Raw Ideas

You Totally Rock

Dearest You, 

               

I wanted to take a moment to thank you for the links and publicity of the notes I took of Nicholas Felton's awesome Master Class last week. They were rough and not touched up, a raw intimate outpouring of mental processdoodling and visual grey matter jaunts and journeys.

            

                

One of the remarkable things about clearing one's mind and just writing/drawing/outpouring onto a large, blank sheet of paper that stretches out before you is how the senses sharpen. You can sense the give of the moist sharpie tip on the stock of paper terrain, you can hear the speaker clearly and totally as their voice reverberates down from your brain and distills into your capable finger tips and out through your moving pen, you feel free to run after and chase the visual butterflies that flit through your mind in association to the words heard, noting each fabric layer of the air that carries the promise of a blank page and your visual connections to it. Most of all, its just about having fun... and drawing rocket ships. 

             

 

Your support, tweets, RTs, tumblr love and blogs have blown me away this week. Benjamin Franklin once said, "Never confuse motion with action." Thank you for finding value, taking the action and sharing Nicholas Felton's great teaching in the form of my notes with others. I appreciate you! I hope the notes help you take away some key points for your designs and inspire you in your creative journeys of Doing and Becoming. They are yours to do with whatever you please. If they happen to inspire similar notedoodle taking of this Master Class, please send me yours! I'd love to see them.

In fact, I challenge you to listen to the Master Class and do your own notes-- I'll post them here. It'd be great to see your processdoodles! If you do so, most of all, have fun with it and be silly. Carpe sharpie.

             

            

Last, a big thanks to one of my design heroes, Mr. Nicholas Felton. Thank you for teaching the Master Class course on how you do what you do that has delighted millions over in the Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Wired, Fast Company, Real Simple, etc... and the Feltron Annual Reports. You also may know his style as it inspired the stats on Foursquare. Most of all, merci, Mr. Felton for your kind words and support.

You rock my information design world.

   

San Diego Networker

If you're new to San Diego, looking to network in the industry, or want to get involved in the community, here are a few local associations worth checking out:

    

                  

              

San Diego Ad Club offers some fantastic networking events, as well as learning opportunities from industry greats like Alex Bogusky, Dan Wieden, Jeff Goodby and Mike Hughes. Their events are always top-notch, as are Sheila and Cindy. I also love their designer the last two years for their yearly big Ad Auction and Gala... maybe you've heard of her. *cheeky grin* If you're a young professional or recent graduate, check out the active San Diego Ad2. There's always something good going on with the Ad Club, like the Addys Raid and Derby. - San Diego Ad Club on Twitter -

          

                                       

                        

AIGA San Diego is a phenomenal resource for designers in the community. From portfolio reviews to  a breakfast club, they offer a variety of events that cover graphic design, web design, social media, interactive media, print screening and the yearly local Y Conference. AIGA SD offers a lot of meaningful opportunities to get involved and make a difference alongside some really cool people.   - AIGA San Diego on Twitter -

              

            

                                     

San Diego American Marketing Association is helpful for those interested in marketing. From luncheons to education bootcamps and networking mixers, they offer some insightful events that can help you get connected to those in the industry. The main AMA site, Marketing Power, is quite helpful- check out their Resource Library. If you join, their monthly print subscriptions are great.  - San Diego AMA on Twitter -

             

                                                 

PRSA San Diego offers a fantastic mentoring program. I did mine with Fleishman-Hillard to learn more about the PR side of the industry we work in and it was invaluable. The mentors are high level professionals from top PR agencies and they are held accountable by the association to cover certain key topics during your time together. The PRSA also has some great roundtables, happy hours and, of course, the Bernays Awards.  - PRSA San Diego on Twitter -

       

                     

         

For those of you in San Diego county, Incitrio agency produces an awesome resource for locals in the industry. I try to keep up-to-date on what is happening each month with the AAF's Ad Club and our AIGA chapter, followed by the AMA and PRSA, but all of the associations can be a test of dueling acronyms in your planner. Incitrio puts all of these associations, events and more together in a Herculean feat of a monthly newsletter, along with job openings and award submission deadlines. They have events from over 15 local associations! The newsletter looks like this:

Incitrio is run by the talented Angela Hill who you can talk to @incitrio and has won awards like the American Web Design Awards, took the gold in Neenah Paperworks Contest, and has work in the LogoLounge Master Library of Initials & Crests book. To sign up for the newsletter to stay on top of all of the events in San Diego, there's a link off their main site on the right side.

        

                                  

Last, just for the fun of it, check out this cool site I stumbled across today:

                                  

LiveSurface Layered Image Library offers stock images to put your projects on with all of the .psd layers already done for you in perspective. It's a brilliant idea for a comp to a client or for your portfolio if you're in a time crunch on an awesome project. It's got shoes to billboards to buses, oh my!

