Thursday, May 21, 2009

creativity in ruled bursts

jessica hagy,
Ever have a friend who thinks quantitatively, with a razor wit? That MBA with a wildly creative flair? Who draws Venn diagrams on cocktail napkins with a karma outlook?

Me, neither.

Then I learned about Jessica Hagy, a writer and illustrator who writes insights in diagrams on index cards .... just something she publishes while the coffee brews.

A walking Visio, Hagy has the unique talent of organizing and categorizing "random" subjects and theories, and identifying their commonalities.

Thanks to Whitney Hess at RedUX DC for introducing me to Hagy's site, thisisindexed.com.

This is another example of finding a brilliant idea just as it's being created, or in my case, two years later. Someone once told me, don't worry about who got the cherry, if you're the one holding the sundae. Give me that cocktail napkin and let me see if I can draw that ...

2 comments:

Potomac Secret Agent said...

Nice Post Tom!

I think we all know folks like this. I wish I had the ability to organize my thoughts and express them as simply and clearly.

Is it a gift, a personality trait or learned skill? Your thoughts?

PotomacSecretAgent

Tom Sakell said...

Me? I think she's a genius. I'm sure she has a lot of her scribbled cocktail napkins in the trash as rough drafts, but she has bountiful portfolio of work that makes you think.

I was talking with someone who earned a Master's degree in Irish Literature. How do you apply what you learned in Ireland, I asked him. The experience taught me how to open my mind, and taught me to re-examine the ways I think.

Looks like Ms. Hagy has her Master's!