Shiran Sanjeewa is the CEO and Founder of @H2OFlame A Creative Agency based in Colombo. and a Design Consultancy firm He possess extensive International Expertise on Branding, Websites, Mobile Applications, UI/UX and Online Marketing. In 2012 he founded “Shiran Sanjeewa Associates” a Sri Lankan start-up a branding & user experience consulting firm, now serving Silicon Valley clients with the user experience design on their software and hardware products.
Presentation was given on
Thursday, 23rd August 2012 at
Royal College Union Skills Centre
Rajakeeya Mawatha, Colombo-07, Sri Lanka.
2. WHO?
I AM
DESIGNER
Entrepreneur
UX/UI CONSULTANT
3. WHAT
Is CREATIVITY ?
creativity: cre·a·tiv·i·ty n. the
ability to use imagination to
transcend traditional ideas, rules,
patterns, relationships, or the like,
and to create Meaningful new
ideas, forms, methods.
5. RA-SHOCK
Toothbrushes
Electrified Handle Who’s tooth
antees NO ONE ELSE WOULD USE IT
OTHER THAN yourself
brush was that ?
6. ISUAL
THINKING?
visual thinking: vis·u·al thin·king
adj. the practice of using
pictures to solve problems,
think through issues, and
communicate clearly .
7. 80%
of the brain is
dedicated to
visual processing
THE Right Side
of the brain used for creative thinking
9. What About
Creativity?
This can be overwhelming for many
professionals because many of the
“standards” we put in place actually limit
creative ability and competitiveness.
10. GOING BACK IN
TIME
Wake-up latent childhood abilities
As children our world is dominated
by stories, pictures and imagination
18. nurturing creative and visual
thinking in your organization
and with your self
• Learning and removing the myths that
prevent creativity
• Start using visual and creative
thinking
Started my career when I was 20, and was given the opportunity to work and study in Bahrain, and go to Gulf university. I have worked for VIA, 3CS, Affno, and Now @ Elite, Design agency in Manchester UK.
Creativity is using your raw imagination to come up with the ideas that will go beyond traditional way of doing things. Or perspectives in simple words…
Ability to imagine or invent something new. For example : Like having electrified tooth brushes that sense the owner, when ever someone else is about to use it blows a whistle or send an electric shockwave….. Be funny about it …
Visual thinking is vital in todays world, in fact it’s natural for us to remember things as pictures, our brain stores things in pictorials, so when ever similar incidents happen we get “DÉJÀ VU” Moments. DÉJÀ VU is when you feel like what you are doing at a time feels like has happened before in the same way… Do not go into details Why its important. • 80% of the brain is dedicated to visual processing • Visual processing is not new, it’s part of our history • Written language originated from drawing and sketching
The left brain is ANALYTICS, LOGICAL, OBJECTIVE, VERBAL While The Right Brain is generative possibilities, Philosophical Subjective, Visual
Life in the fast lane: In an increasingly fast paced world we don’t make time for creative activities. Keeping up with the competition: It’s getting harder to innovate, produce new ideas and communicate at this pace. We work from Monday to Friday, like machines, and Friday night go out have few drinks come home on Saturday morning and you didn’t know that you existed till the evening of Saturday, rest of the day you are a walking zombie. And Sunday knowing that you need to go to work the next day you try to finish personal work and washing and dishing no time for creativity, self thoughts. And the weekend goes by, and the cycle repeats. So you need to make some time, allow your senses feel a little freedom. And of course you don’t have to go to the spa to regain these.
Take my self as an example. And the Education system and the parents expectations.
Taking your self back to your childhood Colors, paper, stories, cartoons, pictures, and our limitless imagination
After A’L computer courses, AAT, blah blah Need to find a job, if you go to university you have to worry about rags more than lectures.. And so on..
The left brain is ANALYTICS, LOGICAL, OBJECTIVE, VERBAL While The Right Brain is generative possibilities, Philosophical Subjective, Visual
A common myth predicts that most if not all innovation occur through epiphanies. Not all innovations occur through epiphanies; For example and idea could be generated, mixed and revised and also refined by a group of people or even generations, and over 1000’s of years. For example : - Roman weapon called scorpion, which used to hurl large javelins at the incoming hordes of enemies in battles which Rome faced during its late years as an empire. Has been a major success. and the same concept is still used today to catapult fighter jets off into the air from aircraft carriers. But epiphanies have played major roles in the course of human history, The incident of Archimedes' realization of how to estimate the volume of a given mass, which inspired him to shout "Eureka!“ A similar understanding with Charles Darwin on his study about natural selection during The Voyage of the Beagle . Which later revealed as the Evolution. And of course Newton's apple
There is nothing as such Choose your own path, Explore…. Ideas Sometimes you may end up on a dead-end. But that’s the whole idea behind innovation
Another Myth Its proven, often well organised teams deliver most effective and usable creative solutions Because teams have the power to sync, collaborate refine ideas
You may follow a crazy idea and it may not succeed, but at least you tried. Great Ideas how ever, if properly executed will have a 100% chance of getting the glory it deserve.
Remember as kids we were fascinated with pencil shaving, charcoal, different flowers and even different Insects And we tried creating collages using the, Used charcoal from the kitchens stove, and drew every where including the freshly painted wall in the house. That’s was the creative freedom we enjoyed when we were small Need to rebuild your creative confidence. And awaken the child inside you.
Creativity is an essential tool for a matured professional, he could solve day to day problems with fun yet effective methods that brings exceptional results. On the other had CEO’s and Executives who are not trying their best to solve problems creatively finds themself bootstrapped and threatened by more creative junior colleges, that’s when office politics and bureaucracy begins its play.
Self confidence, Build up your IQ, Be aware of what's going on in the world around you.
Be sense less, Ideate, Create, till you drop dead. Any direction is fine, because you are innovating, you never know where the treasure is. And you are not given a map, Random digging is the only hope
Visual thinking , Using images to solve problems and communicate This is what advertising agencies think they are doing…. At the moment,
Make yourself free to explore, think, sleep, and sit down and think, make your environment help you, if you are a parent with kids, try to work when they are asleep, I work when even my wife is asleep. So there is no one to disturb. If you cannot change the surrounding adjust your self.
Invest on a sketch book, 450 rupees, Colour pencils, charcoal pencils, pens, costs less than a pizza. Or a round of beer. Keep drawing, even if you feel its ugly and makes no sense, practise makes your craft better, When I was small I had an issue when drawing an elephant its one leg was always bent, this is something I must have picked up when I saw an elephant for the first time, To date I still the same thing when drawing an elephant…..
Keep drawing, Build your own visual library, use them on your presentations, stories, and when you have a constant set of elements to play around with, others will sense that your creativity has its own identity.
Keep drawing, Build your own visual library, use them on your presentations, stories, and when you have a constant set of elements to play around with, others will sense that your creativity has its own identity.
Taking time to time breaks important to avoid creative blocks and find inspiration, Go somewhere you have never been. For instance, try a week end photography outing….
I find fiction fascinating, and other than watching a film reading lets you create your own story and a movie inside your mind according to your preference, If George Lucas wrote “Star wars” book before he made the film we all would have had different pictures of “Darth Vader” in our heads.
Schedule it - Set aside dedicated time Be holistic - It’s not just drawing, not just brainstorming Set objectives - What do you intend to learn
Make you own set of tools to represent basic ideas as given on the slide
Make you own set of tools to represent basic ideas as given on the slide