TED talks:
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SELF-REFLECTION:
- We were given a task to watch any creativity inspired videos on TED.
- The screenshots above are showcasing all different concepts and ideas which came to our minds when trying to understand the meaning behind the inspirational talks which each person of our group selected and shared with the whole class.
- I would say it was a good start to refresh our minds with new definitions of creativity and how people have seen creativity in what they loved and wanted to do.
33 ways to stay creative:
- Each week we are going to select random numbers from 1-33 without knowing the result.
- Each number will be having a creative way to use during the lessons.
- I feel it is a great creative technique to use during working and sessions.
- This list not only inspires us to be proactive, it gives us real tips so that we can start doing something about it.
SCAMPER TECHNIQUE FOR CREATIVITY:
- SCAMPER was first introduced by Bob Eberle to address targeted questions that help solve problems or ignite creativity during brainstorming meetings.
- The name SCAMPER is acronym for seven techniques; (S) substitute, (C) combine, (A) adapt, (M) modify, (P) put to another use, (E) eliminate and (R) reverse.
- These keywords represent the necessary questions addressed during the creative thinking process.
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In the last session, we were given a task to refresh our minds and think freely without any observation of right or wrong. We were given a word ‘Joy’ to use for the task. Andy given us some words such as Reverse, Eliminate, Multiply and so on. We were told to use the given words and create anything which comes to our minds when we think of the word ‘joy’.
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- The image is demonstrating all different ideas generation from the provided list of words.
- What comes in our minds when we think of word ‘joy’? I said Mobile Phone, for different reasons and everyone agreed to my chosen word that Phone some how brings joy in our life.
- ‘Opposite: I draw the opposite of joy using the word phone, that is a broken phone.
- Eliminate: I removed all unwanted features and details from the phone and came up with a minimal design and sketch of a phone which can be still recognised as a Phone.
- Put to another use: This one was a bit tricky for the word I decided, as you want do much with the mobile phone, and then I put my phone of the paper and found that I can draw a line with the corner of phone which was replacing scale.
- Multiply: As I was out of ideas at this point and my group helped me with this one that putting together all phones in a square with make a television with the same content playing on all different screens which I found quite creative idea.
SELF REFLECTION:
- The sessions with Andy are quite creative and interesting in terms of how our empty minds are thinking creatively without judging good and bad.
- The tasks we are doing every week are interesting and quite fun at the same time.
- The SCAMPER technique is one of the easiest and direct methods for creative thinking and problem-solving through a number of techniques or question types; (S) substitute, (C) combine, (A) adapt, (M) modify, (P) put to another use, (E) eliminate and (R) reverse.
- I feel this holistic technique of study helps reaching the best decision which fuels innovation and creativity.
EXPLORING JOY TRIP:
As a part of gathering creative ideas and strategies for this module, our tutor decided to go out for a walk and find joy in things around us by exploration and adding our own meanings of joy to this short outing with group.
Before going out, we were asked to create a list of all the creative things that we want to do or consider working on before dying.
- We used some props to use during the process of finding joy using unusual and creative techniques.
- The props we used were massive alphabets of the actual word ‘joy’.
- By following the creative technique of ‘S.C.A.M.P.E.R’, we as a group tried to use each word and tried to follow the rules while still finding joy doing the little exercises.
- We went to promenade and beach and explored unique ways and ideas to create and put the props in unusual places such as in water, creating shadows, photographing the shadows and so on.
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SELF-REFLECTION:
- It was a good day out with the whole group and exploring how simple and unusual things bring joy and happiness to you in some ways.
- I quite enjoyed how the tutor tried to make this time out being used creatively and fun.
- I am glad that I have gathered some really cool and amazing photographs which are connected to the feeling of joy that I was feeling at the time.
IDEAS PLANNING FOR PROJECT:
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- In this session with Andy, we basically decided what we have to do but with choosing random numbers and words as a part to have some work which might be weird but still counts as a part of creative thinking.
- To begin the process, we were asked to choose a 4 digit number code from a list and after that, Andy told everyone about what word we got from the selected digit code.
- After that, we were supposed to pick 2 cards, each card was having words from the ;Scamper ‘ creative technique.
- I did created a list last week about the creative things that I wanted to do before dying, and we were asked to choose one thing from that list and write that down on a piece of paper.
- At this point, Andy asked everyone to choose 2 numbers from 1-23 and told everyone what each number was having.
- For me, I got word ‘picture’ from the 4 digit code, I chose ‘create my own brand’ from the list, got ‘Eliminate and ‘Put to other use’ on the cards and I got word ‘book cover’ from the random numbers I selected.
- After combining all the information together, I got to create a brand identity combined with picture somehow and the final piece have to a book cover where I have to make sure that I am using ‘Eliminate and ‘put to other use’ or ‘scamper’ technique while creating.
SELF-REFLECTION:
- I found the whole process of creative ideas really unique and cool, how choosing random numbers and words, you get a project to work on and you are totally unaware of the results.
