Latest / Good Morning From The Chicken Coop! / Season 2 - Episode 358 - The white space

Transcript

Season 2 - Episode 358 - The white space · Good Morning From The Chicken Coop!

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  Welcome to the Good Morning From the Chicken Coop Podcast with
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  Kim Johnson, your creative strategist and mastermind set
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  coach. Filled with inspiration,
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  distinctions, perspectives, and possibilities, we help you to
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  cultivate a mindset that leads you to create the best version
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  of yourself you could ever imagine.
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  Join Kim every morning from one of her favorite happy places,
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  her chicken coop along with all her chickens.
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  Hey everybody, good morning from the chicken coop.
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  So today we're talking about design and white space.
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  You might be saying what the heck does this have to do with
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  motivation and feeling good or different ideas and perspective?
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  Well, in design there is a concept of having white space
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  where your eye can rest, where you can see nothing so to speak,
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  where there's just space because it allows something else to jump
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  out. And when you're working with
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  typography and photos and trying to catch people's attention,
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  simplicity is often really, really useful.
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  And years ago, many years ago when I went to design school,
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  this was 1 concept that I had a really hard time learning
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  because I was so into the vibrant colors.
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  I was so into filling everything that I could in A-frame of a
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  picture or a painting with all this wildness.
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  And I'll be honest, it was one of the harder classes that I've
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  ever had to deal with in composition when they were
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  talking about use the use of white space and it really
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  tripped me up. So Fast forward.
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  I had to learn it over and over and over and over.
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  Like many lessons in life, we have to learn them over and over
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  and over and over. And this use of white space
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  really became something in my world that I struggled with
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  because I kept going back to what I knew and what I knew was
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  fine. But it wasn't on trend for where
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  we were headed. It wasn't when we were doing
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  design work in a studio that I used to own, and it was.
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  You had to really pay attention to this piece, so I had to keep
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  changing my perspective over and over and over, and it was
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  annoying, but eventually I got the gist of it.
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  Eventually I started taking simpler pictures.
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  Eventually I started designing in simpler ways with text and
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  with just using white space, and it really became something that
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  I enjoy. And now I think I've probably
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  gone to the other end of the spectrum based around the fact
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  that I studied mindfulness. And mindfulness is all about
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  simplicity and all about, you know, taking that, stripping
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  away the chaos, stripping away everything that doesn't work in
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  the in the equation so that you can get back to a state of
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  simplicity. Part of what I enjoy most of all
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  about what I get to do with you guys is keeping the concept
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  simple, short to the point so that you guys can make them
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  work. And you know, the chickens
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  always make me. They consistently remind me of
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  how things. I just need to be simple.
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  They're simple creatures and they are super smart, contrary
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  to what people think, but they are very simple and when things
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  are done the right way and then done the simple way, they
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  respond and they love it. Right now they are all engaged
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  in digging about pumpkins because this morning they're
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  having a feast of all the pumpkins that were out for
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  decorations and now they're all chunked up and they are just
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  pigging out on them. So that's why it's kind of quiet
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  out here this morning because they've all got pumpkin face.
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  I should take some pictures and put it up so everybody can see
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  it. But anyway, back to this theory
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  of simplicity. So as we are working on this
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  place of simplicity in our in our minds and we are trying to
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  create this white space, if you will, for ourselves in
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  mindfulness, this comes into looking at where those points
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  on. And we've talked about purging
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  before, but we've never purging our stuff.
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  But really I want to talk today about creating simplicity in
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  your mind. What's the simplest way to go
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  from point A to point B? How do you make things so simple
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  for yourself that it doesn't have to create those
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  aggravation? So it's a different perspective
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  of looking at something. Because remember, the more
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  perspectives that you can create, the more likely you are
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  to get a better outcome because you've got different
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  perspectives of doing it. So start to look at how you can
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  create more white space, that simplicity, that clean space,
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  not just in your surroundings but in your head.
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  So for me that will come into simplifying lists, simplifying
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  things that I have to get done instead of having just a bunch
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  of things with like today, a perfect example, I had to do a
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  bunch of errands. So I sat down and I actually
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  mapped out how I wanted to drive the route to keep it as simple
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  as possible. So I didn't feel like I was
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  running around everywhere even though I had to go to multiple
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  stores. That helps, it creates
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  simplicity. One, don't complicate things
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  that you don't need to complicate.
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  Most of the time, we make things way more complicated than they
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  need to be, especially when it comes to dealing with the
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  holidays. So look at How can you make this
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  holiday season simpler for yourself?
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  How can you make it so that you don't feel overwhelmed by it,
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  and keep it clean and tight and easy so you don't feel
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  overwhelmed by it? If that means doing a little bit
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  more shopping online, don't feel bad about it.
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  If it's going to keep you sane, if it means giving fewer gifts,
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  don't feel bad about it. Simply say this is not a time
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  where I think it's going to be good for me to exchange.
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  Be honest with people. If you feel that way and you're
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  lamenting giving gifts, talk about it.
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  Or keep it simple and just do something that people love.
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  Maybe just keep the gifts really, really simple and really
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  inexpensive. Cook for somebody.
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  Do something that means something to them as opposed to
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  spending money on it and putting yourself into debt over it.
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  But in any event, this is all about simplicity and creating
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  white space in your head. So work on that, see where those
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  hang ups are and try to figure out how to get rid of all that
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  clutter. I hope you guys have a very
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  blessed day and I will see you all tomorrow.
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  Bye.