Aaron Rutledge

Why the absurd helps me be creative

Mon, 26 Jul 2010 13:37:58 -0400

I’m often asked why I listen to such abstract and experimental music at work. I wasn’t really sure specifically, but I knew it helped me get things done and think differently about my work. I’ve always felt the same about reading science fiction or watching some deeply complex and metaphorical shows, especially certain anime series. It turns out I wasn’t wrong.

This study, published in the Journal of Psychological Science shows that making the brain work hard to define meaning, primes it for finding patterns. I find the same to be true of experimental music. When my brain has to work a bit to find the right rhythm, or identify what an instrumental track is trying to convey, I feel ready to go in regards to thinking differently about the work I have to do. I also find that listening to music with lyrics makes it much harder to program (since the verbal part of my brain is focused on one or the other).

Very interesting stuff!

"Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh."

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:44:45 -0400

“Announcing your plans is a good way to hear God laugh.”

- Al Swearengen

After the brainstorm: 8 questions to find winning ideas

Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:32:43 -0400

My previous post on brainstorms was intended to help get people out of their element, and generate a slew of new ideas. Ideas that hopefully help make you or your clients do things better, and help reach your goals. Idea generation however, is maybe the easiest part of this whole process. The next place many creative people stumble is in filtering those ideas down to pick winners. I’ve been working on this set of questions to help filter out the weak ideas, and pick the strong ones. To give credit where due, it should be mentioned that I’ve adapted these from the genius Jesse Schell and his awesome set of game design practices. I’ve tried to reframe them for more general application to the type of digital work that I’m involved with.

The technique is simple. Take your pool of ideas that you’ve just generated, and hold each one up and ask the following questions. The ideas that meet the majority or all of the questions are the ones that will be more self-propelling, genuine, and setup to succeed. So without any more yammering, here’s the questions and a little note about each:

1. Does this idea feel right?
This leverages your gut reaction as a design thinker. Just look at the idea, describe it to yourself, and judge your own reaction as to if it is a “good idea”. Try to give special focus to skipping over novelty, industry or company inside jokes, or being a reaction to something else that has recently gotten attention.

2. Will the audience like it enough?
Put yourself in your target audience’s shoes for a minute, and think about it from their point of view. Is it still viable? Be sure to avoid thinking about it as you yourself think about it. Almost always, the target audience doesn’t have the same tastes, experiences, or expectations that you do.

3. Does this idea encourage a well designed experience?
Most ideas have some element of interaction, story, or other mechanic to them. If you can’t think of a mechanic, the idea may not be ripe yet. Think about how the idea will keep people’s interest over time. Does it already trigger images of a nice aesthetic? These thoughts will give insight into the idea’s longevity.

4. Is there something really innovative here?
If this instantly makes your or your colleagues say “this is great, it’s just like X”, you may need to drop this one. You’re really looking for novelty with your idea, that gives it the best chance of getting noticed and being successful.

5. Does this idea make business sense?
Most creative people try to avoid this one, because they always feel like business sense is a bummer. Nothing could be further from the truth. Having an idea based on a sound business idea will keep putting fuel on the fire, and keep everyone involved very engaged.

6. Is this technically possible?
The other side of the bummer coin for many creative people is the “that’s not possible” test. If you have a good creatively-minded technologist in your team, you’ll need to run these past them to check for possibility. If you work for a big company where technology is it’s own department, you’ll probably get more “no way” responses, since they generally aren’t incentivized to take on crazy challenges.

7. Is this idea social enough?
Any good idea has a certain element of social engagement built into the core of the idea. People will get excited about the idea or product and will inherently share it with friends and family. Check if your idea has something that compliment this in it’s core. If so, it stands to gain popularity very quickly once it’s realized.

8. Do my peers like it?
The final test is one of the simplest. Find a close partner or friend who gets what you do and will be very honest with you, and explain the idea quickly to them, then get their gut reaction. Use them as a sound board to validate the idea.

Feel free to adjust your ideas or designs as needed to adapt to the eight questions, but the key here is to be sure your ideas pass all eight! If you’re idea doesn’t stand up to all of the filters, it’s probably not going to be a winner!

