I think, when I brush my teeth

We are done washing the dishes, lets feed ourselves.

2009-05-22T04:58:00.000-07:00

Basically what I have come to at this point is a box/archive of my ideas.

Its not what I was aiming to, as the box I have in mind will be bigger and contain much more data, collected information or even souvenirs.

This is gonna be, without a doubt, a long term process. Since is vital for me to map all my actions, state of mind, reactions of my body and intake of sugar.
Must be noted that I wont include all the information collected if i don't find it relevant related to the final outcome (meaning the product of the idea), not the box but the project.

I do not want to make it too concrete and understandable to the viewer. My brain does not work in a linear organized way. My thoughts are not organized inside my head.

So how from 'where do idea come in mundane situation?' I came to this?

Well, because I think ideas are part of a process, the brain keeps storing information and then makes a 'whole' out of it.
I guess ideas are about a process that could take minutes to weeks.

Basically the box represent all the things that have been going on in my life (relevant) and merges then in a unit which product is the final project, meaning:

The box represents all this stimuli, actions and reaction while 'doing' the project, then there is THE project the final outcome. Be it a book, a poster a website....

The box is the step before the final piece.

The pseudo-sample box.

Idea in a box

2009-05-20T18:20:00.000-07:00

I have so much stuff on my plate lately, and honestly concentrating on one thing is not an option. So this whole project is taking quite a long time to develop properly.

From drawers to boxes.

So first about a complete unit with different compartments representing each idea, like a dresser with loads of drawers.

Now I am thinking about a box per idea. There is a unit divided in parts, a box with compartments. Each idea is unique and is triggered for different reasons, and most of all personal, intimate...is the way my brain functions.

I dont want to put the obvious in the box, I want to give room to interpretation, making it unique. Though I do have to define certain things I will be documenting about myself, a journal written by my actions and reactions.

Roughly this are the thing i would be mapping:

- In which mundane situation the idea popped, and what the situation involved (ex. taking a shower with cherry scented soap)
- Hair loss
- Hours spent in front of the TV: xbox, movies, series
- Map of location, coordenates
- Caffeine intake
- Sugar intake
- Places visited
- State of mind, any personal issues? problems? missing something/someone? etc.
- Sleeping pattern

Must be noted that other things will be mapped if they are revelant to the project and some other things of the list above might be discarded.

Most of my project have a very personal side to it and the aim of each box is to express that interwined with the process of my brain.

I will attempt to do one box for friday

It is me
It is personal
It is odd
Its is in fact how ideas evolve in body and mind.

Next Step

2009-05-18T08:52:00.000-07:00

Taking the shots below made me move forwards on this, what it seems, long term project.

My questions is: Why do ideas come to us in mundane circumstances?

My answer requires a long term 'mapping' of my projects, so I can make link and catalogue them under different categories.

In short this will take the form of an 'idea' archive. It wont be computer based, because I see the process as more manual and human and less technological. Intricate and graspable.

Each entry in the archive would be the idea for a given project. It will be documented beginning to end. It will not be a simple card with photos and type.

Imagine those archival furniture in libraries, with all the little drawers marked A-C etc. The idea here is that each drawer will be one project, i will contain the ticket from gigs i went, the first doodles of the idea, even possibly how much hair I lost while in it. A very personal approach to each idea/project.

Which idea (project) & when? *adjust the window width so you can see the photos in 2 columns.

2009-05-13T15:55:00.000-07:00

My brain is a bottomless pit

2009-05-12T09:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm back, after spending a few days monitoring my brain.

Imagine a line of Christmas lights, a mesh even.

Every bulb of the mesh of Christmas light is a thought, idea, memory, information, experience. So when I start with my mundane activity, I encounter that my brain is pitch black. Like say, your bedroom in the middle of the night with the blinds shut. One knows it is their bedroom and there are things in it...your computer, bed, lamp, book, clothes and chest of drawers. But you cannot see it because there is no light on.

So i know my brain is there and that it contains information, I just cannot 'grasp' it.

I start doing the dishes and things start lighting up, probably because of the scent of the washing liquid. Or just because, thoughts that are floating in my brain at the moment become visible. Most of the time they dont have an evident connection with one another. But they fit in place because of the amount of information i got stored in my brain. Be it personal experiences and thing i have read or done.

Now come to think to it, its like the html code of a web page. Part of it make sense, there are words we recognize 'copy' 'font' 'url' etc. Our brain plays the role of the program that process the code into a more consice, evident and easy way to recognize it, and make sense out of it. So we can be able to 'see' the idea clearly.

After all this time I spent monitoring my brain, which has proved to be quite a challenge. I have an idea how I can go on and build up a final piece related to this process.

So where do ideas come from when I brush my teeth?

This mundane situations just help us to clear our brain. Like to start writing on a clean whiteboard or start a new hunt in our brain with a torch.

Next step is developing a final piece.

There is a pattern.

2009-05-09T13:37:00.000-07:00

We all have a set of activities we do in a daily basis, we all have routines. So there will be something that we do where most of your ideas come from. In this case the pattern is that I (for example) wash the dishes and get an idea, something 'clicks' in my brain.

So:

1. You do mundane stuff
2. It frees your mind and you get creative

You find something you can get lost in, something you don't have to concentrate on.

I am just going to write done some random tasks I do and what is happening in my brain while I do them, just going to look at what my brain is doing while I complete those tasks. Not the ideas come up with. In sort of what state my brain is, like say the messenger stats: busy, away, be right back, in a call, available, out to lunch and appear offline.

I AM STUCK!

2009-05-07T06:40:00.000-07:00

I hit the electric fence, and boy I'm not liking it.

Duality inside and out.

2009-05-06T03:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so this is it.

