This is my first attempt of a sunset with clouds overhead. While the illustration is not photo-realistic, I think the composition is good (foreground = land, middle ground = water, background = sunset and clouds). I am also pleased with how the colors are working together.
I’m starting to develop a decent workflow using the Cintiq and am really enjoying the process. This illustration shows that a few brushes and a condensed palette can work well in developing a final composition.
I’ll post a few more examples over the next few days.
When I was younger, I was completely intrigued with a game by Electronic Arts called “Adventure Construction Set” for the Apple IIe. The game must have had an effect on me because I recall it vividly to this day – I even remember the store where I purchased it!
The Adventure Construction Set facilitates one’s ability to drive the logistics of the game, and provides a suitable platform in which to layer in the mechanics.
This “construction set” concept has value outside of the computer gaming realm.
A simple, but useful construction set is one that focuses on the “logistics” of iPhone and iPad development. This product is called UI Stencils. It’s a unique collection of stencils and related materials designed to help designers and developers formulate an effective user experience without the need for a computer.
A more advanced construction set is a hardware and software product suite called Maschine made by a company called Native Instruments. Maschine is essentially a construction set for creating music.
The hardware controller allows one to enter beats using natural motions and also allows for hands-on adjustments of sound, tempo and effects. While the hardware relies upon the software to run, the hardware can be used almost independently of the former. This is a unique aspect of this construction set in that it’s design goes beyond the “construction set” concept and introduces powerful “user experience” layers which further accelerates music creation.
Not surprisingly, the key to developing a successful construction set is to first identify what the set needs to create! With the objective in mind, see if you can divide the task into discrete categories of work. Each of these categories may become its own “micro” construction set. When combined, this holistic construction set becomes a powerful tool that enables you to focus on the end objective and less on the mechanics of getting you there. This is the key to true creativity.
Can you think of opportunities where a “construction set” would be beneficial? If so, take the time to build one! You may find that your ability to “create” becomes that much easier and enjoyable.
If you were deserted on a stranded island, what three things would you take with you? While there is no official answer to this question, you could answer this question by identifying the core fundamentals of survival – essentially, food, water and shelter. If your three things address these needs, you have a good chance of survival.
A similar stance can be said for project management. All too often, managing a project introduces specific processes, tools, documentation and applications all of which are designed to streamline the act of project management, but may do the complete opposite in enabling true productivity.
I believe that there are three things one needs to have at her/his disposal to accomplish a specific task with a discrete number of resources. These three things can be thought of as the “project survival kit” – their collective use allows one to “get the job done.
1. Description of the end-state – This 1-2 page document is an expansion of a traditional “scope” statement. It provides a full picture of the project including artifact creation, team dynamics, communication plans and final deliverables. The intent is to describe the “ideal” project in sufficient detail before you start working. Think of it as your “map” to your destination.
2. Team Strengths and Personality Inventory – You have resources at your disposal, but how do you utilize their talents in the best possible way? Know the strengths and personalities of your team members! When the relationship is strong, anything is possible.
3. Organizational Chart – If you don’t know how project participants are “linked” to one another, your effectiveness as a project leader will be limited. In addition, you run the risk of “crosstalk” (redundant and inefficient communication) between project participants which can impede progress. Also, if there is more than one leader identified on the chart, you have a problem.
So, what am I leaving behind?
You’ll notice that I don’t have a timeline or project plan listed. While I think a timeline is useful, I don’t think it’s one of the top three. If you know what you are looking to accomplish, have a good sense of how the team will be organized to deliver this end-state, and their strengths, the project will move forward at it’s most efficient pace; a timeline isn’t going to matter.
I also don’t have risks identified. Remember, anything can happen. Even if you list all of the risks you know about, there are plenty of things that you likely don’t. Spend your time on what’s happening now. If an issue exists, take action.
To be clear, I am not suggesting that you completely eliminate the use of supporting documents or forgo the use of a project plan if it provides a real benefit.
