“It is our habit of trade, idea-sharing and specialization that has created the collective brain which set human living standards on a rising trend. This, he says, ‘holds out hope that the human race will prosper mightily in the years ahead — because ideas are having sex with each other as never before.’”

It reminded me of something:

1. It’s all about sharing and the little ideas
2. Matt Pyke and Universal Everything
3. RSAnimate

But like I mentioned above, Hyper Island is more than just a school. I will show a few examples, but I can’t mention all of it.

Hyper Island in a Nutshell

Of course this little animated introduction to Hyper Island was made by a former student.

Core education principles

Via the polish webesteem magazine I found the 10 Core education principles for Hyper Island as seen by Jonathan Briggs, one of the school founders:

1. Make the learners responsible for their own learning. Learn in groups. Provide resources, support, encouragement and “scaffolding” for learners.
2. Build learning around a series of large realistic projects in which groups construct solutions to sizeable problems.
3. Bring in industry, academic and international experts to stimulate the learners. Use experts from a wide range of disciplines including some from outside the core curriculum areas (such as architects, town planners and industrial designers) to illustrate how things are done elsewhere.
4. Make technology transparent. Immerse the students in a technology rich environment. Teach general IT principles and expect students to master tools and techniques on their own but with the support of structured assignments.
5. Encourage the formation of a learning network in which students help each other and become confident experts and colleagues. Help develop problem solving strategies and research techniques. Encourage contact between students from different year groups and between students and lecturers on an ongoing basis.
6. Develop critical skills by promoting criticism and review of each other’s work. Explore quality, ethical, business and social values through discussion of the impact of projects on individuals, communities and industries.
7. Give students the main responsibility for the marketing, promotion and reputation of the School. Build confident, effective communicators through regular presentations and feedback.
8. Link studying at the School to a period of professional practice in industry. Maintain the learner network during this Internship and after graduation.
9. Set high standards for written, examination and creative work and provide feedback, enabling students to learn from mistakes and to improve work. Establish clear learning objectives for each module or project and develop clear criteria for all assessment.
10. Review and evolve the education to reflect changing industry, technology and business needs. Involve students, graduates and lectures in the development of the course.

Impressive.

Communication

Twitter, Facebook, or Blog, they use it all. And in a perfect way. Their communication is brilliant. What I really love is that they present the students’ works everywhere (like here). And they even let the students represent the school everywhere. They are touring through the world to recrute new students.

The Students

The attendees of Hyper Island have a tradition to present themselves in special way. For example XV, a student directory: “This is the student directory of the 15th Chapter.  It is a promotion site for us, the students.”

Or take a look at other sites of the so called crews: for example crew9, crew10, or crew11

Cloudania

One of the most impressive things is Cloudania. The graduates of the Interactive Art Direction of Hyper Island 2010 created their own nation in order to stay in contact and to still be together after their graduation.

I could write a lot about Cloudania and explain what I love about it. But I think if you take a look at their website with all the lovely details you get the point.

The best way is to take a look at Hyper Island and Cloudania yourself, get lost into their brilliant creative and inspirational world. (By the way, did you get the point: They called a school Hyper Island and the network to stay in contact afterwards Cloudania – a fictive nation; I just love it!) I would apply for a visa if I could, and I will definitively visit the school one day.

1. d.school | Stanford Institute of Design
2. d.school | Hasso-Plattner-Institut Potsdam
3. A creative wall

I have been working for the same project for the last years. It was called ePUSH. Basically we’ve been working on making the university more efficient, more enjoyable, more futuristic.

This year the project ePUSH ended and Ole, Sebastian and me were asked to make a final project with the target to outline the idea behind the whole thing. It should be less a report or documentation, more an overview of what we’ve been doing and the sense of ePUSH. We worked together with some others, e.g. Sebastian Reuser and Christian Schauff.

So, we made a video, a short trailer, called true fiction. It shall give an insight into the current state of the university and a glimpse of the future, how it could look like.

I’m sorry that the narration is German but I think you get the point anyways:

Please give me and my fellows some feedback, tell me what you think. Thanks!

1. Press Pause Play
2. What’s going on?
3. The Kleptones “Uptime/Downtime”

Photo of flickr user Max Klingensmith under cc-license

So, what did you learn in the last time? Did you get some advices from somebody else? From people more experience than you? From somebody more professional?

Well, sometimes wiser men or women can give you some advices that move you. Like the two videos below. The one is from a wise british man. Stephen Fry, an actor, writer, journalist, comedian, television presenter, film director…

He talks about so many different things: technology, education, interesting people or travelling. And it’s surprisingly brilliant what he says. Thanks to Kai, I found this amazing interview. Maybe there are no groundbreaking new ideas or thoughts within the 30 minutes BUT that this man puts all the things into 30 minutes is worth watching it.

And Ian Bach, a designer from London, who I met for breakfast in London last weekend, stumbled upon a video of 99%. They also came up with basically the same idea: “If I Knew Then What I Know Now – Advice for Young Creatives“, that’s the title of their video.

