Food as Innovation

On the past saturday we made an arduino project. Arduino is a microcontroller that allows you to control leds, motors, lcd's, speaker, etc. You can make and design a lot of things using Arduino. At first it was very difficult to work with it, because we didn't know anything about it. We needed to know about programming and also understand circuits so we could make a prototype for a social intervention. My team and I focused on the problem that in a caffeteria, students normally are indifferent to other unknown people. So we made a kind of Simon says way using arduino; this game will be on a table so you can play with a person you don't know and while doing it you will be interacting between each other. A thing I learned that day: We can do anything that we come up with, if we persist and have our goal well defined.

Today, we learned about food and how to innovate with it. Since food is a necessity, everyone buys it. So, food is a powerful material because it can be/ has been anchored, can connect people and makes them feel, share ideas, makes people feel comfortable and simple it is life by itself. Food combined with a multi-sensory experience can produce a great effect on the customer. An example are the fruit- fireworks that combines visual, smelling, and posible tasting experience; you can search it on the internet to see the people's reactions.
I leave you a mindmap that my team and I did.

That's all for today, wish you the best !

Want it? get it.

It is very helpul to go to conferences about some interesting topics like entrepenurship. While you listen to the exhibitor, you become more open-minded because you can learn from what they have done. Entrepenurs demonstrate that creating something new and making it work is not easy.But they aslo prove that if you follow your passion you can achieve anything that you come up with. You can learn from them in every aspect, they remind you that not always you are going to be at excellent moments, there are also dark moments while you are working hard to accomplish your dreams. Therefore, it is very important to have an excellent business associate to help and complement you.

Remember to chase your passion. That's all for today, I wish you the best.

Keep on the road

It is very important that when analizing a problem, we must stay focused on it. We have to define it, stablish the job to be done, make a kind of story board (so we can implement a solution easier) and of course what it is required to do it (materials). When presenting your idea/proyect to someone else, knowing to improvise can be a very helpful hand, if something goes wrong. Remember that to do something creative, that something needs to be interesting for you. That's all for today, wish you the best.

Focus Pocus

Focus... besides it is a common word, it is very important to completely understand and aply it in each situation that requires it. If we totally focus on a problem, we will forget about the fatigue that we problably have. We also tend to ignore what other people think about what we are doing if we are truly concentrated. And that's a another key for creativity; we need to try things and don't care about the thoughts of other people ( unless, they are intended to help us).

The improvisation is another important aspect that we should practice more often. It helps us focus on different tasks; why? because it requires us to involve our mind to create the scene and take it out of us, so we can visualize it.

One exercise I recommend to improve our perception of the surroundings and therefore our improvisation is the following. Find a spot where you can be comfortable and close your eyes; try to focus in every single sound and try to figure out where does it come from. You can create different types of exercises like these to devolop our concentration. Personally, it truly helped me (my teacher thought us that exercise).

Well, that's all for today.

I wish you the best.

Take what is available

It is very important that when you are analizing a situation, that you don't lose the problem/what you want to do during the process. If you keep in mind your definition of the problem, it will be easier to give different propositions of solutions.  And remember that creativity requires hard work; it is not just only a sudden insight.

Take in consideration that when doing something creative, you can use the information that is available. With this, you don't have to do a product/process you need when it is available on the internet or market. (the information to achieve the process or the tangible product).

That's all for today, I wish you the best.

Work, work and work

Being creative isn't as easy as it seems; it requires hard work.  Creativity is a process and as you probably know, it's based on having ideas/new ways of doing a thing. In order to have a way more amount of ideas of a specific area, we need to have information/knowledge about it. So yes, creativity is more common in people who are more specialized in an specific area.

If someday you want to do a social impact in a certain type of "problem"; first of all you need to completely define what you consider the problem to be. Asking questions and making analysis will help you a lot in defining a problem. You need to identify what's happening in the place you are analizing with your 7 senses; so then you can ask why's questions about the aspects that you discovered when using the senses. The results can susprise you, trust me.

One important aspect on the analysis is to consider the critical points; these are representative "expressions" that we make to demonstrate what we think or not think. A few examples: Mmmm (decision), wooow, Eureka, etc.

That's all for today, wish you the best !

We have 7 senses... USE THEM.

