The Center for Graphic Facilitation

Custom-Printed Graph Paper

from Kevin Kelly's Cool Tools:

Free Online Graph Paper / Grid Paper PDFs

OK, so I wanted to sit down and work out a grand plan for my new garden, so I figure a pencil and some graph paper is the way forward.

 

Roadstrips

In researching a recent job––creating a graphic novel for Swiss bankers(!?)––I visited the local brainy comic guy near Carnegie Mellon University.

He turned me on to the collection of American artists, who illustrated their childhood memories and adult-oriented antecdotes, illuminate the great American roadtrip, titled Roadstrips.

The essayists and artists comprise a veritable Who's Who of American comics and an excellent primer on delievering powerful and whimsical visual narratives through storyboards.

Together, the stories reveal the bizarre geographies and snarled personal self images for every flavor of American: a Mexican-American punk rocker; an African-American working in an international youth hostel; a Phillipino-American kid fretting over nuclear war; a liberal Jew raising a family in Chicago; or a whitebread redneck turned yuppie who is torn between Seattle and New York.

On Tech Nation, Dr. Moira Gunn speaks with professional cartoonists Pete Friedrich, Keith Knight and Lloyd Dangle on the technology and techniques involved to create "Roadstrips...A Graphic Journey Across America." [hear podcast]

The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind

This issue of Time offers great research and reference to send to colleagues and clients on the need to incorporate creativity into their work environment and working styles. Great pieces on the dangers of multi-tasking, preventing Alzheimer's, the use of Ritalin for treating ADHA, and more on the secrets of the creative mind.

The Hidden Secrets of the Creative Mind
Innovation requires no special thought processes, says an expert. Creative people just work harder at it.

What is creativity? Where does it come from?

The workings of the creative mind have been subjected to intense scrutiny over the past 25 years by an army of researchers in psychology, sociology, anthropology and neuroscience.

But no one has a better overview of this mysterious mental process than Washington University psychologist R. Keith Sawyer, author of the new book Explaining Creativity: The Science of Human Innovation (Oxford; 336 pages). He's working on a version for the lay reader, due out in 2007 from Basic Books. In an interview with Francine Russo, Sawyer shares some of his findings and suggests ways in which we can enhance our creativity not just in art, science or business but in everyday life.

Posted on Time.com | Sunday, Jan. 08, 2006

Snapz Pro X 2

I asked the founder of PixelCorps, Alex Lindsay, what his organization uses to create their very personal and useful software tutorials.

Snapz Pro X 2 allows you to effortlessly record anything on your screen, saving it as a QuickTime® movie or screenshot that can be emailed, put up on the web, or passed around however you please.

Snapz Pro X 2.0 costs $69. Upgrades from Snapz Pro X 1.0 w/ movie capture are $20.

Why take a static screenshot when Snapz Pro X 2 makes creating a movie just as easy? Snapz Pro X 2 does that, and so much more -- what a difference a version makes! Download a free demo version from our web site today or check out the demo movies we've created and see for yourself.

Graphic Facilitators! Get on the map!

Add yourself! | See Global Map

As the community of graphic facilitators continue to grow and expand, we want to make sure that the community can see itself.

If you are a graphic facilitator-- whether as an independent or working inside an organization, school or business-- make sure and register with us.

It is free and easy.

Then, make sure and get on the global map.

Personal Virtual Dashboard Controls: Yahoo Widgets

Besides hair sprouting where it shouldn't, if you are a truly a werewolf, how do you know if a full moon is coming?

Or even what day it is? Or who needs what from you by when? Or when Mariah Carey's new groundbreaking single is coming out?

What do you use to manage the dataflows in your busy little life?

If you haven't discovered them already, try Yahoo Widgets.

The Next Generation of Digital Craftsmen

Over 500 Years ago, craftsmen rarely worked for a company. They were contracted for a period time and then moved on to the next contract. To remain competitive in such an atmosphere, many formed “guilds” or organizations designed to provide networking, ongoing training, standards, certification, and even some social services among their members. Kings did not post jobs in the classifieds to find craftsmen, they contacted guilds who did not compel the employers to hire their members but simply were the only ones who could produce the work.

As “Chief Architect” of PixelCorps, Alex Lindsay merges the very old idea of a guild system made up of independent craftsman with the demands of mastering new and emerging media. PixelCorps serves as a guild for the next generation of craftsmen--digital craftsmen.