"In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story."

Mon, 12 Jul 2010 11:56:34 -0400

“In the end, we are our choices. Build yourself a great story.”

- Jeff Bezos

Social nipping and tucking

Thu, 08 Jul 2010 17:14:08 -0400

In my never-ending quest to simplify my life, I’ve decided to go through my top social network applications and perform some much needed maintenance. This includes updating of profiles, cleansing and sorting of contact lists, closing of unused accounts, and modifications of cross posting. Shew!

So why should anyone care? Well, you may see me disappear, go silent, or “unfriend” you. Rest assured that this is not personal, and my feelings for and about you remain unchanged since our last meeting.

I’ll be closing my myspace account, sorting Facebook into useful lists, and have already pruned foursquare down to the people I actually have drinks with.

My favorite iPhone 4 app so far - Incredibooth!

Thu, 01 Jul 2010 16:25:12 -0400

My favorite iPhone 4 app so far - Incredibooth!

Photo

Tue, 29 Jun 2010 12:32:26 -0400

"Any idiot can face a crisis - it’s day to day living that wears you out."

Fri, 25 Jun 2010 17:14:09 -0400

“Any idiot can face a crisis - it’s day to day living that wears you out.”

- Anton Chekhov

11 tips for better brainstorms

Wed, 23 Jun 2010 17:04:50 -0400

I like to think I’m pretty decent at brainstorming. Over the years I’ve worked up this list of things that I try to keep in mind while leading a brainstorm. Regardless of leading or participating, or even just ideating to yourself, these tips have helped me out immensely.

1. change your environment
don’t use that same meeting room again! changing your physical environment changes your mindset. go to a bar or restaurant, go to a park, get out of your element. it helps.

2. if you can’t change your environment, make it a war room
cover the walls with the documents, notes, source material, or other relevant things. use the entire space for this one purpose. make the room work for you & your ideas.

3. write down as much as you can
capture what people are saying. capture things you’re thinking but not saying. capture as much as you possibly can, as words.

4. put words into lists
look for patterns or themes in what you’re capturing, then arrange them into lists by type. the human brain is hardwired to find patterns and sort things, let it do it’s job!

5. number those lists
something magical happens when a list gets numbers (see also this blog post). our brains automatically assign a story or process to the items. they suddenly have rank and new correlations occur to us.

6. mix and match your lists
once you have your numbered lists, get sorting! start to mix & match list items. see what 4 and B have to do with each other, explore cross-pollination between lists.

7. use whiteboards or chalkboards
getting up out of your chair helps keep things moving. get up and grab a marker. draw boxes and arrows and venn diagrams. write some of the best lists you have up on a wall. the more eyes that are on something the better.

8. sketch big things so everyone can see them
get out of your own sketchbook, and sketch something big. once everyone nods at it, THEN put it in your sketchbook. this is time to bounce things off each other, so be sure everyone can see what you sketch.

9. make jokes
a serious brainstorm is a stale brainstorm. jokes trigger natural reactions in people to deal with surprise, the absurd, and find hidden truths. that’s why jokes are essential. jokes that are on topic are the best!

10. talk about your ideas out loud
talk them out to a friend or partner. if no one is around and you’re brainstorming alone, talk them out loud to yourself. putting it into words forces a bit of crystallization that happens when you find the right words to describe it. that change is critical! be sure to capture the results!

11. make as many ideas as you can, then pick 1 or 2 to keep
ideas are easy to come up with, hopefully one or two of the ones you just had stick out to you as the really good ideas. go with that instinct. kill all the rest, that’s why cutting rooms HAVE floors.

hope these help!

Here’s an little diagram I made just over a year ago....

Mon, 21 Jun 2010 17:41:08 -0400

Here’s an little diagram I made just over a year ago. I’ve lost the original document now, but I still think the concept holds merit. I happened to find an image version in my own Flickr account, so I’ll repost it for everyone to enjoy!

The basic concept is that all of your users’ behaviors fall on 2 axis. One axis is how engaged they are, at the top we have watching (minimal engagement) and at the bottom we have engaging (fully engaged). To the left we have people who engage with other users on the site (social engagement) and that spectrum moves to the right as they engage more with your application or site, rather than user base (technical engagement). Knowing how to design your application & communications to trend people downward AND to the right, is the key to helping a web property flourish.

