Kickstarter

(Incomplete: Please add comments to anything you think should be added.)

Dear Future Kickstarters,

The Kickstarter model is extremely exciting that lets anyone go out and get support for their idea without needing the traditional gatekeepers such as producers, manufacturers or investors that promote the ‘go big or go home’ mentality.

“A good idea, well-crafted and pursued with passion, doesn’t need a gate- keeper’s stamp of approval to succeed.” YANCEY STICKLER, CO-FOUNDER OF KICKSTARTER

Ideas that would never come to life in the traditional model as they appeal to less than 25,000 people instead of 25 million have a model to find their audience. Even when considering big ideas, creators are forced to give away control at an early point that can never be recovered that use the platform for very different reasons, generally to maintain control.

Indie Capitalism (term coined by Bruce Nussbaum) is something new, something optimistic and based upon a different set of values than Wall Street, Silicon Valley and typical startup + VC culture.

My first Kickstarter came to £26,000 ($40,000) of which I can’t wait to do another! The campaign received 35,000 hits to the kickstarter video and 550 backers. Clearly, some things went right and some things went wrong. As several people have got in contact looking for Kickstarter advice, below are some of the best tips I picked up, most of them were learnt either during or after I had finished my campaign.

1. Make a List:

Preparing a list of people you are going to contact beforehand is a must-do that you can update throughout the campaign. 

The audience for a kickstarter project comes from several places that are known beforehand.

• Personal network (friends/facebook/twitter),
• Email newsletters,
• Press
• Blogs
• Kickstarter community
• Influencers
• The networks of your backers

FRIENDS

Beyond the mentioning of your project at work or at the pub, it is best to find which of your friends are most likely to back you. The easiest backers to convince are going to either love you, love your project or love kickstarter. The ones who love all three will get the list started. Using the ‘Find Friends‘ feature on Kickstarter, I discovered my facebook friends who backed other Kickstarter projects and I knew which ones I had discussed Fabsie with. People who have backed other kickstarter projects are far more likely to back you.

KLOUT

Using Klout.com to sort friends by how much noise they create online (Klout would say that this is how influencial they are) adds a second layer of personal network to contact. Kloutscore of 70+ are online influencers, 55-60 and above are the ones to contact.

LAUNCHROCK

Making a page on Launchrock.com for free and quickly will allow you get generate a landing page to collect emails from people interested in the idea beyond your personal network. If you want you share your kickstarter project pre-launch, you now have somewhere to send them.

TOPSY

Topsy.com allows social search. If you find similar campaigns on Kickstarter or links that you think your potential backers would find interesting, drop them in the Topsy search bar. Topsy provides all the twitter accounts that tweeted that link and then lets you sort them by influence. Tweet a couple of these people to see if they are interested in your campaign.

KICKSTARTER COMMUNITY

This is one you can’t really hack, but getting on the Kickstarter homepage as I did or in the Kickstarter newsletter will drive alot of traffic to your project page.

PRESS

Search the major press sites for articles on similar topics to your project and take note of which journalists are covering this area. It should be immediately obvious from what they have written previously whether they will be interested in covering your Kickstarter project. Understand that there is a saturation of too many Kickstarter projects and that journalists get lots of mail each day. Check out this presentation by Mike Butcher from TechCrunch on how to contact tech media. Give them a story, not simply saying you are on Kickstarter and prepare multiple angles to launch at different points throughout the campaign. Create the kickstarter page/video well in advance so that you can show bloggers/journalists using the preview link and try to get them to sync the time they will go live with when you launch your campaign.

INFLUENCERS & BLOGGERS

Influencers are the group of people who everyone pays attention to. In the past, they were limited to celebrities and famous sports people, but the internet has created a long tail where you can now find influencers of any field from sneaker design to cancer research. Many of these influencers will have blogs, social media channels and email newsletters. Having their support will add to both the crediability of your campaign as well as bringing in lots of traffic from their followers. I believe that a call of action from an influencer goes further than press coverage, but as I didn’t know that before doing my Kickstarter, I missing out on this one.

Many blogs have a ‘submit story‘ button, best to make a list of those links before starting and know what they look for.

Dezeen.com, Suckerpunchdaily.com,

BACKERS NETWORKS

Know who is backing you, if you can truly get people involved in the project where they feel part of it, only then will they share it, let them leave their mark. Many backers will have personal networks and following much larger than you, I wonder if this $10,000 campaign knows that Zach Braff from Scrubs is a backer.

SURROUND SOUND

Surround sound is a strong strategy that when done right can be the most valuable player of a campaign. The idea is that hearing about a Kickstarter campaign from two or more unconnected but respected sources will be convincing at gaining backers. The extent of the surround sound effect is the extent of that community. So if you pick the community to be Brooklyn, New York: You want everyone in Brooklyn to see two or more respected friends posting and tweeting about your project. On a smaller level, maybe it’s a online community of 1,000 muscians that you want the majority of those 1,000 to see at least two others posting and tweeting about your project on that day. Start by naming what communities you can target, who are the influencers in those communities and how you are going to engage those influencers.

VIRAL

For most things you do, if you told ten friends about it, only one would tell another person and then the story would go dead (0.1 virality). A viral campaign is one where each friend is telling at minimum two or more friends. What can do to convert your campaign from 0.1 virality to 2.0+ virality?

