Laying the Foundations for Creativity

Seth Godin's manifesto on changing yourself is full of insight on how we can reinvent ourselves.  He posits that because we have the resources and the opportunity (via the internet) to make connections and change things, then all we need is the will to do it, and we can completely reinvent ourselves.  This requires quite a bit of effort, but it is worth every ounce because it is the only thing that matters.  We are trained in school (not educated) to follow orders, to be complacent.  Complacency used to work, but now it is dangerous.  If we choose to reject that and reinvent ourselves, then we have a chance at making a difference.

The first and biggest obstacle we face in recreating ourselves is our own survival instinct.  Where it was once helpful, it now restricts us from doing things that matter.  Steven Pressfield calls this the resistance and Godin calls it the lizard brain.

Either way, it is the part of our brain that is scared and causes us to be scared about taking risks.  Risk management is its MO.  Anything that could potentially backfire triggers the lizard brain and causes us to think twice about taking that action.  The most important thing we can do in regards to this resistance is to stare it in the eye and then to walk past it and ignore its pleas for mercy as we go on to do exactly what it tells us not to.  This is how we begin to make progress and make a difference.

Another obstacle is learning.  Not becoming "educated."  Learning something useful.  Education was designed for a factory model of production used in the Industrial Revolution.  This model worked for what was necessary and useful in that time period, but it is counter-intuitive to what we need now, and so it is broken.

You no longer learn what you need to know in school.  You learn when you surf the web and read about what the world is doing.  You learn when you work through communication challenges with a team at work.  You learn when you have to balance things in your life every day, when you choose what to do and what not to do.  Public institutions of knowledge can no longer be relied upon to give us everything we need to function in society, let alone make a lasting impact.  We learn a few useful things in school, but now the responsibilities lies on your shoulders to figure out what you need to know and learn about it.  And this is the first step to rejecting and ignoring the resistance that wants us to be safe and to keep quiet.

Seth Godin often talks about doing real work, doing something important.  Assignments like this one are part of that real work that needs to be done.  If we blow them off, they are useless (as with most things).  However, if we put in the effort to make them worth our time, they give us a valuable opportunity to step back, analyze ourselves, and actually learn.  In addition to that important learning, we also have the opportunity to put together a portfolio chronicling our thoughts and opinions as we develop our creative identities.  The creation of that identity is the foundation upon which we will build careers and our lives. Whether we take advantage of these opportunities or not will be an indicator of how we will develop as professionals and as people.  These assignments are the beginning of a long path that Seth Godin describes as necessary to reinvent ourselves.

Pictures from:
Lizard Brain - http://www.crystalinks.com/brainreptoid.jpg
Cartoon: http://interacc.typepad.com/.a/6a01053596fb28970c0133f28c7108970b-400wi

Mixed Song

Musical Dichotomy: One Song, Two Sounds

Katy Perry is an extremely popular artist that I must admit (grudgingly) that I listen to from time to time.  Her song "Teenage Dream" is not something that I enjoy for its moral standards, but it is ridiculously catchy and has the makings of a fun party song.

However, this acoustic cover done by Boyce Avenue is an entirely different story.  All of the catchy parts are gone and replaced by a more calm, soothing style. 

Though they are both roughly based on the same things, these two variations are, in reality, two completely different songs.  The groove of the cover is completely different, shifting from an up-beat, catchy rhythm to a slow, thoughtful tune.  Because of this, the entire purpose of the song seems to have changed.  No longer made for a party scene, Boyce Avenue has turned "Teenage Dream" into a meditative love song that has the opposite effect on the listener.  The original song is a song for fast dancing, for getting adrenaline racing, and for having a good time. 

It uses strong affinity, where most of the stanzas utilize the same techniques and sound to keep the energy high.  The cover, however, is performed in a way that inspires one to think about someone for whom they have a strong, sincere love.  Also, the climax of the song is in strong contrast to the first two thirds of the song, causing heightened emotions in the listener when the music goes from silence to a strong vocal  solo.

The love theme is reinforced by the lyrics because the lead singer actually rewrites about half of them to change the feel of the song to a meaningful love song that is quite tender.  The lyrics in the original song are shallow and very sexual, and Katy Perry sounds more interested in having sex than she is in carrying on a meaningful relationship.  The cover, however, is the exact opposite.  Alejandro expresses his feelings for the subject of the song eloquently and through that shows that he values her as a person whom he loves.

Through the lyrics, both songs are very didactic in the way they convey their meaning.  Neither encourages much active listening, because they are both very straight-forward about their subject and their intent toward the subject. 

The timbre of the song changes completely because of the change in instrument choice and the different vocal qualities of the two singers.  Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" is much more noisy with higher-pitched vocals.  Boyce Avenue's cover is more tonal with lower-pitched vocals.

