My Creative Journey to ‘creativity’ in terms of domain

There are different approaches to ‘creativity’ which discussed in terms of the individual. The UK government approaches in that perspective that creativity is the sum of “those activities which have their origin in individual creativity, skill, and talent and which have a potential for wealth and job creation through the generation and exploitation of intellectual property”.(DCMS, 2001) However, here I want to explore it in the social process.

Normally, when people think creative, genius come up in the mind and think that genius is born with talents. However, according to Weisberg (1993), well known for a genius generally such as Picasso, Mozart and others reached the status of geniuses thanks to logical progressions, memory training, opportunity and hard work.( Weisberg (1993) Creativity: Beyond the myth of genius. NY: WH Freeman. Cited in Conductive Collaborative Economy deck) Csikszentmihalyi(1996) stated that genius can be said both creative and brilliant and creative person changes culture in some important way. He mentioned “making a creative contribution without being brilliant or personally creative is perfectly possible”(Csikszentmihalyi,1996: 27) In this sense, Teresa Amabile who proposed a consensual definition of creativity: “a product is creative when experts in the domain agree it is creative, meaning that the appropriateness is defined by social groups, and it’s culturally and historically determined.”(Amabile T., Social Psychology of Creativity, NY Springer-Verlag, 1983) As far as I understand, any novelty( and valuable thing) needs to a specific area to belong to and be recognized based on accumulated knowledge. And experts in that area see its value and pick it up as a meaningful work among many works. They play a gatekeeper role. Csikszentmihalyi(1996: 28) stated “It could be argued that Galileo started experimental physics and that Freud carved psychoanalysis out of the existing domain of neuropathology. But if Galileo and Freud had not been able to enlist followers who came together in distinct fields to further their respective domains, their ideas would have had much less of an impact or none at all.”

In other words, creativity has to earn recognition of a domain. Otherwise, it is difficult to maintain its work. Conversely, domain gives appreciation then the name is on the list. Back to current gender issue in Creative Industries represented in #MeToo, the terrible and disgusting Korean version of #MeToo has started from 2016 is continuously going on and big names in literature, the play, music and so on turned out ugly criminals. The worst was a Korean film director Kim Ki-Duk reported that he faces multiple accusations of rape, assault and sexually predatory behaviour through the investigative documentary broadcasted in March.(The Guardian) He was a case discovered by western film domain. His films have won prizes at Cannes, Berlin, and Venice film festivals. I remember a Korean influential critic also has kept mentioning his work through the magazine. However, many talented females had to give up or disappear because of gatekeepers. How to crack this solid framework?

 

<Reference>
Department of Culture, Media and Sport (2001) Creative Industries Mapping Document 2001, 2nd edn. London: DCMS.
Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1996). Creativity: Flow and the psychology of discovery and invention. New York: Harper/Ccjllins
https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/mar/07/three-woman-accuse-korean-director-kim-ki-duk-rape-assault

My Creative Journey to Personal Development Plan

 

In this week, I am being punished by myself. I am cramming for writing blogs at my room in such a nice weather. My friends went to Kew Garden after lunch where I love, however, I was typing wearing a sunglass to avoid a strong sunlight. Ridiculous!L Who made this to me. I did!

I have procrastination issues. In the company, we had a lot to do while getting calls constantly so it’s difficult to focus on the work really. If I didn’t write a replay immediately, it is easy to forget. Putting a memo to do a day on the computer screen is one of the good ways and it’s about the work and there are people around me to work with so it didn’t appear that much even I was struggling with this. However, a university is different. There is no one who feel upset and sorry except me. It relies on entirely student’s will to finish assignments and meet the deadline. I tend to do submit assginments in last minute. It’s thrilling when I once submitted 2 minute before the due. It is so risky if internet happened to disconnect! Worst thing is low quality. After submitting I found a lot of grammar mistake which is shameful for me.

While thinking of this issue, I saw this TED video. He breaks down how to work inside of procrastinators head. In my case, it’s true. When ‘panic monster’ is working and when there are due date and responsibility. The real issue is there when it comes to the issue which does not have due-date. This warns this issue could be dangerous to self-starter, entrepreneur, art freelancers’ carrier because it’s not happening anything until you’ve gone out and done the hard work. And when it comes to the Long-term procrastination such as personal things such as family, taking care of health outside of carrier can be a source of a huge amount of long-term unhappiness and regrets. I totally agreed with this.

