Hugh Garry

Design Matters: Quotes from Margaret Roach

I stumbled upon the Design Matters podcast late last year and am hooked. It's got an amazing archive that I'm slowly working my was through when out running or cycling. 

The brilliant host and curator of stories Debbie Millman brings in guests from all fields to talk about their approach to work and life. Whether it is a Graphic Designer, Gardener, Journalist or Radio Producer there are always brilliant nuggests in there to get me thinking. 

So I thought I'd start blogging some of those nuggets. Here's some from Gardener and Writer Margaret Roach:

On packing in her job and moving to the country...

"I crave solitude... I can literally go days without speaking to people. It's the most creative thing for me - silence and connection to nature."

On what she learnt from leaving a secure job...

"I'm a gardener first and foremost, I'm part of the food chain. I'm part of the cycle that's outside my window. I'm just one of the creatures and I love learning about where I fit in to that. For example have you ever stayed in a relationship too long, business or personal? Well I have. Birds don't do that. When it's time to migrate, when the signal comes, they fly away. They don't say 'I really like this tree. I think I'll stay here'. There's a lot of inspiration for me in the behaviour of animals."

On the value of taking time out..

"We tell children to take a 'time out' when they start screaming in a supermarket but we don't do that for ourselves. I think that silence and stillness are so undervalued in our contemporary lives. Plants have an active period then they have a dormant cycle. I have learnt to get up and go on some little adventure otherwise we will go crazy."

On powerlessness...

"In our careers if we succesd it's because we go go go and make things happen. It's about control (or the illusion of control). The mandate is 'control this', 'make this', 'here are the raw materials so turn this thing into this'. But there are forces bigger than ourselves at work. Go outside, go out to nature. Look at the North East (of the US) which has been under a lot of water this year. Not matter how good a gardener (they were) the people didn't get a harvest this year.It's bigger than them and this is the thing. We are just a speck. One part of a food chain, one part of a cycle. I like that. I like things being out of control. I like the failure. Because if I kept thinking that for the rest of my life I'd keep dominating then it would burn me out."

On striving for perfection...

"In a garden you can't struggle against the facts of life. It's OK to have some wrinkles."

On personal creativity...

"To stiffle your own personal creativity in a trade off for success, money or a promotion is tricky. You do run out of time so I'm aware that I do need to indulge myself every day with some of my hare-brained schemes... You really do need to make some time or the lid really will blow off"

On learning..

"You gotta grow it to know it."

Notes from last night's lecture

Last night was the third in a series of lectures I'm doing at Shoreditch House on where ideas come from. The session was based around what happens inside the brain and what happens outside the brain to produce moments of insight. As usual the questions and conversations that took place after were really interesting. So I thought it might be an idea to start 'showing my working out'. Author, journalist and top tech braodcaster Aleks Krotoski is brilliant at publishing her thinking and research as works. I've blogged a lot about creativity over the years but not been great at giving more background. So here are a few articles that might enlighten you more on the many issues I talked about last night. 

A good place to start is Roo Reynolds Collections. Roo is a former BBC colleague currently working at GDS (which just won design of the year). I invited him to talk at the first event because most collectors I know are really creative people. This is because collecting excercises your creative muscle. It powers your curiosity, imagination and appreciation. It teaches you about aesthsetics, sharpens your powers of observation, helps you understand patterns and recognise what is missing. We build narratives around our collections as well as human connections. We strive for perfection with our collections and in doing so achieve Flow. We experiment and tinker with our collections and most importantly everything we do with them forms a pool of inspiration for future projects. 

The second session was on combinatorial creativity. For years at the BBC I would hear people in creative sessions talking about how wrong it was to 'steal' other people's ideas. My answer was always "It's not where you take things from - it's where you take them to". I stole that line from Jim Jarmusch. Faris Yakob talks alot about this on "Talent Imitates, Genius Steals", which is a reworking of the Picasso quote "Good artists copy, great artists steal", which is a slightly different version of TS Elliot's "Immature poets copy, mature poets steal", a twist on Wilde's "Talent borrows, genius steals". All of which are stolen from the Bible's "What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun". Try reading the brilliant Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon, watch Kirby Ferguson's amazing series Everything is a Remix and take comfort from the fact that one of our generation's greatest film directors has stolen from every movie ever made.

In last night's session I talked about focusing on creativity for the individual rather than the organisation. Yes, I run workshops and help organisations get the best out of their employees, but personally I think it's better for organisations to help every member of staff to develop their own creative abilities. If you do this people will think creatively every waking moment rather than saving it for a 1 hour brainstorm. It's a great investment inspired by, believe it or not, Pret A Manger only hiring happy people - happiness it the hard bit, teaching them to make sandwiches is the easy bit. So for more on what happens inside your head you might want to watch this excellent BBC Horizon film on the brain and creativity. John Cleese does a brilliant talk on creativity and why allowing the mind to wonder is so important. Despite being criticised for making up a Dylan Quote Jonah Lehrer is still a great writer on the subject. Try not to let the negativity surrounding him cloud the fact that Imagine is still a great read. 