Everyday Etiquette for Creatives

Etiquette expert Elizabeth Post passed away this week. This post is in honor of that brilliant and wonderful lady who continued in Emily Posts' footsteps to pioneer a kind, generous attitude and  "Etiquette for Everyday". We in the creative industry can sometimes use a little re-etiquetteducation.

 

Etiquette and social conduct does not and should not be stuffy or pretentious, but instead seek to find the best in everyone while actively showing respect and kindness with common sense and courtesy. We are in a time where due to the prevalence of digital technology and modern culture, social mores can be extremely relaxed. Yet to some, their social and professional skills are so loose and unpracticed that they have become flabby. To state it in layman's terms, their etiquette muffin top runneth over. To tone up and exercise one's etiquette, here are two resources to whip one's (not yours, of course) manners into tip-top shape.

     

Say "Thank You" on Electronic Stock

The Jetson's would be proud. Netted by the Webbys today featured a site that allows you to send a "hand-written" note on fine stock electronically. I was so impressed by it that I wanted to share it with you. It might be an interesting option to consider for when you are following up, having a green industry event, are seeking a budget-friendly option for your fete, or prior to sending your first personal snail-mail thank you note. It's not to replace your fine stock notecards all of the time, but to provide a relief for them when you may have just sent a card, need an economically friendly option for a large quantity of invites or announcements, or are looking to become more environmentally conscious. It's called Paperless Post.

 

Paperless Post has the PR kudos from The New York Times, InStyle, W and Body + Soul magazine, along with Zac Posen, Diane Von Furstenberg and Eres.

 

Down-to-earth Elegant Etiquette Twits

Last, I put together a Twitter list on Etiquette Experts today to visit and look in on. I purposely passed up a chivalrous-looking fellow holding up armour of a knight, and a few talented women who lamented on chewing gum manners and whether shoes or loafers were "quite appropriate" for an occasion, to pick the lovely ladies who partake of beer and the down-to-earth gentlemen who understand we are in the 21st century. I hoped to create the list to allow you to peek in from time-to-time and learn something new (and perhaps hilarious). I DID learn today about "subway etiquette" from the list by New York graphic designer Jason Shelowitz; be sure to check out the images- they'll crack you up. Literally.

Image courtesy of New York Daily News; click on image to see article.

      

To sum etiquette up, be open-minded, fair, respectful, kind, flexible and proactive. And if you don't always cross your t's or dot your i's, happen to purport a social faux pas, or perhaps say someone's name wrong, a sincere proactive apology is most often welcome to the aggrieved party. Lapses like misspellings and grammatical errors WILL occur once in a great while; even at the most important times, swallow and own up to it and engage to fix it. If the person is not receptive, that is okay, but be one to do the right thing and be known for your character. Most of all, remember to send your thank you cards, make others feel comfortable, and demonstrate good manners all while being seen and heard... but please, don't get too carried away with manners. That's just plain scary.

Raw Ideas

Thank you for joining me! Were we face-to-face I'd enthusiastically shake your hand like a So. Cal earthquake. This blog has been a long time coming, and would have been even longer except that a profound realization struck me yesterday. I realized if I were continue to wait to get it all together... that may never happen. 

This blog is about new, fresh, and raw ideas on:

• Advertising
• Communications
• Design
• Digital and Interactive
• Graphic Design
• Leadership and Management
  
• Marketing and Strategy
• Social Media
• Technology and Trends
• Web Design and Development

So instead of the slick, cool, perfect blog I had originally been planning and meticulously building in my brain for years like the iconic and elegant Eiffel Tower, it's going to be a raw and colorful compendium of Legos that can be taken apart, torn down, and rebuilt differently (easy enough with HTML/CSS).

Not perfectly polished, but a play area for brainstorming and fresh, innovative ideas to grow and build upon one another. I sat down and just started this... I hope that you can sit down with me on the floor, dig in and throw down. What new, raw ideas have you seen in these areas? What are you interested in?

Starting out, I'll be using my artwork and I'll be posting some links to local agencies that might be helpful to students and those seeking a job in the creative industry in San Diego, some simple how-to's that I often cover with creatives to build their credibility and organic SEO, and perhaps some lighthearted photos with my Fuji Instax Mini Instant Camera that looks like a pocket storm trooper... I'll save my big camera for when I get serious.

I'll also be using my own creative projects and designs for any images on here, unless a website image is pulled, which I'll credit. Otherwise, WYSIWYG with my projects and designs. *grin* Until that 'serious time', this blog is for fun. I welcome your ideas!

Thanks for stopping by.