Robin Landa - The New Art of Ideas: Unlock Your Creative Potential

The New Art of Ideas

Copyright 2023 by Robin Landa

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First Edition

Paperback print edition ISBN 978-1-5230-0207-8

PDF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-0208-5

IDPF e-book ISBN 978-1-5230-0209-2

Digital audio ISBN 978-1-5230-0210-8

2022-1

Book production: BookMatters

Front cover design and interior illustrations: 2023 by Holly Taylor

To Harry, my forever tango partner

by Lorin Latarro

I am no stranger to developing an idea from nothing. As a choreographer for Broadway, operas, and films, I begin with an empty room and create and layer dance upon dance. The beauty of Robin Landas book? The New Art of Ideas reveals fundamental truths about creation of any sort. Her method works for anyone interested in creating for the betterment of the world.

To have a vision is a uniquely human experience. Many of us have a vision, a eureka moment, an ideaRobin Landa gives the reader a focused way forward to help push the vision toward its finished idea. A goal is a noble pursuit, but it is easy to lose sight of the idea along the way, to give up, to fizzle out. This instructive book provides key navigation tools to get the reader to the finish line.

I especially love the pieces in this creation puzzle about observation and the gap. Looking at the world with curiosity is fundamental to creation. Looking and listening closely are hallmarks of success. Landa cites countless examples of how a small, focused observation changed the world.

And then, the why of it all. Why is this idea a worthwhile pursuit? What does the world gain from this idea? What is the ideas additive value? All worthy questions for the creator to ponder. As an artist, I always ask whyand I am always searching for a story to tell that brings something special to an audience: to learn, to receive, to question, to observe. Robin Landas method works for ideas, for inventions, for dances, for plays, and more.

I am sure you, the reader, will finish the book with more confidence, clarity, and excitement about whatever you are dreaming up.

What do you wish existed in the world?

Lorin Latarro

Lorin Latarro choreographed Broadways Mrs. Doubtfire, Into the Woods, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, The Public Theaters The Visitor, Broadway-bound The Outsiders, and Like Water for Chocolate. She choreographed Broadway and London productions of Waitress as well as La Traviata at the Metropolitan Opera. Latarro is directing Candace Bushnells one-woman show Is There Still Sex in the City?

Our industry does not respect tradition.

What it respects is innovation.

SATYA NADELLA, CEO, MICROSOFT

It was a scroll through Twitter that started itthe photo of a custom gaming controller adapted for an injured vet. When Matt Hite saw the photo, his keen eye and curiosity urged him to find out more. Hite has that kind of mind, and it was thrown into action by an observant moment on Twitter. Serendipitous, yes. But what Hite did next ignited a goal that would change many lives.

When Hite, a Microsoft engineer, saw that photo, he reached out to Ken Jones, a mechanical engineer and avid gamer who had founded Warfighter Engaged, a nonprofit organization that provides bespoke adapted gaming controllers to wounded veterans. Warfighters one engineer designs each gaming controller to meet the needs of a single vet, making it challenging to fulfill the hundreds of requests the organization receives every month.

Joness mission is to improve the lives of warfighters living with disabilitiestriple amputees, quadriplegics, veterans with traumatic brain injuries, veterans with prosthetics, and other wounded veterans. During his conversation with Jones, Hite learned about the overwhelming challenges injured veterans face when trying to access the world of gaming. These vets, Jones explained, were being left out of the fun and therapeutic experiences gaming has to offer. There was a gap in the gaming hardware industry for 46 million gamers living with disabilities in the United States alone.

For many people, gaming isnt just a hobbyits a passion and a way of connecting. If youre a gamer, or you know a gamer, you understand what I mean. For people with limited mobilitywhether by birth or because of an accident or war injurythe gaming experience is different. For many, the standard configurationthe positioning of the jacks across the back of the device, the shape and edges, and the position of the controls and buttons, among other design issuesmakes it difficult to navigate. When Jones saw a gap, he set a goal. Through his organization and humanitarian efforts, he helped deliver gains to wounded veterans. After speaking with Jones, Hite decided that he too was going to do something about that gap.

Every year Microsoft holds an Ability Summit that brings together people who have disabilities, designers, engineers, and marketers. The idea is to identify where Microsoft can speed up innovation to improve accessibility for people living with disabilitiesboth in the company and outside of the companyon the pathway to a more inclusive society. Hite put together a hackathon project team at the Ability Summit to tackle the design problem facing Warfighter Engaged. On his LinkedIn bio, Matt Hite writes,