Simple Creativity

We have discussed the issue of creativity extensively in our class. Sometimes we may be driven in a direction that forces us to think about complex solutions in an attempt to be creative.

Here is a clear example of how simple creativity can be (via Johnny Chung Lee's blog) when you are truly inspired.
 

Pico-Innovations

I have been giving some thought to whether the nature of innovation has changed. You still have innovation processes in large organizations designed to help them develop new products efficiently. Majority of those efforts end in failures (partly because of the nature of innovation itself and partly due to the impossibility of overcoming political hurdles within organizations). But all is not lost.

Companies such as Kickstarter and others have developed new platforms that permit what I am calling "pico-innovations".


The term "nano-innovations" has been cornered by nano-technologists and "pico" reflects my feeling that these are by themselves very small innovations but collectively amount to a sea change in evolution of innovation processes. Perhaps, as in the natural world, the very small innovations, that need very few resources, may be the ones that might be the most prevalent in the future. Humans may have lost theirs but the pico-innovation process seems to be developing a long, robust tail. 

MINIMAL Inc.

MINIMAL Inc came to my attention because of their kickstarter project the LunaTik Touch Pen, a combination of a pen and a stylus.

Their philosophy of combining design with attention to quality seems to set them apart. They have taken an existing high quality product and created a new way of using it. Also, check out their "TikTok+LunaTik Watch"

Though there might have been many who may have thought about similar concepts, the execution of the concept and the ability to realize it elegantly is rarely a given.

MINIMAL Inc. seems to be very good at getting execution right. Worth watching to see what else they might do.