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CREATIVITY :: DESIGN :: SCIENCE :: HISTORY :: PSYCHOLOGY :: ART

creativity

  1. Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design Debbie Millman “If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.” Debbie Millman’s fantastic illustrated essays of wisdom on the creative life – a timeless treat halfway between philosophy and design:

    Look Both Ways: Illustrated Essays on the Intersection of Life and Design

    Debbie Millman

    “If you imagine less, less will be what you undoubtedly deserve. Do what you love, and don’t stop until you get what you love. Work as hard as you can, imagine immensities, don’t compromise, and don’t waste time. Start now. Not 20 years from now, not two weeks from now. Now.”

    Debbie Millman’s fantastic illustrated essays of wisdom on the creative life – a timeless treat halfway between philosophy and design:
  2. Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom Leonard S. Marcus “That is the creative artist — a penalty of the creative artist — wanting to make order out of chaos.” Timeless wisdom from the great Ursula Nordstrom, who groomed Maurice Sendak’s genius and ushered in the golden age of children’s literature.

    Dear Genius: The Letters of Ursula Nordstrom

    Leonard S. Marcus

    “That is the creative artist — a penalty of the creative artist — wanting to make order out of chaos.”

    Timeless wisdom from the great Ursula Nordstrom, who groomed Maurice Sendak’s genius and ushered in the golden age of children’s literature.
  3. Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series) Jocelyn K. Glei “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.” The pace of productivity and how to master your creative routine

    Manage Your Day-to-Day: Build Your Routine, Find Your Focus, and Sharpen Your Creative Mind (The 99U Book Series)

    Jocelyn K. Glei

    “A small daily task, if it be really daily, will beat the labours of a spasmodic Hercules.”

    The pace of productivity and how to master your creative routine
  4. The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ David Shenk What Mozart’s upbringing teaches us about the secret of cultivating genius:

    The Genius in All of Us: New Insights into Genetics, Talent, and IQ

    David Shenk

    What Mozart’s upbringing teaches us about the secret of cultivating genius:
  5. Make Good Art Neil Gaiman “Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.” Neil Gaiman’s fantastic commencement address, adapted by design legend Chip Kidd

    Make Good Art

    Neil Gaiman

    “Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody’s ever made before.”

    Neil Gaiman’s fantastic commencement address, adapted by design legend Chip Kidd
  6. How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer Debbie Millman “If I get up every day with the optimism that I have the capacity for growth, then that’s success for me.” Legendary graphic designer Paula Scher on why creativity works like a slot machine:

    How to Think Like a Great Graphic Designer

    Debbie Millman

    “If I get up every day with the optimism that I have the capacity for growth, then that’s success for me.”

    Legendary graphic designer Paula Scher on why creativity works like a slot machine:
  7. How to Find Fulfilling Work (The School of Life) Roman Krznaric Fantastic read on the art-science of “allowing the various petals of our identity to fully unfold.”

    How to Find Fulfilling Work (The School of Life)

    Roman Krznaric

    Fantastic read on the art-science of “allowing the various petals of our identity to fully unfold.”
  8. Daily Rituals: How Artists Work Mason Currey Hemingway wrote standing, Nabokov on index cards, Twain while puffing cigars, and Sitwell in an open coffin – a fascinating inside peek at the creative routines of famous writers:

    Daily Rituals: How Artists Work

    Mason Currey

    Hemingway wrote standing, Nabokov on index cards, Twain while puffing cigars, and Sitwell in an open coffin – a fascinating inside peek at the creative routines of famous writers:
  9. Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series Malcolm Cowley “The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.” The great Malcolm Cowley on the four stages of writing:

    Writers at Work: The Paris Review Interviews, First Series

    Malcolm Cowley

    “The germ of a story is a new and simple element introduced into an existing situation or mood.”

    The great Malcolm Cowley on the four stages of writing:
  10. I Used to Be a Design Student: 50 Graphic Designers Then and Now Billy Kiosoglou “Work your ass off + Don’t be an asshole” ~ Stefan Sagmeister Advice on life and design from famous graphic designers

    I Used to Be a Design Student: 50 Graphic Designers Then and Now

    Billy Kiosoglou

    “Work your ass off + Don’t be an asshole” ~ Stefan Sagmeister

    Advice on life and design from famous graphic designers
  11. How They Succeeded Orison Swett Marden “Genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.”

    How They Succeeded

    Orison Swett Marden

    “Genius is nothing more nor less than doing well what anyone can do badly.”
  12. To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others Dan Pink “It is in fact the discovery and creation of problems rather than any superior knowledge, technical skill, or craftsmanship that often sets the creative person apart.” Dan Pink on “ambiverts,” “problem-finders,” and the surprising secrets of selling your ideas.

    To Sell Is Human: The Surprising Truth About Moving Others

    Dan Pink

    “It is in fact the discovery and creation of problems rather than any superior knowledge, technical skill, or craftsmanship that often sets the creative person apart.”

    Dan Pink on “ambiverts,” “problem-finders,” and the surprising secrets of selling your ideas.
  13. Popular Lies About Graphic Design Craig Ward Debunking the misconceptions, half-truths, and dangerous mythology of creativity.

    Popular Lies About Graphic Design

    Craig Ward

    Debunking the misconceptions, half-truths, and dangerous mythology of creativity.
  14. A Writer’s Diary Virginia Woolf “The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. … What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. ” Virginia Woolf on the creative benefits of keeping a diary:

    A Writer’s Diary

    Virginia Woolf

    “The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments. … What sort of diary should I like mine to be? Something loose knit and yet not slovenly, so elastic that it will embrace anything, solemn, slight or beautiful that comes into my mind. I should like it to resemble some deep old desk, or capacious hold-all, in which one flings a mass of odds and ends without looking them through. I should like to come back, after a year or two, and find that the collection had sorted itself and refined itself and coalesced, as such deposits so mysteriously do, into a mould, transparent enough to reflect the light of our life, and yet steady, tranquil compounds with the aloofness of a work of art. ”

    Virginia Woolf on the creative benefits of keeping a diary:
  15. Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes Maria Konnikova How to think like Sherlock Holmes – fascinating lessons in mindfulness and creativity from the beloved detective:

    Mastermind: How to Think Like Sherlock Holmes

    Maria Konnikova

    How to think like Sherlock Holmes – fascinating lessons in mindfulness and creativity from the beloved detective:
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