RSS
The “Feedback Loop Notebook Project”: satisfying two passions with one purchase
One of the biggest challenges causes and nonprofits face is creating programs and initiatives that resonate with the people they’re trying to reach—especially given the hugely competitive landscape they’re facing today. There are countless charity walks and rubber bracelet offers and “drives” happening every month of the year, and it’s easy to lose track of the things you genuinely want to contribute to, no matter how valuable each cause might be. And they are valuable.
That’s why we get excited when we see an organization doing something new — something that speaks in a unique way both about those they’re supporting, and to the people whose support they’re seeking.
And as a designer, I’ve found a project that definitely speaks to me.
Yesterday, Design Ignites Change, a collaboration between the Adobe Foundation and Worldstudio, launched an initiative to help support its efforts in encouraging students to use design thinking to help solve existing challenges in their communities.
This particular effort—Feedback Loop Notebook—enlisted 25 leading letterpress printers to design fifty notebooks using donated paper from Mohawk Fine Papers (any stock of choice!)
The books went on sale yesterday with a special storefront on Felt & Wire Shop. The proceeds—100%, in fact, which is cause enough to celebrate!—will be used to support the School: by Design youth mentoring program.
Picking one for myself is going to be too hard; I might need three (or seven). But it’s nice to know that indulging in one of my loves—great design—will help foster a similar passion in someone else.
Categories: Design, Outside the Square
Twitter brings me food
It was an innocuous tweet, the ultimate example of what Twitter non-believers decry:
I didn’t think much about it, though a few other evening tweeters chimed in with their love of Nutella. But the next morning, I got this:
And this:
I checked the Pretzel Crisp profile to see if they were legit, and then figured, What the heck? So I sent off the address of our office brownstone, and true to the Pretzel’s word:
Yep, three bags of Pretzel Crisps (Classic, Supreme, and Cinnamon Toast), a Pretzel Crisp tote, t-shirt, and coupon… and a jar of Nutella.
While Pretzel Crisps are based out of New Jersey, they have a Boston-based marketing rep who clearly keeps her eyes peeled for snack-related tweets. Sustainable as a marketing strategy? Probably not. But remarkable? Absolutely. (I’m writing this post about it, aren’t I?)
Think about it: they essentially made a promise, and were willing to put themselves out (literally) to back it up. They found me on Twitter, so the probability of my making my reaction public, positive or negative, was high. But they reached out, and (again, literally) delivered. How many companies or organizations can and do the same?
The proof will be, of course, in whether or not I think of — and buy — Pretzel Crisps the next time I’m looking to restock the snack bin at my house. But it’s likely: my toddler son loves cinnamon toast (and pretzels!), and I have to agree… they taste GREAT with Nutella.
Categories: Outside the Square
Collaboration — and fun!:
Updating design materials for the Human Rights Campaign
For the third year in a row, I’ve been volunteering with a few stellar folks to help make the annual Human Rights Campaign golf tournament a success. The HRC is civil rights organization that works to achieve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality. Our New England chapter puts together an annual gala and golf tournament to raise money and promote these values.
Though I play only a small part in getting this project together, I’m proud of the design materials that have come out of this collaboration. (Of course, it helps that I’m spoiled by my peers — volunteering is always so much more rewarding when you are eager to please your colleagues!)
This year we decided to refresh the design approach and update our tournament lockup. We achieved texture with the use of turf in our original designs, so I knew I wanted to keep this moving forward.
For the updated invite I created a layered pattern, with a little help from Photoshop, to emulate the craters of the ball. I knew what I wanted: saturated color, overexposed light but no loss in contrast, and slightly yellow to suggest a little vintage. (Did it work? You be the judge.) Hopefully this got me something a little unexpected.
The display typeface on the ’08 – ’09 designs felt harsh with this imagery adjustment, so instead I chose Avenir — a clean, soft, round face — something that paired well with the circular pattern. The 2010 lockup has a smooth round “swoosh” with a double line for movement expression, while its two-year-old sibling needed only one strong line to suggest the ball’s path. You can see the updates in the images here.