"The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction."

Wed, 16 Jun 2010 16:24:00 -0400

“The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction.”

- John Maeda

8 essential prototyping tips

Tue, 15 Jun 2010 11:21:00 -0400

a big part of innovating with technology is prototyping. you need to take a nascent idea and whip up something quick & dirty that validates your thinking. this is a critical part of wrapping your technological mind around the feasibility of something. here’s a nice list of 8 tips that i try to keep in mind whenever i make a prototype:

1. write a question, and make your prototype answer it
when you have a specific question in mind that you need answered, your code will have purpose. i find it helps to actually write out the question, as it helps you clarify why you’re prototyping to begin with.

2. keep it low quality
be sure that whatever you make is the lowest fidelity possible. stick to answering your questions, and make it look nice later. this goes for scalability & performance as well. if the idea is good, it will be worth the time to do it right later.

3. if it works, throw it away!
i know this seems counterintuitive, but if you followed tip 2, you probably cut a lot of corners. if the idea is good, and the prototype does what you need. it’s time to put it on the shelf, and plan for doing it for real.

4. make the biggest risk prototype first
most good ideas have several types of risks associated with them. is that possible with a normal database? can we do that with the API’s we have available? whatever the variables be sure to tackle the biggest risk factor first. that way if you hit a block, you’ve wasted as little time as possible.

5. do multiple prototypes at once
if you’re lucky enough to be working with a team, be sure you divide and conquer. have your designers make a visual mockup of the screens, while you try to get a technical proof of concept working.

6. it doesn’t have to be digital!
i love paper prototypes. they help me quickly pass through screen ideas and think about the relationships of interfaces very rapidly. a good prototype doesn’t need to be coded!

7. use simple tools to make things faster
use html, powerpoint, keynote, or other simple visualization tools to make something that feels real, without having to write a single line of code. you’ll be surprised what you can learn from a short time with these tools.

8. build the toy before you build the game
when trying to create people like to use, there’s a low level interaction that needs to be fun (the toy) then theres the bigger reason why you’re doing it (the game). i try to remember to make the toy fun to play with first, then you can more clearly see the plan for the bigger system.

token hipstamatic photo post

Wed, 26 May 2010 12:42:00 -0400

token hipstamatic photo post

How to make a record label matter in 2010

Tue, 25 May 2010 17:09:00 -0400

Here’s some quick thoughts I had drafted up before a meeting I had with a record label last year. Nothing ultimately came from the meeting, but I still think the thoughts here hold true.

The public at large doesn’t care about the business of music. No one cares about the music “industry”, only what the music means to them. What is more relevant now is how people find new things they like, and how they listen to music in their day to day lives. Record labels now needs to shift to a position of tastemaking and curation. No longer is the label a functional description of the type or quality of genre that the label specializes in. A record label needs to evolve to become an entity that people trust to recommend, and filter down to what is good.

I think there’s a huge potential in exposing the story of what goes on inside a label, and making a compelling ongoing story around the people who produce it. Expose the people who run the label, focus on what kind of music they like, and focus on their tastes. Move the needle a little bit from mega-corp to pitchfork, and we’re on the right track. The humanization of a label will breed consistency and integrity for the brand.

There’s another opportunity in making A&R more public in the same way. Build new talent in a more organic way, and make it visible to the fans & consumers.

Labels should focus on the artists that have a real story, and move away from the manufactured flavor-of-the-week acts. No one wants the one hit wonder, meanwhile the music “industry” keeps breeding those kinds of acts.

Now onto the commerce side of things. A record label might try linking the point of payment (when a consumer realizes the value of the music) to a place during the appreciation of it. Imagine if an art museum only let you pay as you were moved by the art. People would give more when the art resonated with them, and my guess is that overall payment would be up, because repeat visits would be higher. Music is very valuable, but presently people think it should be free because 99.9% of it doesn’t move them. That 0.1% that does move someone is infinitely more valuable to them, and worth their money, and even more importantly, their recommendation. Nine Inch Nails has really demonstrated this through how he has been working with his content online.

