RANDOM IMAGE/WORD ASSOCIATION (REFLECTION)

In my opinion, random image/word association enables our brain to think and work out of the box through a fixed method to give a creative solution that comes with certain messages or meaning behind indirectly.

The way of associating random image/word would be relating a characteristic of something random with another thing which does not have any or only small concern with it. An example has been given in the class which the colours of the traffic lights are used to indicate the level of danger of smoking.

When we are running out of ideas, this method can be used to reignite reactive thinking. We can actually look at things/environment around us and start thinking to relate two random things together.

This is one of the other ways of associating random things

“I am seeking a way to reduce discomfort for passengers on trains.
With a group of passengers, we look out of the window and see a school.
Associations from school are learning, bullying, exams, playtime.
Ideas include teaching the rail company how uncomfortable the seats are, taking a firm stance in this, giving marks for different trains and seats and having games on trains so passengers do not notice the uncomfortable seats.

How it works

Random Words works in particular by making you go elsewhere for ideas, and hence pushes you out of your current thinking rut. It uses the principle of forced association to make you think in new ways and create very different ideas. “

Quoted from http://creatingminds.org/tools/random_words.htm

Here are some funny images that I like to share with viewers which involve some random situations and their solution.

FISH TRYING TO GET FOOD. HOW?

'Here is a big problem. Your job is to divide it into smaller problems and blame it on other people.'

Both picture are taken from http://www.cartoonstock.com/directory/p/problem_solving.asp

All in all, I would like to conclude actually associating random images requires association of random words as well to attack a problem from a different direction to normal. Last but not least I would like to show another 2 situations of associating random image/word which then leads to bridging ideas based on stimulus.

"Quick example 1:

Using the random word "Balloon" in the context of new ideas about cars.A bridging idea could be that you inflate the balloon under the car.

The advantages of this would be that the car jack would not puncture rusty cars and that cars could be raised on soft ground.

The resulting final idea could be to have a car jack which spreads its force more evenly under the car and onto the ground.

Quick example 2:

Using a random word of "Spacecraft" in the context of new ideas about kitchens.A bridging idea would be to consider what would happen if the kitchen was in space and what would happen because of gravity.

The resulting idea could lead to the fact that you would need to stop the pans from floating off the cooker/hob.

This could lead to using magnets to hold the pans on (back on the earth's surface). This would stop small children from accidentally pulling the hot pans onto themselves. Or how about using a magnetic field to heat the pan?"

Quoted from http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/randomwordtutorial.html .

THANKS FOR READING.

Exercise of Random Association

1) Eyes: Cats are known to have scary eyes with long pupils
In practice, what might this mean?
These scary eyes of a cat will haunt people especially during the night and hence, the cat gives you a grudge and an experience that you will never forget.

2) Screech: The scary yet annoying screech/cry of a cat will give you sleepless nights
In practice, what might this mean?
Whenever a cat gets angry, it cries loudly with a really sharp sound which then leads to scratching on you and so, be careful. This will bring a long trauma.

3) Claws: Dangerous claws that might even give you the scar of life and other bad side effects
In practice, what might this mean?
Cat scratch would lead to cat-scratch disease and fever. Moreover, it usually happens from a scratch, lick, or bite of a cat. Besides, more than 90% of people with the disease have had some kind of contact with cats, often with kittens.


4) Teeth: Sharp teeth will munch the flesh of every being the cat has ever encountered if it feels extreme hunger and desperation
In practice, what might this mean?
What if a cat with saber-tooth does exist? Grabbing its prey in a second and killing with its large fangs without you noticing it would be something which we should be aware of.



The illustration is displayed here... AT LAST!!!

POEMS IN CLASS (INTERESTING AND FUN!)

GOOD ABOUT WOMEN

If women are meant to be garbage,
I’m the dustbin seeing them as treasure,
The world would make a change,
That garbage is the sexiest thing ever.

BAD ABOUT WOMEN

If women are seen as garbage,
Getting rid of them I must,
Poison in heart, beauty on face,
Cunning soul betraying your trust.

LOVE and CHILI

If your love represented chilli,
I would have eaten sambal daily,
Given sensational feeling of it,
Oh my, too hot I can’t resist.

LIFE and SPORTS-CAR

Life is a very long journey,
Like a sports-car completing a race,
Chance of life never comes easy,
Grab it, do not ever waste.

ICE-CREAM and PAIN

Ice-cream you give me a toothache,
Every bite I get is torturing,
Watch your tongue for word mistake,
Otherwise, pain you’ll be getting.

LOVE and CREDIT CARD

Loving someone isn’t that hard,
Always care to give good deed,
Just like a reliable credit card,
Just swipe when you’re in need.

TIME and HAPPINESS

Time flies like nobody’s business,
But it would soothe, heal and cure,
Bringing back one’s happiness,
That one has been wishing for.

CAT-DUCK and LOVE

Place a cat and a duck together,
Fighting is what we might see,
Let’s learn to love each other,
Negotiate for peace and harmony.

