Paul Merrill
Bicycles are all over Oxford, England. (Good thing, since there are few places to park a car!) Signs are on every surface that isn’t moving. (And some that are.)
Someone thought of combining the two — they put signs for theatre productions on old bikes that are painted totally gold.
What ways can you combine unlikely objects to get your message across?
This lovely shopping bag was crafted by a friend of ours in rural Kenya. She gave it to us as a gift.
You will note that the strap is made from a necktie. The brightly-colored stripes are from plastic shopping bags that were tightly wrapped around natural sisal fiber, found close to her home. And it’s totally hand-woven.
Her husband is very creative too!
Takeaway: How can you use an article in a different way than its original purpose — and come up with something new?
Special thanks to the beautiful model, Heather. More posts on creativity.
Car magazine has a section at the back that lists all the new cars sold in the UK. That could be a boring list of facts and tables.
No.
They injected it full of life and fun. Each car is categorized as being either “Good”, “Bad” or “Ugly”. Read the fine print here. Each brand (or UK-speak, “marque”) is described as if it were a rock band. And the descriptions of each car can be hilarious. (These are two random cars in a row.)
They make it very easy to pick a good car. If you trust their judgement.
Takeaway: How can you inject life and fun into what might otherwise be a boring aspect of your job of life?
By the way, an interpretation for those of you in America... A “Zanussi Twin-Spin” is a washing machine.
Kottke, the author of another of my favorite websites, did a story on how a company is updating the Trabant.
The Trabant, you see, is one of the worst cars ever made. (Thank you, formerly communist Eastern Europe.) It was a horrible polluter, terribly unreliable, ugly — and I have now run out of bad superlatives. This company is making it into a fun car that would be desirable to almost anyone that likes new little cars. (Me. In fact, I’d like one for Christmas.)
Humans sometimes amaze me in a good way.
Heather was out. (We share our home office, at the moment.) She got a call. I grabbed a leaf from my waste basket to write the note on.
Takeaway: How can you can do a common task in an uncommon way today?
So, computers somewhere generate words in attempts of ensuring humans are the ones entering info onto websites. Sometimes the random words are fun.
I applaud those engineers/designers — and not the ones whose random word generators create words so hard to read that it takes three clicks of the “try different words” button before one finally appears that you might be able to recognize.
I had to stop when I passed this bicycle. What a cool tire!
The manufacturer could have stuck with a standard (boring) tread pattern but instead opted for this fun flower pattern, reflecting the pattern used on the fenders.
Takeaway: what are some ways you can add fun to what you create?
Hot Wiring Your Creative Process is a book by Curt Cloniger. I skimmed it recently. (I read parts. Non-fiction is hard to read all the way through these days, unless the content is exceptional.)
One of the useful parts suggests making little cards with concepts on them to stimulate your thinking. The ideas can be actions or thoughts. The idea is to pull out a few when you are facing a creative block.
My friend Ed made some little notes — without even reading the book. (I’m guessing on that point.) Some of his ideas: “Sort out 3 things to go to a charity shop” and “Scan in a pattern”.
I hope to make some little notes for myself, along those lines. Maybe I’ll make them digitally rather than on paper. I have too much paper in my life right now.
By the way, that book is a bit expensive. I’d recommend checking it out from your library, rather than buying it. Help your tax money go to good use!
