Vinspired Voicebox

Voicebox is brought to you by V an independent charity aiming to inspire a new generation of young volunteers, by funding and supporting voluntary organisations all over England to create inspiring and diverse opportunities.

Voicebox is a data visualisation project, curating young people’s views on issues that matter, visualising the findings, and then setting the data free for you to do the same. The aim with Voicebox is to better understand young people, so we can deliver programmes better suited to their needs.

The project sounds pretty interesting to me, check it out for yourself here.

Jay-Z Rhapsody commercial

I love this ad for soo many reasons. Not just because the link has reached my inbox 9 times already. This ad for me shows one great creativity and most importantly as understanding of the audience i.e. hip hop fans. Simply said 'Jay Z fans get it' reason being is that the ad recreates all of his album covers, sometimes you dont have to try and talk to everyone, just the people that care.

10 Great creative online destinations

Whenever I find myself in a creative void, I have a list of web sites that I can visit that instantly give me a shot of inspiration. I try to visit most of them everyday, and have found that by studying these great sites on a consistent basis has expanded my own capacity for being creative. Opening up to other’s creative work is a great way to broaden our horizons and helps us think outside the box. Below I have outlined my top 10. Enjoy!

1. SpringWise – A database of great ideas that any entrepreneur can act on to help you start the “next big thing”. There are some great, fun ideas, plus they showcase the latest trends of entrepreneurship.

2. WhyNot? – Much like SpringWise, WhyNot? has lots of user-submitted ideas for any ambitious soul can take on and develop. However, WhyNot? is more of a community for entrepreneurs than SpringWise, which can be a bit more helpful at times, I really use both of these sites as a way for me to think alternatively.

3. Digg – You can find a smattering of news, tips and other odd things on the Digg homepage. Digg’s users find the best of the web, and the community voting does a wonderful job of showcasing quality news and compelling links.

4. Del.icio.us Popular – I love the del.icio.us popular page. One can find the most creative and interesting articles and tools on the Internet on the Del.icio.us popular page. It’s basically a barometer of what’s hot on the web with designers and techies alike.

5. Tumblr – Tumblr is another one of my personal favorites. Aside from creating your own Tumblelog, the Tumblr homepage showcases the best links, images and videos that people are sharing around the web.

6. WisdomQuotes - Nothing inspires more than a great quote from someone smarter than myself. I’ve done entire blog posts based on an inspiring quote.

7. Seth Godin’s blog – Aside from his uber-savvy marketing advice, there are plenty of untapped ideas and inspiration that he shares frequently with his readership. And you better believe that if Seth Godin dreamed it up, there’s a good chance he’s on the mark.

8. DocStoc - You can find some incredibly creative and informative documents that can lead to many ideas. You’d be surprised at the great content you can find at DocStoc.

9. Kottke.org – Jason Kottke has been posting interesting and creative information on the web for the past 10 years. He’s a favorite of many bloggers, and rightly so.

10. How to Change the World – Guy Kawaski is a fun guy with great ideas. Though his blog is geared slightly more to the marketing crowd, it’s full of great ideas. I think the most stimulating thing about Guy’s blog is that it’s written with great voice and lots of humour.

Refining your idea

Hey world, I have had a long and eventful weekend, and as some of you may relate, that means my Monday is going to be less productive than usual. So far I have caught up on some reading and made some calls. Then I took out my idea book and started to refine.

Creative individuals have plenty of ideas. Great big, earth-changing ideas. Unfortunately, not many of them ever evolve into anything fruitful. Why? Because having an idea is only half the battle. The real challenge is refining the idea into something than can and will happen.

There is a fine art when it comes to refining an idea. It’s what separates good ideas from great ideas, and will ultimately define your success.

Most ideas have a clear cycle, I am going to attempt to breakdown some points for refining your ideas.

Make it usable
An idea is worthless unless it’s transformed into something useful. Incredible ideas can turn into stupid ones very quickly if the idea isn’t doable.

What makes an entrepreneur great isn’t necessarily the greatness of the idea he has. A special entrepreneur is one who can make the idea happen.

Define it
To refine the idea, you have to first define the idea. By creating a definition for your idea, you’ll make a clear focus on what the idea is going to do. How is it going to help? What will it do? How will it do it? These are things that have to be carefully thought about in the early stages.

You may find that you’re constantly changing the definition to your idea, and that is totally normal. You might change the definition many times before the project is done.

Make it sellable
If you’re going to invest time, sweat and money into an idea, it needs to have a business plan. In other words, can it make money?

