When inspiration strikes

You can’t put a price on a great idea. But inspiration is a fickle beast. And it’s hardly surprising that very few of the best concepts are dreamed up in the office; sitting in a boardroom for hours on end isn’t conducive to generating great mental thunderbolts. So we asked people who have amazing ideas—artists, musicians, designers, entrepreneurs— to let us know how they do it. Is there a magic place or a fail-safe situation which always works? Can you force or accelerate the process? And what do you do when every last drop of creative juice has been wrung from you?

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Tale of a turnaround

Qiujing Wong, one of the serially creative minds featured in our story, has a film premiering at the NZ Documentary Festival (DocEdge) next week. Wong was one of the producers of The Jade Bell Story, the tale of a blind, mute and immobile man who overdosed on drugs many years ago and has turned his hand to reaching out to troubled youth. The first screening is in Newmarket, with others in Auckland and Wellington throughout March. It’s also nominated for best director and best feature, with the results announced next week.

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The key to keeping employees happy

Keeping it small and devolving decision-making is Wellington tech entrepreneur Michael Koziarski’s formula for productivity in the workplace. As he said at Webstock yesterday, getting recruitment right is key, but so is keeping developers happy and constantly challenged. Not there yourself? Keep up on Twitter or follow @idealogmag.

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Believe the Hype

Good news: The Hyperfactory-Handley Marketing scholarship is now open to everyone, irrespective of age. Turns out plenty in the over-35 set were keen to pitch their talents, and after all, the three Handleys are at or approaching that age bracket themselves. If you need a quick memory refresh, here’s what it offers—a week-long trip starting on the US west coast (San Francisco and Silicon Valley) and ending on the east coast (New York City). Along the way, the recipient will meet top marketers at companies of all sizes, from start-ups to corporations; think brands like Time Warner, Apple and Google. Applications close on April 4.

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Inspiration incubator

Our lead story is all about cultivating creativity and the process through which ideas are born. In this video, popular science author Steven Johnson covers similar ground from his own perspective: Where do good ideas come from? (It’s a few months old, but still as informative and relevant today.)

Keep it simple, stupid

A wise man once said, “Websites are like sausages, no one wants to know how they’re made”. On Sunday, plugin and theme developer Ryan Hellyer will explain some tips and tricks for noobs at WordCamp, the conference devoted to all things WordPress. Also on the speaker list are ReadWriteWeb’s Richard MacManus, entrepreneur and Idealog agony uncle Lance Wiggs and many more. If you’re quick about it, there’s still time to get tickets before the whole thing kicks off tomorrow morning.

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Wind beneath my wheels

What do you reckon: will news that two people just drove 5,000km across Australia in an electric vehicle give alternative energy a profile boost? Dirk Gion and engineer Stefan Simmerer arrived in Sydney on Monday after travelling through Western and Southern Australia, as well as Victoria and New South Wales. Their car is powered by electricity-generating wind turbines and kites (although it wasn’t all smooth sailing; they blew two motors and a bunch of tyres). Over their 18-day road trip they smashed a total of three world records and completed the journey using less than $20 of electricity—a heck of a lot less than it would have cost in petrol.

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Democratising design

“DIWO (Doing it with others) is DIY on steroids; ushering in exponential levels of complexity and forcing us to contemplate the increasingly ‘social’ component of making.” So says creative director Tad Toulis, as he expands on the concept of socialising design. But he’s not advocating “design by jury”; what he envisions in the future is a consumer-oriented process where users are involved from start to finish.

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Creative outlet

How do American soldiers stay sane while stationed in places like Kandahar? If they’re Private Ruper Valero, the answer lies in an Etsy shop. A former oil rig engineer, he is a long-time collector of action figures and since being assigned to Afghanistan, he makes his own, fashioned entirely from found materials. He says this allows him to interact with locals. After all, “toys are universal”.

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Veggie tale

Jason Wishnow’s retelling of the Oedipus story, as performed by, er, vegetables, has screened at more than 70 film festivals on nearly every continent, including Sundance. The”sword and salad epic” was shot over two years with a volunteer crew and filmed on a digital still camera. Now, it’s available in full HD for your viewing pleasure.

Solo traveller

The latest in single-wheeled personal transport is the Solowheel, an electric unicycle soon to be available in the US. (Although, would you shell out $1495 for one?) It features a carry handle and fold-away foot platforms and the batteries are said to be good for two hours after charging. At speeds of nearly 20km/h, it’ll get you where you need to go much faster than by old-fashioned pavement pounding.

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Quote of the week

If you’re lucky, you’ll get two really good ideas a year. But that just comes from working and working.

- Dick Frizzell on the reality of creative endeavours