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Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Smoking Kills....

Smoking is a common habit of every other person we meet, I personally don't have anything against smokers but the habit of smoking itself.
 But we are not here to talk about what I like and dislike no we are not.
   A cleverer solution to stop smoking was supposed to be done by us creatively, using the juxtaposition(yes, again I know, but it's so interesting) but here we are given the random word association
    Drum-roll please.....
        It's a traffic light!!

We are supposed to come up with an idea to stop smoking by taking the characteristics of a traffic light.
   Amazing right?
      As usual my brain went numb.
         So I peeped into mainstream.
             And found....
           
           A commonly associated sign to no smoking:


                                                                 Source: qcenter.com


         
          Resolving to never do that again I start with the most prominent characteristics of  a traffic light

                1)Colour: it's perfect red is the colour people associate to stop... but then I remembered that people hate being told what to do, so the next colour was orange.
                    What if the cigarette was orange and red instead of  orange and white,colours have always had a way of psychologically affecting us. This combination would hurt nobody.
                     Also having a green highlight on the bottom of the box saying "smoking kills the environment"
                       attracting their attention, but giving a positive message instead.

               2) Metal: well this is kind of obvious for a signal, but to apply it to smoking was challenging. Never the less I managed to come up with something decent.
                     A metal frame above the cigarette box with the word's smoking kill's written on it.
                            Forcing the user to peel back the metal layer and read the words at the same time.

                                                          Source:wallpaperbackgrounds.com

               3)Sign- well a signal is a sign in all terms, but in relation to smoking dangerous signs showing damaged lungs or dead people would  be a step forward.

                                                           
                                                         Source:xiaotaiyang.deviantart.com
Hope you liked this post
   And  remember,
        Think out of the box

The Juxtaposition Again.(the poetic edition)

Well here we have the juxtaposition reintroduced, however this approach is different from the previous one, in order to clarify the content we were asked to make a poem with the words "mortar and pestle" used as a metaphor for man and women.

 Poems not being my thing made this quite challenging. However after racking my brains, I managed to get this:


                                                     MORTAL AND PESTLE


                                                        They say they were perfectly fine off without us,
                                                             They say they have had it bad all the time,
                                                                    She even told me a million ways,
                                                                        In which we were mean,        
                                                              But the one which stuck in my head was,
                                                                        The metaphor she did use,
                                                    Saying women were the mortars in a of the two(Genders),          
                                                            That men were the pestle pounding eternally,
                                                     In that brief moment I thought what a hypocrite she was,
                                                                                     But nay,
                                                                             I do not dare say it,
                                                                For fear of life flashing before my eyes,
                                                                   So I keep this plain truth Shroud,
                                                                   Doing the chores she assigned me,
                                                                         Trying not to be so loud,
                                                                      (Oh come on I'm not a poet)

Hope you liked this post more coming soon.


   
                                                   
                                                     
                                                         

Sunday, December 9, 2012

The Juxtaposition

This time in class I nearly fell asleep, because we were taken to auditorium with just the right amount of light and air-conditioning(the interesting topic was the only thing keeping me up), to study on a topic called the Juxtaposition(pretty weird name ,yeah I know..),quite interesting actually.It refers to the abstract placing of two objects together to create something completely different and new.
Insanely difficult definition?
 -problem?,don't worry.
     -I had no idea either.
      
                                                             Source:weknowmemes.com                              

 It is basically done to generate Ideas and make sure we achieve the result we want purposefully and not through fluke and also to avoid half assed work.Making sure we know the difference between a bad and good idea.

                                                                     Source: diylol.com

  Keep in mind we can use this technique anywhere even in photography,planning a photo before it is taken,and by this I don't mean running around with a DSLR and thinking of pictures on the go,it involves some real hardcore thinking and planning before the shooting actually begins.So that we are sure of what we do before we actually do.

