Today's Creative . . .

What I've Learn In Creative Studies

2012-01-12T09:26:00.002-08:00

At the beginning of this semester, i was not really so creative. By the end of the studies, i realized i had become much more creative than before. i dare to come out something ridiculous ideas. Every week, the lecturer gives us some unimaginable exercises, make us to think outside the box. Lecturer make us dare to sounds out our crazy, beyond our imagination ideas. Things i learnt from the class is that whatever things that are not related to each other can possible be connected through creativity. i think i gained more experiences than previous semester...
- Tang See Tien

When i attended the first class of the creative studies, i felt boring in the class because i'm totally not understand what is lecturer teaching. But when start to do exercise- do the research and post comment on the blog with group member, i started to understand what is the lesson talking about and get to feel interesting about this subject. Well, now i learnt how to use creative way to develop ideas such as brain storming, juxtaposition, random words and so on. All of these increased my imagination in this semester.
- Ong Yen Xiang

When i first time enter Creative Studies class, i knew it was a theory class and i'm kinda hate this kind of classes.
After I attended few classes , I realized that the exercise given by lecturer are reasonable and standard. It not only about creativity, for example, lecturer always force us done our exercises in class is because lecturer wanted to force us to out ideas and force our potential. Beside that, one more i learnt in Creative Studies is Dare To Think. Juxtaposition ,Novelty, Innovation and Creativity , Mind Map...Those logical theory made me know more about how to achieve a creativity people. I also learnt how to increased my imaginary in my future life through juxtaposition based on combination of two animals. I believed this is amazing lesson i learnt in this end of semester.Thanks
- Tang Tak Choon

Creative Studies is the only subject different among the others based on theory. Last semester, we got Media Appreciation subject which teaches us how to appreciate media form by doing research on technology media, which consist more in technology entertainment. But this time, Creative Studies entertain us manually in a whole new different way. A very childish yet useful way which make it unique. The reason i feel it childish is because mostly the method is like using kid's thinking way and transfer it into drawing. Know what, actually kid's thinking is the most creative compare to the others, because they come up with crazy drawing that doesn't make sense. And then we use the crazy stuffs to create an idea. No matter what result i got in this subject i doesn't care much, because the important is the process what i learnt throughout this subject.
-Tong Weng Foong

Through the Creative Studies class, I've learn many different effective creative thinking techniques. The class gave me a big boost on my creative side. I learn to view things in more perspective. The class was interesting and full of words that jogs my brain to it's fullest. From that, I concluded that this class will be changing me and my way of looking things. Although sometimes I could not understand, it was a challenge to me. From all the research I've done, I think I learn a lot from this class. I hope students taking this class in the future will understand the value of this class.
-Tan Ben Hur

Assignment 2 - Final Sketch

2012-01-10T17:19:00.000-08:00

our final process. A storyboard about a sheep cant fall asleep.

FINAL ASSIGNMENT VIDEO

FINAL SKETCH

first we draw it with pencil. Then we trace it with Ink pen. After that we colour it with colour pencil. Lastly, we took photo with DSLR. We come out with an video.

Assignment 2 - Sketches

2012-01-08T11:42:00.000-08:00

Step 4. Sketches

We came up with a few sketches for the final presentation.

Assignment 2 - Research

2012-01-03T05:41:00.000-08:00

Step 1. Research
Our next assignment was to find out about Faculty of Creative Multimedia. In these few weeks, we gathered around and made this mind map about FCM and also wrote an essay about FCM.

sketch

final Mind Map

Faculty of Creative Multimedia, or in short, FCM, is one of the faculties in MMU where students are taught to be a designer or digital artist in many different ways. It is also the one and only faculty in Multimedia University Cyberjaya where creativity is used often by both student ans lecturers to do their works and assignments. That is where it's uniqueness comes into play. Not everyday we could see or find people who uses creativity for anything or even everything, but here in FCM, everyone's creativity are used daily and that is something FCM students and lecturers see and experience everyday. Creative multimedia is the new innovation in which it'll emerge as one of the most influential elements in multimedia communications in business, art and design, education, entertainment and also daily lifestyle. One of the very famous creative multimedia work is the Facebook website. It has become the people's mean of communication, entertainment and daily lifestyle.

FCM is all about creativity and multimedia. Creative multimedia, is actually the combination of two different words, creative and multimedia, which has its own particular meaning. Creative is an act of producing or creating something new, different, innovative and imaginative ideas that has values of your own and materialise the ideas into reality. Creativity requires whole-brain thinking which could be enhanced or improved by using techniques such as mind mapping and metaphorical thinking. On the other hand, multimedia is a combination of text, audio, still image, animation and video. It includes a range of formats from a simple PowerPoint slide show to a complex interactive simulation such as Flash. With the combination of the two words creative and multimedia, the word creative multimedia was created and thus defined as art in the form of digital. In the field of creative multimedia, most of the works are done in digital form.

Another unique aspect of FCM is that it combines academic study with capacious creative digital technology production work. The faculty consist of well-balanced teams of faculty members and industry professionals in the field of arts, architecture, computing, broadcasting, animation, design, and advertising. Together, the variation of knowledge and technology is smoothly facilitated, with digital media equipment for production work and research. Just like one common saying; A picture speaks a thousand words. It's the same principle as mixing different varieties of mediums and it'll have an extraordinary effect that makes multimedia today, appealing. The creative industries make use of multimedia for many different kinds of purposes such as fine arts, entertainment, media commercial, journalism and many more. Interestingly enough, this allows student to learn and experience many different fields of profession's work.

