Brilliant and simple, the way it should be, I added this to the top of my “Inspiration” page I keep for myself. This came from Ram’s Wikipedia page.
Good design is innovative
Good design makes a product useful
Good design is aesthetic
Good design helps us to understand a product
Good design is unobtrusive
Good design is honest
Good design is long-lasting
Good design is consequent to the last detail
Good design is concerned with the environment
Good design is as little design as possible
You’re standing in front of a project offer, ready to jump in, you’re pyched but then you ask yourself, do I believe this thing will succeed? Hmmm…
Your answer must be an unequivocal “yes”, because if you don’t believe in it, how can you believe in the work you do for this company? Many people even when saying “no” take that work on, and ultimately, this leads to generic output, which ultimately leads to a boring career doing work that has no emotional value.
For your work to be authentic and meaningful (great) you must be a believer.
Find companies and products you believe in, and offer your help, you’ll be amazed at how much value you can bring to a mission you’re embedded in personally.
I saw this and was totally blown away. Pe Lang and Zimoun are a rare breed in that they’re capturing an incredibly polished and stylized aesthetic while simultaneously creating some amazingly sophisticated sound designing mechanics. Just so cool and so beautifully presented. I encourage you to spend some time listening and observing this installation. The work that went into this is awe inspiring.
I discovered sound and art installation artist’s Pe Lang and Zimoun’s “Untitled Sound Objects” series at the Today & Tomorrow Blog. They create sound textures using machinery driven objects, most performing a simple task or motion. I started watching the videos and was mesmerized, they play like it could be a new ambient/noise composition and they’re all beautifully and minimally designed installations. The rotors twisting the loops of chains is just too cool.
Watch (and listen to) the amazing video of the installation here.
View beautiful and minimal photographs of the installation here.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about the important of ones personal brand. With a tight job market, it makes sense that people be able to understand where they fit and to work towards a unique differentiation strategy for themselves.
With this understanding I thought I’d take some of the strategic thinking typically reserved for businesses and map a quick process for people to use for their professional selves. I’ll keep this extremely simple since I’d like this to be something people can run with and not a long dragged out analysis/paralysis process. I’ve translated the following concepts from the business to the individual, and seeing it this way makes me see the process a little differently. It’s actually eerie how people-brands and business-brands can be so similar.
The 4 Human Experiences Your Brand Should Affect:
1. Perception: What do you want people to think of you? Be this person.
2. Reason: Are you who you say/act like? Authenticity is critical, look for your deeper truth, what’s beneath the surface you may be afraid to expose?
3. Emotion: Are you connecting with people on a deeper level? What do you believe deeply in that you can advocate/evangelize?
4. Resonance: Do you connect with people in a way that’s meaningful to them? Are you reading other’s needs or are you acting on your own?
The Building Blocks of Your Experience:
1. Where do you have the most credibility?
2. Where do you have the most experience?
3. What are you passionate about?
4. What causes are you aligned with personally?
5. How do you define success for yourself? Money, achievement, freedom?
6. What do you stand for?
7. Who are you competing with?
8. How are you different from them?
9. Who would you be excited to collaborate with?
10. Is there a social context to your desires?
11. Choosing only adjectives, how would you describe your best qualities?
I’m really just winging this but in looking back at this post this is some powerful stuff for any person to do for themselves. If you’re like me and you’ve had a difficulty in the past describing what you do to strangers, this would be a fantastic immersive process to take on, even if it were just for 30 minutes.