There’s still a big opportunity to crowdsource A&R activities, and have trending & new sounds found by niche experimental fans. This works to some degree currently on sites like last.fm, and others. The first record label that moves to become the google of good music will have a huge leg up. They just need to be sure that if an artist just isn’t moving people they get lower on the list, so that the label doesn’t erode trust. This will help make the label a true connector between artists & fans, for the long term.

In 2010, if a consumer thinks of who brings them good music, the answers are instantly clear: Apple, Last.fm, Pandora, music blogs like hypemachine, new video games, the artists themselves by hitting the pavement. The record label isn’t in the equation, and largely doesn’t need to be (to them). While a label is immensely helpful in turning musicianship into a career, the connection to the consumer is largely lost.

Finally, the social media & online conversation management for artist direct to fan is probably the space that labels will continue to move into. In order to pull this off, they need to not just rely on digital agencies to learn this dialect, and learn the current strategies. Rather, labels should consider this entire arm of their business as running as it’s own agency. Serving up their own artists connections to fans through authentic engagement online.

14 tips for being creative with technology

Tue, 18 May 2010 20:37:00 -0400

occasionally people ask me how they can be more creative with technology. they are curious how i’ve made so many things, know about all sorts of random things, and what keeps me going. so i’ve tried to crystallize some of them into a set of guiding principles. so far, there’s 14 of them. enjoy!

1. don’t make anything evil. everything people love was made with love.

2. try to think of what you make as art, not a business. art inspires the heart, but business doesn’t. if it’s good, it will be worth it.

3. create in a field you’re passionate about. love music? make something related to music.

4. embrace constraints. constraints force creative thinking. tight on budget or time? awesome! don’t know a skill yet? wing it! let creativity drive you.

5. take baby steps. build a prototype first. see if that gets you excited. if it does, keep going.

6. try to take some risks. make sure you are doing at least one thing someone else says is crazy.

7. make something that you wish existed. nothing compels creativity like knowing you’ll be the only person on earth with that thing you just made.

8. stay humble. don’t let your ego let you fall in love with something too quickly. it’s probably not genius, and someone else can do it better, and that’s ok. still want to do it? good.

9. do something to make your work stand out. if you show something fresh, people will forgive some of the imperfections of your early work.

10. be a mad scientist. cross breed existing ideas. just start smashing parts of existing things together. itunes for ebay, a drum machine for a fax machine, see?

11. take feedback. if a few people don’t get it, then lots of people won’t get it. listen to other people, and remember you always have something to learn.

12. make many different things, of various completeness. at first you’ll feel like you “never finish anything” but you’ll soon realize that this is all just practice.

13. be excited by your work. if you lose the flame, put it on the shelf and come back to it later, or just leave it forever and consider it practice!

14. have fun. if it’s not fun any more, either make it fun again, or move on to something else.

"A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby."

Wed, 12 May 2010 12:17:00 -0400

“A business without a path to profit isn’t a business, it’s a hobby.”

- Jason Fried

What is the meaning of wife?

Tue, 04 May 2010 11:14:00 -0400

In my mind, a wife is a female companion who gives a pledge to stick with her married companion for the theoretical “forever”.

There’s lots of other smaller aspects that I personally believe help define a “wife” but that’s not for an anonymous conversation. :)

I just got back from some time off the grid. Fishing,...

Tue, 04 May 2010 11:10:00 -0400

I just got back from some time off the grid. Fishing, wilderness, no electricity, no phone signal and (thank god) no email. It’s good to be back, but each time it brings a bit of new perspective.

"digital is not a thing a company can invest in.. it’s a competency and dialect you need to..."

Mon, 26 Apr 2010 13:24:48 -0400

“digital is not a thing a company can invest in.. it’s a competency and dialect you need to develop.”

my 13 points of simplification

Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 -0500

- answer my phone less
- try to only check email twice a day
- go to bed earlier
- reduce clutter
- keep a wishlist
- keep a todo list
- say ‘no’ more
- delegate more
- ask for help
- be positive
- focus on the human side of things
- empathize more
- finish something before you start another