In the future generation, digital technologies will be a part of people's daily lifestyle and creative multimedia comes into play, where people will use developed technologies

to express themselves, communicate, study and interact with the whole world. One of the heavily used multimedia is the entertainment industry especially the special effects in movies, animations and video games. Such advancement requires a unique approach, which will need to considerate the combination of disciplines and guarantees a more meaningful and efficient product innovation and improvement. For this particular reason, the Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) was made, where many varieties techniques in the innovative and creative use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) are explored, studied and researched.

The Faculty of Creative Multimedia (FCM) offers a few different academic studies in the fields of digital art. The main intention of the courses is to make high quality multimedia designers or multimedia programmers. The courses provide students with professional techniques and knowledge in creating and researching different varieties of creative multimedia content for online and offline applications. Students will be given informative knowledge in the authoring process and creative media production. The courses are a fusion of the technology of content development and multimedia programming. In the course, science and art are fused to give the backbone for the multimedia content production. The fusion of multimedia content with the outlook of information and communication technology makes the students not just capable of creating the idea but also improving the technology of interactive features

The Foundation in Creative Multimedia course is to teach students the basics of design and art. Students will be taught the skills of drawing, multimedia applications and media production. Not only skills and techniques are taught but also the skill of teamwork is indirectly built within the group of students when completing assignments. After finishing the foundation course, students will have a solid understanding of the basics of design. Students can choose five different degree courses after the foundation course which are Animation and Visual Effects, Virtual Reality, Media Arts, Interface Design and Advertising Design. Examples of subjects taught in the Foundation of Creative Multimedia are photography, computer graphics, visual research and communication, creative English and drawing.

One of the very famous degree course in FCM is the Animation and Visual Effects degree course. Once a student completes the course, it is expected that the students will understand the whole process of producing an animation work that is unified with high quality design sense and the nature of digital animation. Students will also be opened to different ideas of expanding their contents to be more artistically valued, varied and original. During the whole production process, students will develop their technical skill and creative understanding in storytelling and animation refined to become a three-dimensional (3D) animator. The project focuses the importance of content development through the brainstorming process. Students are encouraged to go for ideas that are new and original to the current school of thoughts.

Another interesting degree course in FCM is the Virtual Reality degree course. Students at the Virtual Reality course are committed to become a VR specialists who are qualified and skilled in creating real-time application with the goal of developing experiential design. In this enhanced and improved multimedia era, students will be exposed to a lot of communication modalities. It is for such reason that the experience to write their own is increasingly important for users and this is where designing experience becomes the main aspect. It is about waking up the emotion and feeling of the user by a given form, space, context, content and senses. The user is not just simply passive but also highly interacting with the surrounding and the experience is enhanced through immersible and non-immersible technology. Students will able to analyse problems and fix current issues by suggesting projects such as virtual heritage, virtual manual, virtual art and entertainment.

The Interface Design degree course strives to teach and train students to attain creative and innovative answers for many different communication and technological products, services and applications. Students are taught in how to create meaningful interfaces and appealing interactive answers to enhance the user's experience, to challenge the envelope of the latest greatest technologies, and to improve the daily lifestyles of the world. This comprehensively developed and well-balanced degree course provides student a wide varieties of skill sets, opportunities, and new understanding into the interface design industry. Some of the many subjects student learn in this course are human interaction ways, graphical user interfaces, audio and video user interfaces, product visualisation, interface simulations and design specifications.

The Media Art degree course offers multidisciplinary means of arriving to media creation that enhances individual research, experimentation and creative technologies practise. The subjects are taught in an exciting and inspiring environment where theories and practises can be investigated and ideas flow. The Media Art degree course focuses mainly on experimental media creation and the results emerge in many various mediums such as interactive systems, websites, installations, performances and sometimes public spaces. Students of Media Art degree course aims to create socially and culturally relevant objects, experiences and spaces.

For the Advertising Design degree course, the basic learning result that we search for in a project is the students' ability to use their knowledge on elements and principles of advertising into effective ideas. The Advertising Design degree course's main objective is to guarantee that the students have high understanding of techniques and skills in creative concept, execution and production of creative multimedia content. Students will be able to fully implement the leading-edge innovations of electronic media, with a stable comprehension of their product, consumer and the marketplace. At the end of the course, students will learn the theory and practise of advertising, creativity and innovation, basic marketing, media, and indirectly, research skills as well as the business logic and practicality.

One of the main differences between FCM and other faculties in MMU is that there are a lot of assignments. Assignments are not given only just to evaluate student's mark or achievement, but the truth behind all the assignments is that the lecturers wants the students to experience the process of completing a particular work so that if in the future there are something similar needed to be done, students will be at ease to complete their works. Not only that the assignment gives experience to students, but the assignments will also become the student's future reference or portfolio.

