Quiet Please, Programming in process

Over the course of this summer, I spent some time drawing chalk on the sidewalks with my kids.  Which got me thinking about what kids draw.

This summer we drew a lot of robots.  We like robots – and I love drawing them ’cause you can’t really make a mistake.  It can have 1 or 3 arms.  4 or 2 legs.  It doesn’t have to be perfect.  So, I’d draw a robot, then my son would draw a robot, then my daughter would.

We also drew flowers, cartoon characters, and dragons.  And I noticed, mostly with my daughter (she’s our resident artist), that whatever I was drawing she was inclined to draw.  Eventually, she started with her own stuff – unicorns are her specialty.  But, for the most part, if I drew a butterfly – she’d draw a butterfly.  Hmmmmmm.

Then I remembered when I was a  kid  that I used to draw houses.  Specifically, the insides of houses.  Detailed cross sections of how I wanted my home to be.  Special attention given to my dream bedroom – it was super cute.  The family room always had one of those weird late 60′s early 70′s fireplaces – A floor to ceiling tube with a sphere in the middle for the fire.  The rooms were perfectly arranged and pretty much always the same.  Never knew why, I just always drew them.

So, one day I open up a Richard Scarry book to read to the kids, and BAM!  There are the houses.  Holy S*#T.  It hit me – As a kid, I stared at those books for so long that I just ended up drawing the pictures over and over.  I never made the connection until that day. (30 years later)

Which then got me thinking about all the stuff my kids see, read, hear, and notice.  It’s all input.  AND the kind of input matters.  If I give them interesting and cool input – it gets logged into their wee brains and comes back out later.  Likewise, if I give them garbage, that gets logged in also, and comes back out.  Whichever – it all seeps deep down into their brains.  Synapses form and then it’s in there, hard-wired.  Forever and ever. (I’m freaking out.)

It would also be super easy to get carried away with knowledge, “And now children we’ll be doing Picasso flash cards, followed by early Bauhaus.  Please, put on your headphones as we’re going to be listening to the fugues of Telemann, followed by several recordings of Monk, his Riverside years.”  Oh, and I would.

But for now – we’ll stick to butterflies and robots.  Just in case though, I’ll leave that Miro coffee table book out,  Ya know,  just sorta-kinda laying around the house…somewhere…maybe where the kids will find it…

Helvetica!!!!!

For those who are reading this and are designers and ad folk, you know what I mean. But, I had to learn about how deep this issue goes. Helvetica is a typeface that is used everywhere. It was introduced 50 years ago and made quite an impression. PBS’s independent lens has a great documentary about it. I’ve never seen designers get so riled up in my life. It’s because Helvetica isn’t just a font, for some it’s a ubiquitous symbol of mainstream. And once you begin to notice Helvetica – you realize it’s as pervasive as kudzu on a South Georgia Highway.

I’m talking about this because I have been thinking a lot about creativity, especially how I need to foster it in my kids. How do I do that when our world seems to shift everything to the center? Things always seem to be presented in clean and simple ways. I’ve been trying very hard to encourage my kids to wonder, ask questions, and make mistakes. For example, when my daughter was 3, she picked up a lemon at the store – She looked at me as if she was going to bite it. I said, “Go ahead, give it a try.” The look on her face as she bit into the rind? Totally worth the $.99.

That got me thinking…I also need to experiment too. Let’s let life get messy, let’s try stuff. If my kids show any interest – I encourage it. Let’s make cookies, crack eggs, and taste molasses and flour. I let them try salt and sugar side by side – That was awesome. We can do this with everything…My son likes to mess up sounds and make up words – Cool let’s write it down. My daughter likes to sing and make up tunes – cool, sing it again.

I’m feeling like it’s really important lately – ’cause our world needs some solutions. And you need creative thinkers to do that. I found a really great Albert Einstein quote, “You can never solve a problem on the level which it was created.” It’s time for the next level. So, next time you see a sign in Helvetica – ask yourself, how could that have been done differently?

Do they serve milk on Tatooine?

A few days ago my son was dressed up like Clone Commander Cody. I totally respect how seriously he took it.