Edward De Bono

Lateral thinking

Edward de bone says that creativity is a skill that everyone can learn; but some believe it is a skill, only a hand full of people are born with. He proves this fact wrong by tells us how some are just better than others. He uses tennis as an example to the statement; he examples how everyone can play tennis but not everyone is good at it. Edward de bono also tells us about lateral thinking; and how it moves across the routine ways and find alternative solutions to problems. Lateral thinking can be learned easily by practice of the skill itself. When it is practiced more we will realize that it is more effective than traditional thinking; where we are in the right direction and suspended in our judgments.

In conclusion, Edward de bono believes that lateral thinking is a useful skill that should be learned and used consciously, rather than hoping for an ideas to pop out.

A Picture A Day

I am going on an adventure

A picture a day 

 My sister and I do this little thing where we go to second hand book stores around Singapore to find a particular book, which is not available in book stores such as popular or Books Kinokuniya. It doesn’t have to be a book we are finding for, it can simply be an interesting book that we have never seen before. We always travel with a list of books we need to get, just in case we pass a book store.

  I know we can use technology to find the book in a few minutes, but what is the fun in that. When we are ‘book hunting’, we find different books and we are exposed to more book that we never knew existed. This will broaden our interest.

On Saturday, the 29^th of august, I was ‘hunting’ for a book called Sir Gawain Pearl and the Green Knight Sir Orfeo and The Silmarillion by JRR Tolkien; and my sister was searching for a book called the legend of sleepy hollow by Washington Irving. Firstly, I am a fan of JRR Tolkien’s work. I finished reading the Hobbit and The Lord of the Ring book, and I want more of Middle Earth. Therefore, the reason for my adventure. We went to a couple of store before reaching my destination. When we in the first few stores, I thought I was never going to get my book as I couldn’t find It., then finally we arrived at the store. There was a small collection of JRR Tolkien book under the dreadful books of Twilight and Harry Potter. Honestly, I was quite offended by the arrangement of the books, but it didn’t really matter as I got my books.

10 other paths I would have taken if I wasn’t in NAFA

I have always thought of what i could do if i wasn't in NAFA, but ever since i got into NAFA, it was just a topic that never really came up. 

Realistic pathways-

1)     I would retake my GCE O-levels examinations, and joined Temasek polytechnic. This is because I felt that i didn’t do that well for my examination. I really want to pursue an artistic career so I would join temasek polytechnic for their Diploma in Apparel Design & Merchandising.

2)     I would have pursued a career in adventure learning and became a camp instructor.  Before I got the admission to NAFA, I actually applied for Diploma in Outdoor & Adventure Learning in Republic polytechnic, because I thought I didn’t get into NAFA. Secondly, I always loved attending camps, hence, when I was in secondary 3 and 4, I was given the opportunity to be part of orientation camp, which developed an interest of camp leaders in me. 

3)  I may have considered teaching.  In primary school, my sister and I used to have a handmade jewelry store once a year. So, when I graduated, the art department called us back to carry out a basic jewelry making course for the staffs. So I thought if I can teach adults for sure I am able to teach children, but one doesn’t simply teaching children. Due to my agoraphobia, I think teach might not actually happen.

4)     I think everyone has thought of this at least once in their life. Yes, to be part of the police force. I thought if I joined the police force I would be brave, tough and a direct way to serve the country, but I never really understood the risks I will  of becoming one.

5)     I thought I could pursued my diploma in another country, for example, Australia. Firstly, because the education system is easier and secondly, I have relatives living in Australia. So if I were to study there I wouldn’t have to worry about living alone.

6)      I would have worked towards wildlife documentarist. This is because I want to show the other side of the world, instead of just saying that I support animals, I want to do something about it. I want to bring aware to others.

7)     If I don’t get into NAFA for fine arts, I actually considered to join NAFA for dance, but the only problem was that dance was mostly self-taught than actually attending lessons. I learned it through videos, and I mostly dance hip hop.

Now for a slightly unrealistic pathway-

1)     Since I have an interest in acting and dancing, I thought I could work as a Disney character. I think It will be an interest job as I will be able to meet interesting characters every day.

2)     I was always good at telling story, sometimes they are so believable that I start to belief them myself. So I think I can become a spy.

3)     Lastly, I could be a professional sleeper. I am good at sleeping, I can do it with my eyes closed. I make sure I get at least 6-8 hours of sleep every day. I think sleep is like a drug, my bed is my dealer and my alarm clock is the police. When I sleep, I feel that I am in a whole different world, and when I wake, it takes me a certain amount of time before I get back to reality. 

