About this time of year, I begin to reflect on the goals I started with in January, and what I’ve accomplished so far. My inventory of completed creative projects is coming up short. I’ll need a pretty intense few months of making to create a dent, and so I’ve adopted a new rally cry:
For goodness make
Fun in the Make Space
Given my current thinking and plotting along those lines, Midwest UX 14 came at a good time. Immersing myself in a couple of days worth of tinkering in the Make Space, taking in a screening of the Maker documentary, and all kinds of talks about design and creativity was just what I needed. Here were a few of my favorite takeaways:
Making begins in the real world.
Not in Photoshop. Not in web-based tools. Before even booting up the digital tools, you’ll likely follow the Maker Continuum:
1) Idea in your head
2) A sketch on a page
3) A conversation with others.
As if I needed an excuse to want to step away from the screen! My sketchnotes from Todd Zaki Warfel, Make. Mentor. Learn.
#sketchnotes from @zakiwarfel‘s Make. Mentor. Learn. talk at #MWUX14 pic.twitter.com/YzGr5xavLh
— sara mcguyer (@sara_mc) October 24, 2014
Perspectives are awaiting discovery.
When you’re solving a problem, the blank slate is a little bit scarier if you fool yourself into believing you have to invent something brand new. Steve Smith made a great point about how other perspectives are all around, you just need to look for them.
Image credits: Steve Smith, from Producing Creativity.
More of my sketchnotes from MWUX14.