There are many jobs graduates from the courses of creative multimedia can become. A few examples are multimedia designers, computer artist, 3-D animator, film director, advertising consultant, art director, R&D product designer, interface designers, instructional designers, multimedia trainers, immersive content consultant, simulation designer, virtual environment designer and smart phone application programmer. Each and every profession of this field of multimedia requires great skills to apply and visualise their unique creativity into a medium. For example, a graphic designer, or in another term, graphic artist, have to plan, analyse and visualise many answers to solve the communication problem between the people and the media. Graphic designers searches for the most effective ways to communicate through the different numbers of media by using the elements and principles of design and various creative thinking techniques. By doing so, graphic designers will be able to develop and produce a unique piece of work.

There are many interesting facilities students can use for their projects and assignments in FCM such as the Design Studio and the VR Theater.The Design Studio is a contribute workplace for students to improve their creative thinking skills and make design projects and assignments. The Graphic Lab is equipped with computers that have the potential to render high-resolution computer graphic images. The computers are also installed with professional graphic and image editing software tools such as the Adobe Photoshop, the Adobe Illustrator, the Macromedia Freehand and the Macromedia Fireworks. The Interactive Lab is a place where students can produce quality interactive multimedia applications into digital mediums on the computers that are equipped with high level authoring tools like Macromedia Director, Macromedia Dreamweaver and Macromedia Flash. The Set and Background Studio is a physical studio where there are blue or green screen and motion capture facilities for a virtual studio set-up. The E-Gallery is an exhibition centre where the conceptualised becomes a door to the multimedia and digital world. It also displays the best of student's work.

There are three 3D Labs in FCM. The first lab is the Modelling Labs where students can create complex 3D objects using high-end computers and tools such as 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, Maya and Softimage. Another lab is called the Animation Labs which contains specialised facilities comprising of hardware and software intended for high-end 3D animation purposes. And finally the last lab is the Rapid Prototyping Lab which consist of Computer Aided Design (CAD) facilities to create prototype designs and replicas for interface design concepts. There are two Post Production Labs in FCM. One of them is the Video Labs that is for high-end non-linear video editing. Another lab is called the Audio Lab which is used for creating and editing digital sound and it is equipped with Workstations with leading-edge audio software tools. Finally, the last facility which is the VR Theatre. It is a mini theatre used for stereoscopic image projection with high quality surround sound.

In conclusion, the Faculty of Creative Multimedia is a great place for people who wishes to be in the field of design. Also, students of FCM will become the leading generations of the multimedia era in the future where multimedia is heavily used everywhere.

References :

Step 2. Idea Generation & Development
Based on the research on Faculty of Creative Multimedia, next we have chosen mind map to present our focus point which is Creative Thinking Technique.

mind map of Creative Thinking Technique

Step 3. Creative Solutions

Based on our focus mind map that about Creative Thinking Technique.
We have devolop the topic into (READ MORE)
5 catagories of 5W and 1H : when, why, who, what and how.

What

- Tang See Tien

How

How to use the Random Word technique
Getting a random word as a prompt and use it to solve problem.
Take a work, extract its underlying principles and then apply them to the problem
The skill is stopping our mind from (a) thinking this is silly (b) directly using the actual principles behind the word and solve it
1st u nid initial stimulus, next u establish a bridging idea.
flip though a dictionary and stop randomly, or pick a random page, paragraph and word from a general interest magazine.

One you have got a random word, there are many ways of using it, including:
Replacing the problem object with the random noun and imagining what would happen. Think it over in your mind and see what you can get out of it. What does it remind you of, regarding your own problem? What are the benefits from replacing it? If the benefits are original but not practical, then are there any ways you can get the same effect from a more practical means? If there are no benefits, what are the disadvantages and how might you counter them? (See how powerful this is - whether you think it is good or bad to replace it, both points of view can lead to new ideas!)
Looking at the principles behind the random word and reapplying them to your own problem. How does the random object behave? Why does it behave like that? What are its characteristics? Why does it fit its own environment but has not been reapplied elsewhere? Now think of HOW you can apply the principles to your own problem. The skill is in thinking "How can we make this work?" and disregarding any initial thoughts that it won't work.
Looking at its benefits. Are they benefits you want? How can you get the same benefits for your own situation? How does the selected word achieve the benefits and how can you use that principle?

Things to watch out for when using the technique
You must be careful not to decide that a specific word is of no use and getting another instead. If you do this then you are more likely than not just trying to choose a word which neatly fits into the problem you are trying to solve; effectively you don't really end up with a random word. Again, the skill is to work out HOW the word can be made to fit.

Be careful not to create too many steps between the random word as a stimulus and the creation of a relevant idea, or you may run the risk of ending up with an idea you already know works. eg. A suggests B, which suggests C, which suggests D - which is the idea we're already using.

You also have to train yourself not to link the word with an idea you already know about. You should not take the word at face value. You must guard against using the technique to come up with an old idea to show that the old idea is good, eg. I already like the idea of using brushes on the inside of the wheel arches to clean the tyre so I will link "toothbrushes" to a wheel to come up with the same idea. Wow, it must be a good idea because this random technique came up with it.
Nobody can go back and start a new beginning, but anyone can start today and make a new ending.