2. Make a Remarkable Campaign

Seth Godin argues that things today should be remarkable as those are the things that will be shared. Share your campaign with as many people as possible using the Kickstarter preview link to gain feedback and make sure its clear and ultimately remarkable. Be prepared to make your video more than once if feedback says make it again. I made my video once and got advice to remake the video halfway through my campaign, but didn’t have access to the friend who helped make the first video.

EXPLAIN KICKSTARTER

Friends visited my page later asking me, “What  is Kickstarter?” I assumed that most people knew what Kickstarter was. Two campaigns explain the concept really well in very creative ways during their video, Double Fine Games and Zach Braff. In the Kickstarter of ‘Double Fine Games’, Tim Schafer explains that adventure games are a a bit of lost artform. Approached by a  employee/fan who cries “adventure games are not dead,” Tim explains that publishers would laugh at his face if he pitched an Adventure Game. The employee responds that he has willing to pay for an adventure game and lots of others fans are too, that is Kickstarter.

Another campaign that explains this concept well is ‘Wish I Was Here’ by Zach Braff that tells the complicated story of problems in financing. Investors generally want control which in many cases ruins a project. In the film industry, this translates as final cut and controlling the cast and filming options. Kickstarter was a means for Zach as a director to maintain his artistic freedom, his pitch is less about the film and and very much focused on explaining why he is on Kickstarter. (Zach Braff did recieve some negative press of which he responded with a Kickstarter Update.)

BACK AND RESEARCH OTHER CAMPAIGNS

Some campaigns get funded on Day 1 and go for stretch goals, some on Day 10 and some cross the line on the final day while others fail. Watching lots of campaigns in advance is a must. Kicktraq that will be explained further below is a great resource to understand other campaigns as you can see their performance very clearly. Another site is Can He Kick It.

Also, take a look at who failed on Kickstarter. Melissa Joanheart is a key failure of which the video was inauthenthic and came across as she was told to there. She wasn’t making the film, she was starring in the Kickstarter video.

You shouldn’t be asking for help, you should be offering an experience they’re going to love.

THE VIDEO

For most of the Kickstarter Campaigns I have backed or checked out, I looked at the video first, checked the rewards if I liked it and possibly backed the project. The video is your first impression and in my opinion what will decide the fate of your campaign. I made a big mistake of wanting to pitch a vision but thought that visions weren’t allowed by the Kickstarter rules that said ‘projects only’. Visions are allowed. My video was trying to mention the vision without talking about it directly and forgot to discuss the use-case of the product. Most videos are just someone telling their story straight into the camera. The easiest starting point is to make a checklist of what should be in the video (From Kickstarter Guide)

• Who are you?
• What is your project and why does it matter?
• What is the story behind the project?
• Where’d you get the idea?
• What stage is it at now?
• How are you feeling about it?
• Ask for people’s support, explaining why you need it.
• How will you spend their money.
• Discuss rewards.
• Explain that if you don’t reach your goal, you’ll get nothing, and everyone will be sad.
• Thank everyone!

Music Resources SoundCloud, Vimeo Music Store, Free Music Archive, andccMixter. Technical specs: Videos must be 4.88GB or less and have a file type of MOV, MPEG, AVI, MP4, 3GP, WMV, or FLV.

REWARD GROUPS

During my campaign, I met up with Greg from SketchChair who created several rewards for different types of backers. I essentialy had one group who could recieve a rocking stool, but Greg made rewards for people who wanted a chair and separate rewards that would target designers and programmers who would also be interested in the project. Out of 584 backers, only 41 backed to get the chair. You’ll never please everyone, but different people back projects for different reasons.

• Customers: They want the product
• Project Fans: They feel the intent of the project is amazing, but don’t necessarily want it, but want to somehow be part of it.
• People Fans: They feel you are inspiring and amazing want to back you. Tyler made the beginning of his film about him.

• Community Fans: If you are doing something creative commons for example, the creative commons group on Kickstarter will list your project. People who don’t care so much for what you made, but believe in creative commons might back out of a shared interest, but only if there is a reward option for them.

BIG BACKERS + PARETO PRINCIPLE

Shoreditch Village Hall has 340 backers with £90,000 backed, it a project that garnered support from the big tech companies based in East London. Two thirds of the money raised is from 26 backers who gave £1,500 or more. A futher 53 backers gave more than £100 which combined with the initial 26 were responsible for £75,000 of the total £90,000. 83% percent of the money raised came from 23% of the backers. (See Pareto Principle.) One would assume this was not by accident, but the team cultivated relationships with those 79 people or companies.

REMIX + FIND INSPIRATION

Watch Kirby Ferguson’s TED talk explaining everything is a remix. Build on the work of others finding interesting videos and things inside or outside of Kickstarter that might influence how you build your campaign. Some of my favourite pitch videos are the Dollar Shave Club, the work of Improv Everywhere or Dr.Seuss told by the people of Burning Man.

SUBMIT EARLY

Submit your campaign to Kickstarter in advance to launching as they need to check it. Once verified, you will have a green launch button.

3. Launch:

S-CURVE

Most Kickstarter projects follow an S-curve, they start well, go flat in the middle of the campaign and climb again towards the end. Prepare accordingly.

PICK A STARTING TIME

I got recommended to start on a Monday at 8am as less people are on the internet at the weekend and you need build up momentum that can take first three days.

PUSHING THE BUTTON

You should have press lined up to launch articles at the same time as launching your campaign, email newsletters prepared to fire out, influencers sending out tweets and their newsletters and so on. Surround sound strategies for various communities.

