My Work Exists at the Intersection of Art and Technology
The Intersection of Technology and Fine art: Lessons From the 1500s
Written by: Michael Younder
I just finished reading an first-class biography on Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson (aptly titled Leonardo da Vinci). Issacson, who has also penned books about Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs, writes about inspiring thinkers — a topic many of us working in the tech and design industry are drawn to like moths to a flame.
Equally I was reading the da Vinci biography, I was reminded of something that stood out about how Steve Jobs worked. Jobs viewed the intersection of technology and art as a birthplace of creativity. It's clear that da Vinci worked from a like identify. Information technology cannot exist a coincidence that 2 great thinkers — two innovators who have pushed all of humanity through their piece of work — constitute their inspiration in the aforementioned identify. And that strikes a chord for me, considering I come across the truth of that understanding every day at Myplanet.
I joined the partner facing team here several weeks ago, and every bit I onboarded with our CEO, Jason Cottrell, I was struck time and again past the mode he describes the business he and the Myplanet squad have built: time and once more he references that "we're a mix of doers and thinkers" and that "we're a mix of both creative talent and development skills". That overlap, that marriage of skills in design and development, art and technology — that'southward what da Vinci and Jobs describe. That's where they constitute inspiration as well.
From the moment I joined Myplanet, information technology was abundantly clear that we not but subscribe to this way of thinking, but we live it in the processes of doing, of creating, and of learning. And as a visitor, it's part of how we manage and atomic number 82, both internally and equally members of the greater tech community.
Much has evolved, obviously, over the 518 years since da Vinci was doing his revolutionary work. But the through line of art and technology leading to creativity and to innovation can't be denied. No uncertainty, there were dozens — peradventure hundreds — of Franklin, Einstein, and Jobs contemporaries that have consort and lived this creative approach themselves.
Luckily for u.s.a., nosotros don't have to research and mine 500 year old papers or projects for some valuable lessons we tin use today. Issacson has done the work for us. And the key lessons he highlights are things nosotros would all benefit from keeping in mind as we piece of work to bring ideas and new insights to our work in technology and pattern. Below is a summarized list of the building blocks to inventiveness:
- Be curious. Relentlessly curious. This trait oftentimes surpassses inate, special talents which only a few people possess. We are surrounded with things we can learn almost, and employ to what we practise.
- Retain a childlike sense of wonder. Don't simply savor things, but wonder why they exist.
- Exist observant. Existence a detailed observer of things feeds curiosity and vice versa. On any given walk, da Vinci could notice how the wings of dragonflies move in pairs in alternate motions and so see h2o swirl and wonder why the shape of the eddies were equally they were.
- Start with the details. A comprehensive agreement includes the small-scale details. Brainstorm here to finish up with the audio knowledge of things.
- Run across things unseen. Conjure up designs and concepts by imagining greater performances or outcomes, which bolsters a term Issacson uses called combinatorial creativity.
- Go down rabbit holes. Da Vinci frequently got in the weeds for the sheer pleasance of "geeking out" — something developers and designers akin can surely relate to. He documented 169 attempts to square a circle, over 700 findings detailing the flow of water and 70 words that depict different types of moving water.
- Go distracted. We often endeavour and avert jumping at every shiny thing nosotros see for fearfulness of being thrown off target. Sometimes though as in da Vinci's case, this does leave the mind fuller and with more content to draw from: a warehouse of things that might be useful later. Observing everything can lead to several distractions, and y'all never know when i distraction could lead down a rabbit pigsty full of details that completely change your perspective on something. It'south a thing of finding the balance, simply getting distracted is an important part of the process.
- Respect facts. It seems obvious, only it can be harder than we realize to live this one. The lesson hither is to be willing to change our minds based on getting new information.
- Procrastinate. In his piece of work, da Vinci would frequently just add a stroke or 2 of paint over the form of an 60 minutes or more. The remainder of the time, he would just sit and stare or think. Let things simmer towards coming up with the best ideas while working less. Go for a walk and let your listen drift. Enjoy a coffee with a colleague or friend. You'd be surprised how often this triggers a new thought and takes you to a place of insight and innovation.
