Throwing Away Ideas
November 25th, 2008Yesterday I gave Crayola some hate for releasing simulated crayons. Today, I stumbled upon the Crayola Glow Station, which I love for two reasons:
- It gives kids the ability to create art at a new time (night) and in a new place (the dark).
- More important, the art is temporary, lasting only a few minutes before it fades.
For time and place, changing your environment is a great way to stimulate creativity. And why is temporary art a good thing? It’s too easy to get attached to our ideas, too easy to get stuck, failing to recognize that there is always another idea right around the corner. The Glow Station inherently solves that problem. It reminds me of a similar product that we bought for our kids a while back: Buddha Boards. They essentially do the same thing, except with water instead of light. I love their philosophy:
Buddha Board is based on the Zen concept of living in the moment. You simply paint on the surface with water and your creation will come to life in a bold design. Then, as the water slowly evaporates, your art will magically disappear leaving you with a clean slate and a clean mind - ready to create a whole new masterpiece.
Nice. That’s so, um, Zen.
And for you, Crayola, you have redeemed yourself. What other cool stuff do you have?