Between the two, I strongly prefer the cover by Boyce Avenue because I think it is much more meaningful in terms of valuing people as people and not objects of pleasure.  I also appreciate that the feeling behind the lyrics is much more apparent because it is coming from a deep love instead of a shallow lust.  This dichotomy exemplifies the strong contrast exists between mainstream pop music and

other types of music that are less mainstream.  Mainstream pop music usually aims for popularity in the party scene, where it can be popular with a large, diverse audience.  It does this with upbeat melodies and driving baselines that take the focus away from the fact that the music itself has very little substance. Other genres, such as folk, acoustic, and indie, tend to do this less because they are aiming for a more niche audience instead of everyone possible.  As a result, they have more substance in general, and more thought is put into the composition of the music and the lyrics.  I find this more meaningful because when listening to music I usually do so because of what the song means to me.  However, this means that songs like Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" have very limited significance in my life.  It is encouraging to me, though, to know that even that song can be repurposed into a song with deep meaning and love.

Soundscape

The Road to Redemption

The world we live in is deceptive.  We are taught sayings like "better safe than sorry" and "better to keep your mouth shut and let them think you are an idiot, rather than open it and remove all doubt" are idioms to live by.  What we are really being told is that taking risks is a bad thing, that living within safe, comfortable bounds is the surest road to success.  The problem is, this is all a lie.  There is absolutely nothing safe about the status quo.  In fact, in the current state of things, it is actually dangerous.  While the world around us is revolving, innovating, and changing, our insistence on remaining the same is foolish and will only hurt us in the long run.  What we really need to do is not keep quiet, but find our voice.
The first step to finding your howl, which is what J. Flaum calls it in his article on changethis.com, is recognizing the lies we are being fed for what they are.  The second step is the hard part.  The second step requires us to do the opposite of what the tiger did in the story told by Flaum's friend Nick.  The tiger, as told by Nick, was trapped in a cage at the zoo.  However, because he was very powerful and could jump very high, he planned his escape from the cage.  When he finally made his move and leapt out of the cage which had no ceiling, he landed in another cage that was adjacent to his own cage.  No matter how many times he jumped out of his cage, he landed in another cage.
Just as the tiger discovered he could not escape the cages, we cannot escape the lies that we have been taught to believe because they have become comfortable, they have become our home.  We cannot just run away from them and cover them up with new ideas because they are so ingrained in us.  We must face them and push our way through them one at a time until we have destroyed the confines of our cages at their foundations and rebuilt ourselves from the ground up.  We must in essence burn down the lives that we have created based on the lies we know, burning ourselves down to the very core.  Only then can we begin to rebuild and find an authentic point from which we can truly speak from our hearts.

This video denotes a passage in the Bible that is very important to me because it allows me to do exactly what J. Baum talked about to find our "howl."

Leaping into the Void

The manifesto "14 Ways to get Breakthrough Ideas" is an excellent document that is brimming with wisdom.  It can be found here.   Each of his 14 suggestions has great merit attached to it.  A few of them hit home particularly strongly with me.  Approaching idea-generation is something that is, as Mitch Ditkoff succinctly describes, one part art and one part science.  The more artsy, intuitive philosophy of Eastern cultures that involves tuning into the "powers that be" is just as valid as the cool logic of Western thought that encourages one to have mental discipline.  However, as with many things, the strongest solution comes from a melding of the two.  Taking techniques from each school of thought and figuring out when they are most effective is the best way to approach idea creation.

The first suggestion Mitch Ditkoff gives, "Follow Your Fascination," is an amazingly simple insight.  In our world, I think that often times fascination is suppressed in favor of doing work.  I think it's important to note, though, that often times this work is less productive than taking time to actually be fascinated with something.  Checking email and rereading office memos rarely is as important as we make it when we check them seven times in an hour.  At the very least, taking the time to think about what really fascinates us gives us some time away from the project we are struggling with in the moment. Ditkoff talks about this specifically in his 8th suggestion.  At the most, thinking about what fascinates us can give us new insight into a problem that we would not have found otherwise.  Having a healthy balance between work and play in your thought life is necessary to maintain effectiveness and to actually be productive.

The concept of fantasizing the way Ditkoff presents it is one that resonates with me deeply.  As I stated in my previous post, I am a visionary and an idea person.  The opportunity to sit back and fantasize about possibilities in life is one that I relish.  The ability to fantasize is one of the things we can do that separates us from all other animals on earth, and we should be proud and excited about having that ability.  However, often when I talk to others about ideas that I have, their immediate reaction is rejection.  I can see in their eyes that thinking about things that break the status quo and challenge the rules they rely on is scary to them.  They are letting their primal instincts dictate their lives and keep them in the safe realm of the known.  This fear is paralyzing to the creative person.  We must learn to conquer that fear and embrace the unknown if we have any hope of changing what exists currently into what could exist in the future.  We must gather our courage and leap into the void where the rules we are familiar with are no longer rigid.  This void is where the possibilities of the future come side by side with reality, but only if we are there to build the bridge to connect them.