(If you would like to learn more about the HRC or how to volunteer with us, visit hrc.org or email me.)
Categories: Design, Outside the Square
Five Years Ago…
Being a Digital Media Developer allows me to really enjoy the “The Five Years Ago Game,” an exercise in which I try to think up as many everyday 2010 things as I can that five years ago either did not exist or meant something different. These can be everything from proper nouns to phrases and slang, or even broad concepts. Given the absurdly dynamic nature of how we access and use the Internet, sometimes I feel like I can play for hours.
Here are a few I’ve recently come up with:
In August of 2005:
- YouTube’s company headquarters consisted of a small office on top of a pizzeria.
- Gmail was still invite-only.
- There was no such thing as an iPhone, and the phrase “mobile apps” would’ve elicited strange looks.
- Using the term “Blu-Ray” meant you were strictly an insider.
- High School Students couldn’t use Facebook (not until September, anyway).
- Twitter was just a word used in semi-common colloquialisms (e.g. “I’m all atwitter!”).
- Movies were overwhelmingly “2D.”
- Windows Vista had just been announced.
- Saying “I’m a Mac” may have gotten you committed.
- “Social Media” likely meant going out to the movies with friends.
- MySpace was still at least sort of hip.
- Consumer processors were almost entirely single-core (Pentium 4!).
- Apple still used their own processors.
- People were using Firefox 1, only recently changed from “Firebird.”
- Kindle just meant “to catch fire.”
Care to join in? Post yours in the comments! And don’t feel restricted to just technology….
Categories: Digital Media, Outside the Square
The Nostalgia of Old Media
There’s absolutely nothing like holding an old black and white family portrait in your hands. Weathered and battered, maybe a little musty-smelling. There’s also nothing like holding a 40-year-old vinyl record in your hands, pulled out of the sleeve while taking a moment to admire the artwork and track listing, then placing it on the turntable, letting the needle drop every so gently on it.
While you may not share in either of these two experiences, I KNOW you can relate to something like it. These are the tangible elements of media that are fading away in technology’s wake. I’m not getting ink or lead smeared on the right side of my hand as I draft this post. No, I’m giving my fingers a workout as they type feverishly on my keyboard. Click, click, clicking away (and not in the cool typewriter sounding way).
Vinyl records have been able to make a significant comeback. People love the experience and thought of vinyl. But I fear for poor photographers and the seemingly ill-fated return of film, and for recording engineers and the return of analog tape in the recording studio. These beautiful mediums are lost due to the extreme cost benefits of using digital methods to capture the art.
Even as a tech-heavy guy, I worry as I snap photos on my phone or digital camera and dump them onto a hard drive that might fail in a year or two. (This is why you BACK. UP. folks!) I also worry as I burn a CD of an intangible set of mp3s, wondering how long that CD will last as it gets kicked around the center console of my car.
But what can we do?
As technology rapidly advances, we are quickly drifting away from being able to experience these tangible events and occurrences in our lives. While our smartphones, laptops, and digital cameras are making life much easier, they’re also killing the seeds of nostalgia. I really don’t think the next generation is going to get the same nostalgic feeling from swiping through .jpgs on their iPads as I do when holding a musty black and white photo.
Do you?
Categories: Digital Media, Outside the Square
One day left to vote on SXSW panel proposals… and here’s ours!
That’s right — just one day left to vote on SXSW panels! Head here to vote right now.
Our contributed panel proposal, “Scratch Your Niche! How Digital Dimensionality Builds Influence,” brings together:
- our own Tamsen McMahon, Director of Digital and Strategic Initiatives and “co-tack” at Brass Tack Thinking;
- C.C. Chapman, Boston-based media maven, Digital Dad and the man behind Accident Hash and Managing the Gray;
- Amber Naslund, Director of Community at Radian6 and “co-tack” at Brass Tack Thinking;
- Julien Smith, co-author of Trust Agents, and in-demand speaker and consultant.
