A creative kick in the ass.

Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. – Thomas Edison

For some interactive copywriters, art directors or graphic designers, coming up with a creative idea isn’t that hard. Executing it, however is another matter.

The 99% Conference is founded on the notion that there are plenty of conferences out there focused on inspiration. The reality is, some creatives need help making those ideas happen.

The 99% was the most thoughtfully planned conference I have ever attended. Since I want to actually remember what was said in each talk, I tried to sum each on up in just one phrase (pretty hard to do!) Here's a few:

Beth Comstock: You have to tell a story before you can sell a story.

Linda Rottenberg: Stalking is an under-rated start-up tactic. If someone asks you if are you crazy, take it as a compliment.

Laura Guido Clark on self-realization: You can't ask a client to do something that you haven't asked yourself.

Andrew Zuckerman: Asking someone to engage with your project is asking a lot. You can’t get to wonderful without going through okay first.

Simen Senick: A spirit of generosity, what can I do for that person, is a new way to conduct business.

Scott Belsky: Organization can be a key competitive advantage for creatives.

And perhaps my favorite which came via Dr. Michael Johnson: Pain is temporary. Suck is forever.

Do you want to be involved in projects that you don't respect the integrity of?

Less text, more sex: advice to the royal newlyweds.

So when the honeymoon’s over and Will and Kate are back in the palace, how do you keep those newlywed embers of passion burning?

Well, since I just celebrated my 21st wedding anniversary yesterday, I’ll offer a few words of advice.

Banish the technology from the bedroom.

We’ve never had a TV in our bedroom.

And that goes for computers, laptops and now dun, dun, dun, the smart phone.

That’s right. The smart phone stays in my office at the other end of the house. It’s just too easy to start surfing and then the other one starts snoring.

So that pretty much leaves our bedroom for conversation, reading, sleeping – and rad sex.

Will & Kate, may you enjoy a long and happy marriage.

How do you limit digital intrusion in your life?

Why I love the Y.

The gathering of the faithful.

Design conferences are kind of like old-fashioned tent revivals that southern churches use to hold. Once a year, you need to re-energize your faith, stand up and say, "Amen, I believe, sistah!" So once a year, I take some time out, turn off the email and drink some of the creative Kool-Aid at the AIGA Y16 Design Conference. As a self-employed creative with well-trained clients that I communicate with via email, it's all too easy to work in a vacuum.  I have to go out of my way to collaborate and reconnect with other creatives. The Y is one of the the best ways I have found to spark my  creativity  and remember the reasons why I got into this business to begin with.

Design by Aaron Draplin for print screening with Sezio.

Makin' shit.

The Pacific Northwest made a strong presence at the Y with Aaron Draplin of Draplin Design Company. (Tagline: Midwesting the Northwest.) Aaron charmed everyone with his candidness and ability for telling it like it is. He is a big proponent of doing creative work whether or not you have a budget. “There’s equity in helping people,” he said. He encouraged designers to “be the client and make shit happen.” We were challenged to get out there and get dirty. He closed his talk and set the mood of the conference with these gems:

  1. Work hard and love this shit.
  2. Say yes maybe a little more than you say no.
  3. Do good work for good people.

The shape of design.

Fellow Portlander Frank Chimero took a more cerebral approach to design, asking the questions behind why we do the things we do:

  • How vs. Why.

How is about being capable and taking your tooks and forcing them to your will. Why is about the reasons we do things, and often, this part of the conversation is neglected.

In the relationship between message and format, designers deal with the tone.

  • Message (what you’re saying)
  • Tone (this is the area designers deal in, the bridge between message and format)
  • Format (what is the medium: web, poster, print, ad, brochure)

Frank urged designers to explore beyond the tone and become the client – becoming responsible for content. “If I’m assigned an article and it’s crap, I can’t come up with a good illustration.”

Other speakers were fabulous. Illustrators and design duo Sarah Labieniec and Ryan Meis of Lab Partners were simply delightful in their story of how they work together. (Love my husband but I could never work with him.) Peter Kragh shared details about his job – swimming with great whites while filming IMAX films. (What's his life insurance like?)

Thinkshops.

Thinkshops were smaller, more intimate workshops. To balance the creative inspiration of the mainstage speakers, I selected more practical Thinkshops. Luke Mysse of Crossgrain led a Thinkshop on how to hire clients and the steps you can take to market yourself to attract the type of clients you want. The insights I gained from this workshop were the most important ones I took home from the conference.

