Are you sitting comfortably or just stagnating?

Posted on March 27, 2013 by Passion 4

Art can often be seen as societies essential irritant. It challenges our perceptions, stirs emotions, stimulates senses, evokes debate and often transcends our understanding. All of which can be really good for us, if we embrace the challenges it can present.

Beware of artists…

As I work in a more overtly ‘creative’ industry, it is vital that I am able to approach problem solving from multiple, sometimes contrary, directions, if I am to produce solutions that attempt to rise above being nothing more than simply an off the shelf, stock response. However, if I rely solely on my existing reservoir of knowledge, accumulated from my experiences of ‘comfort zone thinking’ and living, then the pool of resources I can draw on is fairly shallow and will quickly dry up! To avoid this, new experiences, challenges and knowledge need to be embraced on a daily basis.

This is why I love working collaboratively with a range of different people, be they clients, team members, freelancers etc. However, although it can be supportive and encouraging to surround yourself with like-minded people, who share common interests and disciplines, it really does not challenge the status quo of ‘comfort zone thinking’ or free my mind from a state of creative inertia.

So instead of just surrounding myself with the familiar and comforting, I try to take time out once in a while, to embrace different disciplines, to walk or drive a different route, try something new and maybe fail spectacularly or risk making a fool of myself! I allow my passionate curiosity to get the better of me, so it can richly enhance my creativity thinking, as it opens the mind to different perspectives or viewpoints. Spending time with those involved in activities outside of my particular sphere of operation, or from different cultures or backgrounds, can bring huge insights and act as a real breath of creative fresh air.

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious – Albert Einstein

Imagine the possibilities if painters should mix with scientists, photographers with mathematicians, linguists with engineers, musicians with sociologists etc. or better still, they all mix together and try to work collaboratively on a project!

The outcome might initially be some kind of chaotic creative cacophony, that would be challenging to manage, but eventually, as points of difference and commonality were discovered and explored, creative ideas would soon come to the surface as new thoughts or ideas were considered. Each discipline would be able to offer a unique, external objective perspective of simply being able to ask ‘why not?’ This in itself can bring a huge release, as accepted traditional ways of thinking within a field are challenged and developed further.

Often comfort zone thinking is a self-imposed type of mental restriction that we create within our mind. The boundaries or limitations we create are initially to create a sense of security, but eventually they become a prison and ultimately, the death of a creative mind.

‘So many people live within unhappy circumstances and yet will not take the initiative to change their situation because they are conditioned to a life of security, conformity, and conservatism, all of which may appear to give one peace of mind, but in reality nothing is more dangerous to the adventurous spirit within a man than a secure future. The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure. The joy of life comes from our encounters with new experiences, and hence there is no greater joy than to have an endlessly changing horizon, for each day to have a new and different sun.’
– Jon Krakauer, Into the Wild

The very basic core of a man’s living spirit is his passion for adventure…

Thanks for taking the time out to read this, as always, it is much appreciated! Please feel free to share it with your friends, and add any thoughts or comments you might have on it…

Chris

don’t just like it, LOVE it!

Posted on January 9, 2013 by Passion 4

Andy Warhol was clearly a visionary artist and thinker… but did you also realise he could see into the future too!? It might be very easy for his other more noted art work to have overshadowed this ability, but the fact is, he saw into the future and summarised one of todays primary social media companies (Facebook) raison d’être very succinctly…

‘I think everybody should like everybody’
Andy Warhol

Is ‘Like’ a meaningless default emotional response?

Or, is it that Facebook is simply trying to bring to life one of Andy Warhol’s philosophies…

‘During the 1960’s, I think, people forgot what emotions were supposed to be. And I don’t think they’ve ever remembered’ – The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

It appears that Facebook and marketeers worldwide would want us to believe that as individuals, companies or even international brands, the ultimate emotional response to elicit from any given item or event, is to simply ‘like’ it. In this ever-expanding age of social media, ‘sharing’ and ‘connecting’ seems to be the primary goal and buzz that companies and brands often aspired to, but is simply being liked by as many people as possible, sufficient an emotional response or interaction to aspire to?

is like the emotional response to aim for?