KICKTRAQ

Kicktraq is a must use tool that allows you to track your campaign showing the pledge totals per day. You can see curves of how fast you reaching your target. As the beginning of your campaign will have relatively more raised than the middle, the predictions will shoot up really high in the first few days, ignore them. While Kickstarter offer analytics on your campaign, I found myself checking Kicktraq more regularly.

MID CAMPAIGN

I changed alot of the copy mid-campaign as it was looking as if I wasn’t go to make it. Be prepared to change your campaign midway. I got recommended to remake the video but didn’t have the same opportunity to get a good camera lined up and therefore struggled to change it.

UPDATES

You can learn alot from looking at the updates of others which are mostly public. Cesar Kuriyama put his app ‘One Second Everyday’ online needing lots of backers as the reward amount for an app was small. With lots of updates and lots of press, he sucessfully got more than 11,000 backers compared with many campaigns that have 500-2500 backers. Campaigns with lots of updates do better, so think about doing 20+ updates and what milestones you want to post.

CONVERSIONS

Conversions range based on how many hits you have, how good the articles were, how good your video is, how good your rewards are and lots more, but I still think they are interesting to look at.

Here are conversions of several campaigns (backers to hits)

• 35,000 hits, 550 Backers, 1.6% conversion (£26,000 pledged)
• 60,000 hits, 2,789 backers, 4.5% conversion (£57,000 pledged)
• 80,000 hits, 11,200 backers, 14% conversion (£37,000 pledged)
• 500,000 hits, 37,500 backers, 7.5% conversion (£1,700,000 pledged)

UPSELLING

If your over halfway there, but nowhere near your goal. You can try upselling the pledges of your backers by offering further rewards. Alternatively, with over 50% funding and an active audience, you could try asking everyone to tell a friend, but try incentivising it through rewards rather than just asking.

CONNECT WITH THE BACKERS (THROW A PARTY)

When Shoreditch Village Hall wanted to create buzz two days to deadline, they threw a party with lots of beers! The line of go and meet your customers has been said time and time again by Airbnb founder Joe Gebbia and might prove useful for Kickstarter too. If your backers are largely in one city, throw a party. Invite everyone to bar without permission, no expense needed.

STRETCH GOALS

I didn’t know what stretch goals were when I started. If your target is £10,000 and you meet your target on the first day, then offer some things you’ll add in if you get £15,000, £25,000 and £50,000.

ADDICTIVE APP

The Kickstarter app is addictive! I never found myself checking my phone as much, constantly looking in my pocket and finding new backers. If my phone vibrated and it was text messsage, phone, facebook comment or tweet, I was terrbily disappointed.

One campaign I learnt alot from was SOMA that made this excellent post that every potential Kickstarter campaign should read throughly. Mike Del Ponte’s intensive prepartion paid off receiving $100,000 in backing in just 10 days of which I will mention later in other points. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjs13lSKahg

The last ten seconds!

For a more in depth guide to Kickstarter, check out ‘It will be exhillerating‘ by Studio Neat ($5) and Kickstarter’s own guide.

4. What to do after:

WAIT

Remember it takes two weeks to process payment.

SURVEY DEADLINES

Best to put a deadline for people to respond to the survey, 80% will respond within three days, the rest make you chase them.

POSTKICKSTARTER MARKETPLACES

Once your Kickstarter campaign is finished, several sites have formed to be marketplaces for sucessfully funded products such as Swish, Outgrow.me and Tiny Lightbulbs. There are of course a ton of other options that are open to all projects.

RUNNING A KICKSTARTER CHANNEL LIKE A YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Youtube channels don’t succeed because of one video, they have several.

 

A video to watch as you start something new by Ze Frank

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RYlCVwxoL_g

1000 Users

The myth of “we had 25,000 users sign up on our first day” or the line “we told our friends and they told their friends,” are both likely to have been backed up by a smart strategy. I am still figuring out the plan with www.fabsie.com and researching other playbooks for inspiration. All of the startups below have a great product which is central to their success, but beyond that are some very important findings that led to their growth.

Add any other companies or additional information to discussion on Hacker News

Instagram

1. The founders weren’t scared of letting people try it before launch. They just kept showing it to people and taking feedback.
2. They got everyone they talked to be a brand ambassador.
3. Early adopters used the product extensively.
4. Users posted their photos to twitter attracting new users, (many early adopters had ’000′s of followers.)
5. Early users became huge advocates and pushed it on blogs and in reviews on app store.
6. Showed it to influencers. (Robert Scoble, Kevin Rose, Leo Laporte and MG Siegler)

LinkedIn

1. Reid Hoffman seeded the product with successful friends and connections. (The company would have been doomed if there had been massive adoption of have-nots, instead of people who were hiring, recruiting etc.)
2. He refused to meet with potential investors until they adopted LinkedIn.  Entrepreneurs and aspiring executives would follow their lead.
3. Deployed an Outlook contact uploader (very painful to build/support) to allow viral spread among professionals.
4. Deferred any features related to revenue or engagement until after the growth path was established, which took nearly 1.5 years.
5. Invitation reminders that expired after two weeks were another key feature.

Etsy

1. The original founders built forums and started reading through the conversations people were having. The overwhelming topic was, “I wish there was a place I could sell my crafts! Ebay sucks – it’s hard to use, doesn’t care about us, and charges high fees.”
2. Craftspeople buy crafts in other sectors than their own trade. Sellers were also buyers and brand advocates.
3. They told their friends at even larger crafting community forums about Etsy, which brought even more sellers.
4. Sellers previously had no e-commerce presence, so for them to accept any online transactions at all, they had to send customers to Etsy.