I'm seeing that object... I guess I know it completely. Sometimes we think that by seeing things or people we know them already; this is not true. The sight is just one of the 7 senses that we have and we usually just base our perception on it. The other 6 senses are: touch, taste, smell, hearing, intuition and kinestesy. I know that you may not be familiarized with the last two; I personally wasn't. The intuition is what you know that you don't know how you know it. The kinestesy is the movement of the matter.

To fully know and understand something, we probably need to "evaluate" it through all our senses.  We are not used to touch the walls of the streets or smelling the computers, etc. Because we are "afraid" of what people can think about us. We need to break those creativity blocks in order to improve our way we perceive the world.

In the class, we did an exercise of the above. We chose a day of the week and a situation we commonly have. Then we started to do some brainstorming about the things/people and feelings we are more exposed to in that situation. We had to do it with the different 7 senses in order to have a complete point of view.

We are planning( My team and I) in collecting some evidence of our chosen situation, so we can analize and verify the evidence with our proposed ideas.

Well, that's all for today.   Hope your are doing excellent and remember to use all your senses!

Hi ! Hope you are doing excelent.

This week I made a fractangle.... What is it? It is a kind of drawing made of consecutive and repetitive patterns all over the image. It took me like 3 hours, but I expected my fractangle to be better. My friends made really amazing ones; I understood that one of the keys to do a better job or create something is to be patient. I also learned that decision making is one of the most important aspects to be succesful and creative.  There exist different techniques of this process; one of the most common is : the six thinking hats. It consists on 6 hats of 6 colors: red, black, white, yellow, blue and green. The person who "has" the red hat will analize the situation with emotions/feelings; with black the negative aspects; white, gather all the information and stablish criteria; yellow, positive aspects; green, creative solution or other options; and blue who will be the "leader" to decide who will have which hat.

Going back to the creativity concept, according to John Cleese creativity can't be explained at all. I analized every single word that he said in a talk, and thought: ´This guy is right'. To be creative you need to be in the open mode: curiosity, accept and consider many different aspects. The closed mode is the opposite; you do the things according to your parameters.
Cleese says that in order to be more efficient, we need to know how to switch from one mode to another. Because the open mode helps you take a decision and the closed one helps you to accomplish it. Creativity is impossible in the closed mode.
He stablishes five things to have, so we can achieve the open mode ( creativity):
1. Space: needs to be quiet and silent.
2. Time: stablish a range of time to think (more than an hour and a half, preferably).
3. Time: pacience, play mith the problem.
4. Confidence: Don't be afraid of commiting "mistakes".
5. Humor:  Essence of being playful.

After analizing the talk I "took" another important aspect: If you stay/play longer with a problem, you will obtain a more creative solution. Also if you don't know how to start or you are stock; start doing some random connections and let your intuition guide you.
 Here is the link to John Cleese's talk: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tmY4-RMB0YY&app=desktop

In a fast world, thing slowly.   ( Frank Portray)
This man says that we can not do everything inmediately when it is "given" to us; we should procastinate a little. So, we need to stablish priorities to be more efficient and neither be lazy. He talked about a study that if people win more money, they tend to be more impatient.  Here is the link to the audio: https://soundcloud.com/hbrideacast/314-in-a-fast-world-think
 Remember that patience is one of the  big keys to be more creative.

After hearing those two talks, I feel that I'm more aware and motivated to do the tasks.

That's all for today; See ya !

Western Creative Perspective

Hi, fellows

This are some "answers" to the 10 statements of the western creative perspective.

1.  1.  The essence of creativity is the moment of insight ?

According to Marilyn Ferguson, making mental connections is our most important tool in this world.  It is the reason of human intelligence and it makes us see more and beyond the normal patterns. Therefore, joining different things and concepts is the essence of creativity.

2.      2.  Creative ideas emerge mysteriously from the unconscious ?

There is no such a thing of having new ideas in a logical method or reconstruction of the process. Each discovery contains an irrational element or a creative intuition. (Bergson)

3.       3. Creativity is more likely when you reject the convention?

The creative individual retains a ready access to “childlike traits”, ignoring the convention and asking questions that a normal person wouldn’t ask or try to figure out.

4.      4.  Creative contributions are more likely to come from an outsider?

