Exercise : Random word / Image association

Task in class :

To create "SCARY IMAGES or OBJECT" that will instill fear among people through out the ages.

Random words : Kitten

What can I think of when see this word - Kitten :
i. Scary
ii. Tails
iii. Fury
iv. Claws

Association :
i. Scary : I was scared of cats so sure I will think of scary as the first thought that I saw this random word.Since we have to create a scary image,I will try to make it as scary as possible.

ii. Tails : When think of kitten, it will be easy for most of us think of its tail that always swing here and there. I would like to make the kitten have many tails so that it look like abnormal.

iii. Fury : Kitten is covered by fur. Some people might be sensitive to it and the fury kitten make the kitten look huge.

iv. Claws : Although kitten are small but its crawl will make us injured too if been attack by them.The sharp claws will make people scare.

In practice, what might this mean ?
(Illustrate your ideas on the Scary Image or Object)

This is what I had draw ：

It was way funnier than scary with my poor drawing skills.

Lesson 7 _ Random Word / Image Association

Random word / Image association

- an idea generation method which allows students to systematically generate new ideas though fixed formula.The whole premise of Random Association is to use a Random Word to provoke a reaction from the brain.

"Chances come to everyone but not everyone see it because they not have the knowledge."
"Chances only come to the people who have knowledge."
"Without knowledge we wont find the chances"

We always have our motivation,just like a donkey have a carrot to make it move.

The carrot of us maybe is money,or anythings.

...but how we get away from the carrot?

 @ When to use it

..Use it to stimulate open and divergent thinking and seek creative new ideas.

..Use it to re-ignite creative thinking when you are running out of ideas.

..Use it to get people out of a rut when their thinking is still rather conventional.

-[http://creatingminds.org/tools/random_words.htm]

@ How to use it

1. Find a random word

- Find a random word that will be used as a stimulus for new ideas. You can do this in a number of ways, including:

• Look around you. What can you see? Can you see any words? What about things? What else is happening?
• Open a book at a random page. Run your finger around the page and stop at a random point. Look for a suitable word near your finger.
• Ask the people you are with to give you a random word.
• Select a word from a prepared list of evocative words (fire, child, brick, sausage, etc.)

Good random words are (a) evocative and (b) nothing to do with the problem being considered. Ambiguity also helps. Nouns are usually best, but verbs and adjectives can also be used effectively.

2. Find associations

- Think about other things about which the word reminds you. Follow associations to see where they go. 
- Think openly: associations can be vague and tenuous (this is creativity, not an exam!).

- When working with a group of people, you can write these down on a flipchart as people call them out. It can be useful (but not necessary) to leave a space after each associate for use in stage 3.

3. Use the associations to create new ideas

- Now create new ideas by linking any of the associations with your problem. Again, the linkage can be as vague as you like: what you want is ideas!

- Write the ideas either next to their associations from step 2 or on a separate page.

- If other people give ideas that trigger further ideas from you, then you can go off down that route to see where it goes.

- As a variant, you can do stages 2 and 3 together, finding an association and an immediate idea from this.

Example : 

How to make a person to stop smoking in 6 months time?

Random word : Traffic Light

What will you think of when you saw a traffic light?

- Colour

- Price

- Thin

- Awareness

Association : 

Colour : We can use colours to indicate dangers. The red colour indicate most danger follow by yellow colour and green colour.While the smokers see the colours he/she will think about the dangers he/she will face and slowly stop smoking.

Price : We can increase the price of amercement not the cigarette price so when they smoke in the non smoking area they will get the high price amerce.

Thin : Make the cigarette's material become thin so the smoker will become weariness to smoke.

Awareness: Create an awareness image on the cigarette skin and show that smoking will not make people become slim and yet it will make our lungs to become dark and also ugly .

Conclusion : So, people won't buy it if the colour of the cigarette's smoke is in colour and they won't be taking risk to do that .

Exercise : Analogy

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Love " with this picture.

The warmest hug from you,

The hottest sexiest lips,

The extra caring from you,

That is the love of us.

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Life " with this picture.

May life likened as candle ,

Light up with oxygen ,

Sway with the wind ,

Back to the initial when all gone .

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Pain " with this picture.

Pain is just like an ice-cream,

It was so attractive until you really taste it.

It was so hard to guard against the direct stimulus.

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Love or Life " with this picture.

Love -

Nice aromatic with bitter taste,

Two different tones given.

Once you know how to savor,

You will know the bitter-sweet.

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Love or Life " with this picture.

Life -

Life is just like credit card,

You want more and more,

You enjoy while it present,

But it will soon be forgotten...

Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Happiness " with this picture.

