selk.

Instagram has released a new intellectual property policy that allows the company to sell users’ photographs without paying or notifying them. 

The new policy, which only kicks in on 16 January 2013, comes three months after Facebook completed its acquistion of the popular photo-sharing app. 

According to its new Terms Of Use, it states: 

“Some or all of the Service may be supported by advertising revenue. To help us deliver interesting paid or sponsored content or promotions, you agree that a business or other entity may pay us to display your username, likeness, photos (along with any associated metadata), and/or actions you take, in connection with paid or sponsored content or promotions, without any compensation to you.” 

Instagram users can choose to opt out of this new policy by deleting their accounts before the deadline—however, users who continue to upload photos after 16 January, and subsequently delete their accounts, will be granting the company the “irrevocable right to sell those images in perpetuity”, according to CNet. 

Will you still be using Instagram after 16 January 2013? 

By Alma Hoffmann

“So, you do nothing all day.”

That’s how many people would respond to someone who says they spend the day with a pen or pencil in their hand. It’s often considered an empty practice, a waste of time. They’re seen as an empty mind puttering along with the busy work of scribbling.

But for us designers and artists, drawing pictures all day is integral to our process and to who we are as creative people, and despite the idea that those who doodle waste time, we still get our work done. So, then, why are those of us who draw pictures all day even tempted to think that someone who is doodling or drawing pictures in a meeting or lecture is not paying attention?

What does it mean to be a doodler, to draw pictures all day? Why do we doodle? Most of all, what does it mean to our work? It turns out that the simple act of scribbling on a page helps us think, remember and learn.

What Does It Mean To Doodle?

The dictionary defines “doodle” as a verb (“scribble absentmindedly”) and as a noun (“a rough drawing made absentmindedly”). It also offers the origins of the word “doodler” as “a noun denoting a fool, later as a verb in the sense ‘make a fool of, cheat.’”

But the author Sunni Brown offers my favorite definition of “doodle” in her TED talk, “Doodlers, unite!”:

“In the 17th century, a doodle was a simpleton or a fool, as in “Yankee Doodle.” In the 18th century, it became a verb, and it meant to swindle or ridicule or to make fun of someone. In the 19th century, it was a corrupt politician. And today, we have what is perhaps our most offensive definition, at least to me, which is the following: “To doodle officially means to dawdle, to dilly dally, to monkey around, to make meaningless marks, to do something of little value, substance or import and,” my personal favorite, “to do nothing.” No wonder people are averse to doodling at work. Doing nothing at work is akin to masturbating at work. It’s totally inappropriate.”

It is no wonder, then, why most people do not have great expectations of those who “draw pictures all day.” Or perhaps they are inclined to think that those who draw pictures all day are not highly intellectual and are tempted to say to them condescendingly, “Go and draw some of your pictures.” As designers, many of us have heard such comments, or at least felt them implied, simply because we think, express or do things differently.

Why Do We Doodle?

Consider that even before a child can speak, they can draw pictures. It is part of their process of understanding what’s around them. They draw not just what they see, but how they view the world. The drawing or doodle of a child is not necessarily an attempt to reflect reality, but rather an attempt to communicate their understanding of it. This is no surprise because playing, trial and error, is a child’s primary method of learning. A child is not concerned with the impressions that others get based on their drawings or mistakes.

Their constant drawing, picture-making and doodling is a child’s way of expressing their ideas and showing their perceptions in visual form. It comes from a need to give physical form to one’s thoughts. Similarly, an adult doodles in order to visualize the ideas in their head so that they can interact with those ideas.

Visual Learners

According to Linda Silverman, director of both the Institute for the Study of Advanced Development and the Gifted Development Center and author of Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner, 37% of the population are visual learners. If so many people learn better visually, we can expect, then, that some of them learn better by putting a speech, lecture or meeting into visual and tangible form through pictures or doodles, rather than by being provided with pictures or doodles (which would be the product of another person’s mind).

Humans have always had a desire to visually represent what’s in their minds and memory and to communicate those ideas with others. Early cave paintings were a means of interacting with others, allowing an idea or mental image to move from one person’s mind to another’s. The purpose of visual language has always been to communicate ideas to others.

Secondly, we doodle because our brain is designed to empathize with the world around us. According to Carol Jeffers, professor at California State University, our brains are wired to respond to, interact with, imitate and mirror behavior. In an article she wrote, she explains the recent research into “mirror neurons” which help us understand and empathize with the world around us.

Think of it this way. When you’re at an art gallery and find a painting that intrigues you, what is your first reaction? You want to touch it, don’t you? I thought so.