Actually, I do not make new year resolutions anymore or buy diary because I know I would not do it. The resolution is about losing weight since I have worked for the company and I gained around 20kg. I felt so busy in the high-pressure environment. After work, I usually sleep all day and I don’t feel any energy to do others outside of works. As a result, the worst thing happened it that I chose to delay taking care of my health because it is easy. I think this is not mine. Generally, Korean company culture considers a commitment to an organization like working long at the office and waiting for a boss as an evaluation of employee instead of productivity or performance. However, now people start to talk about work-life balance but it is changing slowly but there is still a long way to go.

 

When I heard about the personal development plan, I think this can be a good opportunity that I have been worried about myself. ‘Personal Development Plan’ is to help the development of professional carrier based on self-analysis about strengths and weaknesses. If I have some weaknesses, then I set a goal to overcome by planning a series of some practical tasks which can be assessed and be measured. For example, if I recognize lack of social media skills, then decide the goal to be able to measure the degree to reach. After setting specific success criteria such as gathering 1000 followers a month, plan actions to achieve the goal “activate social media account 3 times a day and upload a posting in the morning” and document this. Lastly look this process and evaluate the process.

In the class, we talked about our weakness and strengths, someone says it, and I didn’t recognize. I heard things like this ‘until you make it, fake it’. This process gave some confidence and appease me because of the way to know how to change. I think I have a strong weapon in terms of a professional and personal journey. Look me and make a plan to cover or improve myself. Examine how it is going. I want to apply to my diet first. I am on a Ketogenic diet well known for low-carb diet since March. This is because suddenly I thought why I am here and what you do in this precious free time. Surely, I have to learn and equip new expertise, however, it is also important to look after myself which I cannot do in the office. If I saw Sugar documentary last year then I could start earlier. T_T I want to work on taking care of myself first to find energy by using personal development plan.

 

<Reference>

Urban, T(2016),  Tim Urban: Inside the mind of a master procrastinator,, available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arj7oStGLkU

MY creative journey to Agile Project Management.

agile adjective

UK   /ˈædʒ.aɪl/ US   /ˈædʒ.əl/

agile adjective (PHYSICALLY)

able to move your body quickly and easily:

Monkeys are very agile climbers.

You need to have agile fingers to do this kind of work.

(https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/agile)

Antonyms for agile
apathetic, depressed, dispirited, down, dull, ignorant, inactive, lazy

(http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/agile?s=t)

 

Honestly, I did not know this word well.  I think I met this word first during Design Thinking Module. It was talking about reaction about the noisy automatic window system and Alice mentioned the word. I searched dictionary to find the meaning of agile. However, this word is friendly now.
In 2010, Agile Project Management was launched from DSDM, Dynamic Systems Development Method(1944) which was usually applied in IT project. Because of the name itself, it can be understood as a way of management to make project done rapidly. However, it is just a part of AgilePM. It’s like a bulletproof management. However, I think this is mainly about how to communicate with inside and outside of the organization successfully and effectively.

 

 

from Sanjeev Gupta’s deck 

AgilePM’s philosophy is from that of DSDM.
“best business value emerges when projects are aligned to clear business goals, deliver frequently and involve the collaboration of motivated and empowered people”

 
This is achieved when all stakeholders can understand business vision and objectives and collaborate to deliver a fit solution and timescales depending on business priorities. And need to accept that the change is welcomed since it’s inevitable as an understanding of the solution grows over time. This philosophy is supported 8 principles: Focus on Business Need, Deliver on time, Collaborate, Never compromise Quality, Build incrementally from firm foundations, Develop Iteratively, Communicate Continuously and Clearly and Demonstrate Control.(The DSDM Agile Project Framework, 2014)

Looking at ‘Collaborate’ more, stakeholders and team members are fully empowered and involved based on shared understanding. Below are what teams need to do to achieve in terms of successful collaboration.
– Involve right stakeholders at the right time throughout the project
– Encourage proactive involvement from the business representatives
– Ensure that all team members are empowered to take decisions on behalf of those they represent
– Build one-team culture
– team must work together in a supportive manner to share ownership, increased understanding and greater productivity.(The DSDM Agile Project Framework, 2014)

As I studied Agile Project Management, at first I was curious about documenting. Recently, in the organization, there is some air from young people to think paperwork is old-fashioned. For example, we make a weekly report in every team. Some people think this job is just a paperwork and not meaningful so this is on the list as a wasteful work to dismiss when getting opinions from colleagues to innovate the organization. However, I think it is minimum requirements to share information and the proceed of several projects for a big company and organization among staff and leaders. Personally, it helps to review what I have done and think what should I do. However, this is importantly required to track the progress of the project even in Creative work. According to Agile PM, documenting lean and timely is necessary to communicate continuously and clearly.

