Cheryl Martin

  Julie Burstein – Four lessons in creativity   Julie Burstein talked about how a Raku, Japanese pottery is a metaphor for the process of creativity. She shared about how she had to let go and start from the very beginning to write a book on creativity. She began immersing herself in stories of hundreds of artists, writers, musicians and film makers. She came to a realization that creativity grows from everyday experiences including letting go and that work, play and the 4 aspects of life is the key to creativity. A radio host Julie Burstein did a TED Talk. This TED talk with author and radio host Julie Burstein has been watched by a couple of million people. Julie weaves in many interesting and fascinating references to illustrate her points - starting with the need to embrace imperfection and how this is connected to the history of Japanese Raku pottery. Radio host   Julie Burstein  talks with creative people for a living — and shares four lessons about how to ...

  David Kelley – How to build your creative confidence   David explains that we as humans get inspirations from a variety of sources; it can be something we saw, heard or felt during our journey through life. And if you ask people what inspired them the most, they are most likely to surprise you by citing a person’s name as their source of inspiration. David Kelley is one of such personality, a source of inspiration for many people, not just in the design community but to everyone who listens to his speeches. He further explained the following.   Fear of Judgement: David believes that our ability to be creative is restricted only by our own self-inhibitions. We fear the harsh criticism and judgement people throw at us on our creative efforts. To demonstrate this point, David Kelley walks us through his childhood memories about his best friend, Brian. How Brian found a lump of clay and started to mould a clay horse, and seeing this, one of Brian’s classmate criti...

  TALES OF CREATIVITY & PLAY Tim Brown is the CEO of the “innovation and design” firm IDEO. This is the second video from IDEO people on this blog. First one was the 9th video of TED Talk series by David Kelley, the founder of IDEO.   In this video, Tim talks about the powerful relationship between creative thinking and play with many examples. He emphasizes the importance of using everyday items in a playful manner to nurture your creative self. As people get older, they tend to forget the importance and need to be playful. He also refers some scientific experiments conducted with people under the influence of psychedelic drugs. These drugs open up the mind and loosen up the control of our mind. As a result, the person acts more “creative”. People need to understand that, “creativity” is a natural characteristic of human beings. Look at children; they are all about creativity. As they grow older, they get conditioned by the social norms of what is acc...

  The Surprisingly Long History of Electric Cars   In an enlightening  Ted-Ed  lesson written by   Gil Tal  and  Daniel Sperling  of  UC Davis  that was animated by  Lobster Studio , narrator  Jack Cutmore-Scott  explains the long and surprising history of electric cars. While many believe that electric cars are a newer invention, it turns out that when the car was first invented there was an electric option. These cars were quieter and cleaner than other vehicles of the time, but they were expensive and the short battery life made them difficult to maintain. As car production grew greater and oil became more affordable, the idea of electric cars went by the wayside, however, in more recent times, the demand for non-petroleum fueled cars has skyrocketed. Perhaps electric cars will become the norm rather than the exception in the days to come. By the end of the 19th century, nearly 40% of American cars were electric...

  THE ERA OF OPEN INNOVATION BY CHARLES LEADBEATER Why Open Innovation is unstoppable? Charles Leadbeater argues that innovation isn’t just for professionals anymore. He wonderfully articulates that amateurs with passion and new tools are capable of creating products and paradigms. Charles Leadbeater  is the author of  We-Think: Mass innovation, not mass production: The Power of Mass.  In the video, he explains why  open innovation  is the future. Users and community’s innovation is unstoppable despite all the obstacles that it finds. Firstly, he uses the example of mountain bikes to explain how users create a product they wanted 15 years before the big bike companies realized that there was a market for it. That happened, according to Leadbeater, because  users had an incentive that big corporations hadn’t.  They were tired of the traditional products they were offered so they decided to create a new one. We have the ability to ...