                                                               Source:ps3.mmgn.com

 We were given this exercise to help understand what it really is.Feel free to try
it yourselves.
        First we were asked to choose three numbers between 00-99,where 00 and 99 were included,so I got these three:
          1)01
          2)19
          3)55
         
       Then we were told to jot this down:
               
               1)Flower              0)Head
               2)Lightning           1)Rain
               3)Ice                    2)Wood
               4)Light                 3)Tree
               5)Fire                  4)Spider      
               6)Duck                5)Root
               7)Dog                  6)Mountain
               8)Oil                    7)Wind
               9)Leave               8)Rock
               0)Fly                    9)Water

         Well it got obvious at this point, so he told us to take the number and word together,so I got this:

                1)Head Flower (0 being head and 1 being flower)
                2)Flower Water (1 being flower and 9 being water)
                3)Fire Root ( 5 being fire and 5 being root)

        Next we were told make a simple simple sentence on each of the objects,making sure that the sentence was constructed in the same order as the word,which at that point of time took us by surprise(so go easy on my sentences) :
   
     1)On the head of Ghiath,there is a flower.
     2)The flower has water in it.(yeah I know...)
     3)Fire is spreading all over that root(*heh heh*,Starting to wonder why I did not change these sentences.)

       We were then told to illustrate these on a piece of paper(again,don't judge me we only had five minutes)
    anyway here are mine:
          

                                                       Head Flower

                           

                                                      Flower Water

                     

                                                          Fire Root

        

 The important thing to remember in these pictures is that when we draw them we have to make sure that it is seen in the way it would be read.,for example when we look at the flower we should see it as flower water not water flower and so on..
  
 This interesting exercise shows us the way in which we can plan ahead of our work,think before we create something and not hope that luck would lead us all the time.

 This is only one of the many exercises we can do to help us apply the juxtaposition in real life.More coming soon..   

    Think Smart,
     Stay Sharp,
      Break boundaries,
     Because,
       Out Of The Box Thinking,
            That's how we think,

Friday, November 30, 2012

An Influential Lesson.

 Today while shifting forth between memories like a lunatic in a nuclear factory,which is to say my thoughts were bouncing in my head and at times exploding into a shower of fireworks.I came across something that sparked my interest on Google search(yes,from my head to the browser to Google that's how my brain works),I found that I was a fan of French revolution art;be it music ,sculpting ,painting,architecture or engraving I simply loved it.It is not for the fact that the work is invaluable or that it was from the French revolution,but more on the lines of the creativity,courage and imagination that these artist's had in order to get where they did and make a few bucks worth of paper and paint or stone  extremely valuable in today's world.

 For example:

                                                   Jacques-Louis David

                                                                    
                                                              Source: en.wikipedia.org

   Apart from being an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, he was also a dictator of the arts under the French Republic.He also had a large number of pupils making him the strongest influence in French art in the early 19 Th century  

Some of his work :


                                                       Le Serment De Horaces

                                                        Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

                                    

                                                            The Painting of Napoleon        

                                                     Source: http://en.wikipedia.org

    Heavily criticized mostly after his death,he was considered to be cold and lacking warmth.He was responsible for many people being sent to the guillotine,personally signing the death warrants of King Louis XVI  and Marie Antoinette .

  As you can see he was a pretty influential guy,and also considered to be one of the leading painters in France.Through all his all his criticism he stood his ground,playing out of the rigid styles and dynamically influencing many changes.Many of his students were honoured by the restored Bourbons following the French Revolution. 
   
  A valuable lesson to be learned by this famous painter's past is to try to change the rigid thinking we grow in,and never back down when we stumble or fall be it once twice or a million times,but instead to get up and get moving with what we feel is right.

  For we think like
          Out Of The Box Thinking

Sunday, November 18, 2012

Invention Innovation And Failure...

Well I had an interesting discussion with myself(yes myself,because sometimes you see I need an expert opinion) after coming across the question 'Do all inventions and innovations turn out successful?'.This question struck me after reading an article based on the Japanese Gadgets that failed,which I find to be a parody of their current state.None the less there was a time when Japanese gadgets failed,because companies at that time were more adventurous known for their audacity in the market lead to some of these wonderful yet impractical machines.
                                                       

                                                      The Walking Toaster 

                                                    source: angusdeionallandsundry.blogspot.com
                                                                      

                                                          The Double Fan  

                                                                Source:phys.org

                                                

               

                            And many others...



  But we are not here to talk about the gadgets,no we are not,let us instead focus on the innovation done to these gadgets.Simply stated they were not practical enough,the companies though extremely innovative were not astute,leading to the downfall of their product eventually.However with every failed product they gained some invaluable knowledge,eventually leading to their success.Now when we speak of companies like Sony,Fuji electronics,Panasonic we know these are names of companies people aspire to work in,by failing in the start they have eventually risen to become giants in the industry.However in recent years it was found that these companies are now playing safe maximizing their 'profitability' by taking less 'risk', inadvertently not progressing as fast as they could have.