Secondly, this reminds my team leader, Mr.Cho a lot. He was saying(nagging) a lot to team members such as “do documenting” “give me a paper when you think it’s done around 70%”. hates having a meeting without bringing and papers. Also, He is a ‘servantleader’ as an “active participant, rather than a passive bystander”. He works so hard that we had to work hard because it gives some motivation. Even though I was not afraid of doing a hard project because I know that our team member will back-up and team leader can manage it.

Lastly, I would like to follow the way especially by “refinement stage of Timeboxing”. Timebox can be said as a (small) task structure consisting of Kick-off – Investigation – Refinement – Consolidation – Close-Out. Refinement stage starts from the base such as enough understanding and having a plan after knowing risk where Kick-off and Investigation stages built. Refinement is carrying development and testing iteratively. In this stage, a review has to be done in order to complete the work and to make this happen, communication is required otherwise we fail to meet the needs. However, this happens a lot. Sometimes, at this stage, according to Agile PM, we need to put 60% of efforts on this however, we only put 10~20 % due to time-issue(strange or unreasonable things happen a lot….. )We expect A, but A- or A0 is fine. Sometimes we can see C or D at final report meeting from the agency. I think I need to call often and see face to face in the future. It’s not giving pressure. It’s a normal process to lead a project successfully. Not only managing, it has a good approach to make a project successfully by iterating and testing we learned in Lean and Design Thinking method.

 

source:https://www.agilebusiness.org/content/timeboxing

 

After finishing the journey to Agile Project Management, I think I can improve myself in terms of project management and enjoy to develop a project, especially at an executive stage after back to Seoul.

 

<reference>

DSDM Consortium, The DSDM Agile Project Framework(2014), available at: https://www.agilebusiness.org/resources/dsdm-handbooks/the-dsdm-agile-project-framework-2014-onwards

MY creative journey to DandAD #Londonisopen(on the road)

 

If you want to go fast, go alone, If you want to go far, go together.

-African proverb-

 

We can see that there are more inspring quotes about the importance of company in terms of travelling. It means it’s simply because very important. Above is frequently quoted at the work when I needed to write a message or announcement of divisions in Seoul Metropolitan Government and others are using a lot to emphasize a partnership because it represents well mayor’s philosophy – citizens are the mayor. It is a Cliché to me, however, I have to use it here too! because I experienced the power of it myself in this whole journey. Yeah~~ #MACE #MACE17 I must say before starting a story that they are so cool, smart, brilliant collaborative and surely creative!

It proceeded like art students normally do. We had to make an answer to the client’s needs. At first, the way to make something from a small lead was strange for me. I used to be as a client. After I experienced this, I want to say this journey it’s like to arrive a final destination where I want, when there are multiple layovers which is tricky and risky. It happen that I might lose my next flight or bag. There was no direct flight. “Don’t Jump to the conclusion” which I heard a lot. It happened frequently. For example, while visiting Oxford Street, I heard someone is talking about Kardashian’s advertisement which is clear that they saw Kardashian’s jean advertisement at Bus shelter Screen. So I said I need celebrities to catch people’s eye. (This wasn’t included even in log but actually developed to make a poster to be able to take selfie with celebrities like Tom Hiddleston. He is inside at the screen and I is outside but look plausibly being together) I visited Oxford Street again just to find inspiration. Cold weather. I just walk and walk for a long time. No inspiration. I was binge-watching Mr Selfridge.

Back then, I was struggling with the message that I wanted to deliver through this campaign. So I was lost my way. Despite all the research and idea, I felt difficulty to make idea tangible or visualize and decide how to present it because I didn’t have ‘it’ yet. It was there but it was not made one word. So I came to ‘Challenge’ idea giving various missions to people. However, Once I found ‘it’, things changed easily.  After that, I felt like seeing the right corner to get final destination. It was the moment all puzzles matched. Of course this was based on all the time, research and especially because of “them”.

At each session, We were supposed to bring something tangible to tell progress on the project because telling is not convincing and less helpful to get feedback. I think all of them I got from classmates and tutors were so meaningful to make this project done. How did they do this? It was amazing! “Something to take picture From Whan”, “Size up important 300, divide lines to look clear – Ridhmar”.  Steffany gave a lot in the process and how to do it. Looking at her feedback(many questions not answered for a while) now, I think I just followed steps she gave but a week or 2~3 weeks later.  I followed the questions from the brief Cellina told and I think I made it. I can not say about Janja because it’s going to be too much flattering. (I am very good at it though) However, I am telling the truth, she committed to us and I appreciated it deeply! From this journey, One thing that I learned is telling yours to people!  I learned creative process to tackle with specific and real project.  I think Getting feedback from people is inevitable. For me, without them, there would be no outcome. I needed someone your idea is good to push further and this is important. Also, I got much help in terms of submitting this project. Even though I thought that there are still many rooms to be developed in the project. During QnA time about the final pitch in the class, watching judges telling opinions and adding something nice I thought “I should have met you guys earlier”. “Two heads better than one” is real.