- Tong Weng Foong

Who

Most creativity expert’s hold -- including Jack Foster, Roger von Oech, Edward de Bono, and many others -- creativity is a process that can be learnt, practised, and perfected.

http://marelisa-online.com/how-to-be-more-creative/ebook.php

Michael Michalko

We were all born as spontaneous, creative thinkers. Yet a great deal of our education may be regarded as the inculcation of mind sets. We were taught how to handle problems and new phenomena with fixed mental attitudes (based on what past thinkers thought) that predetermine our response to problems or situations. Typically, we think on the basis of similar problems encountered in the past. When confronted with problems, we fixate on something in our past that has worked before. Then we analytically select the most promising approach based on past experiences, excluding all other approaches, and work within a clearly defined direction toward the solution of the problem.

http://www.innovationtools.com/Articles/ArticleDetails.asp?a=160
http://creativethinking.net/articles/2011/04/25/attribute-analysis/

Salvador Dali's Creative Thinking Technique

In the history of art, most people could easily argue that Salvador Dalí is the father of surrealistic art. Surrealism is the art of writing or painting unreal or unpredictable works of art using the images or words from an imaginary world. Dali's art is the definition of surrealism. Throughout his art he clearly elaborates on juxtaposition (putting similar images near each other), the disposition (changing the shape of an object), and morphing of objects, ranging from melted objects dripping, to crutches holding distorted figures, to women with heads of bouquets of flowers.
Surrealism is the stressing of subconscious or irrational significance of imagery, or in more simplistic terms, the use of dreamlike imagery. Dalí's absurd imagination has him painting pictures of figures no person would even dream of creating. How was Salvador Dali able to conjure up these extraordinary images from his subconscious that he used in his surrealistic paintings?

Dali was intrigued with the images which occur at the boundary between sleeping and waking. They can occur when people are falling asleep, or when they are starting to wake up, and they tend to be extremely vivid, colourful and bizarre. He experimented with various ways of generating and capturing these fantastical images.

His favourite technique is that he would put a tin plate on the floor and then sit by a chair beside it, holding a spoon over the plate. He would then totally relax his body; sometimes he would begin to fall asleep. The moment that he began to doze the spoon would slip from his fingers and clang on the plate, immediately waking him to capture the surreal images.

The extraordinary images seem to appear from nowhere, but there is a logic. The unconscious is a living, moving stream of energy from which thoughts gradually rise to the conscious level and take on a definite form. Your unconscious is like a hydrant in the yard while your consciousness is like a faucet upstairs in the house. Once you know how to turn on the hydrant, a constant supply of images can flow freely from the faucet. These forms give rise to new thoughts as you interpret the strange conjunctions and chance combinations.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/creative-thinkering/201107/salvador-dalis-creative-thinking-technique
First Creative Thinking Technique: Leonardo da Vinci’s Idea Box

Leonardo da Vinci and the Idea Box Technique is a fantastic way to generate ideas. Leonardo’s notebooks were filled with observations, sketches of inventions he was working on, as well as incredible drawings.

In order to create unique, captivating faces, he would list all of the different variations he had observed of facial characteristics–including eyes, noses, lips, the shape of the face, the chin, the ears–as well as facial expressions, and he would then combine them to create thousands of different faces. Leonardo would create a matrix of elements

http://liquidflamedesign.com/articles/effective_techniques_for%20_creative_thinking.html

- Ong Yen Xiang

Random Association - Week 9

2012-01-01T05:55:00.000-08:00

By Tan Ben Hur

By Tong Weng Foong

By Tang See Tien

By Tang Tak Choon

By Ong Yen Xiang

Juxtaposition 2 - Week 8 (Part 2)

2011-12-31T16:14:00.000-08:00

Create a passage/writing that describe the concept of “Pain”

I felt a stab on my heart when I see you
melting away for another person.
-Tan Ben Hur

I feel so agony when you're not with me.
My heart melted away with your absence.
- Tang See Tien

My heart pain as like the cone stab on me
My tears drops as like the ice cream melted away.
- Tang Tak Choon

Did you see my heart is melting?
Trust is melted like ice-cream when you cheated me.
So hurt, and so pain...
- Ong Yen Xiang

love is like ice-cream
appreciate the time when it is still perfect
because time changes everything
you may lost it's originality
and regret it eternity.
-Tong Weng Foong

Create a passage/writing that describe the concept of “Love or Life”

A cup of coffee is like a day in life,

Add a cube of sugar and you'll have a nice day

Another cube of sugar and your days will be very sweet,

But 3 cubes of sugar is just asking for trouble.

- Tan Ben Hur

Love is like a cup of coffee.

Some likes it sweet,

Some likes it bitter.

No matter it's sweet or bitter, it is still love...

- Tang See Tien

Beginning, life is bitter like a coffee

but, there is still happiness after adding a sugar

however, Life wouldn't be ever suffer or ever happy

This is life.

- Tang Tak Choon

You are my coffee life, make me energetic.

No matter sad or happy,

bitter or sweet,

yea, i still want you to be my coffee,

stay with me.

- Ong Yen Xiang

the smell of coffee

soften my heart

the taste of coffee

brighten my day

when i am addict to it

i will be with it forever

And, you are the best cup of coffee i ever taste.

- Tong Weng Foong

Create a passage/writing that describe the concept of “Happiness”

Happiness comes and go just like time passes by everyday.

- Tan Ben Hur

Happiness is always in our life as the time goes by.

- Tang See Tien

Happiness Won't be followed with you 24 hours

- Tang Tak Choon

1, 2, 3..

happiness is coming with the time.

4, 5, 6...

it gone with the times too.

