Why You Should Care About Jonah Lehrer’s Great Fall→

I find myself mourning this loss in a way that makes me feel silly.  And when I examine the mourning, I realize that it’s not just about me losing a personal idol.  Jonah Lehrer, both before and after the publication of his latest book, which is all about the creative process and the elevated place that creativity deserves in our society, was a strong and articulate proponent of the power of art and creativity in society.  By relying on scientific findings, by pulling difficult, jargony papers into the mainstream with patient and enthusiastic explanation, by placing the role of the creativity in the functioning of the brain, and both the brain and creativity at the center of what makes us human, Lehrer in ways large and small was an ally to the arts field.  Whether he meant to or not, he fought against the marginalization of what we do by attempting over and over to explain the particular work that our work was doing.  And more than that, particulars aside (as I don’t pretend to know what other quotes he might have fabricated), he told true stories, valuable stories, stories based in a tremendous amount of reading and research, built out of data and embroidered with stories and anecdotes.  Imagine is a formidable book, a book that at its core tackles the same questions our research into intrinsic impact is trying to tackle—what is creativity?  How does it happen?  How does it work?  What does it do to us, as makers, as consumers?  In the same way that he previously tackled memory through the creative lens, Lehrer has created in Imagine a book, which had sold more than 200,000 copies at last count, that placed front and center the secrets of what we do in this field, and for the world.

And now, because he needed to tack on a few emphatic quotes, because he needed to not let the words of one of the great poets of our time sit as they were, that book has been pulled from shelves, removed from e-book stores, and its author shunned.

The blog post the above quote comes from, by Clayton Lord, pretty much summarizes how I feel about the Jonah Lehrer situation, particularly since I have recommended his work here and to my friends and colleagues so much. Like Lord, what I appreciated about Lehrer's writing was the multitude of examples that he provided in simple language that I could use to further a conversation about art, technology, creativity and even marketing. ​

Don't hide behind formality→

We’re breaking down the stranglehold of formality everywhere. No more personal secretaries, memos on official letterhead, meetings that must happen in person. There’s never been less mental mask switching between work and play. We wear the same clothes, use the same technology. It’s a liberation of the mind and it’s the new world order.

It is very easy to use formality, the need for formality, as an excuse to keep us from doing our best work. Formality is the cousin of "that's how we've always done it" and in many ways the enemy of progress. ​

Jason Santa Maria: On Web Typography

Achieving a thorough grasp of typography can take a lifetime, but moving beyond the basics is within your reach right now. In this talk, we’ll learn how to look at typefaces with a discerning eye, different approaches to typographic planning, how typography impacts the act of reading, and how to choose and combine appropriate typefaces from an aesthetic and technical point of view. Through an understanding of our design tools and how they relate to the web as a medium, we can empower ourselves to use type in meaningful and powerful ways.

Jason Santa Maria, filmed at the Build conference, gives what is surely a preview of A Book Apart's forthcoming Book #9. 

Scott Berkun: The tyranny of category→

The tyranny of category is when we think a thing is only what we have labeled it to be. A master of taxonomy and judgement has the illusion of expertise, since they choose what label an idea, or a person, is given. But like an olympic judge for gymnastics, the ability to score a performance on a scale from 1 to 10 is not the same as the ability to perform gymnastics itself. If you show me a soufflé, I can tell you what category of food it is, and judge it on how it compares to others I’ve eaten, but that does not give me the skill to make one. A film critic can harshly criticize a movie, but not possess any of the abilities required to make any film at all. The ability to categorize and critique has the pretense of superiority to creation, but not the substance.

Almost always the work that gives us pause, makes us wonder, surprises us does those things because it is uncategorizable. 

Creativity Top 5: July 30, 2012→

Say what you will about the Olympics, the Adidas photo booth for the Take The Stage campaign is full of joyful surprise. ​