However, by looking at projects with a forward-thinking mindset, I think you’ll be less concerned about timelines, documentation, “CYA” strategies and risks / issues inventories. Instead, you’ll be utilizing resources whose activities are all designed to achieve the end-state in the most efficient and enjoyable manner possible.
It’s about focusing your attention on the activities that truly matter, and isn’t that what getting things done is all about?
While I unfortunately haven’t been able to spend too much time writing over the past several months, a lot has happened. Fortunately, I am starting to see things come together the way I had originally envisioned and I am excited to convey a few key highlights here:
Big Generator:
Site Redesign – When I launched Big Generator earlier this year, my primary objective was to keep the design simple and focus most of my attention on the graphic design portfolio. While I was pleased with the look, organization and intent of the original site, it had a number of design challenges that required attention – one such limitation was the lack of a formal communication channel. You can see the new design and read about the rest of the limitations here.
Content Separation – When I launched my fictional blog (Microcosms) in 2009, I did so to maintain some degree of content separation from Incubator. I decided to do the same for my business. While I’ll still post ideas that tie into my business here, I want to be able to focus more attention on articles and topics that will interest and benefit potential clients. My goal is to utilize biggenerator.com as a content publishing platform to expand my knowledge and skills in the areas of design strategy and brand development, both of which will increase my business credibility.
Portfolio – While I had compiled a portfolio a little over a year ago, I decided to rebuild the portfolio not only in digital format but in print format as well. The digital portfolio is organized by year, and the most recent work can be seen here. For the print version, I decided to purchase two 11×17 “screw-post” portfolios which tied everything together quite nicely.
Web Site Redesign: If you’ve visited the site in the past, you’ll notice that I’ve refreshed the site using a new WordPress theme. I’ve searched for many months searching for just the right theme and am really pleased with the functionality and straightforward design of this one – ironically called “Basic Maths“. I am also starting to introduce additional WordPress plugins to make the site more SEO friendly and easier to navigate.
Cintiq: While I’ll continue to do a lot of my drawing using traditional media, I will be starting to use Wacom’s Cintiq tablet to do much of my rendering. This is an area that I am really excited about.
In my past post, I started to explore the concept of motivation and called attention to why being motivated isn’t always a good thing.
In thinking about my personal and professional lives over the past decade – particularly as it relates to the concept of motivation – I’ve learned the concept of motivation cannot, and perhaps should not, be discussed without a keen focus on the “goal” or objective. In my opinion, you cannot be motivated to do something if you aren’t sure what you’re motivated for, and goals don’t become real unless someone is actively doing something to make sure they are realized.
Of course, this sounds obvious, right? In my opinion, it becomes less obvious when there is misalignment between the two. The purpose of this post is to further explain this connection, highlight the risks when there is misalignment, and illustrate what it means to have “ideal” alignment.
I think achievement of a goal or objective comes down to five things:
1. Understanding what it is that you want and why.
2. Understanding the pathways to bring you towards that goal.
3. Introducing appropriate motivators to push you towards your goal.
4. Periodically ensuring the motivators are working appropriately or need to be replaced.
5. Advance towards a place where supplemental motivators are not required.
Let’s use an example to walk through this process.
Let’s say that you are trying to lose weight. In order to keep you moving in the right direction, you share your goal with your family and friends. After all, you may need them to help you stay on track. And of course, there are many other “motivators” including rewards that you give yourself for reaching milestones in your weight loss journey. Collectively, this is what I call a motivation framework or motivation support system. In most cases, having a support system is a good idea.
If your goal is aligned with your values and mission, you’ll find that your motivation level and your ability to reach your goal feeds upon its own successes. Because your mind is not bound within a self-justification cycle (“I want to lose weight because …”) the energy pathways between mind and body are in alignment and you can ultimately achieve a state of “flow”. By achieving this state of being, your need for supplemental motivators decreases rapidly and you become further empowered to take on greater challenges (i.e. “I lost ten pounds, but I feel good enough to lose another ten!”).
