Inspiration

"Inspiration. Where do ideas come from? Insights are the fuel of inspiration. You don’t get ideas from sitting at your desk. Use the world as a source of inspiration (not as a source of validation). It starts with empathy and seeing things from other people’s viewpoints, not yours. Aim to understand people on multiple levels: physically, cognitively, emotionally, socially, and culturally."
~IDEO's Tim Brown from MXSF 2007

Comments

[Tony D. Clark]

Great quote, David. Sometimes just the act of getting away and interacting is enough to get the gears turning. Taking time to really see and absorb what's going on around you.

Heck, I get more great ideas walking my dog than from sitting at my desk.

[Adam]

Why?

Why do we have all these people telling us how and where to get ideas?

If you want a good idea find a good problem.

Q: Where did all the entrepreneurs go?

A: They set up pseudo design houses selling people how to get good ideas.

IDEO = SH*T. Got to be said. They do consultancy NOT ideas.

Yours critically,

Adam

[DA]

Adam, do they make you puke?

A lot of people don't like IDEO. It could be because they have a tremendously sucessful PR machine. Could also be that like Apple, they enjoy a cult-like following of folks who worship them. So it's natural for a bunch of folks to say "hey, why are we following these guys"? It's healthy to question.

But I think your critique of them is off. IDEO is in the ideas business. Maybe you could even say they are idea consultants. But don't forget that back in the day, they used to design toys.

Fact of the matter, they create something. Sure, it might be a conceptual shopping cart or a deck of method cards, but these are tangible artifacts. They in fact go beyond ideas.

Don't get into the habit of being so critical that you fail to realize when someone offers something of value even if you don't agree with it.

IDEO may be overrated. Heck, you can say that about any highly successful brand or individual. But do they = shit? Not even close amigo.

PS, speaking of brands, do you really want yours to be the cheeky critic?

[rithika]

Hi David!
For starters absolutely loved yr quote 'Use the world as a source of inspiration and not validation!!'
I work in India in an ad agency [Account mamagement and a bit of Account Planning]ironically the agency i work in is also called David!Its sad to see 99% of the so called idea generators and creative writers sit smack dab right in the middle of comfy plush chairs and expect ideas to stream in through a tiny crack in the door!!
Whats increasingly becoming our enemy is TIME, ie if we dont decide to make the time to get n actually touch, feel, taste n smell the world...Im tryin 2 do my bit but what i call the 'lets meet up for coffee' concept...i meet with as many people from different walks of life to satisfy the explorer in me.I think meeting up for coffee connotes more that the actual act of sippin the beverage but has become the shorthand for exploring people, cultures!

[Adam]

Excellent retort!

But.

I am NOT a brand. Yes, I work in this industry, but I am not up defined by its self-serving rhetoric.

Indeed, there IS a whole industry now dedicated to ideas about having ideas. You might even wake up one day to find you're working in it!

Design PR is bunk. I mean, it's hardly the 'First Things First Manifesto', is it?!

All this design thinking, it actually PREVENTS people from having good ideas. "The idea" is you can just load up the correct set of 'inspirational' quotes and "you too can be creative". Piffle!

Sorry, it's harder than that. Or am I just frustrated because actually it isn't hard anymore; that there are few genuinely creative people left? Hmmm...

It's all a bit comfortable; a bit middle-class...

No, what it IS is that all the creative people are busy being disruptive, making strange software and breaking business models. The geeks have inherited the earth and they ain't wasting time blogging about it!

Would you disagree?: That the truly creative people aren't working in agencies? That image marketing is over? That so-called 'interactive marketing' offers very little to people beyond boredom postponement?

?

Like any sucker, I value good advice. I even enjoy being reminded of common sense, but I'm always sure to bite the hand that feeds it to me (KNOWLEDGE + EXPERIENCE = SHIT) because the good is the enemy of the great. And who wants to be limited by just being good?

Gospels, sermons and commandments from has-beens, no thanks. (You are a has-been if you TALK more than you DO - go teach!) I respect IDEO's work, of course. Well, actually, remind me again what they've done in the last 5 years. Made a few business cards? Sold a few books?

Established-agency-man blogs like yours have a lot to answer for all this management theory groupthink creeping into agencies. It's the cautious approach, always trying to fit every thought into a diagram, every behaviour neatly defined by a word.

Words... Processes... Ideas?

I should be clear, I enjoy writing these silly comments here because yours is one my favourite blogs and you know I'm not being serious. I don't imagine for one second that you are a 'literal' / 'typical' (there's a clue there: letters, type) American and think that every divergent opinion is some kind of veiled personal attack. I'm just being a *little bit* critical when I see it's needed. And it's not needed that often.

So, take it as a compliment because you do 'good' work and you make me think - hard. I value the opportunity to air my thoughts... here...

Oh heck! I'm gushing...

*PUKES*

I'll clear up this time.

[DA]

Great Adam. Now you have both of us puking. I know you once played around with the idea of writing a book—I just didn't know it would be on my blog.

Look, you mention Gospels and Sermons so here's one for you:

"a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit"

Here's the thing Adam. I don't know what your fruit is, even though you know mine. You have this blog which you can comment on any time. My portfolio is here:

http://www.creativehotlist.com/d-armano

And I designed, built, animated and pushed my own pixels on davidarmano.com

These are my fruits. You can be the cheeky critic and say that it's all "shit"—which is fine. But at the end of the day, I have created.

I don't know what your fruit is. I can't even tell if it's good or bad. You used to have a blog where you talked about writing a book and now when I click on your name it takes me to your delicious social bookmarks which tells me that you are organized, but nothing else.

Listen, I get your frustration. You're tired of the talk. I agree 100% with what you say here:

"the creative people are busy being disruptive, making strange software and breaking business models."

But this may be all I agree with. Here's my advice even though I know you didn't ask for it. Try a new formula.

Insight + Inspiration = Action

For me personally, IDEO's biggest contribution in the past five years has been the idea of T-Shaped people. This insight inspired me to take matters into my own hands, re-design my site, leave my job for a new one and start this blog.

Yes, an idea or word can lead to action. Take your frustration and create something with it. Then share it with us.

You can post another comment but I'm not going to respond until I know what your fruits are. Feel free to puke heartily at this request.

Rithika, I know how you feel! I like this quote because it's so hard to pull off in a corporate setting. Time, structure. We have a lot working against us. But that's what inspiration is—a vision of a possible reality even if it's not the current one.

[Adam]

Most of my fruits dangle here:

http://del.icio.us/adamcrowe/AdamCrowe

And I never actually made any comment about YOU being shit quite so directly. I'm not surprised you've taken that line... But then again, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. I've got a theory on you lot across the pond.

I think I'm sharing. It might not be what you want to hear.