It is very similar to the video above but it goes more into the creative direction. Different people from creative agencies, projects, blogs were asked to give advices to future creatives. Great.

I reported about the project Humble Pied about half a year ago. Which is basically the same too. Mig Reyes asks creatives what advices would they give a future designer, someone who is looking for a creative career. But Mig uploads a video every once in a while, so this is an ongoing project and if you are looking for some advices or inspiration go to Humble Pied, subscribe to it and learn.

All these things are reasons why I love the web. You can get inspired and taught by different people so easily.

1. Humble Pied
2. The Creators Project London – audiovisually
3. Scale: furniture/architecture/society

“While nobody was paying attention, food quietly assumed the place in youth culture that used to be occupied by rock ‘n’ roll — individual, fierce and intensely political, communal yet congenial to aesthetic extremes: embracing veganism or learning to butcher a cow; eating tofu or head cheese, bean sprouts or pigs’ ears.” via latimes.com

In my opinion you can change the quote into the following:

“While nobody was paying attention, design quietly assumed the place in youth culture that used to be occupied by rock ‘n’ roll — individual, fierce and intensely political, communal yet congenial to aesthetic extremes: embracing illustration or learning to cut a video; creating a typeface or to design a poster, website or some furniture.”

You see, it fits perfectly. No wonder, I think since the year dot people want to live up their dreams. And art, design, food, music, or sports are usually the passions of people. I rarely see someone who loves suing others or have the urge to drive the bus. There are jobs where people want to fulfill their raging passion for something. And more and more people try to fulfill their dreams in creative fields. And I add the culinary arts to the creative fields of course.

The Borough Market is a perfect example for these developments. Many of the people working on the market were not older than 30. They sell their self produced organic rapeseed oil or they performed magic in the form of bread, olive oil, pastries, cheese, and and…

You can see that these people live their passion. When you talk to these people their eyes shine and if you show real interest their faces change into one big smile. Similar to designers when you talk to them about their works.

Some people criticize the trend of food passion within the younger generations. But I can’t unterstand it. It’s great to see people sharing the passion of consuming a bowl of fresh pasta and a glass of a good red wine. Nothing is as social as a good dinner. AND like the phrase says: “The way to a man’s heart is through his stomach.” In German the quote is much better, it is not reduced to men: “Liebe geht durch den Magen”.

I love food. I love drinks. I love culinary art. And just like Johannes says: “I really enjoy observing how our approach to food is changing slowly but fundamentally.”

On my flickr account you can see some more pictures of the Borough Market in London.

1. re:publica 2010
2. Lemonade – Make something, make yourself into something
3. What’s going on?

Photo by Chris Devers under cc-license

In the last post, I mentioned that I will go to London on thursday (until sunday). Because of the Creators Project, I already have plans for friday night and the whole saturday. But I have spare time the whole thursday, friday and sunday. And now I need to plan my trip. It is my first trip to London and Great Britain. Besides my meet-up with Philipp, who moved to London a few weeks ago, on thursday night I have only a few ideas of things I have to see.

The Design Museum is definitively a must-see for me. I am looking forward to see the museum for years now. But I am thinking about making the Design Museum trip on sunday because of the tour about Sustainable Futures I can attend.

And I am happy that I can finally go shopping at Uniqlo again. In New York, I often went to Uniqlo, it’s like a better H&M from Japan!

AND I have a few ideas what can be excepted by my personally signed edition of London Design Guide. I got the book last year and I am excited to use it.

I will also print out every map of the Design Detail Trail.

Sometimes, when I have a connection to WLAN, I will also use the London Unlike City Guide app for my iPhone.

Another idea is to visit the house of the RSA – Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. But I don’t know if I can just stop by and say hello. Maybe I will write them an email.

BUT besides this, what are the must-sees in London? I want to see good stores, good architecture, good galleries and all the stuff I can see within two and a half days. Can you suggest me some good stuff?

Hopefully, I have the same opinion afterwards.

1. The Creators Project conquered London
2. The Creators Project London – audiovisually
3. Matt Pyke and Universal Everything

- speechless -

via supersoon, thanks for sharing!

1. OFFF Paris 2010
2. Man’s best friend
3. Imagination

Designer/architect/teacher Miki Iwasaki is a wise man. He is the owner of mi-workshop, an archtitecture and design studio in San Diego, California, and part of The Bakery, a design collective and collaborative creative space in San Diego. What I like about him is a personified combination of a hands-on man and a thoughtful, highly-creative character.

“His curiosity in making and building things eventually led him to pursue a career in architecture . [...] Throughout his academic and early professional years, Miki remained dedicated to his own art projects and furniture design, working late nights and weekends to develop and test his latest ideas. Miki’s interests and skills constantly expand as he pushes himself to explore new materials and methods.” via mi-workshop.com

The following video is a design documentary about Miki Iwasaki and his ideas, attitude, and wisdom, directed by filmmaker Jeffrey Durkin. Iwasaki explains the connection between furniture, architecture and life (like the title says). He says so much truths about IKEA, idea-realization and much more. And all within nine minutes.

