Welcome to the birth of Peeps I Dig, a monthly series of people who inspire me past, present, and future. Who knows, maybe they’ll inspire you too. This months theme is go, go girls! Just a little sampling of the large pool of strong, intellectual women who have taught me how to be one.
MOM1 and MOM2
The adorable, Japanese lady on the right is Mom 1 (the one who birthed me) and the red head on the left is Mom 2, my mother-in-law. Now I know it’s a bit cliche to state that my moms are an awesome inspiration, but seriously, they’re totally awesome and inspire me daily.
Inspirations from Mom1:
1. Whatever you do, just make sure you’re happy.
2. Your home is where you make it.
3. You create the definition of success.
4. Organization is a lifestyle not just a skill.
5. You’re never too old to learn something new.
Inspirations from Mom2:
1. The wisdom of Sesame Street is all you need, “if you want to play the saxophone, then you have to put your rubber ducky down” aka “life’s about choices”.
2. There’s good in every situation, even having cancer. It’s all about perspective. Her daily saying, “Thank you God for giving me cancer and the strength to survive it”.
3. The Universe will give back what you put out.
4. Worrying is a waste of time and energy.
5. Your child will teach you how to parent him. You just have to pay attention to the cues.
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MARIKO
Mariko Mori is a Japanese, multi-media artist who through the mediums of photography and technology melds Eastern and Western mythology and culture.
Inspirations from Mariko Mori:
1. Art and technology are not exclusive of each other.
2. Be bold.
3. Challenge cultural norms.
4. If you can dream it up, it can be done.
5. Explore.
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XENA
Xena, The Princess Warrior is a fantasy series from the late ’90′s in which Xena, aka Lucy Lawless, kicked some serious butt for the greater good for redemption of her former sins.
Inspirations from Xena:
1. Kick ass when necessary.
2. It’s never too late to be a better person.
3. Go into battle in style.
4. Do good.
5. Be a loyal friend.
Inspirations from Paula:
1. Be prolific.
2. Don’t be bound by one medium.
3. Be inspired and never limit the sources of your inspiration.
4. Break boundaries and then break them again and again.
5. Be a rock star in whatever you do.
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Be sure to check back monthly for more Peeps I Dig. Next month’s theme: Animated characters that inspire me. Who inspires you?
This tutorial series on the basic usage of WordPress is brought to you by akstokes.com
At times it is unavoidable, you are going to need a CMS. I tend to avoid CMSs and frameworks in my own design, I don’t like to use the word control freak…I prefer to think of myself as detail oriented. However, as I’m sure you know, they have some very positive attributes, the major ones being: your client can update their own content and built-in browser compatibility.
While you may be okay with plugging-in updated pictures and copy at a moments notice, there is something to be said for letting your clients have a certain amount of autonomy. This is when the CMS aspect of WordPress becomes an indispensable tool. At its basic level, WordPress is a free blog tool and publishing platform. Even though gaining access to the code, in order to move past the generic themes, costs an annual fee, it can save hours of compatibility testing and content updating. There are many other web-publishing tools available, but for the purposes of this tutorial we’ll be using WordPress.
This series of PDF tutorials is meant to be handed over to your client when you hand over control of their WordPress site. They are written with the most novice users in mind, the kind who have trouble finding a login or password field. While it may seem dumbed down to the point of being insulting, try to think like someone who has never used a platform like WordPress and how overwhelming it can be. Even if you initially sit down with your clients and walk them through it step-by-step (as any good designer should), it’s always helpful to have something on paper/screen to refer back to (think of your pocket reference for CSS that’s torn up beyond recognition).
Part 1 – Getting Started is specific to WordPress blogs. Even if you’re not ready to remit total control to a CMS or publishing platform, a WordPress blog is a great (free) way to give your client some level of content management while keeping their main site under your watchful eye. Getting Started is written with the assumption that you have already set-up and styled your client’s blog and now you are giving them the finished product to populate with content. Part 1 addresses the absolute basics of the blog: signing in, simple posting, and changing a password.
akstokes is a Philadelphia based web and graphic designer. She is a fabulous designer, a web wiz, and a kick-ass colleague. Check back soon for Part 2 – Going Further.
Freelancing is a fine balance of variables that can create success if juggled correctly or spell disaster if not juggled well.
I’m often asked “What’s it like to be freelance?” Well, ladies and gents, it can be amazingly hard and stressful but at the same time as equally rewarding. Like anything in life, it takes patience, attention, some elbow grease and tender loving care.
