• IDEAS ANCHOR

Following the idea of re-using notes and re-organising thoughts, I start looking at every sketches I made during the last couple of year and try to understand how instantaneous ideas are organised through my mind to the paper, which patterns does it follow. If I can find this patterns, I could make visible the unconscious way I have to develop ideas at the really beginning and maybe work on it, not being influenced by an already existing grid, but discover a new one.

Here is the really beginning of my research about that question :









Here is a superposition of a number of grids from different pages,
then i simplified until i get "A" grid :

—>

And here come to light the unconscious grid I use when I take note of an idea,
good to know. This is a starting point for being improved.














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I accepted to use my notebook (the one I carry with me everywhere) to put EVERYTHING from ideas to "to-do" lists, to grocery shopping lists, to train timetable, etc.
Yet the annoying thing, when it is so full of everything, is when I want to come back to an idea and push it further, add thoughts to continue that idea, well, there isn't any more room around. Most of the time I go to the next blank page on my notebook (usually 10 pages further).
An idea would be to — throw your spontaneous ideas / notes on the right page of the notebook,
— Develop and organize them afterwards thanks to the grid on the left page.












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www.suck.uk.com




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After organising my computer desktop with the six grid desktop by Sarah France, I started to tidy up my real desk, without planning any already-made organisation. This is how it looks like :

BEFORE :



AFTER :



Those categories came to light :

— TO DO
— TO HAVE AROUND
— TO PUT AWAY
— IN TRANSIT
— TO TIDY UP

I could also have them organised by matter of importance (priorities) :

— IMPORTANT
— TO DEAL WITH
— NOT IMPORTANT

This is a common diagram to put projects in order :

 




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When I am working on a project, this is how it looks like on the wall.
I need that overview to realize where I am and where I have to go.
Each project is developed in a different direction. I reconsider my work and development by adding notes and sketches that I tape directly on the document.










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Image by Davis Brock




*Could you do a mind map of your week ?
please do and send it to me, I will post them as soon as i collected enough !
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Image by Davis Brock








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The Action Method

Here is a diagram of "A" method for any project in life.
Looks a little bit too much of a rigid frame to me, but I do like the concept, and the realisation of the notebooks




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Notebooks




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*The Action Book was designed by the Behance team and is based on the Action Method. The four distinct zones on each page provide a flexible template to get the most out of meetings and everyday brainstorm sessions (see usage guidelines below).

MMMG is a great supply store for notebooks and other things,
you can order on-line.
They have really interesting ideas for organization through a wide range of notebooks, agendas and folders.

Notebooks



     

     
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Folders



     




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This is an overview (from really high) of my a process book I made (showing the work done during one semester at the Univertsität der Kunste, Berlin) and then excerpt of the pages.

I though about a way to have an overview of all the research I made on different subjects.
There is the time line, a linear (horizontal) way of showing the projects one after the other, and the development of each of them is vertical.

I gathered every roughs I made, they were the start of each projects, but also different solutions and possibilities in each answers to the subjects. I spread them on the pages, organising them by theme, topics and developments along a line of time which represent the 4 months I spent at the UdK.















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I am looking for a way to make a usable printed repertoire of the notebooks i've collected until now.
I am not completely satisfied with the result, it's a beginning... (made with photocopies)












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An amusing way of thinking about digital creativity ! and also a good adaptation from digital to reality (and back to digital...)



! : about passing from digital to reality, see also An editing conversation, using the floor as an editing suite or standing on the landing an article by Eva Kellenberger & Sebastian White, in Ultra Mera Commonplace, edited by RolloPress)




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I am obsessed with calendars, here is a selection of inventive calendars, different from the standard we usually see.



This magnetic calendar on the fridge door has a really ideal place, since this is one if the thing you would check every morning. Found on behance.net, have a look, they have amazing portfolios !

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Typodarium 2009
365 fonts by 50 foundries and designers.
368 pages, each 8.5 x 12 cm.

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" Drag your desktop items to the days you will be working on them. Do a lot from Monday to Thursday, do less on fridays and weekends. It's august. "



The website smashing magazine is a collection of tipps for creative people.
It also ask whoever wants, to send a monthly desktop calendar. I have to admit that most of them don't really fit my tastes, but this on is pretty simple and well made.




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Another great and very inspiring idea from Sarah France :
She has been trying to think of a way to create a conceptual approach to a simple desktop design.



Here are just some of the many responses:

• Ben Kimball: not a graphic designer, but as photographer/cartographer:

— NatureyPrettyStuff
— Self-Deprecating Humor
— Maps
— Forks
— Failures I Learned From
— Failures I Learned Nothing From
— Intentionally Streaking Things
— The Delightfully Odd

• Mark Blyth: Neat idea!

— Stuff that really needs doing
— Stuff that I can procrastinate about
— Stuff that'll never need doing

• Christine: Mine would be:

— Black and white
— To Repair
— Sunsets
— No work needed.




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Excellent discovery found on Sarah France's blog,
a way to organize our folders, randomly thrown on the desktop

With the combination of TheGridSystem's inspiring website and the urgent need of being more organised when it comes to my desktop; I decided what better way than to incorporate my websites Six Grid System into something I could use to get my files more organised and something I could share with other creatives.

Here is the end result using titles which are changeable for each individual user:





To download an editable version click here !

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Here is my computer desktop since i'm using this trick (I tried once to go back to my former desktop, it took me ages to find what i was looking for, I definitely adopted this desktop wallpaper) :




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*idea : What about doing it with a real desk in our working place ?
(in order to tidy up the piles of papers, folders, and other things and objects which lay until the next clear-out crisis)
A proposition will come in a coming post !




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Grid Notebooks

Eight notebooks with different grid inside each of them.
One can often feel frustrated that his notebook is too much of a miscellaneous :

— to do or grocery shopping lists
— ideas
— development of another idea
— various notes
— account and divers calculation).
— etc.

A pack with 8 small different notebooks adjusted to each use could be a good solution,
added, a colour scheme and a pictogram of the grid on the bottom right.







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Intentions

This blog is dedicated to my research about the modes of organisations
and the development of ideas in the creative area.
This is important to show it in the shape of a blog,
I would really appreciate comments, suggestions,
and any kind of sharing.

I will publish articles about :
— My works and researches as it goes further
— The references I have in this subject of study
(books, printed matters, websites, blogs, etc.)
— Any new discovery


—
I beg your pardon for any grammatical mistakes in English,
since it is not my first language,
you will probably find some strange turns of phrases.




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