I found the video via ShareSomeCandy

1. Peter Raacke, the pope of cardboard furniture
2. A(Plus) Chair
3. Change?

I knew I would like the short documentation after Johannes reported about it. When he says it’s inspiring, it is inspiring. And the documentation Lemonade about people taking their chances although they were just disappointed is just fantastic. You can watch it here completely. And really, watch it!

“What do people who were once paid to be creative for a living do when they’re laid off? They get creative with their own lives. Lemonade is an inspirational film about 16 advertising professionals who lost their jobs and found their calling, encouraging people to listen to that little voice inside their head that asks, “What if?”” (via lemondemovie.com)

Are you wondering about the title? I am not.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

I don’t know where the saying originally comes from but I heard it at first at school where we read the novel “Make Lemonade” by Virginia Euwer Wolff. I can imagine it is pretty much self explaining.

For me this film is really inspiring and gives hope and motivation. In less than a year I will be done with my school and will go out there into “the wild”. I still have no clue what exactly I am going to do and many people in my circle of friends and acquaintances also just got laid off or have to do part time job. But most if the time I am just excited and don’t see the dangers and hurdles. I see chances, challenges and ways to do what I want to do.

Two phrases in the documentary really got me:

“The thing that is the most dangerous, is to NOT do anything. Make something, make yourself into something!”

&

“Don’t be the person who is out there looking for a job, be the person who is out there doing something interesting.”

And now take yourself an hour and watch it, get motivated and do something (even if you have a job).

1. Press Pause Play
2. #walkingtoworktoday – first résumé
3. Humble Pied

Hey folks, you might ask yourself what is going on with Better Taste Than Sorry? After the relaunch there were some posts and for several weeks it got quiet here. I am sorry, but there is a lot going on in my life currently. I will name it now. Most of the things have to do with some real life projects, some are digital and some are both. In total they are all fun, take a lot of time and most of the things could be interesting for you as well.

Kitchen Guerilla

You remember the awesome cooking events, right? I am supporting the guys with some digital work. We make it bigger, brighter and better.

Tidenhub

There is a new thing coming to Hamburg, called Tidenhub. Tidenhub is the German word for the difference between high and low tide, between ebb and flow. I won’t say what exactly Tidenhub will be like but you can trust me when I say it will be great.

Cognitive Cities Conference

I am also part of the organization team for the Cognitive Cities Conference.

“The Cognitive Cities Conference wants to pick up the vibrant global conversation about the future of cities and bring it to Germany. By bringing bright minds with different perspectives together, it is our ambition to enable not only an in-depth exchange about the current state of affairs, but also to foster new projects.”

So save the date: Oct 2-3 2010, in Cologne.

Nexthamburg

Last week I went to the third session of the project Nexthamburg. It was really really cool. Nexthamburg is a think tank of people who want to influence the urban development of Hamburg. Do you see the connection to Cognitive Cities? Right, awesome. So, last week we created some ideas for the city center of Hamburg, but we didn’t just collect ideas. We did some serious crafting. We builded little models of how we want the city center to look in 2020. Some of the ideas were: free WLAN in the whole city, more use of the urban garden “Planten & Bloomen”, creating a high line like in NY and saving the creative and alternative parts of Hamburg. I loved the ideas and also the work. Below you can find some visual impressions.

True Fiction

For my university, I was working on a project. I can’t tell a lot about it. But the result is pretty overwhelming. I think within the next two weeks I can show you some more. But I can say that cutting film is not my favorite job.

St. Pauli Webworker Lunch

For several weeks now, we try to meet once a week and have a lunch together. We? We are several people who work in the neighborhood of St. Pauli/Schanze in Hamburg. Most of us got something to do with the web, either they are coder, social media people, builded their own art network, or something else. It basically started after the ignite, where we wanted to keep in touch with each other. So far following people attended: Sven, Stefan & Stefan, Andreas, Max, Christian, Arne, Jonas, Florian, Julian (I don’t have any idea why we are just male for now). And we are meeting again this friday.

Better Taste Than Sorry

You may be interested in what the future of my blog will look like. Basically I can say so much that there is not nothing going on right now. In fact there is a lot going on right now. I am in contact with some people for interviews, which will fit perfectly into the new direction of Better Taste Than Sorry. If we are lucky, the first interview could be published this week. And you may have found the little feature on the upper right corner. The feature is in a beta status, it will be developed in the next time (thanks to Jan once again).

What else?

I am currently in preparation for my diploma. And I would like to combine my “professional” topic education with my “passion” design. I will see what the future brings but you can be sure that you will hear about it as soon as any decisions are made.

And now photos of the Nexthamburg session:

1. Ignite – Hamburg is set on fire
2. Form follows function
3. re:publica 2010