Tony Fadell: The first secret of design is ... noticing & Isaac Mizrahi: Fashion and creativity

Tony Fadell: The first secret of design is ... noticing 

After watching this video it made me realised the problem we all faced. The problem of getting used to our circumstances. The process of habituation is a form of learning in which an organism decreases or ceases to respond to a stimulus after repeated presentations. Essentially, the organism learns to stop responding to a stimulus which is no longer biologically relevant. This process hinders us from identifying the problem around us. I for one have experienced this. It is the JOB of a creative designer to not just identify them, but to also solve them. I came into design school thinking that designing would be more of how to solve the issue but it never occurred to me that I needed to know the problem to solve them problem. 

To look bigger.

We have to have a broader view of the world. We have to step back and see the world differently. By doing so we would be able to identify the problems better. We would be able to identify the steps needed and sometimes solve the minor issues to make the process easier. 

To look closer.

We have to look deeper into the aspects of the problems. Sometimes solving the minor issues can help us create better designs. In the video, Mr Fadell talked about screws, they customised their own screws because customers were frustrated with having to choose the right screw for their wall. So they created their own screw to satisfy the customers. By looking closer into the problem, they managed to meet the need of the customers and in turn sell more. So we should look deeper and closer to identify the roots of the problem.

To think younger.

This brings us back to the first ever Creative Thinking class. Where we had to relearn child-like playfulness. It is so relevant to brainstorming! At a young age, children are still new to everything and thus they don't habituation as many daily hassles as we do. With a child-liked mind, we are able to see the problems quicker. 

This video made me really reflect on how easy it has been to habituate and all the things my brain has settled it. How my brain makes everyday problems just a "well, thats the way it works" instead of trying to solve them. Changing the way we think is going to be hard, but if I want to excel in design. I will do it.

Isaac Mizrahi: Fashion and creativity

Honestly, when i first watched this video I was so confused and I felt like after the video I came out not absorbing anything. Issac Mizrahi talked about his life and kept rolling clips after clips. His talk was so unstructured and rigid. However, after reading his transcript I realised he mentioned some interesting points about colour, finding what you love, "being bored" and always serve up quality productions.

To be quite frank, I kinda hated this video. I actually had to read through his transcript decrypt to his points. He talked briefly about him gaining inspiration from colour. He said that light plays an important role in design as it conveys colours different when shone from different angles. It makes him constantly think of ways to make his models looks stunning when compared to the vintage classic fashion. He went on the talk about how he began his career in designing. Mr Mizrahi started doing plays and doing work in a theatre and after that he was interested in designing costumes and clothes for the shows. Later he went on studying design, what I think he meant to say was to find your passion. After a few video clips, he talked about being bored. This was the only point I caught from the video. He said that being in design, one must be someone who gets bored easily. It struck me as to improve my own designs and work I constantly have to demand more from myself. Although my work may be the most awesome thing ever, I have to constantly critique it and "get bored" at it to see where I can improve what I do. To close, he showed a video clip of him in a kitchen. I couldn't comprehend most of the things he said but he gave an example of how he always told people that presenting design work was like presenting food. Nobody wanted to be serve an old disgusting roasted chicken. I realised that I have to constantly strive to produce quality works and that I have to always be on the ball. To be successful, I have to be able to show quality material.

After tirelessly reading the transcript and watching his talk, I realised that he did mention some key point to better improve myself. If only he could be more informative.