- Ong Yen Xiang

one second you peek me

one minute you stalk me

one hour you fall in love with me

one day you miss me

one week you ignore me

one month you hate me

one year you forgot me

but then even one second you have feeling with me, it lasts eternity.

- Tong Weng Foong

Create a passage/writing that describe the concept of “Love or Pain”

No matter how different we are,

No matter how much you've changed,

I'll always be there for you.

- Tan Ben Hur

No matter how much you changed,

No matter how long the time has passed by,

I will always love you.

- Tang See Tien

I still love you

Even thought other's people discrimination us

I still like you

Even thought other's people combat us

Because this is Love

- Tang Tak Choon

Don't give up,

don't care how people talking about us.

Although that it's pain, it's hurt.

Love me, and love you.

- Ong Yen Xiang

you are tiger i am mice

you are angel i am demon

you are sky i am sea

you are famous i am nobody

but then we have only one thing in common

and that's love

- Tong Weng Foong

Create a passage/writing that describe the concept of “Man or Woman”

I thought women are fierce like sharks,

And women goes crazy like a shark,

But every women in the world,

Has their golden traits in them.

- Tan Ben Hur

Women are so beautiful,

Just like gold fish.

When they gone crazy,

They can be so terrifying like sharks.

- Tang See Tien

Every man thought women are terrible like sharks,

but after a man understand a woman,

they found out every women heart inside

has a well-behaved golden traits

Sharks,it's just a protective themselves,

by getting injured by man.

- Tang Tak Choon

When woman look like a shark,

yea, she is strong and tough like a man.

When woman look like a gold fish,

yea, please protect her.

She is lovable.

- Ong Yen Xiang

do not judge things by its cover

although you see it scary in the outside, but it is actually lovely in the inside

although you see it tough in the outside, but it is actually soft in the inside

although you see it ugly in the outside, but it is actually beauty in the inside

know what. This is WOMAN.

- Tong Weng Foong

Juxtaposition 2 - Week 8

2011-12-30T05:49:00.000-08:00

On this second part of the Juxtaposition lecture, we were told to draw the combination of animal that will never survive and give the reasons. We were also told to write a love poem based on a chilly and a poem about man (for girl students) or woman (for boy students) based on a candle. These are our trial and errors :

By Tan Ben Hur

By Tong Weng Foong

By Tang See Tien

By Tang Tak Choon

By Ong Yen Xiang

At the end of the lecture, the lecturer told us the better answer to the unthinkable animal. The combination of an eagle and a fish. The head of a fish and the body of an eagle. Well, that explains the simplicity of just unable to live on both land and water at the same time.

Personal Comment by each member

I was amaze that anyone could write a poem just by using the characteristic of any random object. I wonder if all great poems were created that way. I have learned that researching something should not only be on one perspective but on many different angle of looking at it.

- Tan Ben Hur

This is another exercise like the previous week exercise-combining 2 elements together to become something else entirely. Besides that, using any words given to make a nice poem is quite amazing. Most people couldn't write simple poem with a random word given. We need to use our imagination and the characteristics of the words given to create a poem. Through this week exercise, I believe I could understand much more better than last time.

- Tang See Tien

Well, through this exercise what I can know more about is when observing a thing, we can try to think from different way to achieve it, even if it's illogical way. We also wrote love poem based on chilly using the characteristic of it, it train out our imaginary.

- Tang Tak Choon

In this lesson, the lecturer wants us to understand more on how to comes up ideas with different method. This time, we are asked to draw two different living creature and become a creature that can't live long in this planet. This is way too crazy. I never done such thing in my life before. After this I understand we have to think something that common people doesn't invented it. The idea is ours, every idea is valuable and priceless. After that, we can express our thought, idea, expression, emotion by writing a poem.

-Tong Weng Foong

Today's exercise is combine two different living creature to be a creature that cannot live in the world. Lecturer want us to observe more things and think something logical in a creative way but illogical in the world. After that, we have to write at least two poem in the class too. It training our way of thinking and imagination.

- Ong Yen Xiang

Juxtaposition - week 7

2011-12-04T04:41:00.000-08:00

Today the lecturer introduce us a new technique. We were told to make a sentence and a few drawings by using the words chosen by using any 2 random digit number.

0. Fly 0. Head

1. Flower 1. Rain

2. Lightning 2. Wood

3. Ice 3. Tree

4. Light 4. Spider

5. Fire 5. Root

6. Duck 6. Mountain

7. Dog 7. Wind

8. Oil 8. Rock

9. Leave 9. Water

By: Ong Yen Xiang

By: Tang See tien

By: Tang Tak Choon

By: Tong Weng Foong

By: Tan Ben Hur

Personal Comment by each member

It was kind of weird when the lecturer told us to do this exercise. I had no idea that combining two different random words could be that hard to synchronise. This taught me to think in a different way that does and doesn't make any sense. From trying to synchronise the words, I learnt that anything is possible to combine and create new things or ideas.
- Tan Ben Hur

Lecturer asked us to link two different random words that which are no related to each other into a new object. It made me troublesome, because I got no idea how to combined those things, but it break out our creativity although it's illogical. I found out that everything is able to create out as long as you try to make a different to other people.
- Tang Tak Choon

This is the first time I do something like this. I thought the lecturer was mad asking to us to do the exercise like this. It is actually that the lecturer want us to try to think something unbelievable, new ideas from two unrelated elements. In creativity, ridiculous, insane ideas are one of the way to success...
- Tang See Tien

