Buckminster Fuller (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Buckminster_Fuller) was an American architect slash author slash futurist slash total bro. He believed in spaceships called earth, thought a lot about people and the way they behave — to form a better way for the planet to live. Phew! Pretty intense stuff! The below vid’s will not only make you feel like an integral part of the giant whole, but a little bit smarter, and you’ll also potentially start to feel slightly like a triangle.
“A woman saw Picasso on the street and asked him to sketch her.
After studying her for a moment, he used a single pencil stroke to create her portrait. Then he handed the women his work of art.
‘It’s perfect!’ she gushed. ‘You managed to capture my essence with one stroke, in one moment. Thank you! How much do I owe you?’
“Five thousand dollars,” the artist replied.
“B-b-but, what?” the woman sputtered. “How could you want so much money for this picture? It only took you a second to draw it!”
To which Picasso responded, “Madame, it took me my entire life.” – Picasso, Paula Scher, and the lifetime behind every second (http://37signals NULL.com/svn/archives2/picasso_paula_scher_and_the_lifetime_behind_every_second NULL.php)
J.K. Rowling (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Jk_rowling)–better known as author of the best-selling Harry Potter book series, and lesser known as a clear-thinking visionary who found success after beginning her adult life penniless and out of luck. She tells her story during the Commencement Address at the Annual Meeting of the Harvard Alumni Association in the video below, offering every 20-something some timely advice that’ll make you feel sooooo much better about life.
“If you’re going through hell, keep going.” – Winston Churchill (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Winston_churchill)
“Brevity is the soul of wit.” – Polonius (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Polonius), via Shakespeare
Dieter Rams (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Dieter_Rams), simply put, has created some of the most beautiful objects of the 20th Century. But their beauty was never the point–it was an afterthought. The modernist maxim, ‘less is more’, was Rams’ key principle, applying it to all his most famous designs (http://www NULL.flickr NULL.com/groups/464886 null@null N22/pool/page1/) made at Braun since becoming Chief of Design in 1961. Jonathon Ive (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Jonathan_Ive), the Senior Vice President of Design at Apple, also the designer of the iMac, iPod, and iBook, is known for his obsession with Rams’ work, evident across Apple’s entire product range (http://gizmodo NULL.com/343641/1960s-braun-products-hold-the-secrets-to-apples-future). Rams, like so many other greats, was a man of principle. He outlines every single one (there are ten) in the second video below, using the best German accent you’ve heard since that crazy Hitler video (http://www NULL.youtube NULL.com/watch?v=lQnT0zp8Ya4).
Frank Lloyd Wright (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Frank_Lloyd_Wright) was one of the greatest thinkers to ever live. He was a man of ideals and passion, he held a vision of how the world ought to be, and he continuously strove to make it a reality through his work. The greatest and most enduring of all his ideals was to make the architecture of buildings as organic as the ground they sat on. He called it Organic Architecture (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Organic_architecture), which had many modernist similarities to the other major architectural movement of the early 20th Century, The International Style (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/International_style_(architecture)), yet differentiated itself by retaining it’s connection to the natural world. This philosophy is best described through his greatest works: Taliesin (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Taliesin_(studio)), Fallingwater (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Fallingwater), and The Guggenheim Museum, New York (http://en NULL.wikipedia NULL.org/wiki/Solomon_R NULL._Guggenheim_Museum)–all enduring works of incredible power. But if you take only one idea from Wright, make it his idea of what an education should be. As you’ll hear in the second video below, the most important lessons in our short and insignificant lives are often the ones we are enlightened to, not conditioned to think.
George Lois (http://georgelois NULL.com/) was probably the most powerful adman in late 20th-Century New York. His idea of advertising was big, simple, to the point, and always made you do something. He created Lean Cuisine out of nothing, made MTV into a global behemoth, turned Tommy Hilfiger into a household name overnight, and made the most famous Esquire magazine covers of all time (http://www NULL.nytimes NULL.com/2008/04/27/arts/design/27mcgr NULL.html?_r=1). But the very best thing about George Lois was his way of seeing the world–a trait evident in the video below, which can be credited to a childhood spent in the Bronx during the 1930s. Every communicator who wants to affect change has a lot to learn from George Lois (http://nymag NULL.com/nymetro/news/media/features/n_8399/), whether or not his motivations were slightly askew. Do not let your education stop here.
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