‘It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.’
Andre Gide

The word ‘like’ to me, is at best bland, at worst, often wholly inappropriate in the social media context. At Passion 4, our ambition for any work or project we are involved with, is that people totally love it, rather than just simply like it. If our ambition was just for it to be liked, it would be setting our bar of ambition pretty low!

nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion

‘Nothing great in the world has ever been accomplished without passion’
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel

Having a passion for what you do is a vital driving force if you want what you do to avoid falling into the trap of bland mediocrity. Sir Jonathan Ive recently owned up to an Apple secret;

‘We absolutely don’t do focus groups. That’s designers and leaders abdicating responsibility. That’s them looking for an insurance policy, so if something goes wrong, they can say, well this focus group says that only 30% of people are offended by this and, look, 40% think it’s OK.’ All a focus group guarantees, is mediocrity’

Mediocrity is the enemy of creativity, it lacks ambition. It avoids taking risks, it fears failure rather than embracing the lessons it can bring. It adds unnecessary layers of complexity by trying to please everybody. Creativity however is refreshingly simple!

‘Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that’s creativity’ – Charles Mingus

Thanks for taking the time out to read this, as always, it is much appreciated! Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments you might have on it…

Chris

You can also subscribe (without any catches!) to the Passion 4 blog if you want to keep updated on new blog posts…

Would having less, make you more creative?

Posted on November 18, 2012 by Passion 4

Recently I was looking at a UK designed brochure that had been recently translated and reproduced in Chinese. It was really interesting to see something that on the surface seemed so familiar, suddenly appear so unfamiliar.

As I was casually flicking through the pages, I was suddenly aware of something that, to my shame, should have probably been blindingly obvious, but the typeface used had no visual differential between uppercase or lowercase, all the characters were of the same height. I had just never really noticed or been aware of this previously when looking at translated material, or when looking at design that used Chinese type.

Despite my linguistic ignorance, I have had a long-standing curious fascination with Chinese and Japanese pictographic styled text. To me, it has an instantly appealing graphic and emotive nature to it that is hard not to be fascinated by!

The Passion 4 logo in Traditional Chinese type

OK, so my mini Chinese typographic epiphany set my mind thinking. How would my approach to typographic design change, if the whole western concept of upper and lower case type was removed?!

The use of upper/lower case type can often be a key (western design) element in creating an interesting distinctions in type design or in creating logotypes, but would not having it as an option at my disposal, force me into thinking in new and different ways? Would having less, actually make me more creative?

This is why I liked to be creatively and in this case, culturally challenged, it helps to develop the way you think or approach problems from a whole new perspective.

It brings it home that design is often not such a universal cultural language. What resonates in one culture, could easily be seen as being odd, irrelevant, ignorant or even offensive in another. Greater cultural understanding and awareness can bring a richness and diversity to our design.

Some interesting Chinese typeface facts/differences…

The English alphabet only has 26 letters.
The Chinese language has over 8,000 individual characters, of which about 3,500 are most commonly used.
A Chinese typographer, would not only need to design 26 alpha characters, but would also need to create at least 3,500 Chinese characters and their traditional/simplified equivalent.

Thanks for taking the time out to read this, as ever, it is much appreciated! Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments you might have on it…

Chris

You can also subscribe (without any catches!) to the Passion 4 blog if you want to keep updated on new blog posts…

PS; With the Passion 4 t-shirt design shown above, I have to give a big thanks to my Taiwanese friend Asha for helping my understand a little more about Chinese type!

Is it time for brands to wake up and smell the coffee?

Posted on October 21, 2012 by Passion 4

‘Branding’ can often be seen as a rather dry, restrictive and all embracing term to cover any aspects of a organisation or companies presentation. However, in reality, branding can bring a vitality, energy and vigour to a brand that can go so much further than this perception!