Tik tok tik tok,

Happiness approach step-by-step,

Whatever good or bad happened,

It will still back to the initial,

The simplest the most happiness.

 Create a passage / writing that describe the concept of " Man or Woman " with this picture.

Mortal and pestle just like man and woman,

It would be irrelevant to each other if separate,

But when they are together,

Nice things and atmosphere created.

Exercise : How merges go wrong ??

Merge 2 animal pictures become an impossible picture. 

Choose two different animals, combine and merge their characteristic together to make an new animal that people didn't see it before. Draw a picture for it. The chosen animals must be the animals that can't live when they stay together. 

Fish head and body with cock tail. How can a fish swim with a cock tail ??

A duck with dog body. Does it still can go into water ??

An elephant with fish body. Have you seen this before? How a elephant live in water and moving with a fish body? 

A chicken head with butterfly wings. Can it fly actually ??

Exercise : Juxtaposition

During the lecture, we have do an interesting in class exercise that can explain what is juxtaposition about. 

Step 1: Choose three pairs of number between 00 and 99.

I have choose 08 , 16 , and 25.

Step 2 :  Replace the number with the certain object which have been given as below.

 

Therefore, my three objects are :

08 => Fly & Wood

16 => Flower & Spider

25 => Lightning & Root

Exercise 1 and 2 :

- Create a sentence based on the word chosen.Then create an image for the sentences written.

i. Fly & Wood :

The butterfly fly and stop on the wood.

 ii. Flower & Spider :

Flower is not the food of spider.

iii. Lightning & Root :

The lightning strike on the root.

Exercise 3 :

- Create a new word by combining the 2 words together.

Example : Flower + Spider = Flowerspider

Then, Create an image for each new words.

i. Flywood :

ii. Flowerspider :

iii. Lightningroot :

Lesson 5 and 6_Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition can be defined as placing two variable, side by side and their contrast or similarity are shown through comparison. Many creative processes rely on juxtaposition. By juxtaposition two objects or words next to each other, human brain will automatically assiociate or transfer meaning. Usually "turning" something familiar to something less familiar or vice-versa.

Definition of Juxtaposition : A placing or being placed in nearness or contiguity, or side by side,as a juxtaposition of words. The act of juxtaposing is to place two objects or words next to each other.

"When two things put side by side, your brain try to figure what is the relationship between these two? What automatically happens is that there is transference of meaning.Usually from something familiar to something less familiar."

(what is the relationship? Or the Meaning or the Similarities?)
Conflict between LEFT BRAIN and RIGHT BRAIN happens...


VISUAL PUNS
- Creating an artwork in which several visual form which look alike are connected and combined so as to bring out two or more possible meaningful. Visual puns are lower version of visual metaphor.


METAPHOR
- In a figure of speech in which two different things are linked by some similarity. Comparison that are obviously are not consider metaphor. Therefore, metaphor occur, when two different ideas are being connected in imagination and agreed to be dissimalarity at first.

SIMILES
- Using as / like

Example : Life is like cooking. It all depends on what you add and how you mix it. Sometimes you follow the recipe and at other times, you are creative. Life is like a maze in which you try to avoid the exit.

ANALOGY [two or more things agree in some respects]
- is a comparison of things that are essential dissimalarity but are shown throught the
analogy to have some simililarity.A form of logical inference or an instance of it, based on the assumption that if two things are known to be alike in some respects then they must be alike in other aspects.


Analogies :


-Logical analogies
[eg. A bird can compared to an aeroplane because both can move on air]


- Affective analogies
[eg. the Constructive worker are Hardworking as ant.]

Below are some pictures that showing juxtaposition :

Here the Church is juxtaposed beside a tall contrasting blue building

Juxtaposition allows the assessment in the overall achitecture of the city

There are three subject matters that are juxtaposed into this one frame; the clock, the modern skyscraper, and the old chapel. The juxtaposition creates a sense of time gap between the old and the modern. It's entitled "History", taken in downtown Chicago.

Bizarre juxtaposition, but it serves its purpose.

In class exercise : Mind map about friend

We had been asking to draw a mind map for our friend next to us in class and we had been told to create a avatar for the friend chosen based on the mind map created. Here is my avatar drew by ZiXuan :

Special thanks to Zixuan...=)

Exercise : Mortal and Pestle

What is Mortal and Pestle ?

A mortar and pestle is a tool used to crush, grind, and mix solid substances (trituration). The pestle is a heavy bat-shaped object, the end of which is used for crushing and grinding. The mortar is a bowl, typically made of hard wood, ceramic or stone. The substance to be ground is placed in the mortar and ground, crushed or mixed with the pestle.