Airbnb

1. Mentored by Justin.tv
2. Found spikes in demand and tried to cover those events (from SXSW to London Olympics.)
3. Went to bloggers with CNN keywords, then local news with CNN keywords. CNN searching their keywords covered them.
4. Spammed Craigslist. (See Blogpost by Dave Gooden)
5. Went door-to-door.
6. David (Barry Manilow’s drummer) rented out his full apartment, as opposed to just bedrooms which they met in person.
7. Video by Brian Chesky

Pinterest

1. Email Marketing: “I think I personally wrote to the first 5,000 users.” Silbermann
2. Psychology of the invite-only beta.
3. Engaging and frequent notifications.
4. Design demographic = design blogs coverage.

Facebook

1. Emailed friends and sent emails to several mailing lists.
2. College Newspaper
3. Cross-school friends connections and artificial scarcity.
4. At a time when camera phones were just taking off.
5. Hub strategy, take on strongest competitors first (startup at Columbia), then expand to where no competition exists.
6. Aggressive use of email notifications to acquire, engage, and retain users. Defaulting users to receive comment updates was especially clever.

Dropbox

1. Posting demo video to Digg.com that moved from 5,000 to 75,000 signups.
2. Many failed experiments.
3. Word of mouth / Social worked for Dropbox much more so than search.

Warby Parker

1. Hired a Fashion PR agency (Bradbury Lewis) that landed them in GQ, hit their annual sales target in three weeks.
2. Made the office into a store.
3. Co-branded with other stores – the readery.
4. Took the store on the road – the schoolbus.
5. Held a bazaar.

#kpomg girl

The last few days have seen #kpmggirl go viral. Carly Menton, a 16 year old student who attends fee-paying secondary school Alexandra College, she is drunk in the video and insults those not as fortunate as herself who only earn £10/hour, calling them ‘plebs’. She also seems to be in love with KPMG where her daddy was the highest earning partner. Having attended a similar priced school myself, I know the culture well. I hated this snobbery then and I still hate it now.

When I was 16, I went for a night out in the centre of Dublin, taking the nightlink bus home with a friend from school. We were joined by some of his friends from other South Dublin schools. The experience was a very memorable one, Carly Menton’s speech instantly reminds me of. There were five of us, we sat at the back of the bus taking up one side and the middle seat. The guy in the middle seat was from another school. Luckily, I don’t remember his name. From what I remember, someone said his daddy made much more money than the highest earning partner at KPMG.

A McDonald’s cup was behind this friend of friend, so he threw it on the floor. Two men sitting on the other side of the bus didn’t like this action, one asked if he would mind picking it up. The response went something like, “plebs were paid good money to pick these things up, best to leave it to them.” The two men proceeded to ask if the cup could be picked up again and again and explained that they felt the response was rude. The conversation escalated far beyond that of the Carly Menton case ending in the two men getting so annoyed with the snobbery, they threatened to beat this guy up. The response this time went something like “I have enough money to pay the medical bill for any damage you could do to me, I also have enough money to pay my lawyers to sue the crap out of you, so you have no money left. Being the age you are and using the night link (Probably mid-30′s), I presume you don’t have much of it.”

That conversation was not recorded, but I cannot forget it. From the Carly Menton video, two responses on twitter are common:

1. “We’ve all done this (Leave her alone)”
2. “Snobby bitch, got what she deserved”

If I had to choose between the internet spreading a video of me doing something stupid, suggesting I learn from mistakes and alternatively the internet spreading a message saying ‘don’t commit suicide’ despite never suggested the interest, I would much prefer the first.

The response “We’ve all done this (Leave her alone)”’suggests that we shouldn’t talk about the issue and continue on as normal. A blogpost by Simon Adam Matthew quotes “I remember quite a few instances in the pre-college years where affluent type of behaviour was undertaken by lads I would have been around. There were nights of singing ‘We’ve got loads of MONEY’ on the dart, and putting 50 quid notes on the window once exited.” These are not one-off’s.

Sorry if I don’t have much sympathy for #kpmggirl, but I think the problem is much bigger than simply her. The best move for Carly given her newfound fame would not to shy away from the issue but to take the personal challenge of how she might learn more about South Dublin’s snobbery problem and put forward some options to change things for the better. As inspiration, it might be worth watching Jamie Johnson’s documentary film ‘Born Rich.’ He is from the Johnson & Johnson family inheriting more money on his 21st birthday than the vast majority of people will ever make. He criticises and exposes the American super rich with family fortunes of $20bn+, no matter how big you think you are Carly, there are always bigger fish.

One might also read books like Edwin A. Abbott’s novel ‘Flatland’ – A romance of many dimensions – 1884 – that covers an array of topics largely about mathematics and multiple dimensions. The book plays on the class system of Victorian times that was extremely hierarchical. Men are expressed as shapes with a number of sides representing their societal rank.

- A three-sided irregular triangle was much alike an untouchable
- A regular triangle was a foot soldier in the army
- Squares were lower middle class
- A circle being made of many sides was a high priest or a king

Newborn children could only gain one additional side to their parents. A square could have triangle, square or if lucky, a pentagon representing how difficult it was to climb the ranks. (The main character A-Square had a hexagon child, but this was not normal.) Women who had no dimension were expressed as lines.

