Nailed it

“It is tempting, if the only tool you have is a hammer, to treat everything as if it were a nail.”

Abraham Maslow in ‘The Psychology of Science’ (1966)

Often quoted as “To a man with a hammer, everything looks like a nail.” It captures perfectly how our thinking can be narrowed by assumptions and habit, and how these limit creativity/innovation.

That’s why it’s vital to check what assumptions are built into your goal (be it solving a problem or seizing an opportunity) before you start generating ideas.

A good example of quote distortion

Curves

Curves are so emotional.
– Piet Mondrian

Composition No. 6

I’m back in Sussex. In this most wonderful of counties, the hills are sexy with chalk curves. Considering Dutch abstract painter Piet Mondrian is best known for his hard-edged rectilinear pictures, it’s good to know he appreciated the resonance of a curve.

Round and curved architecture is compelling. I keep noticing this building in Morden, South London for that reason…

Merton civic centre

And this kind of thing is resonant…

Diego Velázquez – The Rokeby Venus (1647-51)

So enjoy curves today as they are the shape of Nature and organic emotion.