If you are interested in why coffee shops are important to the creative process and their role in the Enlightenment then you must read The Great Good Place by Ray Oldenburg, which Steven Johnson refers to in his brilliant book Where Good Ideas Come From. On the importance of making connections Steve Jobs knew that when people run into each other, when they make eye contact, things happen. And so he designed his buildings to ensure these connections became part of regular daily proceedures such as going to the toilet. Richard Florida talks a lot about why you should build out and not up to build creative cities and if you want to understand how the creative face of Manchester changed as a result of simple serendipity then you must watch 24 Hour Party People. 

I also talked about the importance just having cups of tea with people. So, if you fancy a brew find me on Twitter. I'm also happy to talk to organisations about workshops, away days and how to get the best out of moments set aside for generating ideas.

If you’re not doing some things that are crazy...

"And all the tech companies combined are only at like 1 percent. That means there’s 99 percent virgin territory. Investors always worry, “Oh, you guys are going to spend too much money on these crazy things.” But those are now the things they’re most excited about—YouTube, Chrome, Android. If you’re not doing some things that are crazy, then you’re doing the wrong things".

Larry Page

Where Ideas Come From Part 3

The third in my series of lectures on 'Where Ideas Come From' takes place at Shoreditch House on Tuesday 7th May at 7pm. If you'd like a place on the guestlist just tweet me (@huey).

The first looked at why it's important to collect and have hobbies. Collecting is like writing a shopping list of things that will feed all of your future projects. Collecting exercises your creativity muscles. It sharpens curiosity, appreciation and imagination. It teaches you about aesthetics, you learn to tinker and experiment, you either start of join social groups around your passion and you build narratives around your collection.

The second in the series addressed stealing other people's ideas and why you should. Don't get caught up trying to be completely original. Everything is derivative of something else. It's not where you take ideas from, but where you take them too. Accepting the idea of combinatorial creativity and being comfortable looking to others for inspiration makes the process of idea generation a whole lot easier. 

The forthcoming event looks at creative spaces. Why do people always come up with the best ideas in the shower? Why do certain parts of a city produce more ideas than others? Why did Steve Jobs think the location of the toilet was such an important design feature in all apple offices? I'm also going to be looking at how the brain works and how locations relate to how the brain comes up with ideas. 

As Shoreditch House is a members club I'm looking at taking the series of talks out and about so that more people can see them. If you'd like me to bring them to your town or workplace drop me a line.   

The above image comes courtesy of Steve Zimmerman

29 Ways to Stay Creative Infographic

Lower Your Standards

Love this quote from Derren Brown's Confessions of a Conjuror:

A poet I knew once suggested, while addressing a group of students, that the would-be versifiers improve their skills by writing a poem first thing each morning. When one of the students complained that it took her weeks to write a poem that she was happy with, and that the idea of writing one every morning seemed an impossibility, his answer was brilliant: ‘Lower your standards.’

via russelldavies.typepad.com

You can't earn interest on saved ideas

I'm currently reading the 'You Learn By Living' by Eleanor Roosevelt. It's a brilliant guide to living 'a fuller life' which stands as relevant to day as when first penned 51 years ago. The book is filled with tips on learning, developing curiosity and facing your fears. All this from a truly inspirational First Lady who constantly challenged the status quo. Here she talks about fear:

"Do the things that interest you and do them with all your heart. Don’t be concerned about whether people are watching you or criticising you. The chances are that they aren’t paying any attention to you. It’s your attention to yourself that is so stultifying. But you have to disregard yourself as completely as possible. If you fail the first time then you’ll just have to try harder the second time. After all, there’s no real reason why you should fail. Just stop thinking about yourself".

I've had this conversation quite a lot. Most of the people I know who really fear judgement are mostly judging themselves. She goes on to say:

"There is another kind of fear that is prevalent. Very often people seem afraid to put their own capabilities to use, as though one could save one’s abilities and draw interest on them".

Which kinda reminds me of my favourite ZeFrank moment ever:

Luckily, I don't suffer from nerves so pushing myself and ideas further is something I'm always happy to do. Having said that, I really like to have an element of fear in what I do. I sometimes like that feeling that it could all go horribly wrong any minute now. It's a fear of the unknown. If I don't have it the reason is probably that I'm certain of the result because it's been done before. And that doesn't make for the thrilling ride talked about here.

