Tuesday 30 August 2011

Thoughtful thinking


Be a Creative Creator

Creative thinking is the ability to let your mind create thoughts that are often different and 
unusual. Creative thinking evolves around the idea of thinking beyond the scope of the 
norm. It is all about being able to think outside the box and be original in your thought 
process. 
Creative thinking is something you can train your mind to do. Some people are actually 
born with creative thinking abilities, while others have to really work to let themselves be 
a creative thinker. However, it is possible for anyone to become a great creative thinker 
whether they were naturally born or they have to work at it. 
You hold the key to adopting creative thinking in your life and by doing so; you could 
change your life, your thoughts and your world, forever. 


 Develop deep thought evoking questions that you want to find the answers.
These questions can be questions that can be answered or rhetorical questions. 
They can never be universal questions to which the definitive answer could never 
be defined.

•  Think about great geniuses.
Imagine yourself sitting down and having a deep conversation with this genius. 
Imagine what you would ask and how they would answer. 


•  Imagine traveling in time or to another dimension. 
Imagine what it is like. How does it look? What are the people like? 
Are there even people? Create every aspect of life.

•  Think about God or whatever higher being you believe in. 
Think about the questions you would ask and his answers. 
Try to imagine being in the presence of such power.


• Experiment with astral projection. 
Get a book and study up on the idea. Then try it. 
Try to float out of your conscious body and into the astral plain.


•  Practice visualizing things. 
If you have problems with visualization, then start out small with visualizing simple 
things in your head and then moving onto things that are more complex.


•  Gather information on things you are interested. 
This will help give you something to think about. You can think about how to build upon 
what already exists and how your creative thinking can change it or make it better.


•  Find a friend to brainstorm with. 
Getting someone else in on your creative thinking means you can work together. 
Having someone else’s perspective on things can really get the creative juices flowing.


•  Try thinking as if you are someone else. 
Sometimes we get stuck in our own mindset. Creative thinking is about going beyond 
our comfort zone and thinking outside the box, so pretend you are someone else and 
think how he or she would think.

Some Creative Thinking Examples 

•  Imagine yourself living on the moon. 
Picture what it looks like. Take yourself through a whole day. Think of every little detail, 
like where does water come from? How do you breathe? Are there other life forms? 
What do you eat? How do you travel? What is your home like? Are you alone there or 
are there other people? How did you get to the moon? Who owns the moon?

•  Imagine yourself living a whole day as an animal. 
Think how that animal must think. Think about interacting with other animals. 
How do you feel? What do you eat? Do you talk with other animals in your own language 
or how do you communicate? Where do you live? Do you have a family? Do you work? 
What activities do you do? Is there a form of government or some type of animal that is 
in control?

•  Write a description of the room you are in. 
 Give details about every little thing, from the books on the shelf to the tiny crack running 
along the left corner of the room. Make sure you are very detailed, so detailed that 
someone reading it would be able to completely visualize the room. You want to give
descriptions that reach all five senses. Use colors, smells, textures along with your visual 
descriptions.

You may not know where to begin with your thought experiments or using ‘what if’ 
techniques.

Some ‘what if’ ideas that you can use:
What if --

•  I lived to be 200 years old? 
•  I was born a different race or gender? 
•  I lived somewhere else in the world? 
•  I had not gone to college or had gone to college? 
•  The world was flat? 
•  I did/did not have children? 
•  There was world peace? 
•  Einstein was never born? 
•  Animals could talk? 
•  I could spend one day with God


Another thing you can do to help your creative thought is ponder age-old questions or 
rhetorical questions. Think about things like: 
•  God 
•  Creation/Evolution 
•  Fate/Destiny 
•  Coincidence

Here are some common questions that people often ponder that you can use to get your 
creative mind working:
•  Is there life after death? 
•  Is there really a God? 
•  Did Adam and Eve have belly buttons? 
•  Which came first – the chicken or the egg? 
•  If a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound? 
•  Would an orange be called an orange if it was green? 
•  Why isn’t a banana called a yellow or an apple called a red? 

What Skills Help in Creative Thinking? 