- I feel these little creative exercises we have been working during this module is helping to explore more ways to think and create some amazing ideas from nothing.
DE BONNO SIX THINKING HATS:
De Bono’s Six Thinking Hats is a powerful technique for looking at decision making from different points of view. It allows emotion and skepticism to be brought into what might normally be a purely rational process, and it opens up the opportunity for creativity within decision making.
- White Hat: with this thinking hat, you focus on the available data. Look at the information that you have, analyze past trends, and see what you can learn from it. Look for gaps in your knowledge, and try to either fill them or take account of them.
- Red Hat: “wearing” the Red Hat, you look at problems using your intuition, gut reaction, and emotion. Also, think how others could react emotionally. Try to understand the responses of people who do not fully know your reasoning.
- Black Hat: Black Hat thinking helps to make your plans “tougher” and more resilient. It can also help you to spot fatal flaws and risks before you embark on a course of action. It’s one of the real benefits of this model, as many successful people get so used to thinking positively that they often cannot see problems in advance. This leaves them under-prepared for difficulties.
- Yellow Hat: this hat helps you to think positively. It is the optimistic viewpoint that helps you to see all the benefits of the decision and the value in it. Yellow Hat thinking helps you to keep going when everything looks gloomy and difficult.
- Green Hat: the Green Hat represents creativity. This is where you develop creative solutions to a problem. It is a freewheeling way of thinking, in which there is little criticism of ideas.
- Blue Hat: this hat represents process control. It’s the hat worn by people chairing meetings, for example. When facing difficulties because ideas are running dry, they may direct activity into Green Hat thinking. When contingency plans are needed, they will ask for Black Hat thinking.
RESEARCH BOOK COVERS:
ANALYSIS:
The typography used in the above book cover is quite interesting and gives the cover really minimal look because there is a lot of empty space which can be seen and also the colour palette used is black and shades of black. Capital letters have been used to make the typography stand out as there is only typography used to make the audience see the imagery visually at the same time.
ANALYSIS:
The typography used in the above book cover looks really interesting and colourful, the typography have been used in such an interesting way the way A and Z alphabets are more prominent when you first look at the cover but when you see in more detail you can actually see the words in the background and also connected to the main alphabets which looks cool.
The above book cover gives a strong visual look to the cover because the way expressive typography is used rather than using fonts, the designer tried to interpret the words with the real imaginary of the words such as the word love has been created using the flower petals, ‘pray’ using ‘tasbeeh’ and word ‘eat’ by using spaghetti.
IDEAS AND MINDMAP:
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- The images above are showing the rough ideas and sketches of the book cover design and how to create a perfect mock-up using my personal brand identity.
- As I want to keep the design simple and minimal, in the above ideas, I have tried to keep the theme as simple as possible but at the same time have to stand out and look distinctive.
EXPERIMENTATION:
- I started with creating my logo design that has to be minimal and professional at the same time, I started creating a mind map for the logo design by taking all different areas of interest into consideration to start creating the logo design.
- I started sketching different ideas for logo design and using digital pencil experimented creating the different typographical based logo for myself.
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USING PHOTOSHOP:
- I used Photoshop to continue experimenting cycle. I used different simple and unique techniques to create my logo design.
- At the same time, I continued researching into modern, professional and minimal logo design from Pinterest and other sites.
FINAL LOGO DESIGN:
- I really like the font that I have used in the logo above, its simple and easy to eyes at the same time, no sharp edges.
- I used the technique of eliminating space from the center of initials and placed the name in the gaps.
- I think the logo looks professional, simple and minimal at the same time, its gives a feel of sophistication and simplicity.
DEVELOPING BOOK COVER MOCK-UP:
- After the development of logo design, I started creating book cover mockup to showcase my brand identity in one picture.
- I downloaded some royalty-free images and also designed a variety of mock-ups using Photoshop.
- I wanted to keep the layout simple and minimal but colourful.
FINAL DESIGN:
SELF-REFLECTION:
- The above mock-up is the final piece that I have created showcasing a book cover in the center, highlighting my logo design and a gradient theme with colour palette associated with the my own gradient theme.
- I feel it is looking professional, sophisticated, distinctive and minimal and showcasing my own brand identity in the form of a mock-up.
- I prefer negative space in my work and this is the reason I have used a white background to maintain a minimal background.
- I have used Eliminate technique from the SCAMPER to eliminate all the unwanted colours and elements on the mock-up which I feel is working really feel in terms of minimalism.
- I feel that the shadows worked really well with the clean layout because of the shadows each element is looking strong and highlighted.
CHANGES ADDED:
- After having the tutorial with Charlotte, she suggested me to add some changes in terms to make the mock-up look even better.
- She suggested to may be design the back side of the business card to she how the information will look, and to add more specific information on the book cover to make it clear to the viewer that what will be the book about.
- I feel all the suggestions, I received from Charlotte were quite beneficial and important and following the suggestions I added some changes to the mock-up.
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