Expand and Simplify

A type of explorative journal/archive.

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'So much neater' - 10 lawn edging ideas to add a professional finish to your backyard

These attractive lawn edging ideas will define and enhance the boundaries, transforming an often forgotten space into a thing of beauty

What's more satisfying than a beautifully designed lawn?

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Being a futurist is essential for every industry leader to thrive

Futurist : “a person that has unbounded curiosity about what our futures may hold”

Futurism brings together key skills that will equip people the ability to navigate our VUCA (volatile, uncertain,complex,ambiguous) world.  With technological advancements happening at an exponentially faster rate. We need the mental models, strategies and frameworks to be able to mitigate risks and find opportunities. 

Here are some of the key principles of futurism: 

long view of the future 5 years+ stretch our thinking

start with macro forces: environmental

requires multiple perspectives

balance creative and critical thinking

ongoing observation, pattern recognition

Here are some key insights into how to apply futurism to leadership: 

- see the big picture, ask diverging questions, make sense of patterns and separate the signals from the noise are more important than rushing to a finite answer 

- You need to have a proactive stance to the future by checking our “future” against outside perspectives and revise strategic plans 

- Build contextual knowledge by exploring macro factors: STEEM ( Social, Technological, Environmental, Economic, Political ). You can do this by checking the world economic forum global risk reports

- Apply systems thinking with the Iceberg model

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HOLISTIC DESIGN 

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Something natural

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Creative partnerships

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Yesterday I learned about Marian Anderson an African American classical and spiritual singer, who fought to break through racial prejudice in America. Often referred to as a pioneering of African American Opera Singer a leading voice in the civil rights movement. Apparently Nina Simone listens to her every day as a source of inspiration.

When you listen closely to the things your idols say, their inspiration, the things they’ve learned, it’s like free Gold. Someone talented and successful who has educated themselves, who has access is giving you free knowledge when they speak. Just listen and learn.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=233&v=YFsAiGgVNeA&feature=emb_logo

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Futurism and education: 

How to think like a futurist 

https://er.educause.edu/articles/2019/3/five-principles-for-thinking-like-a-futurist

http://rewiringeducation.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Education-Futurists-copy.pdf

https://rossdawson.com/blog/how-do-you-become-a-futurist-10-key-elements-of-a-career-thinking-about-the-future/

https://www.singularity2050.com/2014/07/the-education-disruption-2015.html

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When you have a lot of random interests and you tend to be the type of person who goes down a rabbit hole of research. Knowing how to organise that information can be pretty useful:  https://uxplanet.org/design-principle-organizing-information-343a7ef936a8

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https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/tass/hd_tass.htm

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Storytelling: In my exploration into storytelling I’m enjoying the process of looking at how this is done through film. Just came across cinema verite. 

Filmed on location with non-actors, vérité docs focus on everyday situations, are shot with continuous action and unscripted action and dialogue, and often delve into social and political issues. 

{ This makes me think about the fact that fictional stories can be filmed in a documentary style. This is meant to allow for a sociological approach to storytelling. Also this idea that you can film a story for days or months and allow a story to unfold in the editing room. Sometimes you may film but you can’t see where the story lies and by looking at your film you can see the expressions and mannerisms that my be telling a completely different story} 

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The Reflective Learning Process: Identify a situation you encountered in your work or personal life 

Describe the experience What happened?  When and where did the situation occur?  Any other thoughts you have about the situation? Reflection How did you behave?  What thoughts did you have?  How did it make you feel?  Were there other factors that influenced the situation?  What have you learned from the experience? Theorizing How did the experience match with your preconceived ideas, i.e. was the outcome expected or unexpected?  How does it relate to any formal theories that you know?  What behaviours do you think might have changed the outcome? Experimentation Is there anything you could do or say now to change the outcome?  What action(s) can you take to change similar reactions in the future?  What behaviours might you try out?

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A note on how to seduce an audience

“Free yourself from the need to communicate in a normal direct manner and you will present yourself with greater opportunities for the soft cell. Make the words you say unobtrusive vague alluring pay much greater attention to your visuals the style the story they tell. Portray a sense of movement and progress by showing yourself in motion . Through colours and positive imagery appealing to the infant in everyone. Let the media cover you unguided and you are at their mercy. The press need drama and visuals provide them. Package your truth entertainingly. Images linger long in the mind after words are forgotten . Do not preach, express through visuals that illicit positive and happy feelings.”

- The Art of Seduction

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A summary of what sparked different modernist design movements.

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Every humans work should be an expression of wholeness, of tapping into and heightening a collective consciousness through what they put out. 

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What constitutes a good typographer?