When people think about branding, it conjures up definitions surrounding correct logo usage, clear space allowances, colour pallets, typography styles and fonts to be used, tone of voice, photographic style guidelines, various examples of do’s and don’ts, etc. etc. – but even within the most biblically proportioned set of brand guidelines, you don’t often see a section dealing with ‘Brand Smell’!

Thomas Cook Signature ‘brand for breakfast’ – Brand Guidelines. Simplified

Even in the Thomas Cook Signature ‘brand for breakfast’ brand synoptic guidelines I produced for the pioneers of travel holidays some years ago, there was nothing mentioned about brand aroma. Although I did suggest it at the time, that it was something that could be incorporated into their retail outlets – however I might have been just a bit ahead of my time with that suggestion unfortunately!

There are five main traditional human senses; Sight, Hearing, Taste, Smell and Touch, so as it is clearly one of our primary human senses, maybe a bit more thought should be given to it within a branding context?

Smell or aroma is a very powerful, persuasive and evocative sense. To the point where today there are even dedicated aroma retailers! Here you can purchase such things as ‘sensory ambience kits’ for example, to help sell your house!

Nothing beats the aromatic smell of freshly baked bread!

The ‘Sell-A-House Kit’ features two atomisers of fresh bread aroma and fresh coffee smell, two of the most commonly thought of aromas that can help create an ideal sensory ambience.

The love hate aroma of freshly brewed coffee

However in terms of ‘brand aroma’, has the evocative power of aroma really been harnessed to its full potential, or even really been properly looked at yet?

The retail chain Lush has a distinctive, naturally occurring brand smell or aroma from its fresh, handmade cosmetic products that pervades the streets outside of their stores. So that often before you are even aware of the stores actual physical location, your sense of smell informs you they have a retail outlet in the nearby vicinity. The ‘brand aroma’ of Lush therefore generates a 4D experiential brand awareness of the companies products to a much wide audience of potential customers outside of the confines of their physical stores.

To a similar extent, these principles of aroma extend to many different types of business or organisations such as bakers, florists, restaurants, hotels, hospitals, offices, airports, supermarkets, shopping centres, etc. or even to the more nostalgic aromas that are often associated with bookshops, museums, sweet shops etc.

OK, Lush might be considered a fairly overt example, and you may think that a brand aroma does not really apply to all organisations? How can a brand aroma work in a more traditional office environment? Easy. All built environments have an inherent aroma, be it good or a bad. Just as positive aromas can generate positive reactions, negative aromas can do exactly the opposite!

So controlling or creating these brand aromas is often down to you. The choice of whether or not to have fresh flowers in reception areas, the choice of different natural or man made materials used in furnishings or fittings, having planting as part of the spatial layout of offices, positioning of any catering facilities, right down to the nitty gritty of simple things such as automatically timed air fresheners in WC facilities, choice of cleaning products, hand wash etc. all contribute to a buildings overall aroma.

So maybe it is time to get creative with your brand aromas!

Thanks for taking time out to read this, it is much appreciated! Please feel free to share any thoughts or comments you might have on it…

Chris

You can also subscribe if you want to keep updated on new blog posts…

Thought is action, action is thought…

Posted on October 7, 2012 by Passion 4

It’s funny how something as seemingly innocuous and mundane as the action of going for a walk, can in fact be the perfect stimulus for developing new ideas.

I think it must be something to do with being outside the comparative constraints of a built environment, and being in the open expanse that exists away from the office studio desk. The difference in the spatial dynamics can really help liberate the mind and thought processes therein!

Thought is action – action is thought

I’m lucky enough to be based near the sea, so it does not take too much encouragement to go and get some exercise (mental and physical) by going for a walk by the sea. The physical benefits of doing this are obvious, however the mental advantages are not always so apparent, but for me, it is probably the most important aspect.

I’m often working on a series of projects for different clients, and the single common denominator between them all, is that invariably they all require some form of inspired creative thought to bring them to life.