Money plays a huge part in refining ideas, whether creative types want to believe it or not. Money is what gives you the ability to create the idea, and later to sell the idea. Some people don’t want their ideas to have anything to do with money, and that’s totally fine. You should figure out up front if you want to make money from your ideas or not. Most people do ;)

Does it makes sense?
After you’ve done the other three steps, I find that if I can explain my idea to my parents or grandparents without them walking away scratching their heads, than the idea has been well defined. What may make sense to you might not make sense to anyone else. If you’re finding that nobody is understanding a) the core concept of the idea or b) how it improves something, you’ve got trouble.

And that's all folks, hope you have fun refining

Reading Makes You Better at Life

Recently I’ve been on a huge reading kick, picking up everything and anything I can get my hands. With the wonderful advent of Amazon, you can easily and cheapily get any book you want.

I’ve found that no matter what I read, the act of reading every day has helped me in nearly every aspect of my life. Here are a few of my ways that reading can improve the quality of your life.

It makes you smarter:

Those that read have a higher intelligence, and general knowledge than those that don’t. In Anne E. Cunningham’s paper What Reading Does for the Mind , she found that reading, in general, makes you smarter, and it keeps you sharp as you age.

No matter what you’re wanting to do or become, you can’t do it without more knowledge. Reading is an excellent way to get where you’re wanting to go.

Reading reduces stress:

Like most form of entertainment intends to do, reading distracts your mind from whatever is going on in your world at a given time. Fiction is meant to the best for this, although I don't read an abundance of fictional books. Whatever it is your reading, you can bet it will relax you.

Given that I’m a pretty high-energy person, reading forces me to sit and be still. This daily act of making myself be quiet and still has been nothing short of miraculous for my life.

Improved analytical thinking:

Cunningham’s studies have found that analytical thinking is boosted by reading. Readers improve their general knowledge, and more importantly are able to spot patterns quicker. If you can spot patterns quicker, your analytical skills receive a boost.

Increased vocabulary:

It’s no secret that reading increases your vocabulary and improves your spelling, but did you know that reading increases your vocabulary more than talking or direct teaching? Reading forces us to look at words that we might not have seen or heard before.

Increased vocabulary is especially crucial for bloggers or writers. All successful writers will tell you that in order to write well, you need to read. Every day. You’ll be surprised at the words you start incorporating into your writing.

Knowing what other people are saying and using the perfect words to convey your feelings is a critical part of being a better human. Better listeners are more successful in life.

Helps prioritize goals:

Many times we’re certain we know what we “really want” in life. Yet I’ve found that activities like reading show me things I didn’t know about myself. My mind will drift to things that I’d really like to do, and it isn’t long that these little lapses in reading start to cycle. The same sort of goals keep popping into my head, allowing me to see what I really want to do.

When you remove yourself from your work environment, you’ll start to see things that you might really want to do, that you’re not doing yet. Reading gives you a chance for your to wander.

Conclusion

Ok so there are a few ways that reading makes you better at life, I urge you all to pick up a book today and start reading. We make time for the things that are important to us. How much TV do you watch? How much time do you spend trawling the web? You could easily replace reading with those activities.

Peace

Johnie Walker - Commercial

This is simply advertising as it should be done, they say all great brands, be it people, companies or charities have a great story. This commercial is the perfect example of a great story being told.

YouTuber's - Selling out

Not being a youtuber myself, at first I thought the girl in this video was a bit crazy. On the second listen I realised that she makes some really good points, about when it's ok for brands and people to work together, and how transparent they should be.

italktosnakes gets the VT seal of approval, check it out.

10 youth myths - Slideshare

Morning peoples, today's gem comes from slideshare, before I share it with you, I want to highlight if you don't know already how great slideshare is for gathering information and gaining knowledge.

Mobile youth are particularly good, and regularly produce greats slides like this, '10 Youth myths', check it out

Top 10 Youth Marketing Myths by Graham Brown

View more presentations from Graham Brown.

Is this the future of brands?

Sally hrouda recently wrote a compelling piece on the future of brands. Many of the topics are familiar, but I appreciate the way she has condensed a lot of information and opinion into a very concise piece. Worth reading, check it out below:

Brands and companies are moving forward from traditional and tradigital marketing into a period of social engagement that maximises participation. They used to be able to treat their audience like herds, forcing their message upon them. However, people are now like swarms, connected to each other through digital touch points (mobile phones, cyberspace, computers) moving through currents, in no direction.