Thomas Marchesello of Nine Multimedia shared how to create killer aps. The secret to good app design he said was “ to think in layers.” Thomas mentioned why you always have to entertain with an app: “Just think about it, what’s on your phone is personal –  it goes in your pocket.”

Hanging with fellow design freaks.

But perhaps the best part of any conference is what happens outside the auditorium. The sharing, the interaction and meeting of fellow design nerds. Who else would agree to try out a new restaurant just because the graphics were so cool?

Why go to the Y? I guess Frank may have said it best, “We come together to get better.”

Words and pictures together.

I've been a big fan of graphic facilitators like Sunni Brown and Image Think who create large scale graphic recordings of sessions. Here are a couple they did this year for various events at sxsw.

As an interactive copywriter, I'm committed to the power of words and the importance of telling story. But frankly, nothing is an intimidating or uninviting as a solid page of text. Yes, subheads and bullet points make copy more scanable, but words + pictures create an even stronger story and involve more senses and create more emotion.

Well thought out visuals just don't add eye candy,  if you're taking notes yourself at a meeting, seminar or conference and add pictures to your words, your retention will increase by up to 30%.

See a whole slew of graphic recordings on Image Think's site here.

Spark your creativity.

I have had the honor and great pleasure working on communications for the upcoming AIGA San Diego Y-Conference. Justin Skeesuck of Seen & Noted and Tracy Meiners of StudioTM headed up the design efforts. This year's theme is Spark. Spark an idea. Spark a conversation. Spark a revolution.

Check out the website here.

Tracy did an amazing job on the mailers, which are designed at matchbooks. (Kids, don't play with matches but you can light a match.)

Girl, You've Got Cojones: Life Lessons Learned Surfing.

During a surf session out in the big and mushy waves last week, a crusty old fellow gave me the best compliment I could ever receive:

“Girl, you’ve got cojones.”

On my previous wave, I took a late takeoff and went straight down the face for Mr.-Toad’s-Wild-Ride. I barely made it. But sometimes, barely is good enough. That’s one of the valuable lessons I learn over and over surfing. It always amazes me how much the ocean and surfing can teach me:

Live life. Now. Surfing isn’t like tennis or basketball where the courts are always available for a practice session. Wave conditions are a temperamental thing. When there are waves, you surf today. They may not be there tomorrow. The takeaway – don’t live life in the future, waiting for the time until you graduate, get that job, get that promotion, get that house. Life happens right now.

Live on the edge. A wave is a precious commodity. Yet, if you don’t push yourself, you’ll never get better. So when the board is locked in the face, it’s time to cross step and make your way towards the nose. (Guess what my New Year’s resolution is.) What’s the worst that can happen? I’ll fall and waste a perfectly good wave. But there’s always another wave coming.

Let it roll over you. A big holy-mother-of-god mountain of water appears right before you. What do you do? Turtle roll you and your board over and let the wave pass over you. Then you paddle like hell to get out of the way before the next one hits. Things in life don’t always run smooth, but the ability to let things roll by, then try to improve the situation is a nice skill to cultivate.

Sometimes you just have to go for it. If you think too much, you’ll miss out. A moment’s hesitation on the paddle and the wave can pass you by. Yes, it’s advisable to put a little forethought into things like having a kid or starting a business. But if you waited until you were 100% sure, nothing would ever happen.

Don't be afraid to look like an idiot. Perhaps one of the most valuable lessons I've ever learned. If I was that self-conscious, I would have aborted at my attempts at surfing years ago. It’s taken me years to become socially mediocre at the sport. And usually, people are encouraging. (Just don’t get in the way of their waves.)

Enjoy the downtime. Sometimes when you’re in between sets, you just have to sit, watch the horizon and wait. This is when the magic occurs. A young inquisitive seal may pop his head out of the water for a closer look or a pod of dolphins may swim by. You never know what might happen.

Savor the bliss. Feeling the wave behind you, carving down a face, it’s 10, 20 or 30 seconds of sheer heaven. After a wonderful morning session, I never feel more alive, more joyous or more blessed. And that’s the attitude I try carry with me throughout the day.

There's more to Cabo than Cabo Wabo.