The infamous photo of the 1987 Bullingdon Club contains two men who would go on to be the most powerful Conservative politicians in the country: Boris Johnson and David Cameron – the Mayor of London and the Prime Minister. When Borris met Dave tells the story of one of world’s posh superclubs – The Bullingdon at Oxford.

Startup Video

A Collection of videos and movies that I find inspiring relevant to startups.

MOVIES

Pirates of Silicon Valley

Startup.com

Code Rush (Full Version)

Quotes

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“When you seek revenge dig two graves, one for your enemy and one for yourself.”

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“in the midst of a fabulous array of historically unprecedented and utterly mind-boggling stimuli … whatever.”

Thomas de Zengotita

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“The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists in trying to adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable man.”

George Bernard Shaw

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“Stay true to the dreams of thy youth.”

Friedrich Schiller

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“Here’s to the crazy ones. The misfits. The rebels. The troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently. They’re not fond of rules. And they have no respect for the status quo. You can quote them, disagree with them, glorify or vilify them. About the only thing you can’t do is ignore them. Because they change things. They push the human race forward. And while some may see them as the crazy ones, we see genius. Because the people who are crazy enough to think they can change the world, are the ones who do.”

Apple Inc.

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“To be old and wise, you must first be young and stupid”

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“Never go to bed angry. Stay awake and plot your revenge”

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“When spider webs united, they could halt a lion.” African proverb

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Few people can see genius in someone who has offended them.

- Robertson Davies

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‘Well, Ted, as I said last time, it won’t happen again.’
— Father Dougal

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“Quitting while your ahead is not the same as quitting”

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“You can’t invent a new architecture every Monday Morning”

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“A line is a spline”
Patrick Schumacher

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“Charity degrades those who recieve it and hardens those who dispense it.”

George Sand 1864

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On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog.

- Peter Steiner

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Making things last a long time is incredibly important.

Saul Griffith. MIT

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“For 200 years we’ve been conquering Nature. Now we’re beating it to death.”

Tom McMillan

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‎”To be yourself in a world that is constantlly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.”

R. Emerson

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If all the insects on earth disappeared, within 50 years all life on earth would disappear. If all humans disappeared, within 50 years all species would flourish as never before.

Jonas Salk

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Sleep is the best meditation.

Dalai Lama

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A friend is one who has the same enemies as you have.

Abraham Lincoln

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It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.

Albert Einstein

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Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.

Albert Einstein

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It is a miracle that curiosity survives formal education.

Albert Einstein

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Intellectuals solve problems, geniuses prevent them.

Albert Einstein

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I have no special talent. I am only passionately curious.

Albert Einstein

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Anyone who has never made a mistake has never tried anything new.

Albert Einstein

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If I’d observed all the rules, I’d never have got anywhere.

Marilyn Monroe

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What do I wear in bed? Why, Chanel No. 5, of course.

Marilyn Monroe

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Dreaming about being an actress, is more exciting then being one.

Marilyn Monroe

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I restore myself when I’m alone.

Marilyn Monroe

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Hollywood is a place where they’ll pay you a thousand dollars for a kiss and fifty cents for your soul.

Marilyn Monroe

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Before marriage, a girl has to make love to a man to hold him. After marriage, she has to hold him to make love to him.

Marilyn Monroe

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A career is wonderful, but you can’t curl up with it on a cold night.

Marilyn Monroe

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Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.

Buddha

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Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.

Buddha

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I never see what has been done; I only see what remains to be done.

Buddha

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A jug fills drop by drop.

Buddha

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It is difficult to see why lace should be so expensive; it is mostly holes.

Mary Wilson Little

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There is no pleasure in having nothing to do; the fun is in having lots to do and not doing it.

- Mary Wilson Little

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If we couldn’t laugh, we would all go insane.

- Jimmy Buffett

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Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody.

- Franklin P. Adams

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I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

- Thomas A. Edison

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No matter how rich you become, how famous or powerful, when you die the size of your funeral will still pretty much depend on the weather.

- Michael Pritchard

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The more I study religions the more I am convinced that man never worshipped anything but himself.

- Sir Richard Francis Burton

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“You come to Parsons, you never really leave, we are like a fashion mafia.”

Simon Collins, Dean Parsons.

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“The challenge of sustainability is using less to design better.”

Sarah Beatty, Green Depot

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“Sustainability is not a destination, it is a journey. Anybody who thinks they have a sustainable anything, is wrong. If it’s a product, it’s a product.”

Simon Collins, Dean Parsons.

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An honest politician is one who, when he is bought, will stay bought.

- Simon Cameron

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“today’s platforms are not tomorrow’s platforms”

Ze Frank

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“Child survival is the new green”

Hans Rosling

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“What was needed to be sustainable for a planet of 6 billion is not going to be sustainable for a planet of 9 billion.”

Jason Clay.

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“If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; be kind anyway. If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; succeed anyway. If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; be honest and frank anyway. What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.”

Mother Teresa

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“On land you get faster by improving the engine, in water you get faster by shaping the vessel.”

Terry Laughlin

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“The only way to behave to a women is to make love to her if she is pretty and someone else to if she is plain.”

Dorian Gray

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you don’t eat your own food, you don’t know what your really doing.”

Marco Pierre White

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“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

William Arthur

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We are the people our parents warned us about.

- Jimmy Buffett

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“I’m not me anymore, or at least i’m not the same me I was.”

Che Guvara (Motorcycle Diaries)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You Got to fight for every breath and tell death to go to hell.”