The time lecturer gave us the task, it looks childish, I thought it is some homework taken from kindergarten and ask us to do something stupid. But then I understand the intention why we need such crazy stuffs like combining two unrelated object, its used to bring a whole new idea which we didn't even think before. Therefore, ideas come from uncommon thinking which does not exist in the world.
- Tong Weng Foong

I felt weird and had no idea when lecturer asked us to develop something new by using two different random objects. But after the exercise, I felt that was an interesting lesson because we can just draw something illogical but creative. Well, what I learn in this class is, everything is possible in creativity.
- Ong Yen Xiang

Juxtaposition - week 6

2011-11-25T10:34:00.001-08:00

Juxtaposition

Juxtaposition is a word that is defined as the placing, side by side, of two ideas or items to show their contrast or comparison. In your public speaking course you will learn that you can use juxtaposition to add a more detailed description for your audience.

In composition, the placing of verbal elements side by side, leaving it up to the reader to establish connections and impose a meaning. These verbal elements (words, clauses, sentences) may be drawn from different sources and juxtaposed to form a literary collage. Juxtaposition is a type of parataxis.

Ironic Juxtaposition
"Ironic juxtaposition is the fancy term for what happens when two disparate things are placed side by side, each commenting on the other. . . .

"Olivia Judson, a science writer, uses this technique to tweak our interest in what could be a stultifying subject, the female green spoon worm:
The green spoon worm has one of the most extreme size differences known to exist between male and female, the male being 200,000 times smaller than his mate. Her lifespan is a couple of years. His is only a couple of months--and he spends his short life inside her reproductive tract, regurgitating sperm through his mouth to fertilise her eggs. More ignominious still, when he was first discovered, he was thought to be a nasty parasitic infestation.
(from Seed magazine)
The author's point of view is a sly wink, the humiliation of the minuscule male sea creature serving as an emblem for his crude and increasingly miniaturised human counterpart. The juxtaposition is between worm sex and human sex."
(Roy Peter Clark, Writing Tools: 50 Essential Strategies for Every Writer. Little, Brown and Company, 2006)

Pastiche
"Pressed to its limits, artistic juxtaposition becomes what is sometimes termed pastiche. The goal of this tactic, which has been employed in both high-culture and pop-culture contexts (e.g., MTV videos), is to barrage the viewer with incongruous, even clashing images that call into question any sense of objective meaning."
(Stanley James Grenz, A Primer on Postmodernism. Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1996)

Juxtaposition in Exterior\

by -

CommanderDex

Juxtaposition in college

By -

cerise-chocolat

Juxtaposition in drawing

By -

J-Pac

Personal comment by each member

When I heard the word Juxtaposition for the first time, I had no idea what was it's meaning but after the lecture, I understood it better. After researching about it, I understand it much more. Juxtaposition is a way to find the contrast of something, just like the good and bad of something. From knowing the good and bad, one can use it to become a message to others that the particular thing has it's good and bad traits.
- Tan Ben Hur

From my information about Juxtaposition explained by the lecturer and research from Internet, I think Juxtaposition is about placing two items or things side by side to compared and shows it contrasted, so that viewers can only see the huge differences from the author's point. So I think juxtaposition's purpose is for contrasting the 2 things or object to let viewer's understanding easier.
- Tang Tak Choon

Things I understand about Juxtaposition is when we combine two different things and compare the differences and the common characteristics, we are able to define the advantages and disadvantages. By then, ideas will pop out and transfer message more efficiently.
- Tong Weng Foong

Just like my friend, I had no idea of what juxtaposition is all about at the beginning. I had better understanding after lecturer explained thoroughly. It is about placing two elements side by side, compare and contrast them. So that, the good and the bad of two elements can be seen clearly.
- Tang See Tien

After doing the research, I finally understood that juxtaposition can be use to combine and compare two different things. We can find the good and bad from juxtaposition. So, the purpose of juxtaposition is let viewer easier to understand.
- Ong Yen Xiang

Logical Mind Map - week 4

2011-11-11T10:34:00.000-08:00

Mind Map

Mind mapping is one technique allowing you to maximise your brain power. Using the mind mapping technique, it will give you more productive works by harnessing the full range of your creative skills.

Logical mind map

Logical Mind Map is a stereotypical kind of mind mapping technique. Each words or images that is in the mind map is directly related to the central subject through its links.

LOGICAL MIND MAP - Creative Multimedia

LOGICAL MIND MAP - MIND MAP

Personal Comment by each member

Before this class, I particularly find mind maps unusable but just for memorising. But after today's class, I learnt that mind maps are not used only to memorise, but also to generate new ideas from it. From doing the logical mind maps, I found out that by making mind maps other unthinkable ideas become possible and will be on the mind map.

- Tan Ben Hur

There are many creative thinking techniques. Mind map is one of the technique to help us comes up with new ideas and quickly list down by linking every points with colourful attractive ways, combining images and drawing. This is the most common technique for children and adults.

- Tong Weng Foong

Mind map is one of the best technique to be used to memorise and strengthen our mind for me, these help me take notes, solving brainstorm complex problems, and think creatively. I used it since primary and I found that mind map is interactive and fun. It help us to visualise our idea and get new ideas from it.

