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Just over a year ago I started a little photo project that I then called, Daily Interestingness. Well, at this point it’s not always daily, but still going strong.
I’ve moved it to its own site (instead of a flickr set) under the title: hello mopho.
Some of my recent favorites are above.
In theory, the Internet is the great democratizer. I can publish or create art as a relative nobody and share it with the world. But in practice, this is an ideal. The internet is not the great democratizer in a final sense, it just provides more opportunities for exposure in the art and creative and intellectual spaces than we’ve ever had before.
The idea that all good work, all good art, all good thoughts always rise to the top is idealistic. It’s a good ideal, but when this idea is presented as fact, it’s naive. We are limited by time, culture, attention spans, and yes, even still influenced by celebrity/popularity.
So what? Other than my displeasure when ideals get presented as absolutes, I posted this as a reminder to you (and to myself) to do something very simple: support the things you love. Those artists, content producers, projects, non-profits, that you enjoy would love to have their stuff introduced to one new person that’s never been exposed to it before today.
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‘I’m Not Interested’
He’s speaking about Lady Gaga, but I think the quote is generally true.
I like pop culture. But to me, even if it’s popular, there is a quality in the music you have to be able to appreciate. And I don’t see it.
One of my favorite photographers, Jeremy Cowart, worked on some mixed-media fine art for NSAG (Nashville’s Smallest Art Gallery). I love it. Click through to hear more about his process and see other photos.
I love the (screen?) printing type-treatment on these cupcake boxes that mimics sugar, sprinkled on cupcakes. Awesome idea.
Battling mediocrity.
Paul is talking about writing and making music for his band, Mute Math, but everything he says can be applied to design or any other creative discipline. I think we often recognize when we’re doing something mediocre, but I think we rarely take (or have) the time to address it.
I think a bad habit we kind of developed since we started making music – and I’m not saying I’m not happy with the things we’ve recorded, because I definitely am – but in the quest to do something better, we realized one of the bad habits we’ve had is throwing stuff on top of other stuff to try to make it sound better as opposed to just writing one of the key parts to make it better.
A couple weeks ago I was bothered by how busy I’ve been and the fact that it has prevented me from properly picking up a camera, so I set a new goal: take a photo a day, with my cell phone. I’m calling it the Daily Interestingness.
It may be a bit presumptive of me to assume all of my photos will indeed be interesting, but the project has done a few things: it makes me think about photography again, it has put me on the look out for quirky objects and textures, and it’s a hell of a lot of fun.
One of best things of all is the use of a crappy cell phone camera, in my case: the iPhone. The constraints enforced by these inferior cameras make me think differently. I’m a firm believer that the right constraints will help you create better as opposed to having all of the options in the world available.
I want you to play too.
All of my photos get put in a set (linked above) on flickr and tagged with “daily interestingness”. I’d encourage you to do the same and we can all play along.
The Rules:
If you end up trying this out, or if you’re already doing something similar, post a link in the comments for us to check out.
A great list of things to do to remove a creativity block. It’s photography-oriented, but there’s some good ones for all creatives.
19. Quit your day job if you hate it and can live without it. People say it’s a bad time to start a new business or go in a new direction. On the flipside, I think it’s a great time if you’ve got a clear vision and a little cushion.
This might sound a bit conceited, but it takes a lot to get me to use someone else’s photo as my desktop background. This is my current laptop desktop. It’s a 30-second exposure taken by my friend Andrew Hyde as he followed a fellow fixie rider through the streets of Boulder. What a fantastic effect! Click through to his flickr account for the full image.
UPDATE: if you have a comment about the photo itself, be sure to click through to Andrew’s flickr account and leave it for him there.
I find that the biggest constraints I ever come across are those of my own making. There are times when I’ve got a vision for something, for example, but I lack the skill or know-how to accomplish what I want. …if you choose to follow the path of a designer, you need to always be learning if you want to grow.
Some of the best traditional design work I’ve seen in a while. I think she’s based out of Austin.
(via @dannynewman)
From Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression, by Studs Terkel.
(via Signal vs. Noise)
Someone who lost money found that his life was gone. When I lost my possessions, I found my creativity. I felt I was being born for the first time. So for me the world became beautiful.
We are defined by what we build. It’s not just the engineering ambition that designed these structures, nor the 20 people who died building the Brooklyn Bridge. It’s that we believe we can and decide to act.
Katie is a designer/illustrator from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I can’t remember how I stumbled onto her work, but I’m glad I did. Her illustration work is bold and fun. Even the more intricate pieces have a simplicity to them. Good stuff.
Showoff Films created a set of illustrations depicting ways that “creatives” get their ideas killed. I don’t usually have to deal with a catankerous creative director since that’s me, but I really identified with the two above.
Click through to The Inspiration Room for the rest of them. Really fun.
(via @jeffrey)
A great film on being an artist and the struggle with trying to be meaningful in your work. It kicked my ass.
Check out his blog post on the film or the original post at PhotoshopInsider.
(via @jeremycowart)
I ran across Joost Korngold’s Renascent year’s ago, but a recent post on Phil Coffman’s site reminded me of him.
Excellent motion graphics and 3D design work.
Check out both section’s of his portfolio.
(via Phil Coffman)
Gruber is building off of Jason Fried’s post on why you shouldn’t copy 37signals or anyone else. I liked Jason’s post, but I think Gruber’s observation is really the main point. When you build something you love, you’ll not only make a great product, but you won’t really need to copy anyone else.
The key ingredient I see in successful apps, Mac or web — and, really, in creative commercial endeavors of any kind — is that the creators are building something they themselves love. That’s what you should copy.
“It’s not where you take things from—it’s where you take them too.” Great thoughts on inspiration and the creative process that is derivative by nature.
(via ISO50 Blog)
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