One who doesn’t know enough is an outsider, if you know less your invent more. (Lehrer). Not following completely the status quo (convention) gives you a more creative thinking. So, having an outsider thinking is helpful to be creative; although you have to know what the problem/or whatever is about (be an insider, but not completely submerged in an area).

5.     5.   People are more creative when they are alone?

Nowadays, groups are very important because ideas emerge when having/had a conversation with other people.  Yes, being alone sometimes is important, but having a balance is the key to maximize creativity. ( R. Keith,)

6.      6.  Creative ideas are often ahead of their time?

This could be a thought that is true for some people, because in other centuries, scientists’ work wasn´t recognized until their death. Now, we know that creative ideas not necessary should be to “take” the world to another era.

7.       7.  Creativity is a personality trait?

According to David a creative personality includes some common traits like: love putting things together, being curious, different, playful, adventurous, spontaneous, not accurate, are enthusiastic, take actions, etc.

8.     8  Creativity is based in the right brain ?

It´s not; creativity needs the whole brain function, drawing many different areas in a complex way. So the person can “connect the dots”.

9.      9.  Creativity and mental illnesses are connected?

Many people thing that if someone has a mental illness he has also creativity. But, there is no link between creativity and mental illness. However there is still a debate. (Keith Sawyer)

10.   Creativity is a healing, life affirming activity?

Creative activity is a life-affirming process that combats anxiety and inspires a sense of hope. (Lanza)

Bibliographies:

-CONSCIOUSNESS of UNITY: to be ONE WITH EVERYTHING. ETHOLOGY & SOCIOBIOLOGY. 2005 . Recovered in february 3 2014.  https://notes.utk.edu/Bio/greenberg.nsf/e08245418645cf0d85256d36006a320d/54c9b36456eb689185256d36006aae7b?OpenDocument

Boden, M. Dimensions of creativity. Books,google. Recovered in February 11 2014.

http://books.google.es/books?hl=es&lr=&id=xo4CJ6bjid0C&oi=fnd&pg=PP9&dq=%22creativity%22+AND+%22ideas%22&ots=AJaQe281KS&sig=uGJAl_9SGQZexIc1g1P00BWsJbs#v=onepage&q=creative%20ideas&f=false

Bruce. New Zeland, to be creative make use of outsiders. Blogspot. August 22, 2012. Recovered in February 11, 2014. http://leading-learning.blogspot.mx/2012/08/new-zealand-teachers-to-be-creative.html

Lyman,D. The Creative Personalit. On Being Creative . . . who are creative people?. 2000. Recovered in February 14, 2014. http://www.onbeingcreative.com/OnBeingCreative.com/Being_Creative.html

Keith, R. Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation. Google,books. 2012. Recovered in February 14, 2014. http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=QyJjyZ_YBAkC&pg=PA407&lpg=PA407&dq=5.+People+are+more+creative+when+they+are+alone?&source=bl&ots=1E2zGM44gO&sig=j0JVm2Eq1to8ZmgOwNW6ZJDZlos&hl=es-419&sa=X&ei=EFD-UsuHEunhygHNsIGwBg&ved=0CDAQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=5.%20People%20are%20more%20creative%20when%20they%20are%20alone%3F&f=false

Keith, R.Creativity and Mental Illness: Is There a Link?. Huff Spot Science. 11/02/2012 Recovered in February 17, 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-r-keith-sawyer/creativity-and-mental-ill_b_2059806.html

Lanza, L. FINDING MEANING THROUGH IMAGINATION. Inkwings. 2013. Recovered in February 17, 2014.

http://www.inkwings.com/index_right.html

Drawing and more Drawing

Hi there! hope you are doing excelent. Well, today I will be telling you what we did in the class.
The things we did, I wasn't used to do; but of course I gave my best effort. First of all we answered an online quiz on the web page: Shellycarson.com. It was about discovering the type of brainset we have. There are 7 categories: connect, reason, envision, absorb, transform, evaluate and stream brainsets. In the quiz I got more points in the absorb mode ( which is absorbing information without judging) and then in the envision and reason mode. Also, there are two pathways to creative ideas: Deliberate and Spontaneous; I got more points in the spontaneous way.