When I was a ballroom dancer, I used to sit and watch those who I considered to be great dancers, tracing their forms in space with my index finger as a way to commit them to memory. I used to go to galleries and museums and, at a distance, trace the lines and forms that I saw in the paintings and designs. I did this out of curiosity and a desire to physically record what I saw to memory.

Nearly 100 years ago, Maria Montessori discovered the link between physical touch and movement and learning in children. Montessori education teaches children to trace the letters of the alphabet with their index finger as a way to commit their shapes to memory. My son used to trace forms that he found interesting in space. It’s safe to say, then, that we doodle to visually commit to memory a concept that we want to both empathize and interact with.

An experiment conducted by Jackie Andrade, professor of psychology at the University of Plymouth in England, demonstrated the positive effect that doodling has on memory retention. In the experiment, 40 people were given a simple set of instructions to take RSVP information over the phone from people going to a party. The group of 40 was divided in two. One group of 20 was told to doodle (limited to shading in order not to emphasize the quality of the doodles), and the other 20 would not doodle.

The doodlers recalled 29% more information.

The study showed that doodling helps the brain to focus. It keeps the mind from wandering away from whatever is happening, whether it’s a lecture, reading or conference talk.

Still, we have become bored with learning.

Professor Emeritus at Cornell University, Joseph D. Novak argues that this is because we have been taught to memorize but not to evaluate the information being given to us. In many traditional settings, the pattern is simple and dull: sit, receive and memorize. Many traditional educational systems do not encourage active engagement with the material. Doodling, drawing and even making diagrams helps us not only engage with the material, but also identify the underlying structure of the argument, while also connecting concepts in a tactile and visual way. Jesse Berg, president of The Visual Leap, pointed out to me in a conversation that doodling is a multisensory activity. While our hand is creating what might seem to be random pictures, our brain is processing the stimuli that’s running through it.

Many of us are the product of traditional schooling, in which we were made to numbingly memorize dates and facts, and many of us continue this pattern later in life. While some of us were avid doodlers (I used to fill the backs of my notebooks with pictures and draw on desks with a pencil during class), some of us stopped at high school, others in college and others once we settled into a job. At some point during the education process, doodling was discouraged. Teachers most likely viewed it as a sign of inattentiveness and disrespect. After hard preparation, educators want nothing more than unwavering attention to their lectures. The irony is that, according to Andrade’s study, doodlers pay more attention to the words of educators than we think.

In her TED talk, Sunny Brown goes on to explain the benefits of doodling and even offers an alternative to the definition found in the Oxford Dictionary:

“Doodling is really to make spontaneous marks to help yourself think. That is why millions of people doodle. Here’s another interesting truth about the doodle: People who doodle when they’re exposed to verbal information retain more of that information than their non-doodling counterparts. We think doodling is something you do when you lose focus, but in reality, it is a preemptive measure to stop you from losing focus. Additionally, it has a profound effect on creative problem-solving and deep information processing.

How can designers use this to their benefit?

As designers, we have a unique advantage when it comes to doodling. We don’t just doodle to keep our minds focused — we also deliberately sketch ideas in order to problem solve and to get immediate feedback from clients and peers. Designers such as Craighton Berman and Eva-Lotta Lamm are two of the biggest proponents of the “sketchnotating” movement. Berman states that sketchnotating “forces you to listen to the lecture, synthesize what’s being expressed, and visualize a composition that captures the idea — all in real time.”

In 2009, I came across a book titled The Back of the Napkin by Dan Roam. Roam is a business strategist and founder of Digital Roam, a management-consulting firm that uses visual thinking to solve complex problems. He uses a simple approach to solving problems visually. Every idea is run through five basic questions to encourage engaged thinking and to ensure a meaningful meeting. The process takes the acronym SQVI^. S is for simple or elaborate, Q is for qualitative or quantitative, V is for vision or execution, I is for individual or comparison, and ^ is for change or status quo. These simple choices are worked through with simple doodles in order to better understand the problem and find a solution. In his book, Roam says:

“What if there was a way to more quickly look at problems, more intuitively understand them, more confidently address them, and more rapidly convey to others what we’ve discovered? What if there was a way to make business problem solving more efficient, more effective, and — as much as I hate to say it — perhaps even more fun? There is. It’s called visual thinking, and it’s what this book is all about: solving problems with pictures.”

After discovering Roam’s book, I decided to doodle again. Once a prolific doodler and drawer, I had become inactive in lectures and similar settings, often forgetting what was said. Taking notes felt too cumbersome, and I often missed words and ideas. I decided to give doodling another shot. Instead of focusing on specifics, I would focus on concepts, key words and ideas.