Over the past few years, I’ve learned to ride the ebb and flow of the tricky waters of freelance. Here’s a quick list of pros and cons for those of you thinking about jumping in:
PROs
1. You’re on your own clock—it’s great to be on your own schedule. I’m flexible enough to be able to be spontaneous with my days and can work at any hour of the day instead of clocking in and out for someone else.
2. You’re your own boss—it’s all about me and no one to tell me differently.
3. Being fed—following your dream to be your own boss and doing what you love leaves your spirit and soul completely fed.
4. It’s on you—when in an office full of talented people, it’s sometimes hard to get recognized leading you to feel under appreciated. When it’s just you then all of the glory is put forth upon you and you get to beam with pride when your client falls in love with you and your work.
5. Fundage—when the juggling act is going smoothly cash flow can be excellent.
6. Uncle Sam—there are loads of organizations and municipal and governmental programs who love giving money and resources to small businesses.
7. Renaissance Woman or Man—when you’re out on your own you tend to become educated in a plethora of other subjects that have nothing to do with your actual trade but are vital to running a business. This education challenges your boundaries and ultimately helps you grow as a person and business owner.
CONs
1. You’re on your own clock—when all of your time is YOUR time, it’s hard to manage it effectively. You have to be really disciplined with your time. It can be really tough on those lazy summer days but it must be done.
2. You’re your own boss—when you’re the one making the rules it’s easy to give yourself a lot of leeway to do what you want and not what you need to be doing.
3. Being fed—the paychecks don’t come in a nice bi-monthly pattern so budgeting gets difficult at times and sometimes you might not be fed.
4. It’s on you—usually in a work place when something goes wrong the blame can fall in a variable of ways; however, as a freelancer, that blame sits solely on top of your shoulders when things go awry. Disclaimer: Murphy’s Law—things will, at some point, go awry.
5.Fundage—when the juggling act is not going smoothly cash flow can be non-existent.
6. Uncle Sam—if you thought taxes were high when you were employed by someone else, brace yourself for the beating you’ll get being a freelancer.
7. Renaissance Woman or Man—when you’re out on your own, you’re really out on your own including auxiliary tasks that you might not know how to do like accounting, billing, networking or even customer service. So you either have to get yourself schooled or you have to shell out money to have someone do it for you.
So there it is. My pros and cons to freelancing. If your a little confused as to why the pros are the same as the cons, just from a different perspective, well that was on purpose. That little paradox is the essence of freelance. It can be absolutely rewarding in every way and it can also be the bane of your existence.
My best advice to those of you thinking about taking the plunge is to really look into your heart and be honest with yourself. You have to know your potential as well as your limits. Going freelance is the best thing I’ve ever done spiritually but I have to be honest and say that it isn’t the best thing I’ve ever done financially.
You have to be willing to work twice as hard for twice as long to get to where you want to be. It’s much easier said than done especially since Life likes to throw curve balls. However, if you can ride out those rough waters then I would have to attest that going freelance is just awesome. Even the cons aren’t so bad because really it just comes with the territory.
So my vote is, DO IT but do it with a plan to avoid as many cons as you can. You might regret it or you might not but at least if you try, you’ll never look back and say “What if?”
I attended a really interesting lecture and exhibition this past week: Beneath the Surface: Poster Exhibition from Iran at Rutgers-Camden Center for the Arts. It’s a collection of Iranian posters curated by Nahid Tootoonchi, Townson University. AIGA has an excellent article about it.
Tootoonchi, Iranian herself, felt that her purpose in doing this exhibit was to open up an opportunity for Westerners to be exposed to Iranian design. In fact, each piece in the show is from her personal collection. She visited each of the artists in their studios and discussed their design with them. I found this to be really cool and very much appreciate her efforts.
During the talk, she gave a quick and dirty run-down on Farsi because typography is a major element within Iranian poster design. As a monolingual designer, this aspect of the presentation was especially interesting. The Farsi was beautiful. Hard edges are non-existent and each element flowed seamlessly into the next.
Many of the designers used English and Farsi simultaneously within the designs since the posters were often internationally displayed. Seeing the two juxtaposed side by side created an appealing tension between the hard, straight edges of English and rounded, graceful strokes of Farsi.
Another element that caught my eye was the lack of imagery. I’m not that familiar with Muslim but learned that the use of human imagery is frowned upon because it could be considered worship of a deity. If imagery was used, it was obscured in some way which gave way to an air of mystical mystery.
There were movie posters in the mix and it was odd but refreshing to see them done without pictures of people. It seemed that the boundaries of creativity were pushed due to this restriction and the intelligence of the viewer stimulated.
