Dear folks,

because of recent creative developments in and around the Studio469 environment I will be moving to another location. Because of the complexity of this relocation I will postpone this month’s Creative Column.

However, there is nothing to be fearful of, since I will be returning in the early days of 2008 with fresh Creative Columns.

As an added bonus there will be some more developments in the area of creative content here at Studio469. This is also the main reason why we have been updating a little less than usual. Expect more news in the coming weeks!

Kind regards,

Jan van der Asdonk

about a year ago i talked about advancements in the field of teleportation. new technological developments always get my neurons firing. so in search for some scientific creative energy i once again came upon an invigorating incident: invisibility.

another one of the holy grails of science, invisibility is usually targeted at creating cloaks for defense purposes [though i wonder being invisible does not provoke more offensive behavior]. some time ago headway was made, resulting in a near perfect 2D cloak [yes, 2D, not 3D. we are not that far into the future just yet].

obviously we will not be discussing the technical details nor the evolution of invisible tanks for that matter. engineering material and wars are as boring as today’s paper. considering this is a blog about creativity and inspiration, we are going to get freaky with invisibility [okay, maybe i lied. “freaky” is not the right word for the job, but i will try to get as close as possible].

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i guess you are all familiar with your regular email spam. the only good thing it brings is an endless increase in penis size and the highest possible mortgage in this solar system, though the positive effects of these are highly questionable.

but there is a new player in town: product spam. this threat deals with the industry creating such a huge array of products with minute differences, that the end result raises more questions than clarity. with the speed of technological advancements, product spam is quickly becoming this year’s top trend.

today we will be discussing product spam, its effects, the causes to it and possible cures. so lean back in that fat desk-chair, get yourself a cup of joe, and start reading…

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Yes there is the dirty word again. Marketing!!!! The M-word. But what is marketing? Most of you who finished high school will come up with, the 4p’s. Price, place, product and promotion. The attention-paying-ones probably even dare to mention the Marketing Mix (4p’s mixed together). And guess what, I just gonna agree with them, these are facets of marketing.

But marketing has more to bring. The 4p’s and the Marketing Mix are most known since Kotler used them as the basis for marketing in his famous book: The Principles of Marketing. But as the name of his books says, these are just the principles.

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In recent years, design technology has advanced way beyond one’s imagination. With demand for greater 3D realistic images, powerful animations and more designer products increasing, a good knowledge in design programs is needed to survive in the design industry today. To date, there has not been any design program that monopolizes the design industry. Therefore, designers have to be versatile in learning different design applications.

So Studio469 will look into what computer design programs today’s range of designers use to survive in the design scene. It is time for yet another Design Discovery! (more…)

ladies and gentlemen, it is time to fuck the system. and i am already doing so by saying the word ‘fuck’ [469's lawyers already filing class-action lawsuits: ‘oh boy, he is f****d now…’]

before we starting using one of societies favorite words in a verbal sense, let me tell you what this thing called ‘the system’ actually is all about.

the system. think the matrix but without all those nasty snot-filled bathtubs and a little less green. it is like this huge invisible system holding you back, inventing rules, coming up with barriers and borders. just making it impossible for you to be fully creative and, more important, free.

now that you are warmed up it is time to follow the red rabbit with the horns down his hole and get this show on the road… (more…)

today marks the end to a year of creative columns. to celebrate this occasion i will reflect on my earlier columns, the process and on things to come. so sit back, relax and enjoy the music [unfortunately this column and blog do not yet support full audio playback, so you are required to fill this in yourself].

it all started during one of my usual time-killing days at my current faculty of industrial design, about a year ago. i had a chat with the founders of Studio469. they read one of my earlier columns posted in our faculty’s magazine and enjoyed my style of writing. since their blog was growing and open to creative input we came upon the agreement i was going to write a monthly column about design, creativity and life. this column-topic was later on revised into “my contribution in the shape of creative spamming, manifesting itself in somewhat distorted views and theories of the world around me”, a fable creative attempt to spice things up a bit. now click the link below to read the rest of this exciting piece of history.

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Customization hate it or love it… I’ve been discussing this topic before (Marketing Monday #4: Custom-I-zed). But that column left some dust in the air. Marketing Monday #4 described if customization was possible and to what extent. What were peoples’ driving forces to participate in customization processes. After that I received several emails from readers questioning whether I regard customization to be possible on all products or that I think there are specifications to the products that can be customized. Well I can briefly answer with saying: “All products can be customized!”.

I really believe that a products’ have the ability to be customized, however in most occasions or the product or the people aren’t ready yet for the customization. Therefore I think we can add some new dimensions to the well-known product life cycle. As you probably know the PLC (product life cycle) originally contains five stages namely, development stage, introduction stage, growth stage, maturity stage and decline stage. This last stage will be redefined.
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though i usually care little of my past, or any history for that matter, i do care about my roots. and since this is a column about creativity and design, i will talk about my creative and design roots. and there’s one place to find these roots: eindhoven. the glorious light city of the netherlands.

eindhoven is becoming the netherlands’ design capital, as it seems. but because this time has not yet arrived, i will provide you dear readers out there with a wishful view on eindhoven as a design capital. let’s get started!

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Can we combine emotional decisions with reasoning? Is there a way to be reasoning while putting no limits to emotional inflow? Can we be objective on subjects where we first got in touch with the subjective? What happens when we try to combine creativity with ratio? Can there be creatiotivity? The summum of the combination between creativity and rationality! Although at first sight creativity and ratio might be opposites from each other, at the time we are putting outcomes of an creative process in to practice, we’ll need ratio to guarantee success. Success generated by creativity.

Creatiotivity is the word that connects supreme design to outrageous marketing. Its the synonym for finger-licking products and campaigns. It leaves no doubt at the target group, from the very first moment they were introduced to the product or campaign they were stunned. Time stood still for a couple of seconds, for some it even felt like minutes. It are those things that create an inner smile, if creates an indescribable happiness, but it’s those inner smiles where you don’t know were they come from. (more…)