Bob McKim is a Professor of Design at Stanford University, heading the Joint Program in Design, one of the most prestigious design schools in the world (since its creation in 1958, the program has only had about 300 graduates).

McKim highly researched creativity, the process and nature of it, and one of his most famous experiments was deceptively simple.

He gave a group of adults a pencil and paper and asked them to draw the person next to them in about 30 seconds, as best they could.

After they were finished, they were told to share their results with the person they drew. In almost every session, the adults would be embarrassed, apologizing to the person they drew for the drawing.

Bob would do the same exact test on a group of children, with much different results. The children weren’t embarrassed about their drawings one bit and didn’t apologize. They were proud of their drawings and would boastfully show it to everyone in the groups.

Our experiences as we grow into adults makes us sensitive to the opinions of others, and this is what stops us from pursuing our desires.

Lets not forget what it means to be a kid.

(Source: ted.com)

via theessentialman

transparency: how kids are having sex

Once upon another lifetime, I was a sex ed counselor at an inner city highschool in Pasadena, California. Fresh out of college, it was an awkward yet fun experience. Somebody had to teach these highschoolers about sti’s. Anyhow, I don’t think I was good at giving advice on those things so I bonded with some of the students on things like comic books, web design, and the rules and etiquette of facebooking in highschool. Evenutally, I led a career day presentation about design and communication arts that led to a field trip to the Art Center.

This infographic summarizes my experience well. Back in 2004 Bush decided to cut all sex ed programs centered on contraceptives, and instead decided to allocate 100% federal spending on abstinence programs. Our program was at risk, but thankfully due to California’s state funded sex education program, the funding was only reduced to about 89%. Good produced this great infographic that communicates how adolescents are having sex. It’s my ah-ha moment of the day because it summarizes my first-job-of-college experience. (Later, I went on to study consumer and social behavior on millenials in Japan and North America.) I also love it beautiful design that communicates social statistics well.Oh, I’m super happy about the section titled “condoms and culture” because it seems like inner-city kids are receiving the proper sex ed that actually (works) is a bit more realistic.

Among 14- to 17-year-olds, 80 percent of boys and 69 percent of girls say they used a condom the last time they had sex, compared to well under half of sexually active adults.

I’d like to know the sample size and the geographic location of sample.

via good

“China has a large population, a weak economic foundation, relatively few resources and a large poverty population, which remains our basic situation,” Ma Jiantang, head of China’s statistics bureau, said in January. “Therefore, while we take note of our expanding size of economy and enhancing economic strength, we should also have a sober understanding that China remains a developing nation.”

By 2020 China will be the biggest, yet still developing country with unheralded power and growing espionage to American military.

For those of you wondering what the following year will hold for footwear trends, be sure to check out The COMPASS Show going on today at Center 548 in Chelsea. Some of the participating designers include Billy Reid, Maians, Mark McNairy New Amsterdam, Opening Ceremony, and others. In addition, this season COMPASS has extended its women’s footwear offering Camilla Skovgaard, Repetto, Calleen Cordero, and Matt Benson for the daring jetsetting woman.

COMPASS will host a cocktail hour with YP for Two Ten, a foundation devoted to strengthening the footwear industry with financial, social, and educational support and services while nurturing community building and volunteerism.

An absolutely adorable short titled, “When ‘Toy Story’ met Search Stories” by a Google partnership with Pixar’s Toy Story 3 by BBH. Buzz Lightyear googles “to infinity and beyond” and learns the true reality in the form of search engine results page. Toy Story 3 in theaters this Friday.

via Less, But Better

Android marketplace has 38,000 apps and going strong.

I wish it was an animation, and have the Android-bot move to One Touch by LCD Soundsystem.

The 365 Cloud Project is a year-long photographic experiment by multimedia artist Kelly DeLay who shot clouds everyday. He documents the footage, photos and video, on this site and it is cataloged via month, times of day, and by favorites. My favorite time of day is dawn, when the sun is just peeking out, and life forms become illuminated. Patchy clouds make great imagination. It’s such an interesting concept. Oh, it is also nominated for a Webby for best personal blog/website, but that’s not why I like it.

Fun! Brothers in breakbeat KEIZOmachine! and Juicy (AKA Hifana) freestyle with several pairs of Nike’s new Free Run+ kix hooked up to mixers, in the latest viral video from Nike Japan.

via hypebeast

The concept of ‘now’ is ever-more transient in our forms of communication and the things we can get at our very fingertips.

‘Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline’

These comparative time scales were created by the Long Now Foundation in 1999. The foundation was started in 1996 to “provide counterpoint to today’s ‘faster/cheaper’ mind set” and “creatively foster responsibility in the framework of the next 10,000 years” by stretching out the length of time people consider to be “now.”

via feltron

get ready to drool, these bicycles are beautiful!