The styles spanned the spectrum from graffiti looking to folky. Whatever the style each piece was a learning experience in itself. It was like getting a little sneak peak into Iranian culture. Makes you wonder what tidbits people around the world get from our posters.
The exhibit is fantastic and I highly recommend you attend. Here are the designers that are highlighted:
Whatever your passion, talent, dreams—everyone needs that special someone to look up to. Well gals and guys, my pizza pie in the sky is Chip Kidd. I fell in love with his design when I worked at Borders Books. Being a creative, I of course definitely judged a book by it’s cover. Rows and rows of lovely books surrounded me everyday and I would walk up and down the aisles running my fingers over the spines taking-in that oh-so-exhilarating dusty aroma. Time and time again, I’d pull a book of the shelf and fall in love with the cover. Almost every time I flipped it over to see who designed that cool jacket, it was the Kidd.
Naturally I became obsessed with him and tried to find out everything that I could. I mean look at the guy. He’s talented, he’s stylish, he’s really sexy in that cool geeky kind of way—what’s not to adore?
For a long time I wanted to follow in his footsteps and design book jackets. Well, I still do but it’s not my only goal in life now. I’ve been able to expand my horizons a bit but nothing is sweeter than that first electric spark that makes the hair on your arms stand-up and send shivers down your spine. That’s what Kidd’s covers did for me. It got me excited. It got me motivated. It made me want to be a designer. It was about the same jolt that I got from Cyndi Lauper’sShe’s So Unusual album sheath. It was my first vinyl, my first glimpse of van Gogh and my gateway into the world of fine arts. Thanks Cyndi, time after time girls do just wanna have fun.
Kidd is prolific. Not only does he do covers, he’s also a writer, speaker, comic book connoisseur and all around modest guy. I’ve met him a couple of times. Once for a signing for his first novel, Cheese Monkeys which I did read and enjoy. It’s a coming of age story about what else but a budding Graphic Designer. I read it while I was still in school so it was one of those special reads that hits home. It did leave me questioning though—what the hell is a cheese monkey?!
The second time was just to go drool at him. He was moderating a discussion with a graphic novelist that I can’t for the life of me remember. I was too busy imagining Chip as my husband to pay attention. I know it’s pathetic, shut-up.
His newer novel, The Learners the sequel to Cheese Monkeys, came out in 2008. I unfortunately haven’t picked it up yet. Since I don’t work in the bookstore anymore it seems to be a major feat to actually go buy books. Your guess is as good as mine on why that is. I just might go pick it up today though after seeing this awesome video. Yes, I admit it. I’m turned on by the typography and layout of this book. What can I say?
Some chips off the Kidd block for your pleasure (and mine):
This cover really makes me thirsty which is appropriate since it’s about Burroughs journey to alcoholic recovery. You would think that it’d be a given that the cover reflect what’s inside it’s pages. Well, that doesn’t always happen so it adds to the experience when it does. I asked Kidd at one of his signings if he was able to read all of the books before designing the covers. Turns out that reading the book before designing the cover isn’t done often. Makes you wonder what kind of voodoo magic these designers are practicing when they hit the nail on the head with a cover without reading the book.
This cover gives off a deeply mysterious feeling. It’s mystical, allusive, engaging and intriguing. It really makes you just want to crack it open to see what magical world is between the pages. Tartt’s story is just as enigmatic.
Who could forget the iconic cover for The Lost World? I don’t know how well Crichton wrote it but the movies were bangin’. Kidd’s cover design was admired enough that they carried over the visual language that he created for all of the movie paraphernalia. So simple. So cool.
I could go on and on about all of the cover designs that float my boat and I could especially gush a lot more about Chip (yeah, we’re on a first name basis—he might not know it but we are). I want to hear from you. Book cover design is often under rated and taken for granted so throw out some props for your favorites. I’m looking forward to seeing them but I can’t promise that I won’t judge it by its cover!
I’ve recently came to the realization that the process of building one’s brand is freakishly similar to going through puberty. At least that’s how I feel about the ups, downs and crazy rounds that I’ve experienced in my almost 4 years as theLULAdesigns. When I first took the plunge to live my dream of running my own business, I knew that I wanted to design but that’s pretty much all that I knew. I didn’t have a brand dream team backing me up so I took what I knew and launched my brand.
Over these few short years, theLULAdesigns has gone through brand puberty. With every project my experience expanded and with every client my pitch became increasingly honed. My confidence built and I grew more and more into who I needed to be. So now almost 4 years and a few redesigns later, I feel like theLULAdesigns is leaving its prepubsent form and heading full force into puberty.
