Wise Words

principle: a rule or belief governing one's behaviour.

[ogbcanon]

Look is defined by color, scale, proportion, typography, and motion. Feel is experimental and emotional.

Abbott Miller

[ogbcanon]

In regione caecorum rex est luscus (In the country of the blind the one-eyed man is king).

Desiderius Erasmus

[sketchplanations]

Mapping emotions.

This is Robert Plutchik’s wheel of emotions. I like it because it tries to make sense out of the range of emotions we have by relating his 8 primary emotions to related ones where two primary emotions meet. For example, remorse is like feeling both disgust and sadness, awe is surprise and fear. At opposite sides of the wheel are opposite emotions eg Joy >< Sadness. Other versions of his framework go 3D and map the intensity of emotions as well, for example, rage > anger > annoyance, or ecstasy > joy > serenity. Neat.

HT: Dan Schooler

[ogbcanon]

”A day without laughter is a day wasted.”

—Charlie Chaplin

[ogbcanon]

“To reach a port we must set sail – Sail, not tie at anchor Sail, not drift.”

― Franklin D. Roosevelt

[ogbcanon]

"A mistake is not something to be determined after the fact, but in the light of information until that point." - Nassim Taleb

[sketchplanations]

The number of ideas produced in an ideation session is proportional to the size of the stack of paper in front of you.

Definitely think there’s some truth to this. It’s all about expectation and belief. Like how if you simply ask people to be creative, they come up with more creative ideas. Simple. Conrad credits Lucas McCann for the quote (who no doubt said it much more concisely and pithily).

[sketchplanations]

The four pillars of too much.

Stuff, choice, information and tooooo fast. Time to cut down. From Simplicity Parenting.

[sketchplanations]

Framing.

[sketchplanations]

Enrich your design process.

My favourite, and I think most helpful, version of the design process. I was introduced to it in the Needfinding course at Stanford taught by Dev Patnaik and Michael Barry. Based on an original framework from Chuck Owen at IIT. The, somewhat simplistic, user’s manual is to start with real observations of who you’re designing for, take time to analyse what you see and pull out some insights, put forward some principles to guide your design and, returning back to the concrete, develop some solutions. Then iterate. In reality it is never quite as simple as you may imagine.

[sketchplanations]

Design for a Glance, a Look and a Read.

You can design almost any information with this in mind (even an email for example). Probably not ideal for a novel, but if you’re competing for attention, as most things are, it’s not bad to keep in mind.

[sketchplanations]

Six thinking hats.

The classic thinking framework from Edward De Bono. Though I’m yet to be in a meeting where everyone’s familiar enough with it that it wouldn’t sound a bit nuts to propose it. Ah well.

[sketchplanations]

Sharing.

…is taking a risk.

…increases quality.

…provides unexpected benefits

A less textplanation version of my reflection.

[sketchplanations]

Treat your ideas with respect.

Scribbling on a post-it doesn’t give your ideas they respect they deserve. Change the way you and others consider them by using a simple format that makes people think twice before dismissing and does more to get your idea across.

HT: Jump Associates

[sketchplanations]

The different faces of downhill.

It’s curious how going downhill seems to have two opposite meanings.

[sketchplanations]

The IKEA effect.

We love it more if we made it. Or, more scientifically perhaps, the IKEA effect is ‘the increase in valuation of self-made products,’ when we have put more effort into it. 

Watch Dan Ariely do a great job explaining some experiments that lead to this conclusion, or read the full paper, The “IKEA effect”: When Labor Leads to Love (pdf), Norton, Mochon, Ariely HBS working paper, 2011.

Turns out, if we’ve put effort in ourselves we’re also likely to think that others will like it even more just as we do—usually not the case. But for us at least, more effort = more love.

Dan points out that kids are the ultimate expression of the IKEA effect: they’re very hard, they don’t come with instructions and they take a lot of effort…

Also see The Betty Crocker Effect, or ‘the egg theory.’

[sketchplanations]

Compliments are gifts.

I can’t remember where I heard or read it, but I have found that when I think of a compliment as having a gift for someone, then not taking a moment to let them know, is like holding back a gift with someone’s name on it. This has made me take the time to share compliments more often with friends, colleagues, shopkeepers, that person who always has a cheery smile in the morning, the person who organised the event, my kids, my wife, and pretty much everyone. And life seems a better place. Do it!

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