Category: #creativity

Permission Slip

I was giving a public talk at a Life Sciences museum in Göttingen, Germany earlier this year. Over a hundred people turned up to hear about my journey with Visual Thinkery – A picture says a thousand words. People were encouraged to bring pen and paper and we had plenty on hand to give out…
Insight, in sight, incite!

I was reminded this week whilst running a Visual Storytelling workshop with a group of Social Entrepreneurs in Lewisham, the power of insight. We all stand in a different place and see the world through our lens of previous experiences. What you see is all there is. It’s impossible to reach conclusions based on things…
Achilles Heel to Superpower

The thing I considered my achilles heel growing up, the enemy that was always in view, I now realise as having given me my superpower. I’m even grateful for it.
Graphic Recording – it’s magic!

A quick guide to graphic recording, and the fact that it’s not actually magic, which you can read about in this Visual Thinkery blog post.
Ama-Zine Prompts

Amy Burvall and myself thoroughly enjoyed delivering a hands-on Zine-making workshop at OER19 in Galway earlier this month. It was so good to be back in the motherland. But the trouble with a workshop of this nature is that most people are a little uncomfortable when faced with a blank piece of paper. So, in our…
OER19 revisited…

I’m already looking forward to OER19, and I’m delighted that it will take place in the motherland. Aye. Of course, I couldn’t resist this little remix of the flyer when I first saw it. This is a product of Mathers third principle of Visual Thinkery – Curiosity must not come back empty-handed…
Sparks of Openness

Working in the open – it often feels counter-intuitive. What if someone criticises my half-baked idea? What if they make it stronger? What if someone dislikes the thing I’ve created? What if they really like it? What if they pinch the idea? What if they’re able to use the idea, or add theirs to it? Inspiration comes…
Raspberry Pi – protector of the shed…

SOMEONE left the heater on in my shed. You can read all about it here in the most recent dollop of thinkery to your inbox.
Curiosity

What if I just tweak it a little? Change the colours slightly, or make it into a repeating pattern? Or a character? If it could speak, what would it say? Curiosity is creativity’s playful little cousin (Tinker?) – always getting up to mischief… I came across this quote on curiosity doing some work for Ada College, the UK’s…
Eye

It’s a two way deal. Once you’ve seen something, you can’t unsee it. Equally, the interpretation of what you see is a product of things you’ve seen and experiences you’ve had so far. Eye. Even the english word is a palindrome; it’s a two way deal.
Self Portrait

If self expression affords you a sideways glimpse at your own self, then a self portrait allows you to briefly hold its gaze. Deface your face. Go on; I give you full permission…
New Project? Every time…

The biggest waste of time is the time spent not getting started. Why do I allow myself to be held captive by irrational worries? Once I start a project, I begin to see it for what it is. And sure enough, the ideas come and I don’t need to fear it anymore. I start to enjoy the process of…