Blog/Music, design and improvisation
I highly recommend viewing this clip of Bill Evans on creativity and self-teaching that was taken from a 1966 documentary entitled The Universal Mind of Bill Evans. In the clip, the brilliantly original jazz pianist has an intense conversation with his composer brother, Harry, on the nature of creativity in jazz. It’s amazing how his lessons on improvisation within musical frameworks applies to the craft of graphic design.
On a related note, in this session from Webstock 08, Liz Danzico explores what it means to design in the age of frameworks and investigates their governing principles – learning from existing models as diverse as jazz music and oral cultures. Emphasis has shifted from editor to reader, stories have gone from individual to social, people are relying on patterns rather than interfaces. But as we move from designing artifacts to designing systems, are there new guidelines at work? We want users to be able to control their own experiences, but how do we ensure they have the right tools to do so?