Exercise : 

Imagine that you are people from year 200010 and you had found this mortal and pestle. Try to figure out what is it use for in the year 2010 in a creative way. Choose three words in the mind map below randomly and draw your own mind map of it .

Here are my answer :

The three words I choose is Noise, Devil and Married.

Mortal and pestle - 2010 version =)

1. As a tool for making noise.

2. Weapon of devil.

3. As a tokens of love giving to each other when married.

Lesson 3 and 4 _ Mind Mapping

Mind Map

• introduce by Tony Buzan.
• widely used in taking notes,research or generating new ideas.
• for brainstorming and ideas generation.
• able to stimulate and create interest to the individual/viewer.
• 
  

More details explanation about mind map : 

A mind map is a diagram used to represent words, ideas, tasks, or other items linked to and arranged around a central key word or idea. Mind maps are used to generate, visualize, structure, and classify ideas, and as an aid to studying and organizing information, solving problems, making decisions, and writing.

The elements of a given mind map are arranged intuitively according to the importance of the concepts, and are classified into groupings, branches, or areas, with the goal of representing semantic or other connections between portions of information. Mind maps may also aid recall of existing memories.

By presenting ideas in a radial, graphical, non-linear manner, mind maps encourage a brainstorming approach to planning and organizational tasks. Though the branches of a mindmap represent hierarchical tree structures, their radial arrangement disrupts the prioritizing of concepts typically associated with hierarchies presented with more linear visual cues. This orientation towards brainstorming encourages users to enumerate and connect concepts without a tendency to begin within a particular conceptual framework.

The mind map can be contrasted with the similar idea of concept mapping. The former is based on radial hierarchies and tree structures denoting relationships with a central governing concept, whereas concept maps are based on connections between concepts in more diverse patterns.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map]

Mind Maps are also useful for:

• Summarizing information.
• Consolidating information from different research sources.
• Thinking through complex problems.
• Presenting information in a format that shows the overall structure of your subject. ----- [http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm]

How to do mind map?

- Use just keywords or wherever possible images
- Start from the center of the page and work out.
- Make the center a clear and strong visual image that depicts the general theme of the map
- Create sub-centers for sub-themes
- Put keywords on lines
- Use arrows, icons or other visual aids to show links between different elements
- Be creative. Creativity aids memory

Improve your mind map:

- Use single words or simple phrase for information
- Print words
- Use color to separate different ideas
- Use symbols and images
- Using cross-linkages

[Information gets from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind_map, http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newISS_01.htm, http://www.peterrussell.com/MindMaps/HowTo.php ]

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Method Creative Thinking : Logical and Associated mind map Technique

Logical Mind Map : Logical Mind Map is directly connected to stereotypes. The Logical mind map comprises of solely stereotype words. Which means that every word or image that is put within the mind map is directly related to the central subject through its links. 

Associated Mind Map : Associated Mind Map is using an associated mind map we are able to generate random words and also show the links between words that seemingly have no connection. 

Logical Mind Map and Stereotypes 

Definition of Stereotypes : 

• A conventional, formulae, and oversimplified conception, opinion or image.
• A stereotype is a commonly held popular belief about specific social groups or types of individuals. The concepts of "stereotype" and "prejudice" are often confused with many other different meanings. Stereotypes are standardized and simplified conceptions of groups based on some prior assumptions.[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereotypes]

• Stereotypes are characteristics ascribed to groups of people involving gender, race, national origin and other factors. These characteristics tend to be oversimplifications of the groups involved, however. for examples, Asians tend to look high on Caucasians. Stereotyping is also a form of prejudice that can form damaging images of people because of a particular characteristic without having any knowledge of the person such as how people tend to believe that middle eastern people are terrorists and should be feared.
  
  Stereotypes are sometimes logical and can be true. Some people uses it to remind their kids to be a better person. Stereotypes even helps people to be aware over something. Like for example don't trust any gypsies.

• Stereotype are commonly seen in media presentation. It usually labels one group or community to a specific characteristic. Most of the stereotype are negative. In other word, criticize the whole group or community. Therefore, the whole world will label that community because of the stereotype media.
  
  Stereotype media can label a community to a positive (eg. tall men are good in basketball) or negative (eg. female drivers are bad drivers) characteristic. It creates an identity to a community. Stereotypes ignore the uniqueness of individuals by painting all members of a group with the same brush.
  "In literature and art, stereotypes are clichéd or predictable characters or situations. Throughout history, storytellers have drawn from stereotypical characters and situations, in order to connect the audience with new tales immediately." quote from Wikipedia.
  
  In order to connect with the audience, most of the storytellers characterize the character according to the history or the implant of characteristic about the certain community. Therefore, the judgement about the community will be deeper and deeper.