Thank You for Reading

Reflection on Impossible Merger

Impossible merging shows two parties that cannot work hand in hand (they cannot rely on one another) and in the end both cannot survive in certain atmosphere and environment. A good example would be a bird merging with a fish (upper part is the fish head and lower part represents bird legs). Furthermore, this merged creature would not survive for sure (maybe for few hours) because it needs to be breathing in water and on land at the same time. Well, what would happen if Marlboro (a cigarette company) merged with Anlene (a milk powder production company)? Could that be possible? Yes, they could merge but they would go bankrupt in a short time because there would be conflict which involves their policy especially when it comes to the health aspect (a cigarette and milk powder, what do you think?).

Some words can be related to each other even though they are both very random. One example that has been shown in the class is relating chilli and love. One good phrase taken from one of the students is “if chilli is the flavour of food, love is the flavour of life”. The next post would be two poems relating women and garbage. How contradicting can it be? It’s a challenging task given by the lecturer!

JUXTAPOSITION IN CLASS

Like I mentioned just in previous post, these sketches are the ones that I have done during the lecture. The first one is spider-flower and I have drawn the picture of a person spying the flour (so it is 'spy the flour' which sounds pretty the same as spider-flower). The second one is lightning mountain and lastly, it is oil rock.

SPY THE FLOUR (SPIDER-FLOWER)

LIGHTNING MOUNTAIN

This one is pretty direct, isn't it?

And the last one is shown below.

OIL ROCK

WHAT I KNOW ABOUT JUXTAPOSITION (REFLECTION)

Juxtaposition is a weird way (but it still makes sense in the end) of positioning 2 objects together in a parallel way to produce something creative. Two unrelated objects with different concept are randomly selected to solve a problem or to achieve a goal. In class, I have encountered a few tasks of making juxtaposition like flower-spider and it takes me quite some time to illustrate and connect spider and flower together.

I have got a few pictures here which show random juxtaposition and they help me understand the meaning better and better.

Here's a good link of showing humourous juxtaposition http://finalembrace.com/2008/12/04/mixed-signals-at-the-fail-blog/ .

Here are two pictures taken from the link above.

This really makes me laugh and the words that are stated in the image are totally apposing each other. Same goes with the one below!

Here's an art of showing juxtaposition, a picture edited using two unrelated random elements such as the woman's face and the skull. It shows life and death of the woman at the same time. Creatively, it shows the appearance of the woman if she is dead next time (the skull represents that). Image taken from link http://bridgetocolumbia.blogspot.com/2008/07/women-with-half-face.html .

I guess that is all for now and shall continue with another post showing my version of juxtaposition which has been done in the class!

REFLECTION OF BEING EVIL AND MIND-MAPPING

Mind-mapping is a creative way of organising data’s in a very quick way to find a solution by looking at the overall arrangement of those data’s. Hence, better ideas can be generated. For example, I have posted the mind-map entitled evil me which portrays my bad habits such as wasting time and getting my work delayed till the last minute to get it done. Well, I do admit I have even done this mind map in the very last minute.

Here are some helpful points (hopefully) taken from link http://www.12manage.com/methods_mind_mapping.html .

HINTS FOR MIND MAPPING

-positioning the main idea in the center
-use lots of space, so things can be added later
-colors and capitals are useful. Personalize your map
-look for relationships
-create sub centers for sub themes

STRENGTH OF MIND-MAPS

-simplicity
-associative, any ideas with many links
-visual
-radial, allows you to work in any direction
-overview, helps you to the big picture and relationships between issues

I found something interesting in my lecture about being evil. The interesting point is being evil can be good too. Why? In a way, I guess being evil to help others is not a really bad thing, isn’t it? That is what I think for now but I would like to share another justification or philosophy here which is taken from http://www.dpjs.co.uk/good.html .

“Good is derived from evil. Evil is the father of good, without good evil still exists but not vice versa.

My essay ‘Satan is the Dark Force in Nature’ highlights the evil of the natural world. Not only that but it shows how the good in the natural world is based on evil. This essay goes further. Even the moralistic, conscious and righteous good of Human Beings is based on evil and materialism. The complete picture of the living and natural world is that evil dominates: without evil there would be no good. But without good, there is still evil. To deny evil is to deny good. For us this unholy reality is represented by Satan.”

I honestly think what the writer is trying to say here is logically correct.

“When a mature person accepts that part and parcel of their own happiness is dependent on being a successful social animal, that making others happy makes one self happy, is that person selfish or altruistic? Of course it's plain old selfishness; altruism is surely just long-term selfishness. Altruism is a hypocritical concept”

All in all what I have discovered here is all good stuffs are born from evil. In short, good is based on evil. There are certain incidents which give us some lesson to be learnt whichever is wrong or right.

MIND-MAP EVIL ME!

This simple mind-map represents the evil inside me which I feel happy that finally I could express the guilt inside me and share with viewers here. Well, what else is needed to be explained? My mind-map speaks it all.

Guess Who This Is

Presenting my edited picture or photo manipulation symbolising certain someone who is famous enough to be known in this whole world.