Hacienda is the place where Sinatra, John Wayne and Raquel Welch hung out back in the day when Cabo San Lucas was a sleepy fishing town. Times have changed but Hacienda is still the place in Cabo, just steps from the marina and downtown. (And speaking of Cabo Wabo, Sammy Hagar made 200 million licsensing his booze brand!)

Visit the site here.

See the brochure:  Steps

How do you keep the heart in your art?

One afternoon this week at theHIVE I had a serendipitous chat with artist/painter/blogger/music wonder Susie Ghahremani of boygirlparty.com. I am always fascinated watching Susie work because there is no computer on her desk at the Hive (Oh, she’s digital all right with a site, shop and blog.) In the morning she was doing preliminary sketches in a journal and in the afternoon had the paints out.

Susie mentioned that she had a little time before beginning a new project and was using the downtime to do some personal work. She said something like, “ “If it is passion for art that inspired me to become an artist, how do I retain this passion when I paint for a living, how do I keep art from becoming something I have to do rather than something I love to do?

The answer is simple, mix it up.

Susie mentioned she was enrolling in a session of the Artist’s Way, which would involve writing

Likewise, as an interactive copywriter, when I’m looking for some creative growth, the last thing I want to do is begin writing the Great American Novel. In past year, one of my greatest creative outlets has been volunteering with Art Corps, a group that brings art into the classroom. Volunteer teachers attend a workshop where we make the project ourselves first before teaching it to the kids. These workshops are a uplifting opportunity to make art and chat with other people, most of who aren’t “artists” either.

What do you do to mix it up and keep your work your fresh and the passion strong?

Image copywright boygirlparty.com.

Word Girl Wednesday: The Thesaurus for people who think visually

Word Girl Wednesday is a new addition to my blog where I’ll be sharing some tricks of the trade.

How do you find just the perfect word? Or is it the precise word. Or exact word.

The easiest way of course is to use the Thesaurus feature under Tools menu. The turn out for the perfect looks something like this:

It's quick. It's easy. And it's predictable.

One of my favorite resources is Visual Thesaurus. It’s is an interactive dictionary and thesaurus which creates word maps that blossom with meanings and branch to related words. In other words, it’s a dictionary for people who think visually. Type in a word, click on an answer and dive into more possibilities.

A dashing collection of holiday billboards.

As a freelance interactive copywriter, I still always welcome the challenge of a billboard. You have only seven words and half a second to get your message across. (How many times have I slowed down just to read a too long message.) The holidays are an especially fun time with plenty of holiday carols, motifs and traditions to play off of.

This billboard by the San Diego Zoo is a visual pun on the sleigh pulled by Santa’s reindeer. This billboard ran last year as well, proving that some holiday traditions are worth repeating.

One of my favorite holiday billboards is this one by Wells Fargo which first ran I believe in 2007. It plays off the iconic stagecoach, with the nose of the lead lighting up red at night. Simple, clean and clever without being cutesy. It ran for numerous years and then last year was replaced by the billboard below which runs more on the cutesy side.

TEDx San Diego. People spreading ideas.

Well, TED came to San Diego yesterday. It was a mind-blowing experience.

TED stands for Technology, Entertainment and Design. You've probably heard of the people who speak at the flagship event held every year, major leaguers like:  Bill Gates, Seth Godin and Bill Clinton. The TED website is one of my favorites where you can listen to or watch riveting talks by remarkable people.

Yesterday's local event was TEDx San Diego (x = independently organized.) How do I describe the day? My brain is overflowing. 22 speakers each gave a 15-minute talk offering inspiring new ideas. Some of my favorites included Marty Cooper, inventor of the cell phone and Bill Toone, who brought a new twist to conservation. Jake Shimaburkuro simply rocked the ukulele.

I had high expectations for TEDx San Diego and was so delighted when TEDxSD completely exceeded them in every way. I was completely unprepared for the community aspect of the event. The tagline of TED is “Ideas Worth Spreading.” The speakers were only a springboard. We were encouraged to meet new people and form new connections. We were asked to sit in a new seat next to people we didn’t know for every session. And instead of asking the typical what do you do questions, we were encouraged to ask “What do you love to do?”

These were some of the amazing people and fellow San Diegans that I met:

David Michael Bruno is the manager of online marketing at Point Loma Nazarene University. He started inspiring blog called 100 Thing Challenge, a project focused on breaking free from the constraints of American-style consumerism. He has a book about 100 Things coming out by HarperCollins.

Jamie Miller is an architect and founder of Urban Fabric Architecture. He proposes building office space out of shipping containers, so the building can grow with the needs of the company.