Creativity is like falling in love

Thanks to Maria for sharing this excellent talk from Jake Barton of Local Projects. It's wonderful. It's a bit lengthy but well worth a watch. 

Before demoing some of his excellent work he talks about his creative process, describing it as being similar to falling in love:

"It's really messy..... it's kinda destructive. It's super exciting. It's exhilarating. There's a core of fear in amongst all this beauty you are exploring. In a way it really is like falling in love.... Think about those emotions that go through your experience. Excitement, exhilaration, the fear. And also the danger. Theres this incredible sense of potential and this urge to discover the other side".

I love that. The sense of potential and urge to discover the other side as being the drivers for both love and creativity. Perfect. 

Stop waiting for permission

Last night was the second in my series of Shoreditch House Events on the subject of 'where good ideas come from'. This one was on combinatorial creativity, remix culture and why creators need to stop beating themselves up over stealing the ideas of others. Apologies are not necessary. As Mark Twain said "All ideas are secondhand".

I mentioned the moment I first heard Grandmaster Flash's 'Adventures on the Wheels of Steel', a memory that will live with me forever. It sounded so fresh, so new and original, like music from another planet. Incredible given that its component parts were old tracks. The secret of the record's impact lay not in the stolen component parts but in the combination with a new way of vocal delivery - in this case cut up vocal samples from Chic and others, the glue that held the track together. This new way of making music was a revelation. 

When Einstein said "Imagination is more important the knowledge" the imagination bit he was talking about is the ability to see the connections, it's about pattern recognition and being able to join the dots. It's a great quote but I'm not sure I agree that one is more important that the other. You have to have the parts on the table to be able to come up with interesting ways of putting them together. As Jay Z points out in his brilliant book Decode, those parts were the record collections of hip hop's missing fathers.

"We were kids without fathers…so we found our fathers on wax and on the streets and in history, and in a way, that was a gift. We got to pick and choose the ancestors who would inspire the world we were going to make for ourselves…Our fathers were gone, usually because they just bounced, but we took their old records and used them to build something fresh."

What I really like about about the birth of hip hop is that it arrived with an attitude that was unapologetic about stealing other people's work and creating something new with it. It was almost like hip hop gave artists permission to steal. Once the gates were open remix culture flowed and new heroes were made as a result of appropriating the work of others and combining those elements in fascinating ways. Once the permission was granted creativity flourished.

I wish more would be honest, open and ballsy about their influences. Why hide your sources? Make them visible? Pay tribute to what you've built upon. Or as my maths teacher would say "Show all your working out in the margin so that I can see how you arrived at your answer". Imagine if every film maker produced one of these.

Earlier this week I was working on a project with a group of women who had waited a lifetime for someone to 'give them permission'. Someone to say "It's OK to...". How differently their lives will be as result. It's such a pity that someone didn't give them permission years ago. Sometimes waiting for permission is as pointless as asking turkeys to vote for Christmas - you'll be waiting a long time. When the people in power are protecting the problem that they are the answer to then only you can make the change that you want to see.

Pop-up Ideas Shop - Manchester/London

I'm running a series of pop-up idea shops in Manchester and London. It's not really a shop - more like me at a table in a cafe with an empty chair waiting to be filled. It's free ideas for anyone who needs them. I've never done it before, and I don't know if anyone else does them, but I'm giving it a go to see what happens.  

So here's the idea...

This Friday (November 16th) between 1pm and 4pm I'll be sat at a table in Fyg on Tibb Street in the Northern Quarter, Manchester. If you need ideas, a new perspective or a fresh set of ears for whatever you're working on then do drop in. You might be taking your first steps in digital or social media and don't know where to start. You may need help shaping the story of your brand - come say hello. There's no charge for this. I may be able to help you or I may not. Either way I'm happy to have a brew with someone new if you are. 

Why am I doing this? Many reasons. Because I'm in a position to. Because when I have free time I don't mind helping people. Because I spend a hell of a lot of time in cafes anyway. I can also learn from meeting people who work in different fields. And partly because of this which says that 56% of charities struggle with digital because they need training. 

Who am I? Briefly, I spent 15 years working in digital at the BBC. I have my own digital media consultancy. I'm also a creative strategist at Storythings. I run a series of events at Shoreditch House on the subject of Where Good Ideas Come From. I specialise in helping companies tell stories about themselves and teach them how to get better at generating ideas. I've spoken at various conferences including a couple of TEDx events. Occasionally I lecture at Salford University.

Who is it for? Anyone really. Charities. Small businesses. Big business. Media organisations. Creatives. Jobless. Idealess...

So if you want to come along, or know someone who you think might benefit let them know. You can get in touch with me on twitter (@huey) if you want, otherwise just turn up. I'll try and make myself noticeable somehow. I'm heading off to Tanzania next week but will set up something for London end of November/early December.