:: The Projector

by Carole Guevin

Projector:

1. an apparatus for projecting films or slides onto a surface

2. somebody who devises a project.

Imagination:

1. the art or power of forming a mental image of something not present to the senses or never before wholly perceived in reality.

2. creative ability, resourcefulness, inventiveness.

3. expression of ideas through imagery.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Possibly the greatest asset of a designer is the Projector! The metaphorical word for Imagination that leads to explore the meanders of human creativity.

How formidable is that tool? The force of one’s imagination brought upon us some of the greatest achievements of humankind. From complex Antiquity architectural buildings to landing on the moon to the rise and soar of the internet and its interactive power which in turn gave birth to (a) new media to the Mona Lisa and Da Vinci flying machines to the psychedelic Warhol paintings that render the pulse of an era to the explosion of fashion design applied to everyday wear like jeans to the writings of great poets and playwrights to film makers not forsaking the breakthroughs of Galileo, Newton and Einstein and so many others! Whew… the list could go on an on but you get the idea.

Imagination equals exploring possibilities. Unknown possibilities that is.

From intangible to tangible, from similar interests to many diverse interests, each and every one of is making use of the Projector. How so? By bringing forth new ways of sharing ideas and adding to the agora knowledge of the world.

Why is that?

The projector is used in all walks of human endeavors. Anyone exploring possibilities is interweaved with others in very different fields of interest (and expertise). Within this discourse, I will refer to it within the context of creative design.

The inner place for the projector to start working is the blank space. The situation of one facing the projecting surface called the starting place. The go position. The initialization moment. The pre-process of initial rendition. The absolute empty state.

Assume there is an assignment or a yearning to express. How to start is perhaps the most challenging step. It may even be uncomfortable or intimidating but operators are filled with vision, applying their intelligence to sparkle ideas and make them work upon their wishes or insights.

Sometimes the efforts amounts to minuscule results sometimes, to extraordinary ones… The most important thing to retain, is that through these problem-solving efforts, emerges the concept.

A concept, by definition is something conceived in the mind. So this blank space is the canvas. Size of it (or scope of project) is not really relevant. The pressure of the not_as_yet_filled_space can be daunting.

One should stand humbled by taking into account what others have done before. Most importantly be aware of the unknown, translate this as the non tackled possibilities one wants to capture on the projector… the inner ultimatum of having to do something with a sense of temporary irrelevancy, powerlessness, self-doubt and impeding self-doom by fear of nothing popping up.

Tension vs Pressure

TENSION is the real enemy of creation. Take an elastic band, pull it – and depending on size – you kind of know how far you can do so. All along knowing if stretched to far or over its limits, it will break and snap pretty sharply.

Examples of tension building situations? Break down of communication, mistrust, negative criticism, scorn, attitude, ego games, and sudden change of deadlines, jealousy, internal power wars, unreasonable demands and/or corrections.

Tension exerted on our creative center is absolutely counter-productive and hinders, stalls and dims out the imagination. It is like trying to use the projector without the power supply. It breaks our spirit.

Whereas PRESSURE is the mother of all inventions! Liken it to extracting the juice from a lemon. You need to press it quite hard depending on ripeness… yet not crush it. You may need to exact the pressure more than once to collect all the juice.

These pressures are most likely to come from outside the operating scope of the projector: deadlines, boss or client expectations, and constraints of the project or media.

Some see and I disagree completely, that pressures should be absent or be avoided at all costs. Historically, all things great were brought forth under immense contextual pressures. The first example that comes to my mind is Michel Angelo’s Sistine Chapel masterpiece.

Michel Angelo was a sculptor. Though sculptors need sketching abilities huh… it doesn’t make them painters. The goal was to paint the Chapel concave ceilings, which in fact were requiring more the skills of 3D vision than that of a painter working on a 2D canvas. The story reveals that he first went in hiding and then, accepts a task he didn’t think he was up to.

So pressures are inherent to any project but they do, in the end produce juice, ahum, and results. Perhaps just as an healthy component of a bigger recipe! Depending on one’s professional level of expertise, curiosity and craftsmanship, pressures are the constraints under which we have to design.

He overcame the pressures and delivered one of the greatest painted fresco. Visitors are known to faint, overtaken by visual ecstasy. Now, we might not get our boss or client to faint of ecstasy over our work but setting up the right environment to use the pressures will provide our extracting the best of our talent.

Tension makes us snap and break and renders us unproductive. Pressure pushes us to go further, leading us to uncharted territories and the mining of our talent, producing new projects and why not? Maybe a masterpiece that will be passed on from generation to generation.

Published in Creative Behavior Magazine - May 2003

Written by Carole Guevin for Rough Magazine – April 15, 2003

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