Overcoming Mindsets & Getting Rid of Assumptions

Wordnetweb defines ‘mindset’ as mentality: a habitual or characteristic mental attitude that determines how you will interpret and respond to situations…

a mindset is the action of thinking in a particular frame of mind. though they say open mindedness brings in ideas and stuff. mindsets arent necessarily a negative approach when it comes to being creative, being creative is part art, part science you don’t always want to think up something extravagant or delusional because that's most often unhelpful.

sometimes thinking in a particular mindset is the only way to achieve successfully, but only sometimes. A simple example of this;An accountant can’t think like a hunter, if he needs to save a business from going into liquidation, the same way a hunter can’t think like an accountant if he wants to survive in the Arctic…but then again each situation is different. and i mean that, I'm not just rambling on…there is a particular technique that works every time for me.

If I feel my ideas are weak, instead of just bullshitting

“oh i was inspired by the way he constructs the line of paint to form an illusion in my eye…” (if that even makes sense).

I take a break from working, go out for a meal, watch a movie, take my camera around town, look at fashion, revisit the BMAG, talk to people….that’s one that has to work for everyone….talking to people also triggers ideas, it doesn’t even have to be relevant to your project (it could be about spaceships or hula hoops) ! getting yourself out of your working environment and out of your comfort zone is the way forward !

Getting Rid of Assumptions can be  more difficult, especially if you don’t like getting out of your comfort zone. but in this case keeping an open mind is important, being diplomatic and being adaptable helps.  this time my point doesn’t relate to a project or an artist i have found stumbled upon, this is more from experience. In my previous course at college i was taught to look  very deliberately at the composition, texture, meaning, motivation and method ( or CTMMM for short… say it with me now!)

we were taught how important it was to know the intention of the Artist, but what i wasn’t taught to express  was what i thought of the image or what I thought it meant.

But then I visited Paris. 5 days in early January spent with my partner. The food, the people, the art, the instant buzz is just phenomenal….now you’re probably thinking I came back and my college work was loved by my tutors and I only ever wrote my opinion and thoughts in my coursework….BALLS did it…

it was frustrating…producing photographs was the easy part, I can do that, but I found it almost impossible having to change my concepts and feelings when it came to projects just to please everyone else and get a good grade. BUT this made me realise a lot, and it reassured me. bite the bullet, get by, and keep this new way of thinking, be the opposite to them, be diplomatic, refresh myself with something new with every opportunity i get…
Because of this, I realised that it is important to keep an open mind…and i wouldn’t be where i am if i hadn’t become the way I have.
In a bizarre way, i can sort of relate my point to an Artist from a BBC4 documentary i watched. the Art of America. the Artist James Rosenquist started off  in advertising, Hated every second of it except painting the times square billboards. so after a few years, he began to produce  his own work, voice his views, using the skills he learned from the Ad world and i admire that.

Drawing & Language

What is drawing ?
A sketch, a design, an idea, a plan, an expression…it is a way of expressing your thoughts, and so through this language, anybody can see, recognise and relate to the ideas being conveyed.
It is a language that can be recognise by the entire world, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that the drawing or symbol means the same everywhere. check out this link to see what I mean (LINK =] ) 

the most direct use of drawing as language is hieroglyphics, Chinese and Japanese characters see this link to see how pictures became characters in Japanese kanji. check out this link…(LINK 2 =] )

What is Language ?
Language is an active form of communication. any active form of communication or person to person communication is design to give meaning. For example this can range to anything from sign language or an advert.

The motive that joins the principles of drawing an language is a simple desire to say something. Saying something is the focus of communication, and as forms of communication drawing and language are incredibly effective.

After researching for pieces of drawing as a communicative language i found some interesting bits from videos on YouTube, where intelligent thinkers have used visual communication (drawing) to explain incredibly complex ideas, this way, all audience can follow and understand the context. The videos are in-depth explanations of ideas important to us as creative's in the Western World.

The first video on my blog; ‘Story of Stuff; How Things Work About Stuff’ explains the consumer cycle and it’s flaws. check it out..

 

Technically the video is more moving image than any other medium. But it is the scratchy hand drawn style that makes a wordy lecture on consumerism palatable, entertaining and informative. All consumers should  watch this video; we are all part of this cycle undeniably so we should all be informed on how it works, to get informed, there can be no better way that that entertaining yourself with a 21 minute YouTube video.

Using kinetic typography to illustrate Fry’s essay on language, the videographer has taken the way Fry uses language, the meter and music of his speech; and used them to animate the words he is saying to further illustrate his point. i love this video because it is a video about language, created with language, using the principles of language as we see it on the page and hear it in speech. By visualising the speech and hearing it, you start to notice difference between what you hear and what you see/read. day to day in our normal conversations we pick up 70-80% of what is said, enough to generate a theme or gist to act, on adding new information to what is already in our heads. we rarely listen entirely. a strange effect of kinetic typography; and this is something you can check out for yourself, there are plenty of videos on YouTube,  you’ll find engaging two senses in the appreciation of a single set of information means you take in so much more; and in the sense of this video become immersed in Fry’s words and iconic voice.