I have to start actually doing something productive with this idea, take it somewhere. Lets start by watching 'Science of sleep' again. Have no idea where this is going to take me, wehey!

So I like this duality aspect of it, what happens outside and inside when ideas are building up.
Mundane everyday stuff that relax us or take our minds out it. Our brains seem to start clicking, making connections easier.
How? Why? When?

Why do ideas come in this mundane situation, when I brush my teeth?

Where am I getting with this?

2009-05-04T19:11:00.000-07:00

So I have been thinking all weekend about this project.

And 'documenting' my ideas proves to be harder than I thought. Especially with all the stuff I have on my mind and so many things to do. So as, the awfully unexpected situations, (that are becoming usual in a very scary way) to deal with.

So I keep thinking.

I am very interested in, why do we come with our best ideas in the most mundane circumstances? Even when we decide: 'that we are not going to think about while we take a shower' for example.

Then it came to my attention, why I have gotten this thing stuck in my mind for a while now? Well it all begins with the brief set by HP for D&AD, which basically wanted us to sell the machine as the ultimate creative tool. I thought: 'getting yourself a computer won't make you come up with amazing things?! I guess that sometimes, the computers help us express the idea'.

But definitely they do not help built it in our heads.

So how does the creative mind works? Most of us being a bit 'out of our minds', according to outsiders.
The bulb in my head lighted up for the HP brief. A photograph of someone brushing their teeth and then something written like 'You go brush your teeth, (we are sure you will come up with a great idea). We will be here to help when you are done'.

So Im thinking it would have a better outcome, if I make a poll and see the results.

Where/when do you come with your best ideas?and Why?

Though I think i still need to give it a thought.

Geez, what have I gotten myself into!

What sort of activity goes on in the brain, when we are thinking?

2009-04-30T19:20:00.000-07:00

- Ideas come to us because we sort of connect dots on things we already have knowledge of?

In essence, yes. The brain is made up of neurons which are like little electrical cables,and those light up with activity when we think.

- But what triggers them?

Anything really, it can be external or internal. A memory is triggered by a smell or a sight.
Though smell is the strongest sense tied to memory. You smell something and your brain lights up like a Christmas tree. So, the more connections there are to a memory the stronger it will be when its triggered

If you have an idea it will start of as a serious of random signals and if your brain likes how things are connecting then those connections get stronger, eventually you become 'consciously aware' of the idea or thought and start to pay attention to it. Lots of stuff happen in our subconscious that we are not aware of.

It just kind of happens.

When you get a half thought up idea its an idea that was building in your subconscious but did not have time to fully form before you became aware of it. So it just kind of dies off half way through.

We come up with ideas depending on our knowledge, experience, background, or even based on what we have been doing that same day. We all connect the dots in different ways, and we all think differently that is what make us unique as human beings.

The person next to you, relates to the enviroment and experiences in a complete different way than you do.

What to do?

2009-04-30T17:03:00.000-07:00

There is a common belief that when a person is relaxed the brain makes connections easier. What does it mean? Our brain is always working, there are always things 'going on' in our sub-concious. It reaches a point where our ideas build up to a point, then is when we become aware of them.

Activities:

1. Take a warm bath.
2. Eat with chopsticks.
3. Gargle.
4. Sing in a crowded elevator.
5. Doodle.
6. Do a crossword puzzle.
7. Run.
8. Ride your bike.
9. Take a shower with your clothes on.
10. Breathe slowly.
11. Flip a coin.
12. Water the plants.
13. Go shopping.
14. Write the alphabet backwards.
15. Camp in your bedroom.
16. Create a solution that rhymes.
17. Make paper airplanes.
18. Use three wishes to solve your challenge.
19. Browse through a bookstore.
20. Take a quiz on facebook.
21. Make a sculpture with mashed potatoes.
22. Daydream.
23. How would you solve it with an infinite budget?
24. Write out the problem with your opposite hand.
25. Eat dinner.
26. Wash dishes.
27. Take a nap.
28. Spin in your chair shouting: “WHOOPEE!”
29. Contort your face in a strange and unusual ways in front of the mirror.
30. Got for a walk.
31. Listen to music
32. Go for a walk in the rain.
33. Pick up something with your toes.
34. Stand on your head.
35. Caffeine.
36. More caffeine.
37. Make a prank phone call.
38. Call mom, she can fix anything.
39. When in doubt, resort to duct tape.
40. Shake up a can of pop and open it.
41. Pretend to snorkel.
42. Think like a child.
43. Walk outside and wave to a stranger.
44. Look at the person’s paper next to you.
45. Climb a tree.
46. Find a new word in the dictionary.
47. Dance a polka.
48. Play in a toy store.
49. Just don’t think about it.
50. Pretend like it doesn’t matter.
51. Paint with your fingers.
52. Clean your toilet.
53. Lose yourself in youtube
54. Walk in your local corner shop.
55. Go for a picnic.
56. Sit outside.

Just do something that does not involve much thinking.

When I take a nap.

2009-04-23T05:19:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was in the verge of falling asleep, and my brain started to work.

Scenario:
I was lying on the sofa, on my side. It was a bright sunny day and it was rush hour. I live in a georgian flat, in between two very busy streets. The noise was unbearable at that time of day and i couldnt quite take a proper nap.

Thought:
So i thought how incredible it woudl be if people only drove electric cars or rode their bikes. Then it came to my mind and episode of Top Gear. The special guest was Boris Johnson. Jeremy asked him 'Where do electricity comes from?' he responded 'From the plug'. So I started to think how to encourage people to buy electric cars (far from all the 'being green' scheme). Wind turbines came to mine. In order to get and electric car, the electricity to charge it shoudl come from wind turbines. The goverment would pay and amount a year to persons that do it, after 3 years of ownership. To prevent scams.

It would not work, since there is much more to it.

I fell asleep.