Despite common misconception, not all creative work starts with that fabled single ‘eureka’ moment of design inspiration. More often than not, generating ideas or different solutions can be a process consisting of many varied and seemingly unconnected ‘dots of experience’, insight or awareness that have been built up during your daily experiences, sometimes over a number of years. It is only when these dots are later brought to mind and joined together, that sometimes a pattern begins to develop – a sort of creative chain reaction if you will. From these humble beginnings, creative ideas begin to form and take shape and can become more of a tangible reality.

Recording ideas as thoughts/sketches/words is a vital part of the creative process – it’s a form of ‘physical thinkig’

Recording ideas as thoughts/sketches/words is a vital part of the creative process – it’s a form of ‘physical thinking’

The sketches above, although not prize-winning by any stretch of the imagination, captured some of the initial thoughts/development of a direct mail campaign for a client to gather customer feedback on a particular offer. This concept was based around the notion of ‘a penny for your thoughts’. The scribbles show the idea of using a folding circular direct mail item, that features a large picture of a 1p piece as the front hero image, and how other key information could also be displayed within the circular format.

The one bad things about ideas, is they rarely occur to order! More often than not, they can occur in the strangest or sometimes the most inappropriate moments (the shower, when you are trying to go to sleep etc.)! Hence why keeping a sketch or notebook handy at all times, is such a vital piece of a creatives tool kit.

However, there are many other, more technologically advanced, ways of recording and documenting your thoughts as well which I also find really helpful. My iPhone allows me to capture photographic images, text or voice recordings, so it makes it really easy for me to capture my thoughts wherever I am. One of my favourite apps is Evernote as it allows me to not only capture the idea, but to also to tag and categorise it, which can then be really useful later on if I want to search back through various connected concepts or ideas.

You often don’t know when inspiration can occur, but when it does, it is vital to note or record it in some form. This way it makes it far easier to keep track of the ‘dots’ that I come across in my daily experiences. These ‘dots’ may sometimes seen inconsequential at the time, but they can turn out to be the starting point for the next greatest idea I’m searching for…

Thanks for taking time out to read this, much appreciated – Chris@passion4

To make a big improvements, start with the small things…

Posted on September 17, 2012 by Passion 4

‘A journey of a thousand miles began with a single step’
(1904 – sayings of Lao Tzu)

The 2012 Olympic legacy can be sporting or personal, what will it mean to you?

Quite a famous saying; so famous in fact that the principle it tries to convey, can easily be overlooked or simply taken for granted. Big things rarely happen overnight, it is normally a case of building on a series of smaller steps until the bigger end goal is finally reached.

Now that both the London 2012 Olympics and Paralympics are sadly over, it struck us just how much creativity and business both have in common with sport. In particular, we were fascinated by the transformation of Team GB’s Olympic and Paralympic cycling teams over the last few Olympic games.

Much of this transformation has been credited to TeamGB cycling performance director Dave Brailsford who has championed the phrase ‘The aggregation of marginal gains’.

By this he was referring to the concept of taking 1% from everything you do; and then finding a 1% margin for improvement in everything you do.

Marginal gains have resulted in massive performance gains by Team GB’s Olympic cycling squad

It sounds very simply, and possibly not that much of an inspirational target or mission to try and achieve? But it is in this simplicity, that the brilliance of Brailsfords mantra lies. Rather than set potentially unrealistic or unachievable big figure performance gains, this approach gives a much wider range of achievable (and thus more motivational) targets.

It also opened the focus up on to every single aspect of what the team were doing, from the obvious to the not so obvious. Nutrition, training, technology, clothing, components, processes, strategy, etc. Each aspect was scrutinised and examined in microscopic detail to see if that 1% gain could be found and built upon.

The resulting tiny percentage gains, although on the surface may seem insignificant in themselves cumulatively they can add up to large gain – potentially a race-winning, or record-winning, gain. If the results of Team GB’s cycling Olympic champions are anything to go by, this very inspiring, yet simple philosophy has already brought a lasting transformation.

This fascinated us, and we could not help but wonder if the same principles could also be applied within the creative and business environments as well? Surely there is always plenty of opportunity to make 1% improvements in all that we do?

