The Pixar Process

Posted on June 30, 2017

The Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum in NYC had a fascinating Pixar exhibit in 2016. Getting a small peek into the work within the studio gives a real appreciation for the concepts (like simplexity) that are applied in the Pixar process: And how research, collaboration, and iteration wrap around Pixar’s story wheel: “…You are sure right about the importance of a good story in movies. Unfortunately, it’s not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of work (and rework, and rework and rework) to get it right. And even then quite often we’re not 100% pleased. As John Lasseter likes to say, our films don’t get finished, they just get released.” –Pete Docter While they’re no slackers when it comes to research,…

Categories: Organization

Tagged: Creativity, Design, Lessons, Pixar, Process, Stories

The Context of Creativity

Posted on November 23, 2015

“Creativity was driven by research and reference and then activated by modern terms and conditions. This is exactly how I approach my work today – it’s sort of like being an anthropologist merchant.” –Alexander Carleton on Ralph Lauren *

Categories: Marketing

Tagged: Creativity, Design, Quotes, Ralph Lauren

Bringing it Together

Posted on September 21, 2013

If very little is original in substance, we are left to explore originality in the use of our resources. We can integrate existing materials in a new way, reprioritize common ideas and resequence recurring activities. We can craft individual facts into coherent messages and align our teams accordingly. We can help bring people together or match people with products. We can look at productivity through the lens of innovation rather than the lens of cost. Sometimes bringing it together is more important than creating new pieces to move around. “Like most people I’m influenced by what’s around and available to me. Which in the end is really just a way of translating all the ideas you have into a different material, or taking these…