The millions of micro-interactions occurring in the realm of social media (Facebook, YouTube, Google, blogs, twitter) have led to the birth of brand ecosystems, living, breathing organisms that are about stimulating brand conversations. A strategic planner previously drew out the most powerful insight into human nature through obtaining a “helicopter quality”, having the ability to look at facts from an overview viewpoint. But in this changing environment it is imperative that they break down the barriers between brand, channel and consumer and listen within currents to react quickly to cultural trends (mobile, gaming, music, celebrities) and predict future movements, whereby pushing brands into a desired destination. There is an opportunity for brands to use tensions, or brand memes to challenge competitors or the status quo. Providing the ecosystems with new experiences that gives them something to talk about and influence society to build their own communities, or tribes around brands.

Due to the increased transparency of governments, countries and brands in the economic downturn and conflicts people have become disillusioned by institutions and instead are turning to each other for more credible advice. A brand’s success will derive from its ability to build trust, which will in turn build a strong brand affinity. They will need to prove themselves, not just advertise their benefits, but empower people to build stories and co-create content via channels, which then transform into brand platforms. Karim Temsamani explains that Google is at the very beginning of expanding its capabilities into image/video search and translational services. Ultimately brands will become intangible as constituents signal dynamically and brand experiences cross borders through cultural ecosystems. People in society will be able to be a part of global conversations and global ecosystems, becoming creators of global brands. A strategic planner will need to become a live thread between ecosystems and their agency to create innovative dynamic experiences, before they become outdated.

People are aligning themselves with brands to create their avatar. For a company or brand to influence people to gravitate towards them and buy their products they will need to be create movements. What if Fairfax created a movement for real journalism or Google for knowledge? And as a result new media standards are set and everyone becomes educated. Knowledge could provide people with skills, improving an economy and cultural tensions between societies. A strategic planner will have to plan to build movements not just nail an insight.

Rene Descartes once stated an individual exists because “I think, therefore I am”, however in the future we will evolve to “I link, therefore I am”. By 2020 people will link to brands, which will be a holistic experience created between products, conversations, movements and people through virtual and real interactions.

Global youth insight into importance of the weekend

Found this interesting video on the global youth opinions/insights regarding the importance of the weekend. Worth checking out, how do you feel about the weekend?

New music monetization models

I was recently talking with a close friend about the increasingly bleak outlook of the music industry, we were both attempting to predict what the new music model may be. I was suggesting its going to be a middle ground between, brands, artists and a cause. Clearly not a well thought out solution, but I am sure there is something in it, give me a couple more months and I would have cracked it.

If you cant wait until then PSFK, recently put up a post entitled 'Album as Advertisement or Application', worth reading, check it out here.

Spiritual vacation to Egypt

The reason for July's post absence, is I took a much needed spiritual vacation to Egypt. The trip was monumental for many reasons. First I turned the grand old age of 25, which for me is a big deal. I really connected with the lady in my life and I got to touch and absorb the history from arguably the most significant place in the world. I can honestly say that this trip has changed my life, having experienced what I did I can no longer be the same person.

Before going I could never have imagined that a single trip could do so much for my soul, but it truly has. I would urge everyone to take a trip to Egypt for the right reasons and just take everything you can in. I mean it's the place where Moses wrote the ten commandments, which is literally the base of all world law. That alone could represents the places significance to the world, without even mentioning the pyramids, the Nile,the red sea, Sphinx etc .

I don't believe there is much more I can say, except seeing is believing

LUPE FIASCO - THE L.A.S.E.R.S. MANIFESTO

Great socially focused campaign featuring Lupe Fiaso, I agree with almost every word. Check it out!

One Day - Introducing Kooley High

'One Day' gives a great insight into hip-hop culture is, following up and coming rap group Kooley High. The documentary directed by Napoleon Wright for Becauseus Films in association with M.E.C.C.A. Records, is a good look, check it out!

One Day - Introducing Kooley High from BECAUSEUS on Vimeo.

Like minds

Hey one and all, yesterday I had the most inspired meeting I have had in ages. It was with a gentlemen named Troy Kennedy, who seems to be more like me than me (if thats possible). It was the kind of meeting that when you finished talking you feel like you have known the person for a life time. He introduced me to a lot of ideas and I am going to share two of the best:

1. The Greun Transfer:(TGT) is a show about advertising, how it works, and how it works on us. Hosted by the inimitable Wil Anderson, TGT decodes and defuses the commercial messages that swirl through our lives, with the help of a panel of ad industry experts.

The show is Australian, and has just been picked up by BBC Three, its great so check it out.

2. The Million: which is a integreated campaign with Verizon, Samsung and the New york school board. It just picked a D&AD pencil, again its amazing so check it out, video here.