With a new year came new positioning for me. In actuality, it isn’t new positioning per say. Really, it’s the realization and clarification of what my positioning has been and should be.
Taking a look back at my clients, projects, and what got and gets me jazzed, it turns out that I’m a bleeding heart, tree hugging humanitarian activist. I swing left—way left, which brings me to my positioning: people, planet, profit. I’m borrowing buzz words from the triple bottom line phenomenon but when I dig deep that’s truly what I’m all about. It’s always what I’ve been about and will be about.
It just makes sense. I’m doing what I love while simultaneously giving back and standing up for the causes that I believe in. I’m theLULAdesigns and I’m justified left. Which way do you justify?
The art of guerrilla marketing is a tricky one. If done well it can catch like wild fire and bring more exposure to a brand than any big money campaign could. It’s hard to do well but definitely memorable when success is achieved. Here are some of my faves:
Guerrilla marketing isn’t only effective with making a buck. It can give exposure to a cause. It can also elevate the “good” factor of a brand like these tactics by The Fun Theory, an initiative of Volkswagen, to raise social and environmental awareness.
When you really think about it, the best and most memorable marketing initiatives go out on a limb and are full of creative energy. Another awesome guerrilla marketing montage for your viewing pleasure:
For a freelance designer without a Fortune 500 marketing budget, self promotion can be taxing at the least. These campaigns inspire me to think outside of the box with my marketing and flex my creative muscles. Get guerrilla and have fun.
Feel free to let me in on your guerrilla faves. Inspire me!
Next to having actual talent and skills, the ability to successfully business network is crucial to an entrepreneur’s survival. I have found that this is much easier said than done. Some people have it innately within them to smoothly make contact with others no matter the social situation. I’m certainly not one of those people. Don’t get me wrong. I consider myself to be pretty outgoing but when it comes to networking I find myself at a loss. The art of small talk is lost on me which often brings me to the question of why it’s so hard. It’s not like I’m a hermit who doesn’t see the light of day. I have tons of friends. I go out all of the time. I even meet new people and strike up conversations. So why is it so hard when it comes to business networking?
I posed this question to my circle of people and got mixed reviews. Miki, my mother-in-law who happens to be a networking goddess, surprisingly said that it is extremely hard for her. She had to work at her networking skills extensively. The act of networking is definitely not natural for her but she’s good at it, really good at it. This gives me hope for myself.
Then there’s Q, a fellow graduate and graphic designer, who could be dropped in a foreign city and be friends with everyone by the time of her leave. For her, it’s innate. She’s one of the rare breed that just has it. I remember seeing her work a room when we were students together during those awkward events fashioned to help you learn networking. It was like watching the Discovery channel. This graceful creature prowled with stealth from one person to the next creating opportunities with her interactions every step of the way.
Whether innate or not, everyone no matter your trade needs to perfect the art of networking. So here are a few tips that I’ve compiled from my networking deities to help you along the way:
Practice the small talk. You can do it anywhere with anyone. In an elevator, in line at the grocery store, it really doesn’t matter. Just practice striking up short conversations with total strangers to force yourself to become more comfortable talking to random people.
Mind your P’s and Q’s. Business networking although social isn’t a night out on the town with your best buds. There’s a certain amount of etiquette involved so be sure to brush up on the do’s and don’ts. Here’s a few resources with quick tips that I found helpful:
Be authentic. Don’t try to be something that your not. People can see the lack of authenticity and it is a total turn off. Be genuine and authentic in your interactions. Know who you are, what you do and how to explain it within 5-10 seconds without sounding like a robot.
Be interested. Make sure to ask people about themselves. It’s human nature to talk about ourselves but try to abstain and keep the conversation flowing by asking questions about the other person instead of talking about yourself.
Be aware. Networking can happen with anyone anywhere. Be aware of opportunities to network. You never know who someone knows. That person might know your next client or better yet, your next five clients.
Relax. Try not to get hung up on the logistics of networking. All-in-all networking is just meeting someone new. You won’t be graded on your performance. Try to relax and enjoy the conversations and the thrill of making new connections. Your not networking to sell. Your networking to expand your business circle which in turn will provide opportunities.
Get a mentor. If you know someone who’s a networking guru, ask them to give you some pointers and maybe even observe them in a networking situation so you can see the person in their element. Ask them to role play with you. They can give you feedback on whether your elevator pitch sounds authentic or contrived and can help you become more comfortable with your body language.
Like I said, all of this is easier said than done. Some of us have it naturally but most of us have to nurture our way to business networking success. Either way, no matter how you get there, just get there. I’ll meet you there.
