Creativity Base

Every now and again I stumble upon a beautiful union of substantial intellectual content and playful creativity. The embedded video in this post is a shining example of such a harmony resonating at its best. Below is a speech by radical sociologist David Harvey, who asks us if it is time to look beyond capitalism and towards a new social order that would allow us to live within a system that really could be responsible, just, and humane.

The producing party, The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA Animate) describes themselves as:

a cradle of enlightenment thinking and a force for social progress.  Our approach is multi-disciplinary, politically independent and combines cutting edge research and policy development with practical action.

Importantly for Creativity Base, this RSA information-dense presentation is accompanied by the live cartooning genius of an uncredited artist. As David Harvey’s narrative progresses, his ideas are illustrated by drawn analogies (pun intended) photographed in timelapse and played back as video at various speeds. The cartoonist wryly draws a mock Monopoly board to set the scene for the presentation’s climax- a perfect choice considering the piece’s open criticism of Capitalism’s shortcomings. In the cleverly crafted cartoon continuum, humor and character abound and transform a powerful speech into powerful media- multiplying its potency in the process.

Dan Monceaux

I know, I know… it’s been a long time between posts here at Creativity Base, but believe me, this video will make it worth the wait. I just discovered this film thanks to a new artist/blogger/musician friend of mine in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Creative like minds around the world continue to express their criticisms of the culture of cosumerism that America has successfully exported so effectively… and I’m as aware of it here in Australia as the video’s presenter Annie Leonard is in the USA. Pour yourself a cup of fairtrade coffee and give yourself twenty minutes to soak up this entertaining primer in ‘how and why the system of consumption needs to change’. Using playful animation and laymans language to convey this information to the average shopper, Leonard and Free Range Studios have done a great job with this video, and they are proceeding to produce several other videos, specific to trade, electronics and many other areas of ‘developed’ society that are built around unsustainable models and are aching for an overhaul. I hope you all enjoy this video as much as I did… let’s work together to make 2010 a year of positive change the world over.

For more info on the Story of Stuff project, visit their website at storyofstuff.com.

Every now and again I get an email from custom merchandise webstore Zazzle letting me know that someone online has bought one of my custom designs. Through our danimations Zazzle store we sell the occasional Supermarket T-shirt or Lateral Movement merch (an experimental screen cultural event Emma Sterling and I started this year). Moreover, we used the service to make one-off promotional objects for ourselves, to avoid the unattractive upfront costs of bulk ordering custom designs from a traditional printing business. I recently decided to make a concerted effort in getting another Zazzle store off the ground, with pixel art as the unifying theme.

Since I’ve been busy producing pixel art for a range of applications this year (gig flyers, a Merge Magazine editorial spread, animations for theatre and favicons for websites) I thought I’d create a store specifically to host my lo-fi wares. The result? Dead Pixel Designs. Combining a love for cartoons, animation, retro computing and pure colour, the store will be a growing source of lively pixel-based designs. The designs currently feature on apparel, mousemats and binders… and Zazzle provides every end-user/designer with an ever-growing range of products to treat as custom canvases. Some of the wackier ones include skateboard decks, aprons and even pet clothing. Each product can feature either printed or embroidered artwork, depending on the item. Designs can be prepared to templates offline and uploaded, or individual elements can be arranged live on the website, making the experience enjoyable. The designer’s desired royalty is then set, and the item described, tagged, categorised and listed publicly or privately in the Zazzle marketplace. The store owner can then draw upon a range of powerful tools to promote his wares, like the embedded widget below.

More advanced Zazzle features include easy integration of stores with Google Analytics, allowing the gathering of statistics following each visit your store receives. Zazzle also publishes a Site Builder application, and provides further support for web developers to hack, adapt or build from scratch entirely new applications or webpages through which to sell their goodies. If you or someone you know is sitting on some creative merchandising ideas but doesn’t want to commit big money to buying a bulk order (and having to fulfill orders yourself) I strongly recommend you give Zazzle a shot.

Dan Monceaux