A brief guide to world domination

So I have been indoors most of this evening, on the internet looking for intersting information, taking in a myriad of topics, titles, feeds, links and pics, like most people in my generation. Every now and then you stumble across a true gem.

That gem is A BRIEF GUIDE TO WORLD DOMINATION. its amazing, It’s also free, so there’s really no reason why you shouldn’t at least check it out. Here’s a taste:


I should warn you now that this report
is not for everyone. In fact, it’s probably
not for most people. Instead of writing
for the general public, I spent about 35
hours writing these pages for a small
minority of people interested in living
life on their own terms while making a
dramatic, positive difference in the lives
of others at the same time.
In short, I wrote it for people who are
serious about ruling—or at least chang-
ing—the world.

Book of the Month: Here Comes Everybody - Clay Shirky

I have decided to start a monthly book recommendation, as I read soo much I thought I would share my favourite books with you.

This months book is Here Comes Everybody by Clay Shirky, its all about the new world of collaboration and it repercussions. Like the video above shows, lead and people will follow

Pharrell: On being an artist...

I haven't heard any music from Pharrel in a while, but here he gives some advice about being an artist, I believe these wise words relate to anything anyone is trying to achieve. Like Iverson said ' I'm not talking about the game, im talking bout practice', check it out

A few ways to stay creative!

OK so hopefully you can relate, sometimes I find it challenging to stay creative or just turn it on and off when needed. I decided so scour the web and put together a list of ways to stay creative. Here goes nothing:
Some of these tasks include:

1. Find Inner Peace Before Starting Tasks

While I do try to be at peace and free of negative thoughts most of the time, on occasion I can get run down with incessant mind activity. If you can relate to feeling angry, frustrated or stressed at times, then you need to realise that being in this mode is not the best place to come from when you want to work on creative projects.

Instead, I use a number of techniques that help me relax, whether it be meditation, taking in my surroundings or simply focusing on my breathing. Anything that helps me get into a calm mood. From here, with an empty mind, I find it much easier to produce some creative output.

2. Be Willing to Explore New Ideas

If you ever get too stuck in a mindset that your way is the only way and you know everything about a topic that you need to know, then you could be missing out on some purely genius information. Even though I might have a good idea of how I think things should be done, I’m always willing to explore new ideas.

If you stay fixed and isolated in one area of your life it can easily cross over into your more creative pursuits. This doesn’t mean you have to accept or agree with everything you see / read, but at least give new perspectives a chance before dismissing them.

3. Always Take Notes

Since I started taking a lot of notes in my daily life, I honestly have no idea how I lived without them in the past. Whether you are an artist, a writer, an engineer or anything that allows you to use your imagination at times, be ready to take notes whenever necessary.

I tend to read informative books rather than ones based on fantasy or science fiction, and always keep a small notepad with me to write down some real gems I get from the content. Similarly, if I’m out and about and something comes to mind, I’ll keep notes in my phone and then upload them to Google Docs later in the day.

These simple but useful notes have helped me massively when it comes to the likes of article ideas, design inspiration and more.

4. Outline a Core Structure for All Projects

I’m sure this is a case by case example, but for the life of me I can rarely sit down and work effectively unless, I keep a structure of what I want to stick to and then flesh out ideas from there.

Even for this blog post, on a piece of paper I wrote down the title and my six main points first. Only then did I open up a text editor and start turning the points into paragraphs. Not only does this help you stick to your goals, but I find having a structure first of all can greatly increase efficiency for any project I undertake.

5. Follow Other Creative People

This is by no means in order to steal pieces of their inspiration, but you could see it as stealing some of their workflow. I love seeing how people in my industry plan their work days and I can see certain bloggers’ posts on the topic tend to be some of their most popular.

If there are people you look up to in your niche, see if you can find out how they structure their days, where they get their inspiration from and what makes them ‘tick’. If they’re well known it’s likely someone has done an interview with them and asked them questions like this.

6. Tidy Loose Ends Later

This especially applies to writing, but this tip can be used in many other creative outlets as well. I find that I work the best if I stick to a core structure, but then just let my imagination flow, not worrying about spelling mistakes or slight imperfections in design.

I believe that if you spent all the time you are trying to be creative, also being logical and fixing up mistakes, it not only leads to less inspiring results but it is a much slower process. Let your mind wander, see what you come up with, and tidy the loose ends when you are finished.

Foreverism

Trendwatching recently released an interesting post about Foreverism: Which encompasses the many ways that consumers and businesses are embracing conversations, relationships, and products that are never done. Driving its popularity is technology that allows them to find, follow, interact and collaborate forever with anyone & anything.

Thought it was worth sharing, so check it out