Che Guvara (Motorcycle Diaries)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
“Education doesn’t work by teaching you things, it works by giving you the impression that you’ve had a very good education which gives you an insane sense of unwarranted self-confidence which then makes you very very successful in later life….Welcome to Oxford ladies and gentleman.”

Rory Sutherland

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“The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and
controversy.”

MLK Jr

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

If a man will begin with certainties, he shall end in doubts; but if he will be content to begin with doubts he shall end in certainties.

- Sir Francis Bacon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Nothing inspires forgiveness quite like revenge.

- Scott Adams

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I don’t like to negotiate with people I can’t beat Up”

Bill Goldberg

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.

Winston Churchill

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Evolution is a natural state.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The best things in life aren’t things.” -

– Art Buchwald

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The best way to learn something is to learn something else.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Having been a quality controller on a real (paper) encyclopedia, i began to trust wikipedia.

Randy Pausch

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

How many men are on a football team at one time: 21
How many men touch the football at any one time: 1
So were going to work on what the 21 other men do.

Randy Pausch

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

When people are giving out to you, that’s when they still care, when they no longer do that, they gave up and that’s where you really don’t want to be.

Randy Pausch

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A city is not just people and buildings but rather a network of relationships.”……..Prisons are part of the infrastructure.

LAURA KURGAN

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Consider the moment when the wall parted and the column came”

Louis Kahn

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Rise and rise again until lambs become lions

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million dollars.

- Hobart Brown

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“To be any kind of success, the first thing you need to do learn is to fail.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The problems that exist in the world today cannot be solved by the level of thinking that created them…”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

stay foolish, stay hungry

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Everyone has a right to a university degree in America, even if it’s in Hamburger Technology.

- Clive James

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.

- William Blake

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“An eye for eye only ends up making the whole world blind.”

M.K. Gandhi

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body.

- Sir Richard Steele

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

If the English language made any sense, a catastrophe would be an apostrophe with fur.

- Doug Larson

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

One day your struggle will lead ot greatness

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Women need a reason to have sex. Men just need a place.

- Billy Crystal

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

governing a large country is like cooking a small fish, don’t overdo it.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

people are 99% animal and 1% human, it is the human part that causes all the trouble.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Happiness is not achieved by the conscious pursuit of happiness; it is generally the by-product of other activities.

- Aldous Huxley

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

What we do in life echoes in eternity.

Gladiator

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The role of the designer is that of good host predicting the needs of his guest”

Charles Eames

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Better to die standing, than to live on your knees.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
“It’s a sad thing not to have friends, but it is even sadder not to have enemies.”

-Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

A fanatic is one who can’t change his mind and won’t change the subject.

- Sir Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything.

- Blaise Pascal

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.”

- George Carlin

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“No pressure, no diamonds”.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?”

Vince Lombardi

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere”

Frank A. Clark

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The professional-gentleman artist-architect had arrived. 1763 Golden age of Georgian Architecture

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

The future will be better tomorrow.

- Dan Quayle

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.

- Segal’s Law

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

It is a paradoxical but profoundly true and important principle of life that the most likely way to reach a goal is to be aiming not at that goal itself but at some more ambitious goal beyond it.

- Arnold Toynbee

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

When a thing ceases to be a subject of controversy, it ceases to be a subject of interest.

- William Hazlitt

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

No one can be right all of the time, but it helps to be right most of the time.

Robert Half

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Ability will never catch up with the demand for it.

- Malcolm Forbes

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.

- Napoleon Bonaparte

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn’t.

- Erica Jong

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

I don’t care what is written about me so long as it isn’t true.

- Dorothy Parker

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

I shut my eyes in order to see.

Paul Gauguin – Post Impressionist French Painter

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Life being what it is, one dreams of revenge.

- Paul Gauguin -Post Impressionist French Painter

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I should have been a con-man, a robber or a prostitute, it was vanity that made me choose painting, vanity and chance”

Francis Bacon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.

- Abraham Lincoln

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Here’s something to think about: How come you never see a headline like ‘Psychic Wins Lottery’?

- Jay Leno

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Play: Work that you enjoy doing for nothing.

- Evan Esar

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Punctuality is the virtue of the bored.

- Evelyn Waugh

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Rule 76: No excuses. Play like a champion”

- Vince Vaughn, ‘Wedding Crashers’

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Pleasant things work better”

Don Norman

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

I have noticed that the people who are late are often so much jollier than the people who have to wait for them.

- E. V. Lucas

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It seems as if you help people find easier ways to share information, more good things happen”

Evan Williams – Twitter

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

If at first you don’t succeed, failure may be your style.

- Quentin Crisp

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer.

- Alfred North Whitehead

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Today’s scientists have substituted mathematics for experiments, and they wander off through equation after equation, and eventually build a structure which has no relation to reality.

- Nikola Tesla

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“freedom is not having to say your sorry.”

Devil’s Advocate

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“What about love?”
“Overrated. Biochemically no different than eating large quantities of chocolate.”

Devil’s Advocate

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

And both architects understand about choice, and why dazzling clients with not one but several versions of a scheme to choose from is often more effective than the usual way an architect works, which is to hold steadfastly to a single idea.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Steve: As my answer to the first question indicates, there has never been a moment where I knew definitely that I wanted to pursue architecture… it’s always been a love-hate thing for me. After several years of going to great schools and working for an amazing firm, I came to the realization that I am deeply interested in the questions and challenges of architecture, I just don’t agree with the way that architects go about addressing them. I’ve come to realize that I’m ultimately a pragmatist, which I think comes yper Density.
from a working class upbringing, and I’m incredibly resistant to dogma, which architecture and especially architectural education are prone to. Yet despite these hang-ups, I continue to return to it as the medium best able to grapple with the issues that I am most passionate about: namely our relationship to and mediation of the environment around us.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“the only disability in life is a bad attitude”

scott hamiliton

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It is better to be hated for what you are than to be loved for what you are not.”