This journey is difficult to write shortly.  I write how to get there but even not start how was that place!(Another time;;;) I wandered along the way. On the road, I met full of challenges, change iteration, learning and self-hatred and in the end I got there having short happiness and fulfilment with #MACE! They were a guidepost, inspiration and power to keep this journey! Their works were all brilliant and beautiful! I am so proud of them. It was wonderful journey~ The End~

 

 

Inspiration

Nike’s Nothing Beats Londoner

 

It was exciting! So I linked this to ‘challenge’ if the first place. However why people love this video and was impressed is because they show a multicultural scene of London and this is one of core reason why they love their city. (But there wasn’t South Asian even though they make up 20% of residents. I am not sure whether it is the first video which British African-Caribbean people are dominantly starred in a commercial ad) I love the “fail~” moment in the video. You can see the video at  https://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/nike-pulls-nothing-beats-londoner-ads/1459767 LNDR is registered trademark by fashion brand so they pull the video.  Copyright is important really…

 

Below are tools I used

 

Canva.com

I could not make it without this. Thanks, Cellina!

 

Onenote

Microsoft program. I think it’s good for me like not organized person because I was looking for something similar to Prezi.(Janja mentioned it’s not good) I like put everyting in one place even look ugly and untidy.(At least I won’t lose it if there even it’s bit difficult to find) This can keep everything what I saw on web and leave sources automatically which is convenient to manage references. In research stage, it was helpful.

 

Coggle.it

I love it. you can drow a mind-map. It can help to develop idea! Thanks, Celine!

 

milanote.com

a good tool for making web Mood board. I am not familiar with mood board but I summed up my research with this.

MY creative journey to DandAD #Londonisopen(Depart)

Hi, Long time no sees, Blog. How’s it going~I am sorry not to upload any because I’ve been to a long creative (tough) journey! I am back so I want to tell about the journey I did now. This journey started on the first day of the second semester I think. We got a mission to work on the live competition- New Blood Awards of DnAD’s. (DnAD is a foundation to support creative talents and develop creative industries in many ways) At their website, you can see a beautiful kinetic web-poster on the front webpage and you can experience how to make and leave your work on the website too.) I remember the moment that I heard this project and I thought I love my course! And I thought it would be better if I could come much earlier or I were in creative industries in real. Because I understand that it is a big opportunity and it would not have happened in my life such a thing to submit to that kind of competition if I didn’t come to MACE at Kingston University. (If you are thinking to study MA and if you want to work in Creative Industries, consider coming this course #MACE! I highly recommend!!) However, I normally am terribly poor at handy things. Even basic craft things like chopping straight with knives or scissors. So I didn’t think that I can make something. In fact, I did. Yeah~~

At first, I was interested in Beano, BBC and JCDecaux’s. Beano’s challenge is to make a female character and I think it can be worth to have my own character after the project. In Korea, some parents show worrying about showing their children Korean animations because female characters are acted as a supportive role or personality is too introverted or just nice – doing households-. Conversely, regarding male characters, firstly, the number of charters are many and diverse. Secondly too violence. They are professionals and show adventurous than a female character.  I mean it can educate kids gender role stereotype. So they choose foreign animations for their children. For these reasons, I thought it is very real time issue and it is worth working. But I gave up because I have a barrier to access kids in here -even though they would be perfect to make conversation with me 😦  and I don’t have knowledge about that animation so I lost interests soon. BBC’s was to reimagine relationship with BBC users using new technology such as using voice, gesture, touch technology. The reason is that I just want to have a chance to learn and explore new technology which I am not using that much but society and environment are changing rapidly. I am behind it so if those technologies would be accepted in near future, I might be able to apply to the administrative fields and personally, I want to prepare a coming change. And I gave up because I was thinking to innovate a watching TV behaviour, however it was difficult to access how British users do (only I can access to my neighbor living next to my flat but they use a tv only for watching NETFLIX because of high TV licence fee. However, Mariana did a great job to innovate BBCiplayer!) So I changed the brief to JCDecaux’s #londonisopen after the first critic session. #Londonisopen is a campaign which mayor of London has implemented since 2016 to spread a message that London is still inclusive city despite Brexit. JCDecaux is a global outdoor advertising company and I think they want to submit an innovative way using screens in Oxford Streets seeing the examples such as Spotify’ advertisement with user-data and Trainline. This brief also is related to require applying to the development of technology – which seems that many companies are facing now -. I could explore cutting edge technology at this brief. Surely, I’ve support this campaign. As an international students who attracts inclusion of London even Brexit circumstance I could feel london’s effort to maintain its reputation. Also, I am interested in public campaign because this experience would help administrative tasks when I go back to Seoul.