- Let the perfect be the enemy of the good. This proffer has two sides. On the one hand, good is seldom expert plenty compared to perfection. Da Vinci would often carry paintings with him until the very terminate, working on them until they were only correct (simply denying their availability until such time was nowadays). Counter to this is that often, perfection is too lofty a goal — sometimes you just demand to launch what you have and exist prepared to fix information technology later. Anyone who has worked in a Lean environment knows this is a productive method for getting nifty work out the door.
- Think visually. Formulas don't ofttimes allow a visualization of the finish result. Da Vinci was non a mathematician, equations and abstractions were elusive for him and so he used visualization to sympathize things like proportions and rules of perspective.
- Avoid silos. I of the ones we practice the virtually at Myplanet, this lesson speaks to the title of this slice: allow disciplines to blend together and overlap. The resulting crossroad can be new inventiveness (and at worst, it'll increase shared understanding, which is a peachy thing). Da Vinci believed that art was a scientific discipline and that science was an fine art.
- Let your accomplish extend your gap. Think of da Vinci'southward earliest challenges: human powered flying machines, ways to divert rivers, and perpetual motion machines. Some of these challenges will be nearly impossible to solve or forever elusive, but they encouraged him to acquire the why of it all and those lessons acquit across his work.
- Indulge fantasy. A wait at da Vinci's notebook pages in Issacson's book reveal disparate prototypes and designs like giant crossbows, ideal city plans and flight machines. Blurring the lines betwixt reality and fantasy feeds one'southward imagination. Or, in the words of the company his fellow art & technology enthusiast founded and led: Remember different.
- Create for yourself, not just for patrons. This i is overlooked a lot these days, merely it'south the fundamental to a life of curious pursuit. Take meaning in your work, to accelerate your own ambitions and skills. Co-ordinate to Issacson's book, da Vinci chose to pigment the Mona Lisa because he wanted to paint it. It was never fifty-fifty delivered to the person who commissioned it, in the end.
- Collaborate. While an individual is frequently backside a genius idea or concept, its route to development and production is a squad sport. There is ordinarily more to the story than a unmarried "ah ha" moment.
- Make lists. Da Vinci'south lists were long and had odd things on them (due east.g. describe the tongue of a woodpecker). Lists are testaments to our marvel.
- Take notes on paper. Without da Vinci's notebooks (as in, paper notebooks), we wouldn't be able to grasp and acquire from his genius. Five hundred years later, they remain to hold and view, and nosotros see not merely his finish thinking with refined, perfected thoughts. We tin can run across the whole process of thought, unedited. Working through things and going down those paths in a traceable fashion is important. Yous never know when looking back on a note you made months ago volition spark a new insight or idea. Paper doesn't all for editing and deletion in the same style every bit modern modes of drafting do.
- Be open to mystery. As Issacson says, "Non everything needs abrupt lines." The fun part of creativity is not knowing how it'll turn out.
That's a lot of building blocks to work on, obviously. Just you lot'd never practice them all at once— you couldn't. Some days yous'll go lost in the minutiae of a single chore, others you'll try out a agglomeration of different hypotheses just to see how they feel. Merely using them in concert with one another is what leads to groundbreaking, innovative piece of work over time.
On any given day in our part, nosotros're using a selection of tactics built from the list above: thinking visually, making lists, working with newspaper and Post-it notes, collaborating across disciplines... But above all, nosotros're staying curious about how we can brand user experiences and interfaces fifty-fifty better.
It'southward gratifying to be a part of a team that works with time-tested tactics behind them. To know that, no affair how much the available technology has changed and the knowledge we take available to u.s., there are a few techniques (ones we're using 24-hour interval in and out, no less!) that tin can exist relied on to produce the kind of innovative, artistic solutions we work towards every twenty-four hours.
We're looking to rent folks who are interested in creativity as a procedure that builds on the combination of collaboration, mastery, focus, and innovation. So get creative: join our team!
Source: https://blog.myplanet.com/the-intersection-of-technology-and-art-lessons-from-the-1500s-8d9da52cb5a1
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