Post Olympics, the talk is now all about creating a ‘lasting legacy’ from the games. This can be taken to mean many things to many people, but from a business perspective, the Olympics legacy for us, is to take on board Dave Brailsfords phrase ‘The aggregation of marginal gains’ so that in all that Passion 4 is involved with, we will continually seek to make small improvements in every single aspect of all that we do…

6 degrees of separation – getting closer to the real deal…

Posted on September 2, 2012 by Passion 4

Having a thorough understanding of a clients real requirements, is an essential requirement for producing creative design solutions that actually work for the client, rather than something that just looks good in your portfolio!

‘Any fool can know. The point is to understand.’ – Albert Einstein

‘Any fool can know. The point is to understand.’ – Albert Einstein

Attempting to understand the real requirements of a clients brief can be a tough process! Rarely do you get a fully detailed and exhaustive written brief. One that covers every single minutia of what is required, and at the moment the ability to mind read is unfortunately, something that still only exists in science fiction!

In the meantime, we are left with human discernment, experience, knowledge, research and our ability to generate mutually beneficial relationships based on trust with the people we are trying to understand and work with in a productive manner. So anything that can help gain or promote better understanding in this is a good thing, right?

Nowadays, part of the way in which we communicate with people includes a mix of different social media channels such as Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, blogs, specialist forums etc. These provide fantastic options to gain extra, off the record kind of insights into what interests people, businesses we admire, or on subjects/people we are just plain interested in or do work with. It can bring a real value added element to the communication process.

For us, business is essentially all about developing good, longer term, mutually beneficial relationships with clients, suppliers and people we are in contact with. To do this successfully, it goes beyond merely just the basics of being able to fulfil a transaction or service. Most companies should be able to do that, if not there are plenty of others that can!

People do business with people, and it is this personal relationship and level of understanding between individuals or organisations, that can often help make or break successful business relationships.

Social media can help people connect in a more immediate and strangely, a more personal way. It can also allow a more informal insight to the way people think, what lies behind the more formal public facade, what interests them or what generally makes them ‘tick’. Why could this be of interest? It gives a fuller, more rounded and engaging picture of someone that you may have never met before. It also, more importantly, opens up a much wider range of potential connection points with them.

This is the concept behind the principle of 6 degrees of separation (the idea that everyone is on average approximately six steps away, by way of introduction, from any other person on Earth).

: Six Degrees of Separation by Dannie-Walker

Finding and establishing different connection points allows a much easier basis for communication, and we all know that communication is King!

From our experiences, we have found that establishing, maintaining and building relationships through the additional opportunities that social media can provide, has often helped us start, nurture and build relationships.

However, before becoming a digital hermit, nothing beats one of the oldest forms of social media, there is, Social Media v1, the time to catch-up for a real life tea, coffee or a pint of beer!

So if you want to find out a bit more about us and what ticks our various boxes, check out our various boards on Pinterest (Passion4Pins), see our various updates on Facebook or even follow us on Twitter (@Passon_4) – you might be surprised at what you see or read!

This could be something of pinterest to you…

Posted on July 8, 2012 by Passion 4

Here at Passion 4, we have a fairly wide ranging and eclectic mixture of interests and things that inspire us, so what better way of collecting them than having a digital scrapbook, to not only store them all in, but to find even more sources of inspiration! Lets be honest, you can never have too many sources of inspiration in your life now can you!

We often collaborate and share ideas or research in Evernote, (there is a good review about Evernote on Giikr.com) but for a more public sharing digital scrapbook, we use Pinterest to bookmark some of our interests.

So far on our various Pinterest boards we are covering our passions and interests in…
Architecture, Technology, Inspiration, Design, Furniture, Illustration, Automotive, Photography, Words, Products, Prints and posters, the environment and ones to watch.

Pinterest – Passion 4 pins

Have a look at our various boards and let us know what are your favourites? We are always adding more, so make sure to follow us on Passion4pins…

Stop and get out now if you want inspiration…

Posted on July 1, 2012 by Passion 4

What are you waiting for? Staring at screen won’t help. Bing or Google in this case are not actually your friends.

