A couple months ago I worked with a team of strategists and creatives from firms such as Code and Theory and Cake New York to design a solution to the No Right Brain Left Behind challenge.  The challenge brief asked the creative profession to design concepts that will address the creativity crisis in US Schools Some very good ideas were generated but our separate work loads and schedules did not allow us to put in the time that we would have liked to.  Our brief foray into the notion of waning creativity in kids education did get me thinking though.

The idea I came up with is a learning tool called ‘Subject Mash Up!’.  The basis of the concept is the idea that looking at one subject through the lens of another subject will provide opportunities for new insights and a more thorough learning experience.  The few sketches here show that ‘Subject Mash Up!’ is a platform designed to help students  learn by layering one subject over another and using that new context to ask questions and seek new understanding.  Instead of simply studying history, students could learn about it through the art of that period.  Then learn about art through the lens of storytelling and metaphoric symbolism.  Or learn about math by studying patterns in music.  The opportunities for layering different subjects over each other is nearly endless. (more sketches after jump)

Students could apply each subject symbol to the object or subject that is currently being viewed which would bring up questions about that topic from the perspective of the subject symbol being applied.  Symbols could also be dragged and layered over each other or set in ‘equations’ to produce more hybrid lines of questioning and exploration.  The most important aspect of this platform design, though, is the ‘Mash Up!’ feature.  The bright symbol with the lightning bolt signals a dramatic shift in the learning process.  And a point at which creative thinking must be applied.  The ‘Mash Up!’ symbol would introduce an assignment that encourages the students to think about the subject at hand from a completely different perspective.  This ‘Mash Up!’  juxtaposition would task students to generate something new of their own, causing the learning process to culminate in a thoughtful yet creative exercise.

This ‘Mash Up!’ of disparate ideas, or ‘collision of half hunches’ as Steven Johnson puts it, is the mental space where creative thought can lead to new ideas and innovation.  The product of the ‘Mash Up!’ exercise may have kids arrive at a place completely different from where they began.  But it is the process of thinking through each of the perspectives to achieve their solution that will seek to provide a deeper learning experience.  Teaching kids to be open to this type of exploration and to flex their creative thinking muscles in this way could do much to foster the resurgence of creativity in our kids and our education system.

“Subject Mash Up!’ is currently just a rough sketch of a concept.  But it is an idea for a platform that I think could be developed for use over several channels such as in the classroom, interactive website and online community, an iPad app, a card game, etc.  I would welcome feedback and input from developers that are interested in building on this idea and working to foster creativity in the education space.

Really, though, this business concept will work in other, more permanent, spaces as well.  I have designed the logo and graphic language for the concept.  I have also designed the menu and developed all the recipes.  This could be a very fun Summer start-up project.  I am currently looking for space and investing partners.  Please contact me if you would like more details.

Quoted from the Apple post-purchase Customer Survey that I filled out after buying an iPad 2 at their Manhattan Upper West Side store:

“That day was the fourth day that I arrived at the Apple Store at 6AM to stand in line to buy an iPad (Thurs 21st, Fri 22nd, Sat 23rd & Mon 25th). On Thursday, Friday and Saturday, after waiting for between 20 minutes – 1 hour, we were told there were no iPads that day.  This evident disconnect between the channels of distribution and Apple’s own branded retail store seems ridiculous to me.  Especially from a tech company such as Apple.  A company that tracks and reviews every song download and iPhone/iPad application proposal.  For the retail store to tell me and every other customer that they “have no idea” what they will be receiving that day is crazy.  Someone does.  Even possibly as little as two people up the supply chain.  If Apple wanted to have that information available, they (you) would.  What if a potential customer could log onto iTunes or a special Apple website at midnight the night before and find out what each store would be offering in the morning: 10 iPad 64G, 15 iPad 32G AT&T, etc.  Or none for that matter.  That way the customer wouldn’t have to waste their time getting up ridiculously early and go to the store only to find that, oops!, there are no iPads that day.  Come back tomorrow and try again!  Apple would still sell the same amount of iPads.