It’s a bit getting long because I am poor at pitching 😦 So you can see real-journey in next blog.. choo-choo~~

Don’t forget the Dragon’s Den

Finally, Dragon’s Den day came! A day came to introduce our service, ShareShare to the people!

We started telling problems we faced everyday life. In terms of buying food for one person, Rachel threw away rotten vegetable. Yun showed failing to get friends to play basketball together. I told where I could friends who collaborate with designer students. In short, our system is a social problem-solving platform for students in Kingston. We designed this system to solve student’s daily problems. We identified these problems that result from being alone. It’s easy to underestimate however, those little frustrations could influence students physical and mental issue. Our problem is trivial at the same time so various. So it is difficult to solve by the single office like School union. It should be on-demand and peer to peer mechanism. We believe that this can work because we are the people who go through same problems. Also, we live in the similar area. Regarding our service, judges showed especially concern about pricing. We suggested subscription fee system and getting sponsorship from local shops and schools. However, in terms of a sustainable business model, we needed revision and improvements about this critic.

After finishing our pitching, I could enjoy others pitching. I got a lot of inspiration from them. I enjoyed Celine’s acting again! I could learn from OneMinute’s professional pitching style. I loved Hi-five’s and the group of Denis’s prototype which could give examples in very short time. I couldn’t miss Kirsty’s food! After all, we enjoyed ending of dragon’s den because we could get closer from a single idea to the real products. It will be one of the rewarding moments in Kingston. Janja mentioned the importance of student’s issue which we are targeting. So this comment was so meaningful to us that I felt like some kind of proudness and responsibility!

However, a rosy moment was too short for us because the judge gave low marks for our projects. Especially, regarding a presentations skill, it was from 1 to 2 from 5 scores. I was shocked and sad. It’s because of my poor speaking English and public speaking skill which I have to improve. However, it was not that big deal. I was really so desperate when I heard that Rachel had to drop the course because of her health. I felt I lost my arm T_T because she took up great portions of our project.  She is the one who insisted doing valuable service and could make this happen because she has technical skills. At this time, we lost our way and passion about this but we expect to overcome to collaborate with people as like we dream in ShareShare. We will see how it’s going in 2018!

 

 

 

 

Don’t forget the users!

Today, I want to introduce our service ShareShare which is a social problem-solving platform for uni students. We ‘Global Song’, Yun, Rachel wanted to make a service for our design thinking module. We brainstormed we gave several ideas and it was all about students. This is because we are students. We really were into focusing on problems. The first idea was an agent service helping students who want to get rooms. This was from my experience. Actually, I had to pay a lot when I failed to make a contract because I knew critical points at the last minute that the house was notorious such as rats, a security issue, and land load’s irresponsibility. So I lost huge money in that I told Janja I wanted to punish if I had a superpower. Anyway, we found it’s difficult to hire specialist.

 

We finally reached to making a social platform. This was designed based on our experiences as a person living alone, we’ve faced several problems. We’ve often found rotten vegetables and meat because we cannot eat them all within short periods. However, buying small amount could not be our choice because it’s much expensive than a bigger one. In fact, its gap is around 50penny but it’s too big for us! Yun also couldn’t play basketball because he didn’t have enough friends to play. Actually, his basketball is broken because he couldn’t play for a long time. Those can be solved just by gathering together. Also, Rachel wanted to support international students because she saw many international students who told pains and loneliness as an English tutor. There are people who want to help!

We learned that we have to focus on users. Regarding this, our unique value proposition came from this circumstance. This is our value proposition: “We help each other because we understand us the best and we can believe as students in Kingston.” We believe that our service could offer a chance to match people who go through same problems. Not only that this could give chances to have further experiences such as cultural exchange, academic improvements and so on beyond solving daily life problems easily by making friends. Back to the lesson! No users, No services! We should always back to the users! Don’t forget your users!

Me & MACE in 2017

What I’ve learned in 2017.

 

2017! It was supposed to be a fantastic year for me because my two dreams became a reality. The first wish is to study abroad, especially in the UK because I love British music and Agatha’s Mystery novels since I was very young. Another one is to live alone without family! However there was no proper reason, however, at this time, I don’t need any excuse. Even, I am here in (near)London! This creative city has a lot to offer!! Yeah~ Looking back 2017, I’ve sometimes felt good and sometimes not good. It was not easy at all. However, I think 3 months in MACE made me think, feel and learn more than ever. So, what have I learned in 2017? What I thought and felt?