Andre Gide

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.”

The Dhammapada

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Do or do not. There is no try.”

- Yoda, ‘The Empire Strikes Back’

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“the only difference between a saint and a sinner, the saint has a past, the sinner has a future” Oscar Wilde

“fashion is what one wears oneself, what is unfashionable is what other people wear.” Oscar Wilde

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”
Oscar Wilde

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”
Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

A spider conducts operations that resemble those of a weaver, and a bee puts to shame many an architect in the construction of her cells. But what distinguishes the worst architect from the best of bees is this, that the architect raises his structure in imagination before he erects it in reality.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

Ray Kurzweil’s book Singularity is Near, where he defines complexity in a very nice way: complexity is the ability to convey the maximum amount of information with the minimum amount of data. So complexity is a form of simplicity. BIG is about the complex, not the complicated. There’s a difference. Einstein said something like “Don’t simplify things, make simple things.”

BIG interview Archinect

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“we are serious about being funny.”

Monty Python

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Try not to become a man of sucess, but a man of value.”

Einstein

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Fish do not sit in seats”

Graham Hawkes

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Everything that can happen, does”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo Da Vinci

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you want to tell people the truth, make them laugh, otherwise they’ll kill you.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

When you decide to be something, you can be it. That’s what they don’t tell you in the church. When I was your age they would say we can become cops, or criminals. Today, what I’m saying to you is this: when you’re facing a loaded gun, what’s the difference?

Frank Costello – Jack Nicholson

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me. Years ago we had the church. That was only a way of saying – we had each other.”

Frank Costello – Jack Nicholson

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man who does not make mistakes, does not make anything…”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You learn the rules of the game and then play it better than anyone else”

Albert Einstein

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”

Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“One day life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Success is not the key to happiness, but happiness is the key to success”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“He only earns his freedom and life who takes them every day by storm”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions”

Marcus Aurelius

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted”

David Bly

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The world is a stage, but the play is badly cast”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm”

Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“History is written by the victors”

Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“In love it is better to know and to be dissappointed than not to know and wonder”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.”

Mark Twain

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The more I thought about myself, the weaker I became. The more I recognized that I was serving a purpose larger than myself, the stronger I became”

Eric Greitens

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If I saw the art around me that I liked, then I wouldn’t do art.”

John Baldessari

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

‎”The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.”

Walt Disney

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It isn’t the rebels who cause the troubles of the world, it’s the troubles that cause the rebels.”

Carl Oglesby

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Be the change you want see in this world.”

Mahatma Gandhi

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The best way to predict the future is to invent it”

Alan Kay

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A lot of people never use their initiative because no-one told them to.”

Banksy

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“God … invented the giraffe, the elephant, the cat … He has no real style. He just goes on trying things.”

Pablo Picasso

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If at first you don’t succeed, find out if the loser gets anything.”

Bill Lyon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“History is the version of past events that people have decided to agree upon.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“When I’m working on a problem, I never think about beauty. I think only how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not beautiful, I know it is wrong.”

R. Buckminster Fuller

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It is not a bad idea to get in the habit of writing down one’s thoughts. It saves one having to bother anyone else with them.”

Isabel Colegate

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I should have been a con-man, a robber or a prostitute, it was vanity that made me choose painting, vanity and chance”

Francis Bacon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Research is the process of going up alleys to see if they are blind.”

Marston Bates

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A celebrity is one who is known to many persons he is glad he doesn’t know.”

H. L. Mencken

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Great minds discuss ideas. Average minds discuss events. Small minds discuss people.”

Eleanor Roosevelt

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Let’s Hug it out, Bitches”

Ari Gould (Jeremy Piven)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.”

William Arthur

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“We are the people our parents warned us about.”

Jimmy Buffett

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Education doesn’t work by teaching you things, it works by giving you the impression that you’ve had a very good education which gives you an insane sense of unwarranted self-confidence which then makes you very very successful in later life….Welcome to Oxford ladies and gentleman.”

Rory Sutherland

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“What we do in life, echoes in eternity.”

Gladiator

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Give me more ideas to reject”

Mad Men

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Success is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm.”

Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Few men think, yet all have opinions”

George Berkeley

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Don’t worry about people stealing an idea. If it’s original, you will have to ram it down their throats.”

Howard Aiken

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The brick walls are there to help us, they are there to stop the other people who don’t want it badly enough.”

Randy Pausch

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Good Business is the best art”

Andy Warhol

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Money doesn’t always bring happiness. People with ten million dollars are no happier than people with nine million dollars.”

Hobart Brown

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Everyone has a right to a university degree in America, even if it’s in Hamburger Technology.”

Clive James

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It is easier to forgive an enemy than to forgive a friend.”

William Blake

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Certainty of death, small chance of success, what are we waiting for.”

Gimli, son of Glóin (Lord of the Rings)

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake.”

Napoleon Bonaparte

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You must learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Sam Levenson

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The president of the united states can’t get a better coca cola than the bum on the street”

Andy Warhol

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Tradition is what you resort to when you don’t have the time or the money to do it right.”

Kurt Herbert Alder

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you can think, you can draw.”