Lateral thinking

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   Lateral thinking is solving problems through an indirect and creative approach,using reasoning that is not immediately obvious and involving ideas that may not be obtainable by using only traditional step-by-step logic.The term was coined in 1967 by Edward de Bono.

Lateral thinking is the art of looking at solutions in another indirectly, and not going for the direct and simply answer. When we think laterally, our perspective is broadened.
It can be difficult to think laterally, as we have always been taught to think in a linear and selective pathway; which also is expected of us by the society.

As students, I think we use more lateral thinking as compared to vertical thinking. This is because of our strong desire to learn something new or simply to know. For example, during my GCE O-Level Art examination, we had to choose one themes to relate our piece to. One of it was contrast. Instead of turning to the directly solution, where I can show a contrast between the colors, I did a piece where showed contrast between war and peace. This also shows that lateral thinking is used to stand out of a crowd, to show a person’s creativity.

 As time goings, when we enter the real world, besides the people who work in a surrounding where creativity is constantly needed, we will tend to use more vertical thinking as it is more relevant to the fast paced world.

 I think everyone should be able to practice both lateral and vertical thinking in their daily life. Vertical thinking helps a person in logic, whereas lateral thinking makes new ideas possible.

My sister and my friend, Aina accompanied me to the festival. Our first venue was SAM at 8Q. Our teacher, Mr Ezzam Rahman was performing his piece, Allow me to introduce myself at this venue. When I saw the setting of his performance, I was really confused as I couldn't related it with the title of the piece. Even throughout the first half of his performance, I was simply lost; I couldn't find a connection, but after a while the meaning and concept started to sync in. I felt a little disturbed as first I thought the performance was raw in a sense that it was refined; and secondly, I felt the performance was talking directly to me. When Mr Ezzam put the powder in his mouth, I could my mouth feeling dry. Therefore, I thought this performance was remarkable as it had an effect on me.

Our second venue was at Singapore art museum, the front lawn. It was a performance by the Starlight Alchemy (Singapore). Their performance incorporates fire, theatre and dance, so naturally I was thrilled to watch it. Unfortunately, when we got their performance was ending, so we couldn’t really get to watch anything. I was disappointed as I really wanted to see how their ‘played’ with fire.

The third venue was at waterloo centre, artplace. The performance was NIGHT LIGHT: SEEING THROUGH THE CORRIDOR by Dance Theatre and Gene Tan. This performance was performed by teenagers. Honestly, I wasn’t expecting much. But then, they blow me out of my socks. They were amazing. They had a storyline with their dance which made sense to me. The repetition of actions showed the importance of how a human behaved, from saying hello to picking a fight. 

In conclusion, I was not wrong about underestimating the whole festival. I really had a great time. I thought all the performance had something in common. It was that they were all relatable for humans. 

Circle of strength

The dish we made. 

In my family, Sundays are the most important day of the week; this is the day where we have the most fun. So Sunday, we invite our whole family, meaning my whole family which consists of 21 people to our house and cook dinner for them. Since my mother was in charge of the menu today, we got to cook something new as she loves exploring new things. Instead of the basic Indian food that we eat all the time, we made shepherd’s pie. The process was a little messy as there were 4 people in the kitchen and we don’t really have a big kitchen. But all was good because our dish turned out really well and everyone liked it, well at least I did.

I think family is one thing you can never run away from. They don’t necessarily have to be blood related but no matter how much you try to hide from them, they will always find you. Yes, we have arguments, but those arguments in my opinion are the moments where we become closer as we understand each other more.  When a family comes together, they can beat anything, even death. I know no one or any living thing can't beat death but what's there to be afraid of when you are with your family.

Lesson 5, Mind Mapping

Example for mind mapping

A mind map is a diagram used to visually organize information. A mind map is often created around a single concept. Major ideas are connected directly to the central concept, and other ideas branch out from those; these ideas are represented by images and words.

Mind map i did when i was primary 3 

I think everyone uses mind mapping in their lifes as it can be used for any situation. For example, planning on a project. I think mind mapping in a group is great practice as it will allow us be more open to ideas and concepts.

Chapter on how matter changes states

I have been using the skill of mind mapping since I was primary 3. I am the type of person who has to use picture and take down notes to memorize anything; so mind mapping really helped me. In school, mind mapping was one of the first skills that were thought; unlike some subjects or skills that we learn I think mind mapping on the other hand will be extremely helpful in the future. 