 

What should we do?

In the middle of the first term, I had frequently to back to the moment when I got the first question from Janja. “What do you do if you have a superpower?” At that time, I just said I want to punish the land loads and agents who took away my money. Janja said something that I have to be positive. Be positive is one of value I learned here but I’d like to tell ‘problem-solving’ first. I think the question is meaningful because it reminds me that I have to focus on the problems which people feel pain or really care about. This made me think about what is the current issue, what is the important problem.

 

We’ve faced various problems in our daily life from environment to social issue. Most of all, sustainability is the global issue at this time. The Climate Change affects disaster globally like a significant flood, coldness and natural resources are running out. Due to the development and industrialization, pollution is threatening people’s life. Against this, UN set Sustainable Development Goals and all level of organization like nation, city, company, NGOs take part in this to save the Earth against climate change and develop further. I think the creative industry is not an exception too. I had a chance to look at efforts of film industry against Climate Change. Again, I’d like to shout out Sony Picture’s Spiderman 2 case. They fully recognized and used their impact on societies in terms of making and screening the film. They planted trees at the shooting location, flooded. They sent messages to people to be aware of sustainability issue and take action through Earth Hour marketing. I think this is so brilliant! In their website, they mentioned that they could save 400,000$ by making film in sustainable way. It’s effective as well as meaningful. I believe that thinking and understanding sustainability issue is important for start-up to stay in the context and to be relevant to people’s need. Also, for cultural startups, by focusing on solving problems related to sustainability issue, I think that there would be more opportunities. Regarding this, I’d like to quote UN Report on Creative Economy(2013), which stated “Investing in culture and the creative sector as a driver of social development can also lead to results that contribute to the overall wellbeing of communities, individual self-esteem and quality of life, dialogue and cohesion”

 

How should we do?

 

To have a clear picture of the business, we can use Business Model Canvas which can tell various factors of the business. In the class, I could learn that IP can impact on revenue as well as cost in a business. In this sense, for example, the Netflix should be aware of the importance of Intellectual Property Rights to stream various contents by making contracts with IP owners. Also, according to the recent report, they will invest in producing more original series like ‘Strange Things’, ‘Orange is the new black’. By making their own contents, they can have copyrights to sell, distribute and stream to others and this is going to be their core competency and revenue source as well as subscription fee.

 

After deciding where to focus, we have to consider how to solve problems and how to make products or services. I believe we need to apply ‘Design thinking and Lean Method’! Basically, two ways are the learning process to fit the needs. In the design thinking, a prototype can be cheap and dirty to show idea and get feedback from users. This is similar to Lean Method, a Minimum Viable Product which should have the basic function to test customer’s response. Like design thinking process, lean start-ups use a “get out of the building” approach called customer development to test their hypotheses. They go out and ask potential users, purchasers, and partners for feedback on all elements of the business model, including product features, pricing, distribution channels, and affordable customer acquisition strategies. I think this is a compelling process for startups because there is always a gap between the idea and reality. If we don’t get any feedback or review from users and customers, we could only have a self-satisfaction that we are working hard not related to customer’s happiness and we will fail big. Kelly brothers state that best way to get closer to the goal is to make a prototype in their book, Creative Confidence. In the book, ‘The Lean Startup’, Eric Ries emphasized this learning process with this sentence, “The only way to win is to learn faster than anyone else’. According to several statistics, most ideas are failed so, using those methods seems inevitable for startups.

 

How to be creative?

 

Creativity seems to be one of key strength for start-ups. I think to get a customer for challenger we have to provide customer one of innovative, new or disruptive offer against previous products or services. In this sense, I think later offer should be differentiated from others. From my experience in Seoul in terms of enhancing creativity, I used to learn and focus on how to drag brilliant idea like brainstorms with post-its, visualizing an idea and etc. However, I think the meaning of creativity is closer to doing than thinking like we usually use bulb icon to represent creativity. I can understand that ‘Do something’ will not give and promise prompt success, however it will give opportunities to learn and raise possibilities for success. In Creative Confidence, I was impressed by Pulse’s story. Two university students had to make news reader apps within 4 days. During the process, they tested prototypes by several users and got feedback like ‘this is a crap’. In the end, they got huge success. One of the founders, Ankit says “It’s not about just coming up with the one genius idea that solves the problem, but trying and failing at a hundred other solutions before arriving at the best one.” Kelly brothers mention in their above book, to be creative start from observation and thoughts to deeds. Like this, I can understand that change can come from a small action.