Overheard at RISD by John Maeda

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“we are here on earth to help others, what the others are here for i have no idea”

Vivian Foster

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.”

Abraham Maslow

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“In the future everyone will be famous for fifteen minutes.”

Andy Warhol

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“1. Never tell everything at once.”

Ken Venturi

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You should always take no as a question and not an answer”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“When two men in business always agree, one of them is unnecessary.”

William Wrigley Jr.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; build anyway.”

Mother Teresa

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I don’t know the key to success, but the key to failure is trying to please everybody.”

Bill Cosby

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It’s a sad thing not to have friends, but it is even sadder not to have enemies.”

Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.”

Herschel Walker

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Common sense is not so common.”

Voltaire

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Have you ever noticed? Anybody going slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac.”

George Carlin

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you can find a path with no obstacles, it probably doesn’t lead anywhere”

Frank A. Clark

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The future will be better tomorrow.”

Dan Quayle

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“All power corrupts, but we need the electricity.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man with a watch knows what time it is. A man with two watches is never sure.”

Segal’s Law

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Any word you have to hunt for in a thesaurus is the wrong word. There are no exceptions to this rule.”

Stephen King

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.”

Leo Tolstoy

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Thanks to the Interstate Highway System, it is now possible to travel from coast to coast without seeing anything.”

Charles Kuralt

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“It seems as if you help people find easier ways to share information, more good things happen”

Evan Williams – Twitter

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Politicians are the same all over. They promise to build a bridge even where there is no river.”

Nikita Khrushchev

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Vanity is my favourite sin, self love, the all natural opiate”

Al Pachino – Devil’s Advocate

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Freedom is not having to say your sorry.”

Al Pachino – Devil’s Advocate

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“the only disability in life is a bad attitude”

Scott Hamiliton

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Travel only with thy equals or thy betters; if there are none, travel alone.”

The Dhammapada

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man who can dominate a London dinner table can dominate the world. The future belongs to the dandy. It is the exquisites who are going to rule.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The big difference between sex for money and sex for free is that sex for money usually costs a lot less.”

Brendan Behan

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I am a drinker with writing problems”

Brendan Behan

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“The only difference between a saint and a sinner, the saint has a past, the sinner has a future”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Fashion is what one wears oneself, what is unfashionable is what other people wear.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Life imitates art far more than art imitates Life.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Man is least himself when he talks in his own person. Give him a mask, and he will tell you the truth.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“we are all in the gutter, some of us are staring at the stars”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“If you sit on a hot stove for a minute it seems like an hour, if you sit with a pretty girl for an hour it seems like only a minute…that’s relativity”

Einstein

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“What you inherit may not be as valuable as what you earn”

Jamie Johnson

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“We are serious about being funny.”

Monty Python

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Try not to become a man of sucess, but a man of value.”

Einstein

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.”

Leonardo Da Vinci

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“we live through what we imagine is true”

Thom Mayne

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Nearly all great minds have one thing in common; they had great mentors.”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Anyone who lives within their means suffers from a lack of imagination.”

Oscar Wilde

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“I don’t want to be a product of my environment. I want my environment to be a product of me.”

The Departed

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Creativity starts when you cut a zero off the budget”

Jamie Learner

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man who does not make mistakes, does not make anything…”

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You learn the rules of the game and then play it better than anyone else”

Albert Einstein

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity; an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty”

Winston Churchill

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“One day life will flash before your eyes. Make sure its worth watching”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Intelligence without ambition is a bird without wings”

Dalí

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Be a slave to yourself today, or be a slave to others tomorrrow”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Success is not the key to happiness, but happiness is the key to success”

Anon

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“A man’s worth is no greater than the worth of his ambitions”

Marcus Aurelius

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“Striving for success without hard work is like trying to harvest where you haven’t planted”

David Bly

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become a villian”

The Dark Knight

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“..I think that if they took all the porn off of the internet, there would be one site left; and it would be called: ‘BRING BACK THE PORN’”

Dr Cox.

————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————–

“History is written by the victors”

Winston Churchill

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Sugru

WTF is Sugru? (What the Flip is Sugru?)

Here are some of my own uses of Sugru.

Fixing Apple Chargers

 

Making a heatproof handle for my (badly-designed) saucepan.

#TopTED

ON CREATIVITY…

Joshua Prince-Ramus: Designing the Seattle Central Library

The first TED talk I ever watched completely changed how I thought about architecture, it was a breath of fresh air to see a different perspective from what I was being taught. Further reading on the ‘Office for Metropolitan Architecture’ and briefly working for them as an intern, this talk shifted both my thinking and my career in a different direction. When I initiated TEDxGoodenoughCollege, I got a complete shock when Joshua and his students from Columbia University were visiting London and wanted to attend our TEDx event. Both him and his students were awesome!

Chris Bangle: Great cars are Art

In this talk, Chris discusses the role of the designer and of the engineer. When solving problems, he draws from his experience at BMW that designers must go first and engineers proceed after. This is to say that designers are better at figuring out what the problem is, and engineers are better at finding a solution when they know what the problem is. When reversed, the system fails as engineers without a problem to solve result in them failing to do anything. I have found that many people understand what they do, but rarely understand what other people do. This leads to them undervaluing others importance while believing they are the core genius of the team. Designers, engineers and developers all believe they are the core key member of any project. In a team consisting of multiple mindsets, each with the insight to understand the method of thinking of others provides far more potential to innovate better and faster.