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Kris KrĂŒg

Vancouver Art Gallery

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Take action in your life and go after what you want or you’ll never know what might have been. There’s nothing standing in your way, so go for it! No regrets!

All the planning, thinking, goal setting, organizing and wanting won’t mean anything unless you take action. Action is what makes a dream become reality. Action is what gets you from here to there. Action is your key to success.

What steps can you take today to better your future tomorrow?

“Every thought you produce, anything you say, any action you do, it bears your signature.” - Thich Nhat Hanh

“Action without vision is only passing time, vision without action is merely daydreaming, but vision with action can change the world.” -Nelson Mandela

“You may never know what results come of your actions, but if you do nothing, there will be no results.” –Mahatma Gandhi

Dana Chisnell is an elections geek and UX research nerd (her words) who has trained thousands of people, including government workers to test their designs. But what she really loves is giving design literacy to the world. She’s the lead on a project to develop a series of Field Guides To Ensuring Voter Intent. The Field Guides, originally funded by a Kickstarter project, are designed to be quick, easy, and accessible help for local election officials to do the best possible design. She has won two MacArthur grants to expand the Field Guides series. She’s what you might call a “seasoned professional” who, with Jeff Rubin, wrote Handbook of Usability Testing, Second Edition. She’s design researcher at the United States Digital Service, helping teams at the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service and at Veterans’ Affairs create better customer experiences.

Q&A with Dana Chisnell (CMVancouver August Speaker)

How do you define creativity and apply it in your career?
I use a dictionary. I don’t actually think about creativity. I think about solving problems.

Where do you find your best creative inspiration?
In the bottom left hand drawer. In the kitchen, that’s where the utensils are that I don’t use very often. In the dresser, that’s where the cashmere sweaters are.

What’s the one creative advice or tip you wish you’d known as a young person?
Work. It all comes down to work.

Who would you like to hear speak at CreativeMornings?
Bea Arthur (except I think she’s dead). Mike Monteiro.

If you had a magic wand, where would you be in five years?
Arguing with the magic wand repairman about the warrantee running out.

What myths about creativity would you like to set straight?
That creativity trumps work. It doesn’t. Work always trumps creativity.

If you could interview anyone living or dead, but not a celebrity, who would it be and why?
Grace Hopper. Because Grace Hopper.

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