If however, your wish to lose weight is indirectly connected to your values and purpose, a number of things can start to happen. First, your support structure may start to “overrun” your initial desire – i.e. your motivation support group may end up being more motivated than you are! When and if this occurs, you may find that your own motivation starts to plummet and you end up doing less than before. This downward spiral can proceed even further when your support system begins to run out of energy (i.e. they are no longer providing any motivational support) and/or begins to show its disappointment that you are not reaching your goal (showing evidence that perhaps your support structure wasn’t the right choice to begin with).
As you can start to imagine, this single disconnect between goal identification and values/mission has the potential to negatively influence other aspects of your life – i.e. “If I can’t lose ten pounds with support, how can I do anything?”
In order to have true alignment between goal and motivation, I think one needs to pay close attention to the following:
In my opinion, the ideal state is having a goal that is directly linked to your core being and ultimately drives you. It’s the catalyst and energy source for all action. Without this source, your source for motivation will always need “supplemental power sources” (at least to some extent). I think that achievement of the farthest end of this motivation maturity scale is the identification and pursuit of a goal that is ultimately self-powered.
In my next post within this series, I’ll spend more time focusing on the human aspect of motivation and goal attainment – this is ultimately where I’ll introduce the next area of “recalibration” which is persistence.
“Motivation: … the psychological feature that arouses an organism to action toward a desired goal; the reason for the action; that which gives purpose and direction to behavior.” (Source unknown)
In my last post, I highlighted three main areas where I would like to improve – self-motivation, perseverance and connection. In this post I’ll continue my exploration of motivation.
All too often, the word “motivation” has a positive connotation. After all, how often do you hear public speakers or other leadership types exclaim “Be Motivated!” Because of this, how can one not assume that being motivated is always the right thing to do?
In contrast to public opinion, I believe that being motivated to do something isn’t always the right decision. Why? Because you could be motivated to do the wrong thing – i.e. something that is misaligned with your core values and/or for the wrong reasons. In the above definition, it’s easy to assume that the goal or “reason for the action” is clearly known, but in many cases it may not be.
In thinking about this concept, my belief is that truly understanding what motivates one to do something can ultimately help one achieve a particular goal faster than if that level of awareness is left unchecked. Along a similar path, gaining this understanding early on can also highlight whether the goal should be abandoned entirely – i.e. is being motivated truly the right path in a given situation? In short, I think one needs to have a clear understanding of the goal (and the reasons why achievement of that goal is worth the pursuit) before being motivated to act.
Let me share a personal example to illustrate this concept in more depth.
I grew up in a family where education and success went together. Over time, I started to believe that my success (the goal) was primarily dependent upon my education. Not withstanding my desire to learn, even after my master’s degree I continued to take classes in the hope that I would eventually acquire enough knowledge to be “successful”.
My business coach challenged this long-standing belief late last year when I started formulating the basis for Big Generator. Up until that time, I never thought that I was truly ready to move forward. Did I know enough? Did I have enough experience? The answer is that I’ll never know enough. Thus, I consciously decided to accept this fact and the rest would need to come with more experience.
This example is relevant because being motivated to continue with my education vs. moving forward with my business could have been the wrong decision over the long-term. Thus, being motivated to carry out the wrong goal for the wrong reasons doesn’t make the activity right. Instead, being motivated to advance the business while continuing to gain knowledge is the right decision for me at this time in my life.
Formal education, while deemed worthy in nearly all contexts, is actually the direct opposite in this example. In essence, formal education was employed as a “motivator” to help me meet a goal that I call “success”. However, “success” takes more than being well-educated. Thus, taking inventory of what I wanted to do and identifying the right motivators allowed me to break out of this cycle and make alternative decisions.
This isn’t to say that there will not be times when the mantra of “get motivated” doesn’t have value – particularly in situations where you aren’t excited about the path you’re on, but there really isn’t any choice but to use an alternative (positive) perspective and go ahead with the task at hand. However, in the grand scheme of things, it’s important to understand what it is that you want and build a motivation framework to help you achieve that which you are seeking.
In my next post in this series, I’ll go into more depth about this framework and show some guidelines to make sure that you are motivated for the right reasons.