Since 2011, I have been actively promoting doodling in my design classes, making a deal with my students, saying to them, “Doodle to your heart’s content, but in return I want you to doodle the content of my lectures.” They are skeptical at first, but they soon realize that doodling is better than having a quiz. I reap the benefits of doodling, and by allowing them to doodle — with the requirement that it be based on the class’ content — they become more informed of the topic and they engage in more meaningful conversations about design.

The typographic novices in my classes naturally start to apply the principles of visual hierarchy and organization, grouping ideas either by importance or by category. They will group ideas with lines, boxes, marks and more. Headings and lecture titles might be made larger, more ornate or bolder, and key concepts might be visually punctuated. It is fascinating how natural and almost second-nature the idea of visual hierarchy is to all of us. The learning curve of typography is steep for some of us, but doodling and sketchnotating really makes it easier to grasp. 

By picking out concepts, ideas and topics, the students start to establish a hierarchy by making visual groupings and start to use visual punctuation. By the time I assign work on typographic hierarchy, the sketches tend to show more astuteness. Transferring these sketches to the computer is a challenge for those new to typography, but once they naturally understand the relationships in what they are doing, they start to make smarter design decisions.

“Sketchbooks are not about being a good artist. They’re about being a good thinker.”

As we have seen, doodling has many benefits, beyond what designers as visual communicators and problem solvers use it for. Doodling also helps our brain function and process data. Those of us who doodle should do so without feeling guilty or ashamed. We are in good company.Historically, doodlers have included presidents, business moguls and accomplished writers. 

Doodling, drawing pictures and sketchnotating are about using visual skills to solve problems, to understand our world and to respond effectively. So, what are you waiting for? Doodle!

Yes, caffeine helps. But new research shows that the moderate noise level in busy cafés also perks up your creative cognition.

PROBLEM: To optimize creativity, how quiet or noisy should your workspace be?

METHODOLOGY: Researchers led by Ravi Mehta conducted five experiments to understand how ambient sounds affect creative cognition. In one key trial, they tested people’s creativity at different levels of background noise by asking participants to brainstorm ideas for a new type of mattress or enumerate uncommon uses for a common object.

RESULTS: Compared to a relatively quiet environment (50 decibels), a moderate level of ambient noise (70 dB) enhanced subjects’ performance on the creativity tasks, while a high level of noise (85 dB) hurt it. Modest background noise, the scientists explain, creates enough of a distraction to encourage people to think more imaginatively. (Here’s a helpful chart on typical noise levels.)

CONCLUSION: The next time you’re stumped on a creative challenge, head to a bustling coffee shop, not the library. As the researchers write in their paper, “[I]nstead of burying oneself in a quiet room trying to figure out a solution, walking out of one’s comfort zone and getting into a relatively noisy environment may trigger the brain to think abstractly, and thus generate creative ideas.”

SOURCE: The full study, “Is Noise Always Bad? Exploring the Effects of Ambient Noise on Creative Cognition,” is published in the Journal of Consumer Research.

1. Consider Responsive Web Design  

More people are getting away from their desk computers and going outside with their mobile phones. Responsive web design is the effort of making a website display properly on any device. The beauty of this is that responsive design does not need to be code-specific to every device out there. It intelligently changes the content based on browser width. If it’s designed correctly, your user will no longer need to zoom in to find content.  Illy did a great job with its website. In the picture above, you can see how the desktop version transitions into mobile. Now the user does not need to ask questions or zoom in to read text — the website is presented exactly as it should be, no matter where or how it’s accessed. Customers have a clear understanding of who and what Illy is, and defined call-outs especially designed for mobile make it a breeze for on-the-go users.  Responsive web design is becoming exceedingly important every day as the number of mobile and tablet users increase. It has become an natural evolution of our industry and very much a standard to adhere to.  

2. Bring on a Design Co-Founder  

Startups like Pinterest, Airbnb and Square all started with design co-founders. Having the business and development sides of a company were always givens. Now entrepreneurs are beginning to wake up and realize the benefits of design. It is an all-natural scaling resource that helps startup companies evolve and cultivate their brand identity with high expertise of the current industry.  

3. Collaborate  

If you don’t want a design co-founder, consider working with designers outside your network — it is a key to success. There are vast networks and communities of designers that are just as passionate as you to create unique and innovative ideas. The team behind the Path understood this and worked with photographer John Carey to enhance their app with unique cover photos. The more you collaborate with designers, the more it will help you realize how important it is to your audience and your brand.  