You can read more about what the panel’s all about at the link above, but here’s a quick peek:
“Influence based on “digital dimensionality”—a coordinated presence across four dimensions—can expand your potential audience, and influence, to almost infinite proportions. In this session, you’ll see real-life examples of how both individuals and organizations have used the digital dimensionality to advance their goals…and learn how you can, too.”
To learn more — and to vote! — just head to our SXSW PanelPicker page!
Categories: Branding, Digital Media, Outside the Square, Strategy and Management
Air type
Walking to the T the other day, I had the opportunity to grab a few frames of some impressive, aeronautical typography.
Five aircraft, flying in unison, drawing bitmapped type in the sky with a precision that—adjusted for scale—rivals the accuracy of many desktop printers. Cool.
I don’t know much about sky-writing, but think about the variables. The aircraft are likely flying at well over 100 mph, and there’s wind, and they have to take perspective into account—which is particularly impressive, considering they’re flying in circles over the city, rather than flying in a straight line.
Aside from being impressed by the technological aspect of the performance, and it was certainly a performance (most people on the crowded sidewalk stopped to look; I heard a number of mumbled “I’m sorry’s”), the type itself was crisp and clean. Engineer’s type. Type rationalized for use at altitude and speed.
But then nature and entropy take over. What was pristine becomes distressed; air currents expand and warp the letters so they are transformed from crisp dashes to soft cotton balls; from the hard edge of technology to the (on that day) gentle corrosion of nature.
Beautiful.
Categories: Design, Outside the Square
Social Media and Education: a SMBNH&ME recap
To answer your first question: “SMBNH&ME” stands for “Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire and Maine.”
What’s that you, ask? Well, Social Media Breakfast was founded as a way for people involved with (or even just curious about) social media to get together to meet and learn. The location-based groups meet on varying schedules, usually with a specific topic in mind.
Last Friday, the groups from New Hampshire and Maine joined forces to cover the topic of social media and education—and Meg and I took a road trip to take part. (The tweet transcript can be found here and here.)
The event itself was a testament to both new technologies and the power of social media-fed relationships: due to some last-minute cancellations, one speaker presented via Skype, and I was asked by my friend and Social Media Breakfast New Hampshire Founder Leslie Poston to pinch-hit with her to answer attendee questions on social media and education (I worked in higher ed for eight years before joining Sametz Blackstone Associates).
Up first was Tucker Kimball from Gould Academy who talked about what he and Gould have learned from their forays into social media. His four “rules”:
- Publish, publish, publish – Keep up a steady stream of content, tailored to what’s finding traction among your audiences
- Respond – Interact with those who are interacting with you (sounds basic, but so many institutions don’t!)
- Don’t speak institutionally – Tucker told the story of the lacrosse coach whose personal engagement with folks on Twitter led to a matriculated student (and much-needed lacrosse attackman!)
- Social, but don’t forget media – Use a variety of platforms, and make sure there’s content that goes beyond mere conversation
We also thought it was interesting that Gould’s upcoming redesign of their website will funnel people in via content-specific microsites (athletics, arts, etc.), rather than driving people to a main site first. A sign of trends to come?
Hans Mundahl, who teaches Media Productions at New Hampton School, used live video streaming (Skype!) to discuss how NHS uses live video streaming themselves, both to produce student-run live webcasts and to live-stream select athletic events (something that’s apparently been a great for building alumni interaction and involvement).
The two Q&A sessions—one with just Leslie and me, and the other with Tucker and Hans as well—covered a variety of topics, from the legalities around posting student images (media releases at a minimum; check FERPA guidelines) to getting students to engage with social tools as classroom aides (I suggested enlisting students in choosing and building what they’d want and need) to whether or not to centralize institutional profiles and streams (general consensus was to keep streams separate, but coordinate through a central office).
Our thanks to Leslie and Amanda (the doyenne of SMBME) for a great event!
Categories: Digital Media, Outside the Square
Twitter
LinkedIn