Category: #OddsAndEnds

  • Cool beans

    Cool beans

    Cool beans! Sunny Lee said it – so I had to draw it…  

  • 3000 chairs

    3000 chairs

    This campaign from children’s author Nicola Davies grabbed me. I’m deeply ashamed that the UK have said no to hosting 3000 refugee children. Please check it out. As suggested by Nicola, I had to draw an empty chair. And so, I asked my 5-year-old what sort of things a chair should have? Buttons, jet engines, lights of…

  • Flares*

    Flares*

    It was Irish farmer practicality meets home improvement engineering. My gran grew the flowers. My mum dried them. And I, yes I, arranged them in little pots filled with cement. Pretty flowers now with added permanence… Having said that, the same practical engineering had us making rafts every summer for the river. A few of…

  • London Underground

    London Underground

    The London Underground map is a design marvel. It makes your paths straight. Just looking at it lightens your load. On seeing it for the first time (as a fresh-faced 20 year-old), I thought someone had intentionally worked a bottle shape into its design (essentially the outline of the Circle line.) After attending an excellent after-hours…

  • Learning to Credential

    Learning to Credential

    Due to the nature of the system, we start with the Credential and work backwards. Ah. This is further illustrated by this graphic, highlighting the massive difference between prescriptive and descriptive pathways.

  • Catalyst of change

    Catalyst of change

    I had a very enjoyable conversation with Giles Anderton before Christmas, and this thought appeared. I see myself as a catalyst for change. But if I’m being honest, I realise that in the past I’ve been as resistant to change as the next guy – and not even for reasons I can clearly articulate. I once heard…

  • The Binary Decision

    The Binary Decision

    I’m now in the habit of carrying around a sketchbook and scribbling down a thought as it jumps around in my brain. I’ve recently noticed that being creative requires a lot of noticing (notice what i did there?…) In this instance I was noticing how decisions are rarely binary, even thought its in our nature to…

  • Ways of introducing yourself…

    Ways of introducing yourself…

    At most meetings I attend these days, I’m asked to give a brief introduction of who I am – and quite right too – just who the hell do I think I am? 🙂 I always fumble through a few bits and pieces and quickly realise that I’m rambling. So here’s a silly thought I allowed…

  • My phone works like clockwork

    My phone works like clockwork

    I’ve just bought a new phone cover (my umpteenth phone cover…) and the back happens to be transparent. So I thought I would create something crazy to pop in there. “Clockwork” is a word I found myself using this week – and these two thoughts seemed to have combined in this creation, which sometimes is…

  • Hey! How’d you do that?

    Hey! How’d you do that?

    I’ve been asked many times about how I go about creating visual thinkery – so here’s a first stab at illustrating the tools I use. Even though drawing with a stylus on my iPad was my path into drawing, I prefer to use pen and paper as the fastest way to capture and develop an idea.

  • Brain bender

    Brain bender

    I’m fascinated by how the brain takes meaning from its visual sensory input. By adding highlights and shadows, suddenly drawings come alive, as the brain interprets depth and adds meaning. My 10 year-old was doing pretty well at getting this 2D->3D brain trick to work (oddly enough, someone at church had used it to talk about…

  • Fooling around at the airport

    Fooling around at the airport

    There’s always inspiration to be found – even at Heathrow’s terminal 5, which (since the day after halloween…) is featuring a festive feel. I’m not sure if this actually makes any sense about class – but I certainly had fun creating it using the new photo feature on the Paper by 53 app I regularly…

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