Dali’s Creative Thinking

Creativity & Arts

Salvador Dali’s Creative Thinking Technique

By Michael Michalko via Creativitypost

How to conjure up dreamlike imagery from your subconscious. In the history of art, most people could easily argue that Salvador Dalí is the father of surrealistic art. Surrealism is the art of writing or painting unreal or unpredictable works of art using the images or words from an imaginary world. Dali's art is the definition of surrealism. Throughout his art he clearly elaborates on juxtaposition (putting similar images near each other), the disposition (changing the shape of an object), and morphing of objects, ranging from melted objects dripping, to crutches holding distorted figures, to women with heads of bouquets of flowers. 

Surrealism is the stressing of subconscious or irrational significance of imagery, or in more simplistic terms, the use of dreamlike imagery. Dalí's absurd imagination has him painting pictures of figures no person would even dream of creating. How was Salvador Dali able to conjure up these extraordinary images from his subconscious that he used in his surrealistic paintings?

Airocide: NASA’s Answer to the Home Air Purifier

Design & Tech

 Airocide: NASA’s Answer to the Home Air Purifier

  By Jeff McIntire-Strasburg via Sustainablog.org

I’ve gotten a number of pitches to profile/review air purifiers in recent years. Generally, I’ve turned them down. While I have no problem with cleaner indoor air – who does? – I know an awful lot of products on the market don’t deliver like they claim. That was the mindset I had when a PR friend approached me with the Airocide; just a little digging, though, showed me that this wasn’t the average product in this niche.
 

Why’s that? Well, in one word (or acronym), NASA. That’s right, the agency that contracted the research and development for everything from solar panels to microwave ovens to Tang also needed a way to protect space station astronauts from polluted indoor air: specifically, ethylene gas produced by plants for accelerating the ripening of fruit.  The technology that differentiates the Airocide from conventional air purifiers was the result of this research: the technology’s ability to remove ethylene particles was so impressive that the grocery and fresh flower industries were the next customers. Further research showed that Airocide’s filterless method of destroying particles with chemical reactions (that produce no harmful emissions) worked with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and even common allergens.

Design Quotes For Inspiration

Empathy on Business

Social Intelligence & Innovation

How Empathy Paves The Way For Innovation

By Michael Carroll via Fast Company

, the best weapon to have in your business arsenal is a little empathy. Learn how you can help yourself by thinking about others. In my role as an executive coach, I often work with leaders who have difficulty building support for their ideas and priorities. Especially in complex organizations, such as pharmaceuticals and universities, leaders can often become disoriented by the political landscape, where diverse stakeholders compete for shrinking resources and allegiances are fluid. Yet in all cases, my clients can point to someone in their organizations who has mastered the politics and garnered support for their ideas. And while much distinguishes those who can successfully maneuver in these complex settings, a prominent characteristic is their ability to "resonate."

In his best-selling book Social Intelligence: The Revolutionary New Science of Human Relationships, Daniel Goleman goes beyond his prior work on emotional intelligence to "lift the curtain on an emerging science, one that almost daily reveals startling insights into our interpersonal world. The most fundamental revelation of this new discipline is: we are wired to connect."¹

Cultivating Innovation

Excellent metaphor: 

"Cultivating a Culture of Innovation" 

By Idea Champions via ideachampions.com

Innovation, the endless effort to find a better way, cannot be achieved by robotically lining up best practices and imitating them. The real catalyzing agent for innovation is the ground from which these best practices spring -- the confluence of purpose, people, and processes better known as culture.

From where will the next wave of groundbreaking innovation come?

Not from organizations mechanically mimicking each other's best practices, but from organizations with the commitment to take their stand on ground that has beencultivated for breakthrough.

If you check the contents of the most popular books on innovation, the same topics show up again and again: strategy, systems, process, leadership, customer focus, risk, speed to market, prototyping, metrics, mass collaboration, market intelligence, technology, and creative thinking.

Clean Technology

Sustainable Development
What is Clean Technology?

Video by Veolia Water

What does "clean" technology really mean? How can we make a shift toward a more ecological and low-carbon economy? 

Investments in clean technology have grown considerably since coming into the spotlight around 2000. According to the United Nations Environment Program, wind, solar and biofuel companies received a record $148 billion in new funding in 2007 as rising oil prices and climate change policies encouraged investment in renewable energy. $50 billion of that funding went to wind power. Overall, investment in clean-energy and energy-efficiency industries rose 60 percent from 2006 to 2007. By 2018 it is forecast that the three main clean technology sectors, solar photovoltaics, wind power, and biofuels, will have revenues of $325.1bn.

Building by Leandro Erlich

Creativity & Design

A Mirrored Installation Lets You Crawl Up Walls Like Spider-Man

Written By John Pavlus
Bâtiment  by Leandro Erlich  via Co.Design

"Bâtiment (Building)" by Leandro Erlich ... uses simple mirrors instead of digital trickery to create a vertigo-inducing illusion.

Augmented reality! Kinect hacks! Enormous video projections! We’ve seen all kinds of wacky digital ways of making immersive, arty illusions. Here’s what we love about Bâtiment (Building) by Leandro Erlich: It just uses mirrors. To do what? How about float in midair, scale a building like Spider-Man, or defy gravity like someone in an Escher drawing (or David Bowie in Labyrinth). Is that "immersive" enough for you? 

E-Waste Problem

Sustainability & Infographic

Visualizing The World’s 

E-Waste Problem

    By Ariel Schwartz via Fast CoExist

Every day, we throw out an enormous amount of precious metals that are hiding inside our old electronics. Just how much? This infographic will shock you, especially if you like gold.

Japan and Entrepreneurship Culture

Sustainability & Entrepreneurship

 Why Japan Has A Massive 'Entrepreneurship Vacuum'

by Knowledge@Wharton via Businessinsider

Empirical research has shown that "opportunity-driven" entrepreneurship is the wellspring of growth in the modern market economy. In Japan, the relative dearth of opportunity-driven entrepreneurship has contributed to the nation's economic malaise over the past two decades -- since the asset price bubble burst in 1991.

Although there are encouraging signs -- given the sophistication of Japan's technological base, the promise of female entrepreneurs, the advent of start-up incubators and the rise of "intra-preneurship" within established companies -- entrepreneurship levels today are markedly low relative both to pre-1991 Japan and to current levels in other developed countries. Ironically, during Japan's two lost decades, foreign-run enterprises, small businesses and entrepreneurs accounted for nearly all job creation. To revitalize its sluggish economy, Japan must create incentives to promote homegrown start-ups and must rapidly commercialize patented, cutting-edge technologies.