One might not think about minor details like dashes when contemplating design; however, it’s those little things that can make or break you. Besides, who cares about the design if something is spelled wrong or has bad grammar? Designers aren’t editors but it pays to make sure that whatever you’re putting out into the world is grammatically presentable.
I see a lot of things that fall through the cracks due to the grammatical rule not being widely known, such as double spacing after periods—a hold over from typewriter days.
Another instance is the use of dashes. People commonly use hyphens as dashes such as the double hyphen in place of an en dash and the triple hyphen in place of an em dash. This usage of hyphens really drives me crazy! I strive to clarify the confusion between hyphens, en dashes and em dashes. Down with double hyphens!
Fret not, fellow dash users. Here are a few simple rules to guide you through using these mysterious pieces of punctuation. We’ll start with the easy one: the hyphen.
The hyphen is used only when hyphenating words or for line breaks. The keystroke for this on Mac and PC is simply the hyphen key located on the top right of the keyboard next to the plus/equals key.
The en dash is longer than a hyphen and shorter than an em dash. It gets its name from being about the width of a capital letter N. An easy way to remember how to use en dashes is that it reads like the word “to” although an en dash should never replace the word. This tip works for me because it’s used to indicate duration such as “January–March”. En dashes can also be used with a compound adjective when one of the adjectives is more than one word. An example would be “pre–Vietnam War period”. The keystroke for this on a Mac is the option key with the hyphen key. For PC, hold down the alt key and type 0150 on the number pad.
The em dash is the longest dash and is about the length of a capital letter “M”. It’s used when there’s an abrupt change of thought and in place of a colon or parentheses. Check out the second paragraph of this post for an awesome example of how to use em dashes. The keystroke for this on a Mac is the shift key with the option key and hyphen key. On a PC, hold down the alt key and type 0151 on the number pad.
Onward designers! Dare to be dashing with your grammatically correct dashes!
Technically, she’s my mother-in-law but we’ve never been big on the in-law title. Miki doesn’t come with all of the cliche baggage. The truth is that she’s all sorts of awesome. I often wonder how I lucked out with such a great guy AND great mother-in-law. She’s not only my husband’s mom—she’s my mentor, my friend, my mom.
You could cut the tension in the air. Today is her first day of chemo. The first of many, many treatments over the next five months. What does one do while your mom’s getting chemo? Well, being a designer, it made me think about logos—cancer logos.
I’ll start with the big gun. The American Cancer Society researches, reports, and provides support for just about every cancer out there. A patriotic logo set in red, white and blue with a caduceus sitting solidly to the left creating a sense of confident guidance. It’s a logo that’s clean and straight forward. One might even venture to say that it’s a little cold for the subject matter. Although, they are an organization that’s rooted in hardcore research.
Another big one is Susan G. Komen for the Cure. An organization that raises extensive funds for breast cancer research. The sans serif typography is modern yet soft enough to remain humanistic. The all too ribbon icon has a slight modification of the dot on top mimicking a human silhouette which adds a unique factor to a well used symbol.
The Gynecologic Cancer Foundation’s mission is to “support research, education and public awareness of gynecologic cancer prevention, early detection and optimal treatment.” The logo is about as generic as the mission statement. Don’t get me wrong, they do vital and amazing work that I have the utmost respect for. Unfortunately, from a graphic standpoint the logo leaves much to be desired.
Ovations is dedicated to the pursuit for a cure for ovarian cancer through funding of new and ongoing research and treatment initiatives, increasing awareness of the subtle signs and symptoms of the disease and give hope, education and comfort to those currently battling ovarian cancer. The subtle scaling of the O and S create the illusion of them hugging the tagline giving it a very humanistic feel. The butterfly icon nicely balances the typography and is an image of hope and metamorphosis.
The High Heals Foundation’s mission is to “raise funds to develop methods for early diagnosis of Ovarian cancer and aid in the discovery of a cure through research, advocacy and education.” Although I don’t wear heals, I do think this lockup is fantastic. What’s more go-go-girl power than a patent leather spike heal paired with lipstick red? It’s fun, accessible and dares you to be courageous.
There’s countless logos out there that range the spectrum from all medical business to bleeding heart humanitarians.
All-in-all I’d have to say that Team Miki takes the cake when it comes to cancer taglines. The official logo is still in the works (that is, as soon as I design one) but you gotta LOVE this tagline:
We put the balls into fighting ovarian cancer.
That’s what happens when your mother-in-law’s circle of friends are all knee deep into Marketing. She definitely puts the balls into fighting cancer though. Miki is a tough woman and logo or not she’s fighting cancer with style.
MOM1 and MOM2
XENA