I think the lesson that we learn here is not just that failure is a stepping stone to success or invention and innovation come at a price that we should be willing to accept i.e failure but also not all inventions bring innovation,sometimes it's just junk.Failure is not the worst thing a person could do but instead to stop trying is.Making the best of a situation and moving on to new projects with renewed determination is is the attitude required for us to become successful in what we do.

So to conclude I would like to quote "Never back down never give up" from my favourite movie  never back down

 Also feel free to check this Blog out www.teenagewriterchronicles.blogspot.com ,its made by an aspiring writer.Quite interesting actually.

Saturday, November 10, 2012

What Creates A Creative Mind?

For our second assignment we were asked to view another article : 


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20071644.


  The article was on the various Australian inventions for example our most dearest Wi-Fi,The infamous black box flight recorders,The commonly used hills clothes hoists,The useful cochlear implants,Dual flush toilets,Mountbatten Braillers,Super Sopper Rollers,Ultrasound,Disposable syringes and plastic banknotes.

 After reading this article I was astounded,begging the question what makes the people who invented or innovated these things so creative,was it the environment that they grew up in? or was it some other factor that influenced them to be this creative?.

 Sometimes like the invention of Wi-Fi,new inventions are created by making mistakes,sometimes like ultrasound  the manner of which it could be used was not thought of yet. 

 But more often than not sometimes ideas lay dormant in the back of our head,waiting just for the right time to pop out.These ideas could be there for months and months all together and we wouldn't know unless a situation provokes our brain to push it out giving us a eureka moment,bringing everything that we had thought of earlier together.
 What are these moments that push our ideas forward,you ask? 
     The answer is no one knows,it could be at any time and any place taking us by surprise. that is why we      have to be ready for it at all times.

 The environmental factors like society and culture play a key factor in these types of inventions,if the society is supportive of these inventions then only they come into bloom and only then would they be innovated 
upon. 

 As mentioned earlier in my post about how schools kill creativity.Schools also play a key factor,their encouragement and support is required to help give birth to creative minds.

  To answer my initial question I think that it's a combination of all these factors put together that create an   inventive,innovative and creative mind.because breaking out of boundaries that's how we do.

 I hope I have given you something to gnaw,prod and itch your brain for, because out of the box thinking,that's how we think. 

Friday, November 9, 2012

Invention and Innovation....

 We were asked to view this article in class,without even thinking I pull out my phone unlock it open the browser and type in the link :

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/tech/article/the-pc-is-dead-long-live-the-tablet/ 

 Turns out it's an article about tablets and personal computers(surprise! surprise!)to be more specific it was about Tablets VS Personal Computers.

Source:techweekeurope.co.uk

 According to this site and a report the sale of tablets will account for 70% of the gadgets sold  by the year 2013,it also says People at work places would probably be bringing their own devices as the technology in the company is inferior to the technology used at homes which would not be true 15 years ago.

 Tablets have not only just come into our lives to make them more convenient,as time flies we find that tablets have become an important part of our life helping keep track of things on the go,making themselves an intricate part of our lives.The process of innovation here startles me completely the fact that more and more features of a regular sized PC keep turning up in the tablets we use now-a-days.The late Steve Jobs Co-founder of apple may not have invented the tablet(in fact the first tablet was patented in 1888 by Elisha Gray)but he did innovate on it giving it new features that no one thought it could have,many may argue that Apple's products do tend to be expensive but the innovation of it's late Co-founder is undeniable.

  Innovation has come to such an extent that we ourselves have what would be considered expensive technology at an affordable price,in fact it's so affordable we have so much of it that we consider the technology in our offices,schools,universities to be obsolete.Some of us even bring our own devices due to the frustration caused by using the technology in these places.

 Hence speaking out for everyone with this kind of frustration invention is important i.e. creating something new with a new idea ,however keeping ourselves updated is even more important,with various innovations people expect more from their devices.

So to conclude I would say keeping invention and innovation interlocked is how we progress and make sure we are up to date on what we do.