As a part of my teaching practice, through the blog Drawing Connections, I share with my students a variety of references from the field. Creativity, communication, invention, and design innovation are the broad thematic blog categories.
Presented in this brief film are five hundred female portraits. Amazing to watch!
art, film and animation, innovation, portrait On view May 4–September 23, 2007
“The majority of the world’s designers focus all their efforts on developing products and services exclusively for the richest 10% of the world’s customers. Nothing less than a revolution in design is needed to reach the other 90%.”
—Dr. Paul Polak, International Development Enterprises
Design for the Other 90% , an exhibition on view at The Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum “…highlights the growing trend among designers to create affordable and socially responsible objects for the vast majority of the world's population (90 percent) not traditionally serviced by professional designers. ... (The) exhibition is divided into sections focusing on water, shelter, health and sanitation, education, energy and transportation and highlights objects developed to empower global populations surviving under the poverty level or recovering from a natural disaster.”
exhibit, industrial design, innovation 
Museum of Arts & Design , January 25 - June 17, 2007
Great title. This is an art exhibition that is worth checking out. “A provocative and timely exhibition of work by international artists using fiber in unexpected and unorthodox ways, Radical Lace & Subversive Knitting illuminates a field of creative practice that is fresh, surprising, and engaging. Featuring 27 artists from seven countries, this exhibition will exhibit work that ranges from Althea Merback's microknit garments (1:144 scale) to large-scale, site-specific installations. Artists employ a variety of media, from traditional yarns and laces, to found objects and video, and explore contemporary currents in art practice of socially engaged, participatory work.”
And notice the Museum’s mission statement: “The Museum of Arts & Design collects, displays, and interprets objects in ceramic, glass, fiber metal and wood that honor innovation in art, craft and design. The Museum embraces rapid changes in the decorative and design arts, celebrating design as the process through which materials are crafted into works that enhance our lives.”
Museum of Arts & Design
40 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019
212-956-35355
Artwork featured:
Freddie Robins, Craft Kills, 2002
Machine-knitted wool, knitting needles
8.7 x 26.8 x 15 in.
Photo: Douglas Atfield
More inspiration:
Check out the tag, knitting , at Technorati.
This is a great tool for brainstorming. The Visual Thesaurus is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus with an innovative display that encourages exploration and learning. The method illustrated is commonly called "webbing." Designers and writers use this method to generate ideas based on a word or theme. See the Visual Thesaurus in action.
Visual Thesaurus
Visual literacy, or the ability to evaluate, apply, or create conceptual visual representations, is an invaluable skill for business, art, design and engineering students and professionals.
Most are familiar with visual diagrams such as maps, charts, diagrams, matrixes, lenses, tables, and coordinates. Some examples include, mind maps, histograms, timelines, flow charts, cognitive maps, cartoons, and synergy maps.
See one hundred visualization methods illustrated in an online interactive diagram, whimsically represented in a
Periodic Table of Visualization Methods.
Credit: Kudos to Prof. Dr. Ralph Lengler and Prof. Dr. Martin J. Eppler, faculty of Communication Sciences Università della Svizzera italiana, and Partners of Visual Literacy, as well as all partners of Visual Literacy.
Fine tune your conceptual visualization competence. Check out these resources:
Visual Literacy’s online tutorials: Visual Literacy
Reference book, titled, Information Graphics: A Comprehensive Illustrated Reference, By Robert Harris
Edward Tufte, Everything Edward Tufte
innovation
design, designer, great thinkers, innovation