When seeking to build these bridges, it is far more effective to work with others.  Taking a nebulous idea and making it into reality is no easy task, and it is very helpful to approach it with a group brainstorm session.  Brainstorming, when done right, can be the key to the success of the project.  In a good brainstorming atmosphere, ideas are not critiqued or discriminated against until after the session is over.  This allows for the propagation of numerous ideas, and the final ideas that are eventually chosen from this group will be stronger and more well-formed because of it.  This phenomenon can be accredited to synergy.  Synergy, as I see it, is the key to successful creative processes, and brainstorming is no different.  Synergy describes the outcome of a group of people who tune into the same wavelength for a period of time and create something that is greater than the sum of what each person could create on their own.  Synergy takes the best of each person and amplifies it in such a way that the output is even better.  This is why brainstorming is effective and extremely useful, when done the right way.

To take this next step myself, I will focus on suggestion 6, which focuses on framing the question.  One of the most inspiring, and most challenging questions that I face in my career as a game designer is this:

How can I create a game that is truly valuable to those that play it?
How can I determine what gamers want?
How can I determine what is valuable to people that play games?
How can I determine what is valuable to people who I want to play my game?
How can I determine what is valuable to humanity and how can I encapsulate it in a game?
How can I determine what is innately valuable to humanity and how can I encapsulate that into a game?

I think the real question is the last question.  If I can determine what is valuable to humanity regardless of circumstance, then I have discovered what can bring my game to life in a way that resonates with gamers, hardcore and casual, wherever they are in life.  That, in essence, is the quest I seek to complete.

Portrait of a Creative

As a creative person, I am a visionary.  I dream big and aspire to inspire others with my visions.  My leadership skills compliment this well, because they enable me to communicate my ideas effectively and motivate others to join me in pursuit of bringing them to life.

I draw inspiration from many different sources.  On the whole, I am inspired by things that help my mind to roam vast, vague landscapes full of possibility.  This includes anything from house/trance music with the right beat to pictures of undiscovered territory.

One of my favorite songs to draw inspiration from is called "Valley of the Dying Sun" by House of Heroes.  This song details a lifelong struggle of a man and his dark side, ending with his triumph over it.  This song makes me think about the journey a hero must go on in most any fantasy story (similar to the hero's journey described in The Hero of a Thousand Faces by Joseph Campbell).  This outline leaves room for my mind to wander and imagine what kind of heroes are interesting and what kind of heroes have potential to make a good story and a good game.  This is the official music video which illustrates the struggle in terms of World War II.

This song makes excellent use of tension and release as it builds to the climax of the song, utilizing different melodies and tempos to affect the listener.

My current favorite artist to draw inspiration from is Caspar David Friedrich.  Many of his pictures describe vast, unexplored territory that seems to be full of mystery.  My favorite picture of his is called The Wanderer Above the Mists.

The mists prevent the wanderer from seeing what lies ahead of him in  his journey, and to me, that evokes excitement at the thought of the possibility of discovering the truth behind it.  This stands out to me as different from most popular art because it is encourages the viewer's mind to be active  in determining what the picture means and what it portrays, instead of didactically telling the viewer what the focus of the painting is.

The third place I draw inspiration from commonly is from games.  One of the best games I have played recently is Mirror's Edge.  It's gameplay effectively draws the player in because all of the different game elements work together toward the same goal: a frantic, intense experience that keeps the player's adrenaline rushing.  One of the techniques that helps this to happen is the strong use of color.  The artists used contrast and affinity to make it clear to the player what was important in the game, and where the player should go.

This photo illustrates what the game calls "runner vision."  The designers use consistent cool colors like blue, gray, and white to create the general atmosphere of the game world.  To contrast this, the path for the player to take is bright red, the enemies are black, and hidden information packs are yellow.  This simple color scheme makes it clear what is important to the player immediately and the player doesn't have to think about it.  This technique makes the fast pace of the game flow very smoothly, making for an excellent game.

All of these things are inspiring to me for different reasons, but most lead to the same thing: helping my mind to wander the sea of possibilities to find ideas that are truly exciting and worth making into a reality.

Do What You Love

"Do what you love."

Growing up, I heard that phrase over and over when I talked to adults about my future.  Whenever we talked about it, they would encourage me, saying things like "follow your dreams," and "if you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life."  It was great.
However, as the decision-making time came closer, those encouragements faded.  I was told to be "practical" and "realistic."  It's taken me a while, but I finally realized that most people have two mindsets about the future: the fun, daydreaming mindset and the pessimistic, "realistic" mindset.  When something is far off in the future, they allow themselves to dream big and fantasize.  However, when the time to make the decision rolls around, they forsake all of those big ideas for something that is small and safe (what they rationalize as being "realistic").
When I came into Ohio University my freshman year I was a business major.  I was surrounded by people who were safe and loved to think inside the box.  I hated nearly every moment of it.  Finally, after several revelations, I changed my major to Game Design.  I did so because I was tired of being surrounded by pessimists and structure.  I was also tired of lying to myself by dreaming big in my mind and acting small in real life.  Changing my major was a statement of defiance and a promise to be true to myself.  From now on, I'm not just thinking and talking about big things.  I'm doing them.  As they say so succinctly in Zombieland, "Nut up or shut up."