4. Stand Out  

With an ocean of companies popping up, it can be hard to stand out from the crowd. Utilizing design will not only give your company a distinct style and personality, it will also help build your brand value. Companies like Coca Cola and Nike have put effort into making sure that when you hear their name, you immediately think of the color red or the Swoosh logo. Good design should be able to be understood by anyone in its demographics whether in or outside your perspective country — you’ll see Coca Cola and Nike ads around the world, as they transcend language and cultural barriers.  Design is no longer just a luxury but a necessity, and it has become a global standard that companies should always keep up with.

Facebook snapped up photo-sharing app Instagram last week for $1 billion, but the social network wasn’t the only one interested in purchasing the photo-filtering wonder app.

Twitter “expressed interest” in purchasing Instagram just a few months ago, according to the New York Times.

Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey was one of the early backers of Instagram, investing in the service in February 2011. Dorsey was also a part of the beta of Instagram and tweeted pictures using the service before it was available to the public, adding buzz around the app’s release.

While Dorsey has posted quite a few Instagram photos over the past year, his Instagram stream has gone silent since the Facebook acquisition of the service.

Facebook’s purchase of Instagram included not only the app but also the Instagram staff. In the Timeline post announcing the acquisition Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg indicated that the company plans to continue to develop Instagram as an independent service and will continue to support sharing Instagram photos on other social networks — including Twitter.

SEE ALSO: Why Instagram Was Worth $1 Billion To Facebook

“For years, we’ve focused on building the best experience for sharing photos with your friends and family.” Zuckerberg said in the announcement. “Now, we’ll be able to work even more closely with the Instagram team to also offer the best experiences for sharing beautiful mobile photos with people based on your interests.”

What do you think Facebook has planned for Instagram? Do you think the fate of the photo-sharing service would be better or worse in the hands of Twitter. Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

It’s remarkable to think that only a few years ago, critics were calling Mark Zuckerberg crazy for turning down billion-dollar offers for Facebook. Now Zuck is the one doling out the billion-dollar offers—and some are still calling him crazy.

Their minds might change when Instagram shows up in their Timelines.

On Monday, the social network announced plans to acquire photo-sharing startup Instagram for a reported $1 billion. What’s Facebook getting for that price? For one, in acquiring one of the world’s fast-growing social networks, it’s staving off competition while boosting its user base. It’s also gaining a talented team of engineers and a strong foothold in mobile engagement. But the most important part of the acquisition involves tying in a third-party product that makes Facebook Timeline irresistible to a lot more users.

In many ways, Instagram is already a mobile version of Timeline. Photos are arranged in reverse chronological order. The platform is designed for discriminating shutterbugs: Instagram is all about that one picture you snapped, took time to apply a filter to, and shared with your close circle of friends. If Facebook is designed for sharing whole albums of a family member’s wedding ceremony, then Instagram is all about that one photo you took of your sister and her new husband, before sending them off on their honeymoon. It’s more intimate and emotional, curated and crafted—the exact moments Facebook wants to promote on Timeline.

To be sure, Facebook still wants you to share entire albums of photographs. But it can take advantage of Instagram’s graph to get that one gorgeous photograph—which is timestamped and often geolocated—to promote on the front page.

In that sense, Instagram can help keep Facebook’s Timelines fresh. And not just for users but brands too. So far, brands such as Hulu, Spotify, and Ford have stretched their Timelines as far back in the past as they’ll realistically (or unrealistically) go. But Facebook has to keep them on the service going forward, and Instagram could be the key.

Kevin Systrom has made it clear in conversations that he’s had no interest in serving up traditional or expected ads that co-opt the platform. He was searching for ways brands could organically enhance Instagram. Starbucks and CNN, for example, were on Instagram almost only to give a behind-the-scenes look at their operations. Their feeds weren’t tied directly to any advertising in the traditional sense.

Systrom also avoided any consideration of advertising early on. He wanted the network to scale dramatically before monetizing it, and didn’t want to dilute Instagram’s brand prematurely, especially with such limited real estate on smartphone screens.

Facebook solves these two issues for Instagram. On the one hand, Facebook can leverage its existing relationship with agencies and brands like AmEx to make Instagram a viable platform. On the other hands, it can take advantage of Instagram’s mobile engagement to push users to follow brands on Facebook proper.

That boosted engagement will be valuable to Facebook’s bottom line, and something Systrom presciently hinted at last year.

“I think a lot of people see Instagram as an iPhone utility, something you use to filter your photo, and save it to your library, and maybe [share] with friends,” Systrom said. “What’s interesting to me is transitioning from that mindset into, ‘Wow, this is actually a really strong social network, something that I can spend hours inside.’ The next version of the app [is] a step-change in that direction, much as when Facebook decided to not just be available at colleges anymore, and branched out beyond that.”

A beautiful website about beautiful typography.