Some time ago I stumbled onto the book “50 succesmodellen” (or “the change book” in English) by Michael Krogerus. It’s a tiny little book filled with ideas, frameworks and models. Boy, that sounds boring. It ranges in topics from “Recognizing winners” to “What does your circle of friends say about you”. The most helpful one…
The most critical rule for any brainstorm is this: postpone judgment. Make a clear distinction between diverging and converging. Or in plain English: first come up with a lot of ideas (silly, serious, stupid, whatever), then select the best one. But don’t try to select the best one while coming up with the idea. Why?…
OFF-TOPIC: in short installments I’ll be writing a chronologically linear set of essays on creativity, concept development and design. One day it may turn out to be a book. Enjoy, discuss, react. Yesterday I did my umpteenth training on concepting (developing conceptual creative ideas) and I think I taught myself more than anyone else. Since…
The short answer to what a good concept is: A good concept narrows your focus and therefore eliminates possibilities. A good concept narrows your focus and therefore guides you to possibilities that are a bit less obvious. A good concept inspires the design and production process. A good concept is a guideline to the design…
I’m rereading and checking everything I have written for my book on concepting and here’s another chapter I’d like to share. From consumer to producer Way back when we used to work for God. Ploughing, sowing, harvesting to make as much from the world as we could. The official line was that this all benefited…
I know it’s sort of off topic, but it’s worth sharing: I just finished the book ‘The decisive moment – how the brain makes up its mind’ by Jonah Lehrer and it’s a fantastic read. It was given to me as a thank you by my talented ex-student Melissa Nakken. Either consciously or subconsciously giving…
About twice a month someone asks me how my book is getting along. I generally have to tell people that it’s not going anywhere fast. I have refocused a few times, added on some chapters, but have not found the form yet, nor enough time to solve that particular problem. Yesterday I spoke about my…
Yes, I am still writing my book on concepting. Yes, it is taking way too much time. But no, I am not giving up. Things you should know that have happened since my last post: I’ve decided to change the title I still haven’t decided what to change it into I’ve decided it’s not so…
What: Concept to creation session When: January 20th, 10:00 to 15:00 Where: Academie voor Popcultuur, Achter de Hoven 23, Leeuwarden For whom: anyone interested in concept development and creativity €: Free admission, please e-mail me if you are planning to attend Speakers: [EDIT] Victor Ponten / Habbekrats (confirmed), Sef / Flinke Namen (confirmed), Rutger Middendorp…
Eigenlijk zou ik deze zomer een badkamer bouwen, een boek afschrijven, een methode ontwikkelen voor conceptontwikkeling voor HBO hoofdfase en en congres opzetten over de relatie tussen Concept en Ontwerp. Naast mijn reguliere werk uiteraard. Vreemd genoeg is dat niet gelukt. Dus wie op mijn boek (of mijn badkamer) zit te wachten, moet nog even…
Na het nodige topoverleg tussen getalenteerd studente Marije Kuiper en ondergetekende is besloten om de eindexamencatalogus 2009 van de Academie voor Popcultuur en mijn boek een titel te laten delen: Here We Are Everywhere. Een thema dat we delen, maar ook een samenvatting van de boodschap die ik over wil brengen in mijn boek. Een…