- Tang Tak Choon

Mind map is one the simplest way of understanding a work. It can be very easily to be understood. It helps to break down the important details of a work into smaller pieces. So that, everyone could understand it. With mind map, we can brainstorm every possible ideas that are listed in the mind map. Mind map is the simple but great way to show and tell ideas.

- Tang See Tien

I thought mind map is just to memorize those important points but after this class, I understand that mind map is not only to memorise thing. It can develop new ideas from mind map and can be an interest way to perform our ideas.

- Ong Yen Xiang

Novelty, Creativity, Innovation and Invention - week 3

2011-11-07T05:38:00.000-08:00

What is Novelty ?

Novelty, defined by the Internet dictionary, is a state or quality of being new or unique, in other words, original. One example of novelty is the smartphones. It has changed how people around the world works, their social life and so on.

Do we need creativity to get novelty ?

Of course we need creativity to get novelty. If there's no creativity in a product do you think that the product will have originality in it ? Of course to be creative you have to be out from the rat race trap of your own mind. This article I'm going to share with you is somewhat interesting and proved useful to me. I hope it does good to you too.

THE RAT RACE TRAP

What is Innovation ?

Innovation, defined by www.thefreedictionary.com, is the act of introducing new things or

something newly introduced.

To have innovation, both the past and the future of ideas are needed. Innovation have to be creative (click here), but must also cause a change in the ideas of others. For example, when someone creates a piece of art that uses a new method, the piece of art would only be innovative if it inspired other artists to alter how they made art.

Through innovation, improvements are made to the old things and change them to be much more useful, practical, user-friendly and better. just imagine if the mobile phones weren't innovated. Everyone now would still be carrying the very first mobile telephone which was as big as a briefcase.

What is Invention ?

Invention, again defined by www.thefreedictionary.com, is the act or method of inventing. I prefer to define it as a new device, method, or process developed from study and experimentation or a discovery.

One example of the greatest invention is the computer and the Internet. Without the computer, would I be able to share this article to the world or instead, would you be able to read this article on the Internet? The computer has drastically changed human way of life throughout the years.

Personal comment by each member

Novelty. When I first research and study this particular word, I keep finding the word new, fresh, original, unique and many more. Although it is not wrong but it becomes a word that defines originality but to define it has become unoriginal and standardize. This is so ironic.

I'm not saying that the word novelty can't be define as something new or unique or original. I'm just stating the obvious. Of course I'll still define novelty as something original and new but to me it seems that something is still missing in it's definition, and it always will be.

As for innovation and invention, I personally think that the world needs both for the world to change into a better place.

-Tan Ben Hur

For a creative designer, the word novelty is important to be in our mind. It means that something new, fresh, unusual to the world, we have to produce or invent things that impresses the whole world. This is the only way to change the human, the public, the economy, the community and the entire world. To produce such novelty, we must innovative and inventive sort of thought to bring novelty out.

-Tong Weng Foong

As a designer, novelty, innovation and invention, this 3 element are the very essential thing for us. To create something new or unique,we must implant novelty to our product, so that it only shows our product to be special. Through innovation, the product we changed could improved our lifestyle. We combine those two factor and our creativity to invent something new to change it into a better life.
-Tang Tak Choon

Form novelty, innovation, invention,

I found out that not only thinking something new, unique

counted as creative..

Innovation taught me that change in the ideas of the others

also is a creative idea..

That's why, our technology always being developed and never

seem old. This is because they do not only maintain it,

but still renew it or change to be more functional, and more

creative..
- Ong Yen Xiang

Novelty, innovation and invention are the ingredients to create a unique idea, and to make it better. Novelty, innovation and invention must always be in the mind of an artist, designer or anyone else. The world is changing rapidly and an existing idea cannot remain in the world permanently. We need to come out with fresh, new idea to cope with the world. The idea also needs to be improved, so that it can be accepted by everyone.

-Tang See Tien

Creative Thinking - week 2

2011-11-03T22:37:00.000-07:00

Creativity and creative thinking, is it something that people are born with? Or perhaps a one in a million talent? there has been many misunderstanding when it comes to creativity and it lead people to believe that creativity belongs only to a few certain special people. Do you think that people like Elvis Persley, or Steven Spielbeg created their works just out of the blue of that their ideas came out of nowhere? It is through hard work that their masterpieces were created. People who practice high creative ablilities work much harder than the average person.

So what is creativity?
Creativity is the :

Act of turning new and imaginative ideas into reality.
Involves two processes : thinking, then producing

"Creativity is the process of bringing something new into being... creativity requires passion and commitment. out of the creative acti is born symbols and myths. it brings to our awareness what was previously hidden and points to new life. The experience is one of heightened consciousness-ecstasy."
- Rollo May, The Courage to Crate

http://www.creativityatwork.com/articlesContent/whatis.ht

Most people think that to be creative is a hard task and labelled themselves as uncreative people. There is no such thing as people who isn't creative.

The truth is that everyone in the world has creativity in them, even you.

The reason thinking creatively is a though task for most people is that because our creative ability is in an inactive state and note actively growing. Creativity is like our muscle. The more we train our muscles, the stronger we become. It is the same, as our creative ability is used more frequently, better creative ideas will come.

If you think that "Creativity is only for people in the art field." think again !