Novelty, Innovation and Invention

Novelty is the perceived quality of being new. The word “novelty” itself is novel to me because honestly, I have never encountered such word before. Novelty comes when we see something not seen or fresh to us. It brings surprise and excitement. I guess when I first watched the first Jurassic Park movie in the cinema, I happened to have this “novelty” feeling. Graphics of gigantic dinosaurs which seemed to be realistic enough impressed me till my eyes were wide-opened. That is how I put the word “novelty” here.

Innovation means modification of something that has been created into something better and more useful. In other words, it is upgrading an invention. Japanese people are known to be very innovative because they just love to modify inventions that have been made in European countries (especially cars). The Japanese engineers have their own engines for car racing and motorcycle grand prix. Somehow they manage to make their own brands and the brands become popular. For example, Sony came up with the first impressive CD-player which was incredibly popular back in 1980’s. There a lot of inventions that have been made and this has inspired the young generation to edit or to “recreate” them to be something even more futuristic and believable. Well, it was Sony again who invented Discman (disc walkman) which was a dream of every teenager in 1983. The image below shows the picture of the first Discman, D-50.

Creating something new based on pre-existing ideas which involve long thinking process and models that could be references or guidance. The fun thing about inventions is there are no rules to be followed. A failure is a new beginning of invention. Furthermore, Thomas Edison had failed thousands of times before he successfully created a working filament which gives out light. Then, there came the invention of light-bulbs which have been used by us from generation to generation. Just imagine what would be without Thomas Edison’s discovery? We would still be leaving with candles and firewood every night!

This is some simple invention (picture below taken from http://www.ezprezzo.com/crazypics/weird_inventions.html ) I would like to share with you guys. I find it funny and amusing. It’s weird and creative. In my opinion, this thing might be useful for patients in the hospital or for sick fellows who are having trouble of getting tissues (you know when we’re sick, we tend to get lazy).

WHAT REFLECTS CREATIVITY

If you did something extraordinary, making sense and adored by many people, you would be called a creative person. If you tried to do something extraordinary which people didn’t apprehend, got lost and confused, you would be called crazy.

In order to get creativity, one must think. One must have done a lot of researches especially on great Pablo Picasso or Leonardo da Vinci. Skills and sometimes talents reflect one’s creativity. Furthermore, daring imagination would help enhancing creativity (pushing to the limit). Well, from the lecture notes that are given by my Creative Studies lecturer, Mr. Ahmad Radzi, there is a statement which says writer’s block is a greatest obstacle in the creative process. I think I really like that statement because it reflects that creativity would not be coming to us instantly especially famous writers who are trying to get themselves inspired. It needs a lot of hard-work, sweat and blood to overcome the obstacles of having a creative mind. Perfect practice makes perfect.

Last but not least, I would like to share a few pictures here which show creativity (yeah these are the extraordinary kind of creativity).

FROM LEFT, CLOCKWISE

The Basket Building (USA), The Crooked Building (Poland), Dancing House (Czech Republic), Piano House (China), Kansas City Library (USA), Sam Kee Building (Canada).

WHAT I THINK ABOUT CREATIVITY

Creativity? What is that? It's an ability to generate and perform new ideas or solutions to solve certain problems. Creativity obviously involves thinking because it doesn't come just like that. Moreover, creating something different is not easy. Creativity doesn't only include creating or inventing something but also how things are being developed. Things have to be seen in different ways in order to achieve this (for example, mathematical questions).

In my opinion, young kids and children have so-called pure creativity because they tend to do certain things (such as drawing, playing with plasticine and toys) which sometimes are 'out of the box'. We, adults sometimes don't even understand what they are trying to convey in whatever they are doing. Let's say a kid who just scratches the drawing paper with his painted hands. That would maybe get appreciated by a famous artist because it portrays creativity that has never been shown before. One serious problem that we face in our life as we are growing older and older is that we do the same thing in our daily routine such obeying the law, doing what people always tell us to do and going to the same place over and over again (school and office). This causes us to have the tendency to think the same as what other people think also. As a result, we tend to think that a chair is just for sitting, nothing more and nothing less. Meanwhile, small kids would see this chair in a different way, maybe as a living friend with four legs or a defending army fortress.

Therefore, people need to be criticised for getting creative. This helps creative people such as artists and designers to think more using their brains (well, people are considered creative at the moment they use their brains to think) in order to create competitive ideas which people would say, “Wow, unbelievable!”. Mobile phones can now be used for capturing images and video purposes. Who knows if these devices would transport us from one place to another next time? Creativity at times requires fantasy and impossible dreams to make certain things possible.

The image of three clean/neat looking toys posted here shows the trend of popular yet demanding toys nowadays. Same goes to Bearbrick (bear-like 'Lego'). WHY ARE THEY SO POPULAR? This is because they are cute, simple, unique and interesting in so many endless designs (seriously, I really mean endless creative designs).

The pictures ( taken from a video called Cartoon Network Rebrand 2008/09) below show a creative presentation about some random cartoon characters. Why do I think that those images show creativity? It's obvious, isn't it? When you watch this video, creative transitions and characters' appearances make every single thing in that video so catchy. I bet viewers would agree with me! Screenshots taken from the video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Lp-rHFKtpA .


Finally, I guess I stop my first post by now. There still are many stuffs to be posted soon...!