This week we had to compare 2 video and show the similarity and contrast between each other. So the two videos we were assigned to do a review on were Amy Tan’s where does creativity hides and Seth Godin’s how to get your ideas to spread.

Seth Godin explains people who can spread ideas would win over those who have unique ideas. By simply buying ideas, and broadcasting it on the television is not enough; they have to find remarkable ways to attract attention. This is because in this world where time is precious, people easily ignore the stuff. In the olden days, marketers only concentrated on the average people and get easily ignored by them; but nowadays, marketers concentrate on a particular group of people and from there the demand is raised. This is due to the passion of the consumers. Seth Godin ends his talk by saying we should take risks and be remarkable.

Amy tan explains to us that we should notice the disturbing hints that constantly repeat in our life; and how we should always question them. She starts with moral ambiguity, and tries to find answers for everything, as she believes everything is uncertain. These answers she finds is what she thinks is imagine and has a lot to do with feeling.

 The contrast between the 2 videos are that Seth Godin’s talk tells that we should ignore the ideas that a repetitively thrown at us and create new ideas or simply direct those ideas to people who would listen more, whereas, Amy tan video explains how we should question why those things or situation and make it better.

 The similarity of Amy tan’s talk and Seth Godin’s talk is that both speakers shows us how we should never stop having the ability to associate issues or simple matters with creativity and questions. For example, Seth Godin explains it by associating it with commercials; and how simple ideas don’t attraction attention anymore. On the other hand, Amy Tan associates most of her experience in an interesting and vivid questions.

In conclusion, i agree with both speaker that we should be remarkable and question everything we experience. I think in generation where everything is done quickly, its is important to stand out to make a leaving; and i feel that it will open our minds to chances  if we were to  question the things aroung us as well/

Stop! Wait A Minute

 Outside the gallery

When I was on the floor facing the ceiling, I feel like I was trapped in a cage. Like a bird trying to ecsape, I really wanted to get out of that position. Whenever I try to look at the building, I felt like i was a empty canvas, as I had no experiences of what I was doing.

When we turned to our side, I could see the ants crawling. Suddenly, I felt like everything just stopped. I thought the people who were walking were extremely slow and there were too much vehicles on the street as I could hear and feel the vibrations on the floor.

When we closed our eyes, I thought I would feel embarrassed but instead I felt comfortable. I loved the silence as it was loud for me.

The smallest things matters

A picture a day 

We fail to appreciate simple things like fork and spoon, but instead we complain about not having the latest iPhone. They are the sources to taste goodness. Yes, you can use your hands but what if there isn’t any way for you to clean your hands before you eat? Are you willing to put yourself through the hours of sitting on the toilet? Will you take that risk? I know I won’t.

A metal spoon, so shiny, that your own reflection seems to take your breath away. It urges you to enjoy your food, our source to goodness.

Inspirations

I think everyone has their own ways of getting inspired. First of all, inspirations for me happens at the least expected moments, usually when I am distracted. For example, in the toilet or in my sleep. 
My inspirations are influenced by my emotions. There was never a time where I couldn’t related my ideas to an emotion. Some of my wildest ideas are inspired by my dreams. Since I was young, I was always a quiet child, I always kept my feelings to myself.  I think those emotion that were hidden was always reflected in my dreams. Since my dreams were so vivid, and because I couldn’t remember my dreams the next day, I decided one day that I should have a dream journal by my bed. So this book sort of holds most of my Inspirations. I even took one of the ideas and used it for my Art exam in secondary school.

le voyage dans la lune, 1902

I also think I get my inspirations from movies. One of my favorite movies which inspired me was A Trip to the Moon, 1902, French silent film directed by Georges Méliès. I think the silence in the experience is the best part of the whole film.

                                                       

Habits make us

A picture a day 

I used to put the drawing block
behind my back when i had
 too much things in my hands.

Things are not always the same. As time goes by, they change, just like that. But habits do not. Remember the time you used to tie your hair in a certain way and till this day you do it. It’s the same with this picture. I used to do this in primary school and it hit me how I still do it today. My habits never changed and it makes me for who I am now. I always felt like an alien having these habits and seeing that someone else doing the same thing, I know I am not alone. 

Tony Fadell: The first secret of design is noticing?

We, as humans, are used to adapting to new things very quickly. This is because we have a limited brain potential; and our brain cryptography the things we do into habits so that more space is made for new things. This process is called habituation.

