CDES 102

A tambourine, a scribble, cloudy skies, boredom, fear, and a missing ruler

Here are six selections from last night’s quick exercise in which you wrote, in exactly three sentences, about the most useful constraint you’ve ever used in your own creative activities.

In high school I was in a design class where we were learning how to silk screen but we ran out of screens. Due to my lack of materials, I went home, fixed a broken tambourine, used a pair of ripped stocking as the screen, and used mod podge as the filler. It actually worked really well and many people admired my resourcefulness and creativity.

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The most useful constraint I have ever encountered is never having a ruler handy. It has forced me to determine the spacing I want in my various projects and developed my eye for distance and space. Using random objects as rulers has also led me to integrating new materials into my projects.

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In designing the front page of the newspaper, The Orion, I made it a goal to never do the same design twice. It has forced me to try new things and research more. I haven’t been comfortable or bored since.

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The most useful constraint I’ve ever experienced when attempting to be creative is probably the weather when making pictures. As a photographer, the weather greatly influences how my pictures turn out. Sun or rain has drastically forced me to be creative, even if I don’t choose to be.

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When drawing a picture for an art class I started with a quick scribble. I gave myself the rule that the scribble could not be erased. It forced me to incorporate it and come up with something I never thought I could.

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Fear is the most useful constraint I use with creative projects. Whether it be an assignment or personal goal, fear of not performing to my greatest ability makes me work harder, and faster. Granted, it’s not so much fear or something bad happening as it’s fear of not creating something to be proud of.

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What do all of these have in common? Embracing the constraint and finding a way to incorporate it into the creative activity. I suppose that it’s making lemonade out of lemons, to use a trite aphorism.

 

Everyone who submitted their exercise at the end of class will be getting four points extra credit.

Questions or comments? Please use the comments link below.

Byron and Alan

 

Posting commentary, online grades, extra credit

Thanks for everyone for your comments on the Superbowl ads. I was surprised to see that many of you reviewed them in other courses. I suppose that many of us faculty are all going to the same well-spring of ideas. 

I will be adding a few extra credit points to folks who joined the conversation on this, and the earlier discussion about Confirmation, Feedback loop, etc. I can't promise I'll get that done today, but its on my list of things to do. The points will be added to the orientation exercise.

Which leads me to my last comment: I've entered 10 points for everyone who properly submitted the orientation exercise. You should be able to access your grades in this class through Blackboard Learn.

There were a small handful who didn't submit the exercise. I tried sending an email and talking to you in class. I'm assuming that since I've not heard from you that you've decided to drop. You should be aware that you are still enrolled.

Questions about any of the above? Please email Byron 

Superbowl Ads, authenticity, and the shape of storytelling

Kurt Vonnegut on the shape of storytelling

As promised, here's the brief video of author Kurt Vonnegut describing the classic shape of every story. It's funny, visual, and authentic. And easy to remember.

And as you recall, last night's class was all about the Super Bowl ads. What did you take away from the conversation? I'd like to know in one simple sentence (use the comments link, please)

And you might be interested to learn that the conversation over the Chevy Super Bowl ad is taking place in a larger arena than our humble little class. Here are a few links to articles in yesterday's New York Times. One, two, and three.

Questions or comments? Please use the comments link so that all can participate.
Byron and Alan 

NUDGE (p .170)

Hannah nailed it: the autoresponder e-mails and web site reminder/commentary were a form of Homogeneous Redundancy. You can read her comment for the full and accurate definition.

I'll admit, it's a definition that's hard to hold in your head for very long, but the easiest way to think about it is that the autoresponder email, and the posting I provided as a reminder and description of the process were redundant (not necessary, but added to help detect and correct errors). They're homogenous because there was more than one (similar) method involved. If I had all the time in the world, I might also go through the roll sheet to figure out who was missing the assignment and then call those who didn't get it in. But I'm not going to do that because of the Cost/Benefit Principle.

So why did I do it? Because I've learned from experience that dealing with errors ("I thought I turned it in - didn't you get it?!") is sometimes more time consuming than trying to address them before they occur. This is a critical principle in designed communications.

The other terms cited in the comments do apply in one way or another, but I thought Homogenous Redundancy was the most precise in this instance.

So, what's NUDGE? It's what I was trying to do with the extra credit. In this case, its a form of an INCENTIVE and FEEDBACK to alter or encourage a certain kind of behavior. I'm hoping that you will perceive some value in subscribing to and paying attention to the web site -and getting the (required) book. Moreover, I want to reward thoughtful and informed dialogue with one another, on this site, and in our class.

Will there be other incentives? Stay tuned.

Byron

Confirmation? Feedback Loop? Forgiveness? Redundancy? Huh?

If you have submitted your orientation exercise with the correct subject line to Byron's Chico State email address, you should have received an automated response. If you didn't get the response, something went wrong and you should investigate.

This posting and the return e-mail are good examples of which of the following UPOD (Universal Principles of Design) terms?

Confirmation

Feedback Loop

Forgiveness

Redundancy

You'll have to pick up the book and look into it as the answer isn't as obvious as it might first appear. Five bonus points will be awarded to the first person to select - and specifically and accurately explain - which is the most correct. Please use the comments link below to respond.

Byron