this idea of new is just showing me old
show me something old in a new way how
do we avoid making something repetitive
and create new and interesting content
let's talk about new ok the word new is
awesome new ok
what is new ok so if you and you look at
something and you say wow that's new
because why why is it new because you've
not seen it it's new to you but then
somebody like me comes along and says
new no I've seen this already so is it
still new mmm maybe it's semi new really
so this is now called semi new tell me
why you say semi new well I mean
especially because we are people who
study design we're probably gonna have
more exposure like you said you have
more exposure than we do come to certain
elements of design yeah so it depends on
who your audience is ok it's just new to
the audience
ok that's fair is that what you're
looking for when you say
never-before-seen there's a big asterisk
there the asterisk is to you
it's not ok yeah thanks ok so if I share
new ideas with you today that you've not
seen before you're like that guy comes
up new ideas when I'm like no everything
I know is from a book or a thing I read
or watched or somebody else coached me
on and most of my new ideas are terrible
all I'm doing is presenting to you
information that you believe to be new
and so this is a much more realistic
goal to hit I like this so new to you so
how do you create work that's new to the
audience you have to first understand
who the audience is so the target the
bull's eye is much clearer now versus
creating just new like never before seen
because I think there's very few things
that are never-before-seen because
everything just gets remixed it really
does and technology allows us to remix
more creatively now right and so we're
like that's a new application of an old
idea that's new enough so
to this audience so you have to say like
what is this audience looking at all the
time so this is a bunch of little people
okay I hope you can see this there's a
bunch of people okay so this is we'll
call this the creative watering hole so
they all come in here and like Mama's
own new okay now it's all where the old
stuff it really is so all you have to do
is go over here and say hey guys there's
this thing and you bring it over there
and you're like hey what about this
thing and then they'll say it's new so
here's the thing if you're in fashion
look at architecture if you're in
photography look at cinema if you're in
cinema look at musicals or plays all you
do is go outside so I think there's a
quote that I don't know who who said
this but the secret to originality is to
hide your sources that's all it is so if
you want to do something new go where
nobody's looking bring it back to this
world they get excited that's powerful
stuff there's also and this idea of new
is just showing me old it really is
show me something old in a new way
that's all it is man
and that's what technology allows us to
do because there's very little new and
if you think about it how many times
have you seen a story about a guy who
loves a girl but they can't get together
because like he's a jock and she's an
artist right or he's poor and she's rich
we see the same story over and over and
over again yet you are so happy to give
money to people to make these stories
it's because we figured out what ideas
work and we figured out what ideas do
not work and so we like to repeat the
ideas that work and that's why the story
of Romeo and Juliet is just told over
and over again it really is they just
changed the variables oh guy once girl
can't get the girl she's not interesting
guys okay guy once girl can't get the
girl why because his business is that
war with her business it just goes on
and on so we're not really looking for
new we're looking for familiar but
presented differently okay so I'll give
you one trick just one trick
one trick is the big small have you guys
heard of the big small it's exactly what
it sounds like the big small all you
have to do is make something big small
it's really that it fits simple okay
have you seen these people build
miniature sets of like real places and
then they zoom out and it's like the
size of their hand
that's fascinating cuz I've never looked
at it like that so what we're doing is
we're reintroducing an old idea that's
new and we could do the opposite we can
make the small big have you seen that
have you seen sculptures that look like
this and this is the size of a person we
made something small big and it forces
us to look at something in a way that
we've never seen before because here's
the truth you and I we walk around the
world to differing degrees oblivious of
the world we really are and then one day
you stop to notice a crack and the
sidewalk and you look at it you stare at
it looks like the face of Jesus or
something and that's the revelation for
you that one moment obviously I know
this one was happening but you know you
see that you know guys guys it's the
ground and then you and then people it
blows up and I cut fine so Jesus on the
street no valet that's what it is so
you're just showing them something that
they've missed and there's a good reason
why we we we ignore all these things and
the reason why we ignore these things is
because it's too taxing on our brain to
process every single thing that's
happening just the whole time you would
just fall over in fatigue and burn all
the calories so this is all you need to
do so one of the assignments I would
give my students is I would tell them to
go and get a macro lens and shoot
something and show me something that we
never pay attention to the backside of a
keyboard the cracks in between something
or the printing on the bottom side of a
package show me something that I don't
think about and that's how you discover
the new in the old it's all it is