber Bands)
Stanford has an ‘Entrepreneurship Week’ with a rather interesting ‘Innovation Tournament’. A mundane object (this year’s being the rubber band) is the theme for groups to innovate and create value upon:
The 2008 Innovation Tournament is open to teams of Stanford students, as well as students around the world. Teams can be of any size. Your challenge is to create as much value as possible using rubber bands. You can use as many as you want, of any size, shape, or color. Value can be measured on any scale you choose. Remember, value comes from actually implementing your ideas and delivering results. To be successful, challenge assumptions, seize opportunities, be creative, and Make it Happen!
This, I guess is probably really the equivalent of the common ‘drop-an-egg-from-a-certain-height’ assignment that many design/engineering students get. With the minimal of materials (and usually time), teams have to be really creative, innovate and in this case, get the most amount of value (money?). Here’s the video of the winning team, who effectively leveraged the visuals of an bigger-and-bigger rubberband ball as a focal point in their donation appeal, and subsequently trying to harness the internet viral effect.
Would you’ve been able to pull off something like this (or even better!)? For good measures too, they did it in 24 hours.
PS:
I quite like the prizes in this competition too. In most university efforts, what you’d probably get is maybe a certain budget, with the top prizes invariably some variant of iPod or some other ‘young hip thing‘. An object of desire of some sort – easily dealt with. But for this tournament, all of these are experiences that you can’t buy (in part with the sponsorship from Deloitte) – “A day of sailing on the San Francisco Bay on a 36′ yacht provided and skippered by Club Nautique; Meet Deloitte’s Global leaders, hear Al Gore speak in person, and enjoy cocktails and dinner at Deloitte’s World Meeting at Stanford University; Box seats to Sharks game – Donated by Deloitte, etc”.
I’m sure Deloitte et al could’ve have it much ‘easier’ by signing a cheque for a certain amount to buy prizes – but putting effort into creating experiences and meeting the winners shows some measure of sincerity. Plus it’s a win-win situation for both parties – for the experienced directors to meet with the young upcomings – I’m sure the exchange would be both much more fruitful and remembered.