 

Positive thinking

Back to the first question ‘how to use super-power’, I can understand Janja’s response to my answer now. We can feel angry and blame someone or system, however, if we stay there, nothing is going to change. If there is a problem or someone feels uncomfortable, trying to find a solution would be the more proper attitude for students who learned ‘design thinking’. This spirit is unavoidable for startups which are supposed to challenge and explore possibilities. I remember the time we checked Business Strategy Game result of year 14 when we lost private label market we expected to get. I felt frustrated really, however, Celine encouraged me to focus on the game again. I remember the moment to cheer up and think bright future. I am not saying about being naïve but putting up with failure. After I admitted that we were on the learning path and failures are natural, I could enjoy it and try several things. This lesson is going to be a valuable asset to me and I think I can apply this spirit to Design thinking module to make up Rachel’s vacancy next year.

 

Last but not least, I’d like to appreciate my classmates too. I learned from them in the class as well as in the canteen at unexpected moments. I just complained and whined, however, they said some nice words for me. Also, there were many moments that I got inspiration, stimulation and encouragement from them and Janja. One of the reasons I choose this course is to put in startup’s shoes. It’s not easy at all!! I’d like to make and develop opportunities together. Looking back 2017, I’ve sometimes felt good and sometimes bad. Overall, it’s great.

 

 

<Reference>

 

Ries, E. (2011) The Lean Startup: How Constant Innovation Creates Radically Successful Businesses, Portfolio Penguin

Osterwalder, A and Pigneur, Y. (2010) Business Model Generation. John Wiley & Sons

Kelley, T and Kelley, D. (2014) Creative Confidence. William Collins

UN, CREATIVE ECONOMY REPORT(2013)

Westcott, B. and George, S. (2017) Asia under water: How 137 million people’s lives are being put at risk. Available at http://edition.cnn.com/2017/07/24/asia/climate-change-floods-asia/index.html   (Accessed: 22 Dec 2017).

Sonypictures, EcoSpidey and The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Available at: http://www.sonypictures.com/green/act/green-film-making/ecospidey.php(Accessed: 22 Dec 2017).

The Guardian, Hollywood broadcasting green-Does the film industry have a moral, or financial imperative for sustainability, like any other company? Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/blog/oscars-hollywood-sustainability-brain-print  (Accessed: 22 Dec 2017).

Nick Statt(2017) Netflix plans to spend $8 billion to make its library 50 percent original by 2018 Available at : https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/16/16486436/netflix-original-content-8-billion-dollars-anime-films

Sir Peter Bazalgette(2017), Independent Review of the Creative Industries

UN Sustainable Development Goal. Available at: http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/

(Accessed: 22 Dec 2017).

Me & Finance

Finance is one of difficult and professional parts in terms of business. I used to Naver(Korean Google) finance terminologies when I got many questions about application foam in finance section from people working in Start-up about Seoul Start-up Contest Application. So, I had mixed feelings about expectation and challenge. However, Simon taught us business finance with several examples in practical ways. It was like learning arithmetic operations when I was very young.

Firstly, we learned Profit & Loss statement. Gross Profit is after the cost of sales and Gross Profit Margin is a percentage (gross profit is divided by Sales Value). Especially, Gross Margin can be a Key Performance Indicator which can tell a profitability of a business. So it’s important to maintain high Gross Margin. With Carl’s café case, I learned we have to look carefully influential factors to maintain a profitable business. Company’s profit can go down because of several factors both cost and price. Looking at the cost side, wage law can change. Suppliers can raise price suddenly or product is stolen.

If giving discount continues for a long time, revenue will be decreased. In Korea, a franchise has notorious because mother companies forced franchisee (individual owners) to pay all costs of sales promotion. This can lead to a deterioration of business operation.

Secondly, this finance statement is not just pure number or figure but quite subjective decision by companies. For example, when a company set the cost, expenditures can be included or excluded from y company’s decision. This can show it is possible to control P&L statement looking good.

EBITDA is another index, however, I used to see a lot when I bought stocks(??). EBITA is an abbreviation of Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation & Amortisation. In the news, we can see a lot this term related to the merging or acquiring companies. Also, up to the company’s decision about the value of fixed cost or depreciation, company’s performance can look better or less profitable.

Also, I learned these figures can tell the future of business. When it comes to the balance sheet, it can show a status of the present. Balance Sheet is a statement of what a business owns, what it owes, and its ownership equity at a particular point in time.(The balance Sheet Made Easy)  Looking at balance sheet in detail, we can evaluate it is bad if the asset is not enough to carry debt. It’s not about the size of the liabilities but the size of the assets. Simon explained that America is okay with significant national liabilities because of huge assets unlike Greece. I saw companies went bankrupt due to the bad cash flow and constant delays in paying bills. When I was in Seoul, I heard that an investor said that start-ups have to come earlier to fix a financial problem together before investors can’t help. This means we have to see this sheet carefully. Plus, Earning Per Share is a figure that Net profit after tax is divided by the number of shares in issue. This figure tells wealth creation by single share. Looking at this figure with the price of the share, we can see the future value of the business which stock market predict.