And please do not use the excuse that giving out this retail availability information would allow people to game the system.  The system is already being gamed.  12 of the 13 people ahead of me in line yesterday morning were Chinese.  I tweeted a photo of it if you would like to see evidence.  They all bought two iPads.  And the ones that I saw while I was waiting to purchase mine all paid in cash.  I am not sure what is going on here but I bet someone at Apple does.  Is a blind eye being turned?  The New York Times even wrote an article about it happening at the Soho store a few months ago in regards to the iPhone 4.

I am a designer and brand consultant so I understand the concept of leveraging distribution to build demand.  But if the system that is put in place to manage demand is not designed correctly, it has the potential of doing harm to the brand image.  Maybe I am alone in thinking this, but to me it does not take much thought to realize that Apple’s system of distribution and customer information is flawed.  And we the customers suffer.  If I didn’t need this iPad for a trip this week I would have never stood in line four times and be turned away three times to buy one.  I definitely won’t do it again.  I like Apple.  But I like Apple a lot less than I did before standing in line a week ago.”

Jimmy’s No. 43 Restaurant in New York’s East Village recently held a friendly competition to benefit Food Systems Network NYC.  The competition, winkingly titled a ‘Duck-Off’ asked participants to serve a duck dish of their choosing to 150 people.  The judging panel, made up of Serena Di LIberto of Heritage Foods USA, Amy Zavatto of Edible Magazine, Food Network’s Jake Schiffman, Ariane Daguin of D’Artagnan, and writer Adam Robb, would be judging the dishes not only on taste but also on creativity, regional sourcing and seasonality of the ingredients used.  More info about the event can be found here.  After noticing an Edible tweet about it, I stumbled into being a contestant.

I have recently been developing a few meatball recipes so I decided to try to push my duck dish in that direction. Letting my creativity get the better of me… I served duck confit meatballs in a red wine ‘re-Duck-tion’ sauce along with duck liver pate, pickled oyster mushroom, fresh ricotta, asparagus pesto, pickled Spring onion and fiddlehead fern puree.  Oh and a little micro sprout to top it off.  A ridiculous amount of components.  But it was fun and we managed to plate all 150 dishes without too much trouble.  Also, I am honored to say, I ended up winning the competition!  My duck meatballs were awarded 3rd place in the ‘People’s Choice’ category, and 1st place as well as ‘Grand Prize’ in the judges category.  I was thrilled to accept the ‘Golden Ducky’ award.

A nice video of the event is here:

Jimmy’s No. 43 Duck-Off to Benefit Food Systems NYC from Letitia Productions on Vimeo

The ‘Duck-Off’ competition at Jimmy’s No. 43 was great fun.  The other contestants served some amazing duck dishes.  Over 150 people packed into the meandering restaurant, ate lots of duck and, best of all, supported Food Systems Network NYC.  Thanks to Jimmy and to Danielle for making it happen!  Thanks also to Hudson Valley Duck Farm for supplying me with some super tasty duck and duck livers!  Good stuff!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

I am a huge fan of Twitter.  Not only is it a great way to connect with a vast array of interesting people but it also serves as a powerful source of inspiration for me.  It’s limiting structure of 140 characters per tweet and unique informational symbology have combined to create a kind of short-hand language.  A language now familiar to many people but still a language all it’s own.  So it was this Twitter vocabulary, as well as the sensibility that develops from becoming accustomed to continually broadcasting yourself, that was the inspiration for my Christmas card design this year.  Of course I also enjoy thinking about the juxtaposition of old and new, well-known scenarios examined from new perspectives.  The classic Christmas account written in Luke 2 of the visitation of the Angel of the Lord on the shepherds keeping watch over their flocks seemed perfect for a Twitter ‘interpretation’.  Hope you enjoy it.