What you actually need is new perspective, new ways of thinking and this rarely happens when you stay (stagnate) in the same place, doing the same old things whilst you remain safe and cozy within in your self-defined comfort zone.

We have the privilege of living within a rapidly changing technological landscape, with an ever-increasing array of mind-boggling opportunities and possibilities, yet still some of the greatest creative tools that have ever been invented, are also the cheapest and most readily available.

The humble pen, pencil, sketch/note-book are one of the most important and valuable creative assets you can possibly have. Use them, don’t leave home without them, they rock! Treasure them, treat them with careless abandonment, dare to doodle, scribble down ideas, join the dots and see what direction it takes you in…

the humble pencil is one of the most fundamental and essential creative tools that exist

Worry not about the quality of line, the visual imperfections of your ability to draw, this is simply all about exploring ideas, giving birth to thoughts or concepts, and then bringing them into a visual reality.

A classic demonstration of this was from a simple sketch that Ben Pon (a former Olympian and motor racing driver from the Netherlands) made in April 1947 when he came across a very strange vehicle that a group of German car manufacturer employees had built themselves to make their work easier when transporting heavy parts from production hall to production hall…

Ben Pon took his notebook and sketched a type of vehicle that did not exist in the world at that time – a forward control vehicle with rear engine and a box-shaped body. This sketch marked the starting point of a million selling vehicle: the Volkswagen Transporter.

At first sight it really is not that impressive as a piece of ‘art’, but it was the concept that was captured on paper. A little later, on 23rd April, this impression crystallised into an idea. Ben Pon took his notebook and sketched a type of vehicle that did not exist in the world at that time – a forward control vehicle with rear engine and a box-shaped body. This simple sketch marked the starting point of a million selling vehicle: the Volkswagen Transporter the vehicle that has become an iconic design for many generations to this very day!

The iconic Volkswagen Split screen 23 window deluxe microbus

As one (of the many) great lines from Fight Club proclaims, ‘How much can you know about yourself if you’ve never been in a fight?’

In this instance of looking for inspiration, the ‘fight’ is not an underground fight cub, it is more often a fight against the self-imposed boundaries that tend to limit the creative process. You need to shake things up, break some routines and push the boundaries of our experiences if we are see things in a new way.

If you have not already had an opportunity to read the excellent book ‘Sticky Wisdom: How to Start a Creative Revolution at Work’, I can highly recommend it as a way of helping you find easy and very practical ways of incorporating new creative principles into your everyday lifestyle.

Carpe diem – do it now before the rut becomes too deep to escape from!

ask not what your economy can do for you…

Posted on June 24, 2012 by Passion 4

With the ongoing news about failing economies, weakening currencies and economic uncertainty, it is good to know that there is still a currency that can be invested in that will give a great return on investment.

Not heard about it? Simple. Investing in creative ideas and design is always a good option.

A creative idea that is developed, nurtured and brought to life is a very special ‘currency’, one that can deliver both short and long-term benefits.

ask not – changing the world, one t-shirt slogan at a time!

OK, so I’m no Robert Peston or Stephanie Flanders, or a learned journalist from the Financial Times or The Economist, so like most financial transactions, there is always small print, and as Tom Waits once said…

‘The large print giveth and the small print taketh away’

Strangely however, in such times of uncertainty, the natural instinct can often be to revert back to old ways of thinking, to cut back on creativity, to withdraw back to the known, to stay safe. So rather than investing in a ‘creative currency’; in new ways of thinking, new ways of approaching problems, things just stagnate and stay the same. As a counter to this approach, Henry Ford (1863-1947), American founder of the Ford Motor Company once famously said…

‘If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.’

Apple once boldly proclaimed, now more than ever, we need to ‘think different‘ just like the Crazy ones…

At the time, Apple were floundering badly, yet they heavily invested in design and the creative process, with the outcome being the revolutionary launch of the first iMac, arguably the computer that helped change both their future as a company, as well as the computer landscape from that point onwards.

Rather than a creative austerity mentality, surely now is the best time to be crazy and invest more in creativity! So what are you going to invest your creative bank balance in?