•  Organizational Skills - 
Being organized may seem the opposite of being creative. When people think of creativity 
they often thin unstructured thought and unorganized behaviors, but actually creative 
thought can be quite organized. When you are organized, you are able to better sift 
through your thoughts and get to the heart of the good idea.

•  Reasoning Skills - 
Being able to reason is very helpful in creative thinking. Reasoning skills come in handy 
when you are analyzing a situation. You are able to decide right away what will work 
and what will not work.

•  Objectivity - 
Being able to be objective allows you to consider many possibilities and not just be stuck 
on the obvious. This is key to creative thinking.

•  Any skill in the arts - 
This includes music, writing and artwork, like painting or sculpting. Having these artistic 
skills means your mind is already used to thinking outside the box. You have the ability to be creative and therefore you are predisposed to creative thinking.

Creative Thinking Techniques 

Step 1: Analysis 
You begin by looking over the situation. You should take in everything you can about the 
situation. Get details and ask questions. You must really get to know the situation at this 
point. 
Analysis involves finding out the who, what, where, when and how of the situation. Once 
analysis is complete, you should be able to completely explain the situation including 
any obvious problems or issues.

Step 2: Brainstorming 
This is the true area of creative thinking. Once you know about the situation, you can 
begin to start thinking. You can brainstorm in any manner that works for you. You may 
just shout out ideas or may write them down. Whatever works for you is best to do. 
Brainstorming can take on many forms. You can write things down, talk things out or 
even conduct experiments. Brainstorming should be free flowing and recorded so no 
good ideas are lost.

Step 3: Break It Down
Now that you have a nice collection of ideas, you can start going through them and 
weeding out ones that will not work. You may find that if you change an idea just a little 
that it will work much better. This step is all about tweaking your ideas.
You will go over all of your ideas and weed out those that are not going to work. You 
should end up wit h the ideas that seem to be the best solutions.

Step 4: Review
The final step involves getting your final idea. This will help you to come up with one or 
two ideas that seem to stand out and be the best ideas. 
You will go over the ideas you have left and narrow them down even more to one or two 
plausible ideas. You should then be able to go into detail of how each idea will work and 
how it will be implemented. 
Being a creative thinker involves being able to think without a lot of structure, but these 
four steps are the basics of any thinking process. They may help you to be a better 
creative thinker.


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Friday 19 August 2011

Logos and its kind...


 Logos and its Kind...


SIGN SYMBOL LOGO
Within semiotics, anything that is used for human communication is defined as a sign: gestures, facial expressions, poetry, rituals, clothes, food, music, morse code, marketing, commercials, film, etc. Signs are important because they can mean something other than themselves. 


   Stop means Stop, Apple means Apple, Crown means Crown. 
Stop means Danger,  Apple means Healthy, Crown means King 


The interpretation of a sign is dependent on the context in which it is used, its relationship 
to other signs, and its environment.

Stop sign in India

Stop sign in China
Tunsia, Niger and China
different caution signs
 
There are numerous relationships that can exist between signifier and signified. We can 
have the same signifier with different signifieds and different signifiers with the same signified. 

 Above logo is the good example of signifers in the same signified.


                                    
  • Metasymbol

A symbol whose meaning transcends the tangible realm of simple one-to-one relationships. 
History, culture, and tradition all play a role in creating metasymbols, such a
s the dove with an olive brach as a symbol for peace. For certain audiences, 
religious and magical sugns and symbols take on these properties. 



  • LOGO, LOGOTYPE, MARK

Logo

Logo type

Mark



Criteria for a Successful Logo
  •  Visibility

 

 Visibility is of the logo is the most important factor in making strong appeal among people.





  • Distinctiveness


 
You may see a different identity among the logos deals in the same domain.



  • Simplicity/Universality

 
Above logos are the best example of simplicity and Universality.



  • Modularity



  • Retention


  •  Descriptiveness 




  •  Equity


     



    Evolution of logos





















    A few conventional and trends






    Shape containers logos




    Unified shape logos



    Big mark, little logotype





    Big logotype, little mark




    Mark within logotype





    Mark outside of logotype 



    Underline/overline 



    Typographic logos




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