After that, we needed to use the different brainsets, depending on the exercise. The teacher put music and we had to draw like a kind of line of frequence identifying the song. Then in another exercise, 3 or 4 friends passed to the front so they could feel and touch a certain thing that was in a bag (you couldn't see it). After that, they told to the rest of the classmates a description about the object; we needed to draw what we were listening. There were more exercises like putting 50 dots randomly on a white page and then connecting those dots; the point was making a figure. Another one was: drawing water being taking from a desert, but the interesting in that was doing it with our eyes closed.

After that, we divided a piece of paper into 8 parts. The teacher told us 8 words, and we needed to draw them. There was another exercise that consisted in drawing a simmetrical scenario, with both hands at the same time; also drawing a not simmetrical one. The last activity was physically exhausting; we drew during 40 minutes a scenario that consisted on drawing the same patterns/figures many times.

All of the exercises mentioned above helped us to "take the wave".

Well, that's all for today. See you on the next blog ! Thanks for reading.

Connecting the dots

Scenario with same patterns

simmetrical scenario

The Self- Portrait

Today in our creativity workshop, we went to a painting workshop. It was an awesome class, because we learned about the important facts of a portrait; specially a self-portrait. How the artist draws the face factions (nose, eyes, lips.etc.) represent the emotions of the image. The face is the most difficult and important part of a body that we need to understand in order to appreciate the emotions on a self-portrait. I also learned that the color contrast is relevant to capture the attention of the viewer. Of course the visit was not only about hearing theory, but also about experimenting. It was our turn to draw/paint ( or at least try it); so to help us get inspired in drawing our self-portrait, the teacher put music. Well, before that we closed our eyes for about 6 minutes and imagined our memories so we could apply them in our paint. One important aspect about today´s process, was drawing with the hand you are not used to use , while literally touching your face so you cold feel it and understand it.

I learned that to be creative you need to do different things, even though they are not of your "area". Also, we must understand us more.
Well, that's all for today.  Hope you read the next blog!


I leave you my self-portrait that I was painting today.  (It is not finished)

Let your Imagination Fly

On the second week of the innovation workshop we did something interesting. It was writing a story; but not in a normal way as we use to think. First of all we got into teams of three, then our teacher said a word so we could begin to write a story with that. Each member of the team started to write its own story for a time of one minute or so. During that time the teacher was giving us words so we could continue writing about that. To make it more interesting, when the time passed, we swiched the paper where we were writing the story with someone else's. When that was done we needed to continue the story of the other person with the same process from before. That was a completely new experience to me; I could notice how I had to think and try to catch the point of another person. Then after finishing the activity, we needed to translate to a visual language ( making drawings that represent our stories). When this was done, one team was trying to know the story of another team by connecting the ideas of the drawings and doing mimic.

This was a tecnique to improve our flow of imagination, so that could help us in our process to develop creativity. To have a more creative thinking, we need to first know what the problem is. Then we need to understand the language that is presented and to know how to translate it to another one; so we can transfer our knowledge to other people. Another important aspect is to know the assets of each scene/step/process, etc. so we can elevate the emotions and understand them better.

Connecting the dots is the clue.

Thanks for reading, hope you read the next one!

Blocks of Creativity

Hi, I'm Luis Carrales and I will be posting once a week what I have learned in my innovation and creativity workshop...  Hope you like it !


In the second class I learned new things; the most important one was: creativity has blocks. Why everyone can´t be creative when they want? Is it that, not everyone is creative? As you can imagine, everyone is creative, or in better words: has the ability to be. What happen, is that we usually have different types of blocks. These can be: from within, from other people, technological, and cultural. Most of the time people are afraid to do certain things, because they care about what others can say/thing. Also, sometimes we give ourselves limitations about what we can do and this affects our behavior. We can not forget that religion and culture affect our development either in a positive or negative way. This depends on what you want to do; for example some religions have taboos about science or techonology.

We need to remember that creativity is a PROCESS, this means that you won't be creative in  fractions of seconds or in the next day. To be creative requires time and KNOWLEDGE; we have to "connect the dots" so we can solve a problem. To do so, we need to have previous knowledge and a complete vision of it. Otherwise, it will be more difficult and then we will realize that the problem was simplier than it seemed; but we couldn't figure it out because we hadn't a complete vision.

To conclude, we need to know and apply different languages like: mathematical, sensorial, mechacinal, etc., so we can perform better when trying to be creative. To achive it, we must be in a continous process of learning and experiencing.

That's all for today, thank you and regards!