Our brain constantly habituating can both be good and bad. If we were to notice every little detail, it will be exhausting, but in the same time if we forget to notice those details which may turn out to be problems that we face, it can be a really bad thing. 




Due to this process of habituation, it is the designers’, innovators’ and entrepreneurs’ job to experience those things and improve them for the rest of the people in the world.

Some people believe that only some people are born with this ability, to see things that others don’t notice, as if they are genetically engineered to do so from birth. The innovators in the apple company have practiced a unique routine where they review them inventions like customers. This is to allow the innovators to focus on the possible frustrations and small details that can improve the product. This practice further proves that this belief is false as it shows that we just have to see things from another point of view.

Tony fadell tells us that habituation can be avoided by a few things such as looking broader, looking closer to the details and thinking younger where we allow ourselves to brainstorm in unique ways just like the youths. Tony also emphasizes on the fact that we should always be beginners as it will allow us to keep trying new things.

In conclusion, I do agree with tony fadell on constantly trying new things as it will better our lifestyle and the world. I feel that nowadays some people invent new products just to gains popularity, rather than trying to improve things that are already exist and better the world.  

Isaac Mizrahi: Fashion and creativity

Issac mizrahi believes that his creativity is greatly motivated by mistakes or trick of the eyes, such as seeing things that actually not there or just to see Things in a different perspective. He thinks that colors from the movies or colors in general motivates him. I have to agree how colors can influence some people mainly on how their mood is on that particular day.  Hence, as a designer, seeing things in a  boring manner also inspired him to see things different, allowing him to create new things similar to the idea of tricking the eye.

 I believe different people get their inspiration from different places. Inspirations are usually generated in a person when things are seen slightly differently or felt slightly differently.

Lesson 3, Collaboration

The lesson this week was about collaboration. Before any ideas or people are collaborated, they have to have a plan. This is where brainstorming enters.

Brainstorming is a technique where someone or a group of people find a solution to a problem by spontaneously contributing ideas to each other. When brainstorming is carried it is important for everyone to follow the rules of brainstorming in a group. 

Firstly there has to be a leader who keeps everyone on track and a script so that all information is noted done. The leader must also make sure everyone contributes so that it would be fair for everyone in the group. All ideas that are suggested must be accepted without any judgement and criticism. We should always focus on quantity and when a solution is found we must question it and develop it.

I think brainstorming is a very good technique especially when we are in a group of people as it allows the members to be exposed to more ideas which also expands the range of ideas, solution or even research which in involved. Hence, by brainstorming in a group, it will make sure that solution that is suggested is relevant to the problem.    

A PICTURE A DAY

A Picture A Day: the bowl i made. 

NAFA campusV

On Monday,3rd August, I had my ceramic induction workshop. I have played with clay but not with big and dangerous machines. Therefore, It was a refreshing experience for me. We had to make either a cup or bowl on the turning plate which was really fun; but the most fun was how there was so much wet clay stuck to my hands each time i started spinning the plate and tried to get the shape for my bowl. Since I was trying for the first time I couldn’t get the perfect shape for my bowl. After we were done with our bowls we had to clean up our work space and when we were done we could leave. I was really surprised how short the workshop was and wished we could have done more because I really enjoyed the workshop.

NEVER GIVE UP

VISION 

The video was very loud and clear on how we should never give up. There was a lot of time I paused the video and took a moment to think about what was mentioned.

One of the things that were mentioned was about imagination and how it allows us to ‘look into the future.’ In 10 years time, I would have sold a few of my pieces and a few people would recognize me. In 20 years time, more people will recognize more my work and I would be starting on the school that I have had dreamt I think I can sort of see the future for me, but In the same time I see something else, the obstacles that i might face.

I know it will not be easy. Every time someone asks me what I want to be when I grow, I get scared; scared of being judged and I am judged. I just have to say art and I get that judgmental look, but now fortunately, I have learnt to care less about what others think and how they are just a passing cloud. I think if anyone has faith, what others think wouldn’t matter.

When I was in primary school, in my graduating year, I had this teacher who asked us to write down what score we want to get for our final exams and stick it near our bed; so that every morning when we get up we would see it and work towards it. Instead of writing the score down, I wrote down what I wanted to be in the long run, which was an artist. I have not taken it down till this day.

I think like what Lindsey Stirling has gone though, everyone has moments where people criticize you. But, I think criticisms are the ones that pushes me forward as it gives me the energy to prove everyone who ever thought that i couldn't success, wrong.

If I were to give up today, I think I would be truly be lost in this world.