Businessman, Engineers, and Scientists too use creativity in their works. Businessman needs creativity to create a system that is effective and profitable for their company. Engineers and scientists use creativity to explore the unexplored. Even you use creativity subconsciously to solve problems in your daily life. So, now do you think creativity is only for people in the art filed?

CREATIVE THINKING TECHNIQUES

Many techniques in creative thinking are available to help enhance and accelerate the innovation process.

Different power think, and to think creatively, are not inherited. Thinking and creative thinking are learn-able skills like walking, driving car, run. Some are better than others but, given sufficient motivation, everyone can develop a fair amount of skill.

Techniques that cause creative thinking include:

-Lateral Thinking >> defined as "seeking ways to solve problems by obviously illogical means." In science, many major discoveries have come about through a chance observation accident, or mistake that led to non-obvious ways of perceiving things. A lateral thinking session resulted in a major new design concept. The lateral thinking technique used was "reversal" which set off the provocation, "the reciprocating belt is fixed." This changed thinking into an entirely new direction, leading to the new design concept.

-Metaphoric Thinking >> involves producing new ideas by joining the problem to something in a totally unrelated realm (often in nature).

-Positive Thinking >> Our positive-thinking technique involves viewing a negative from different angles and perspective and turning it into a positive.

-Questioning Conventional Wisdom >> here, we deliberately question existing theories and methodology and take risks (something which comes naturally to many researchers).

-Capturing and Interpreting Dreams >> This technique produces the subconscious in generating new ideas. It requires keeping a pad and pencil by your bedside to record your dreams.

http://www.winstonbrill.com/bril001/html/article_index/articles/101-150/article106_body.html

To sum it up :

THINKING CREATIVELY

- Creativity is to invent something which did not exist before, either as a product or a thought.Its developing something new to ourselves. When we change ourselves, the world changes with us.

- Its can be used to create products, processes and services in the first place. To impress our customers to become happier through improvements in our quality and quantity of output.

- When we come up with a new idea, we actually are a creative thinker.

- Brainstorming works by merging someone else’s ideas with your own to create a new one.

- Creative thinking process can be accidental or deliberate.

- Accidental way occur without using special techniques, like a chance happening making you think about something in a different way and you then discovering a beneficial change.

- Using special techniques, deliberate can be used to develop new ideas.

- These techniques force the emergence of a wide range of ideas to spark off new thoughts and processes.

- Developments of projects occur much more efficiently using these deliberate techniques.

- Ongoing creative thinking (investigation, questioning and analysis that develops through education training and self-awareness) occurs all the time.

- Ongoing creativity takes time and practice to master it, but it becomes an attitude surprisingly.

http://www.brainstorming.co.uk/tutorials/creativethinking.html

Personal Comment by each member

One must learn the methods and techniques if we wish to enhance our creative ability. Therefore, I found out that there are many useful methods that could able to help us improve our skill of thinking. Think anytime, anywhere no matter what we are doing. Thinking could able to help us get idea and solution, simply bring out our creativity. We will surprise someday when we are able to think with different perspective and way.

- Tong Weng Foong

Creative and thinking are very much related to each other. We need creativity to make our ideas in our mind to become unique and special. If we have the idea only and without creativity, it is useless for us to try to materialize it.

- Tang See Tien

I believe that creativity is needed and will be with us for the rest of our lives. It will no doubt be the ability that
will change the world just like the invention of PC and Iphone.

- Tan Ben Hur

For me, creativity is the things that u can invent anything to be another new generation design. It is the process of coming up with something new and different from others. Anyway, day dreaming is one of my method which is a very effective tools to be creative.

- Tang Tak Choon

Is thinking creatively easy? Is thinking creatively inborn? Creative is neither easy nor hard. It is dependent to each other. And yet, creative is not inborn also. Hence, always take action after you think something, or get the idea, because you will never know is your way of thinking is creative, or working unless you try it. Always remember, practice makes perfect.

- Ong Yen Xiang

Introduction to Creative Studies - Week 1

2011-10-30T15:48:00.000-07:00

On the first day of the Creative Studies class, we were told to draw our friends by using their personalities. We were also told to break into groups of 5 to 7 people and thus we created the Today's Creative group.

These are the drawings of us drew by our friends.

By. Tong Weng Foong

1112702496

By. Tang Tak Choon
1112701434

By Ong Yen Xiang

1112701264

By. Tang See Tien

1112702526

By. Tan Ben Hur

1112700166

Personal Comment by each member :

I hope that I would learn to be a creative person from this class. Although it is sometimes a bit hard to understand the lectures due to many examples, I think I can cope with it.

- Tan Ben Hur

This is our group member's avatar which represent each person's personalities. The main personality in every picture is creative, that's why we are in Creative Study class. I hope that in the end of this semester, I am able to be a more creative person that thinks in different way.

- Tong Weng Foong

We were told to draw each other's avatar. At first, I wasn't aware of the lecturers' intention. Later, he told us that each of the avatar represent each of our style and personalities. I hope by the end of the semester, all of us could be more creative and innovative than before...

- Tang See Tien

The avatar shows each of the group member's personalities. I hope the Creative Studies class will increase our creativity and innovative, let me be more creative in my lifestyle in the future.

- Tang Tak Choon

The first week that I'm in the creative study class is drawing an avatar of my friend to show each person's personality. It is funny and creative. I wish by the of the semester, I will be more creative and will learn some creative thinking from this class.

- Ong Yen Xiang