I enjoyed Simon’s class because I can get precious knowledge since I put my overall money in stock and fund market. So far, my investment style is to rely on instinct. So, I am losing it, however, from the class, I feel like being able to be more strategic not doing like a gambling!

 

<Reference>

Hulme, Simon (2015). The Profit and Loss Made Easy.

Hulme, Simon (2017). The Balance Sheet Made Easy.

Choi, J(2014), Caffe Bene Sued for Unfair Franchise Practice. Available at: http://koreabizwire.com/caffe-bene-sued-for-unfair-franchise-practice/16126(Accessed : 20 Dec 2017)

Me & Intellectual Property Rights 2

I saw a lot of articles titled “Next Korean Joanne Rowling” or why we don’t have Joan rolling’ like in terms of telling the importance of the cultural industry. As many people know, she has had a huge success with Harry Porter. Harry Porter has created significant wealth with movies, character goods, museum and etc. Counterexample in Korea is ‘Cloud Bread’, fairy tale book. This creates over 4 million$, however, the writer only got around 1,000$ because she was new and gave her rights like adaptation right or overseas right to the publication company with small amount money first.

Also, Korean representative social media, Kakaotalk didn’t share revenue from selling product put characters with the character creator. Creator revealed he wanted to grab opportunity than money when he made a contract with Kakaotalk at that time. Kakaotalk has expanded their business to use characters such as character shop. So, finally, the company gave some money(confidential) to the creator since there were negative reports in terms of unfair contracts.

 

Kakaotalkfriends(google.com)

 

However, according to the recent investigation conducted by Seoul Metropolitan Government this year, still, this kind of problem is going on. 79 percent of illustrator, 36.5% of comic book author answered they gave up their rights and forced to make the unfair contract. However, in this Internet and globalization era, contents can create significant further wealth. So, we have to protect rights to get revenue from our own creation as well as to encourage to create competitive cultural contents.

Regarding this issue, I’d like to quote Taylor Swift’s comment. She has resisted streaming services without proper paying artist.

“It’s my opinion that music should not be free, and my prediction is that individual artists and their labels will someday decide what an album’s price point is. I hope they don’t underestimate themselves or undervalue their art.”(2014, WSJ)

In 2015 Apple changed their plan which they won’t give royalty during 3-month free trial apple music after Taylor wrote an open letter to Apple on her blog.

On the other hand, we have to be aware of Copyright issue regarding that we can infringe others. I experienced this. I had to drop a plan making promotion video using Psy’s song ‘Champion’ because of budget limitation. However, if other’s copyright is correlated to the business it could be a serious problem and the business cannot be sustainable. In the last class, I introduced a youtube channel,  one millions uploading choreography. I was interested in the CEO, a choreographer after seeing her interview telling that she felt deprived her talents by others at K-pop agency as dance trainer for idols. So, she started her business as a choreographer and a dance academy owner. When I saw her videos, I was curious how she used famous songs like Shape of you

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCw8ZhLPdQ0u_Y-TLKd61hGA

So, I googled and I found their channel shut down once because of accusation by copyright owners over three times. Their channel having 3 million followers could disappear easily. I didn’t find how they recover the channel but I can find some argument. “the song is not main contents bud dancing and its sound is not clear with mixing people’s clapping and cheering. Also on the youtube, there are many videos using the song” This example shows copyright issue can be a critical threaten for some business.

Law to protect copyrights should be implemented, however, I think it’s not enough. There is a famous maxim, “Those who sleep on their rights are not protected”. What I want to say is that people should be aware of their rights properly. Also, I believe that the government should protect actively like monitoring, consulting and legal supporting.

 

<Reference>

 

The Guardian(2015), Apple Music to pay royalties during free trial: ‘We hear you Taylor Swift’ Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2015/jun/22/apple-music-royalties-free-trial-taylor-swift(Accessed: 23 Dec 2017)

Ian Crouch(2015), Taylor Swift and Apple : Mad Love. Available at: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/taylor-swift-and-apple-mad-love(Accessed: 23 Dec 2017)

JACK LINSHI (2014), Here’s Why Taylor Swift Pulled Her Music From Spotify Available at: http://time.com/3554468/why-taylor-swift-spotify/(Accessed: 23 Dec 2017)