I read an article in a recent issue of The Atlantic which focused on the worsening employment outlook for today’s economy. The article painted a fairly dismal picture connecting unemployment with a vast number of downstream impacts, including socio, interpersonal and self that had negative consequences many years after the economic downturn.
The article sheds light on several impacted demographics – including recent graduates looking for work. This particular demographic – known as the “Millennials” or “New Boomers” – is referenced in a book called “Generation Me” by Jean Twenge, an associate professor of psychology at San Diego State University.
In her book, Twenge ties the manner by which this generation was raised, their resulting high self-esteem, and their potential long-term success, particularly when faced with a jobless economy.
She notes that “… self-esteem in children began rising sharply around 1980, and hasn’t stopped since. By 1999, according to one survey, 91 percent of teens described themselves as responsible, 74 percent as physically attractive, and 79 percent as very intelligent. (More than 40 percent of teens also expected that they would be earning $75,000 a year or more by age 30; the median salary made by a 30-year-old was $27,000 that year.) Twenge attributes the shift to broad changes in parenting styles and teaching methods, in response to the growing belief that children should always feel good about themselves, no matter what. As the years have passed, efforts to boost self-esteem—and to decouple it from performance—have become widespread.
“These efforts have succeeded in making today’s youth more confident and individualistic. But that may not benefit them in adulthood, particularly in this economic environment. Twenge writes that “self-esteem without basis encourages laziness rather than hard work,” and that “the ability to persevere and keep going” is “a much better predictor of life outcomes than self-esteem.”
This really struck a chord with me as I have always believed that the key to success is self-confidence. The fact that “… the ability to persevere is a better predictor of life outcomes” is a refreshing perspective. In fact, I wonder if my challenge isn’t more about perseverance than it is about confidence. This is an opportunity.
In thinking more about my development in 2010, I would like to improve my skills in three main areas – self-motivation, persistence and connection. While I am not necessarily lacking in these three areas, it can be difficult to measure progress without a clear understanding of the underlying maturity model associated with each. This exploration is also key to further push the “advancement envelope”.
The concept of motivation is something that ultimately drives one to achieve something. If you aren’t motivated to do anything, then it’s unlikely that positive things will happen to you (or anything for that matter). However, motivation can be measured on a scale all of its own.
Of course, the two extremes are obvious – you are motivated to act, or you aren’t. But what’s in the middle? How do you measure motivation? And is there just one dimension to this motivation scale?
Let’s explore this concept in more depth.
A wish to learn new things has been a primary motivator in my life. To go a step further, formal education can be an excellent motivator all on its own – you pay someone to teach you and indirectly hold you accountable through deadlines, quizzes and exams. Through the process, you naturally become motivated to get a good grade. In essence, this becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy of its own – i.e. I want to learn so I take a class, which pushes me to learn more through the identification of a “grade” which allows me to achieve the goal I originally set out to do.
Another commonly heard motivator is money or material wealth. While money does not bring happiness, studies have shown that people who have a reasonable amount of wealth are generally happier than those who do not. Thus, attaining money is a powerful motivator. But is money the motivator, or is the happiness that seems to come with it?
A third motivator is the simple act of pleasing others. Your relationships with your family and friends may be important enough to drive you to act independent of goal. Doing something to please others can be its own self-fulfilling prophecy – i.e. your contributions give a sense of happiness to the other party which can improve the relationship (you are both happy). The complexity in this case arises when the motivator begins to take on a life of its own. Using the example just described, this motivator can start to work against the actor if the entire reason for acting is the underlying happiness of the other.
As you can begin to see, the concept of motivation is fairly complex. What may be labeled as the motivation “source” may in fact be a mask for the true motivator (i.e. is it money or happiness?) Motivators can also be deceiving – a genuine motivation source may begin to erode over time if the aim isn’t becoming increasingly visible. Motivators can also be visualized to gain a greater understanding of what is driving (and perhaps what should be driving) the activity.
In a later post under the same title, I’ll explore this concept in more depth. I’ll also start to introduce the concept of perseverance as I believe the two are closely related.