Paint + Pipette

A blog on the art & science of creative action.

Creativity Jeremy Utley Creativity Jeremy Utley

Steve Jobs: Inspiration Junkie

Apple's ability to capitalize on the breakthroughs of Xerox PARC is fairly well documented. Not that they're the only ones who did so... In fact, when Steve Jobs angrily summoned Bill Gates to Cupertino to vent about Microsoft's newly rendered graphical user interface in a non-Apple product, in a software called "Windows," Gates' reply is telling…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley

Sharing Before You Feel Ready

One of the quirks of the creative process is that it's accelerated by "premature sharing.

We often see this in design workshops, especially among working professionals. We come to a "share out," where we are going to review folks' work, and ask for a show of hands: "Who feels ready to share with the group?" Almost always, not a single hand in the house gets raised…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley

On Hopelessness In The Creative Process

I may end up doing a short series on the fantastic "A Technique for Producing Ideas" which is, page-for-page, the single greatest guide for the practice of generating ideas that I have found. In it, James Webb Young give voice to what every individual pursuing a creative end has experienced: sometimes it feels like the answer will never come. He explains that hopelessness is every bit as important a step in the creative process as any other…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley

To Get More Wood, Drop More Acorns

Speaking of gardening...

One of the things that's truly special about Amazon is their ability to build new businesses. You might even say it's their competitive advantage, the ability to build new businesses that seemingly have little to do with the original vision. Much has been written about this phenomenon, so I won't go into too much detail here…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity, Inspiration, Innovation Jeremy Utley

The Garden Vs The Grocery Store

For all of the important benefits that the notion of "the design sprint" has conferred upon the corporate world, I think it has done the practice of innovation one great disservice: it has unintentionally implied that great ideas are easily come by, and are the function of episodic, momentary bursts of effort.

Nothing could be further from the truth…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley

Permission To Seek Diversion

Noodling on yesterday's post about Einstein's productive diversion, I found myself wondering: when is diversion NOT a waste of time? When is it the good kind of procrastination, and NOT the bad kind?

When, if you will, does one have permission to seek diversion?…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley

Love, or Curiosity

Yesterday I mentioned the importance of LOVE in driving a team to push beyond the competition in designing spectacularly lovable products. Paul Graham wrote a recent post ("Think For Yourself") that touched on this idea, at least superficially…

Read More
Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley Creativity, Curiosity Jeremy Utley

Playground Rules For A Junto

In case you missed the post from Thanksgiving Day (and who can blame you? Certainly not this guy, who allowed a guest post from a science fiction writer who died nearly 30 years ago), I wanted to underline one portion in particular, as it has special bearing upon an idea I mentioned earlier in the week: the rules of engagement that Ben Franklin laid out for his Junto. I’m more and more persuaded that such gatherings are an indispensable tool for individuals seeking to drive fresh thinking in their own unique context…

Read More