Joanna Wasmuth loves connecting people and resources to reduce poverty. Over lunch, she talked about her travels to over 25 countries where she saw unimaginable poverty. She is currently a strategic microfinance consultant at World Vision.

Sunni Black was a childhood hero of mine. She was a trainer and performer for many years for the Bird Show at the Wild Animal Park (now known as the San Diego Zoo Safari Park but don't get me started on that.) I loved that when I asked her what she studied in school she said she was an art major.

TEDx San Diego closed with the idea that what happens after the conference is what’s really important. We were encouraged to keep in touch with those new people we had met and encouraged to make a commitment to do something, whether professional, personal or volunteer in the upcoming year.

More stories on TEDx San Diego : TEDx San Diego draws top thinkers to San Diego.

TEDx San Diego wants ideas to turn into action.

The joys of co-working.

Co-working at theHIVE has been so rewarding. I've met so many people and have learned so much from meeting people in different industries. I love the creative sparks that fly when passionate people come together.

Seth Godin recently wrote a post entitled Good-bye to the Office. And he states that with technology people can work from almost anywhere. So why have an office? He gives 7 reasons why people still cling to the idea of an office.

  1. That's where the machines are.
  2. That's where the items I need to work on are.
  3. The boss needs to keep tabs on my productivity.
  4. There are important meetings to go to.
  5. It's a source of energy.
  6. The people I collaborate with all day are there.
  7. I need someplace to go.

Well, as a freelancer, almost none of this applies except 5 and 7. I do need a source of energy and I do need someplace to go (otherwise I may be wearing the same black yoga pants for days on end.) What I missed most about the agency environment was the collaboration and interaction with my fellow creatives.

Recently, some gals from theHive started a Creative Breakfast. We're almost all self-employed and share the desire for camaraderie and accountability. Good friend and fellow Hiver Alexix Rodich spoke so eloquently about our breakfast in her blog for the Washington Post. I left our breakfast motivated and so very inspired.

I'm not even at Not at BlogWorld in SD.

(Courtesy of wearethedigitalkids.com)

No, I'm not at BlogWorld. No, I'm not even at Not at BlogWorld in SD hosted by @interactivem and @downtownrob. (That would be #bwe10sd.)

But some of my favorite blogs right now:

MOTY Notes: Stories of Imperfection

Great tales of motherhood and life by Kathryn Proulx, wife of Lemonade the Movie creator Erik Proulx. Kathryn has a wicked sense of humor. (I dig Erik's blog Please Feed the Animals too.)

We are the Digital Kids

Insights by Amanda Mooney, a digital kid and account supervisor for the strategy team at Edelman Digital. (I also like how the photos in her masthead always change.)

Frank Chimero

I'm so insanely jealous of designers who can write.

Learning the value of water.

In support of Blog Action Day 2010 Water

Here in the paradise known as San Diego, we live in a desert, importing up to 80% of our water. Yet it’s easy to take water for granted.

You turn on the tap and water comes out. Right?

But would we use water differently if we had to go to a well and carry our water? I remember backpacking as a Girl Scout and planning how much water we would have to carry on weekend trips in the desert. The recommended amount for a strenuous trip was one gallon of water a day. But one gallon of water is eight pounds.

In many places of the world, fetching fresh water is the primary task of women and children. A 2000 report by the Asian Development Bank stated that of the 300 million people living in the Asia–Pacific region, one person out of three have no access to sources of safe drinking water within 200 meters (that's 655 feet) of their homes.

So the next time you want a nice workout, go fill up an empty milk jug with water, stick it in your backpack and then go walk around the block. Add in a couple of steep hills and you just might work up a sweat. And hopefully you’ll also gain a greater understand what many people have to do for the water we take for granted.

Here's a couple of ways how you can help conserve water:

Helpful tips on how to save water. San Diego Water Authority

Ways you can help protect our coastline and water supply.

Surfrider Foundation, San Diego Chapter

How to plant a native plant garden. Because green lawns are so overrated. The Water Conservation Garden, Cuyamaca College

Taking the lessons of art to heart.

ArtCorps from Anne McColl on Vimeo. Volunteering with ArtCorps is one of the most rewarding activities I participate in. It's a group dedicated to bring more art into the classroom. The kids try so hard and sometimes they get hung up on perfection. The big lesson always is just go with it.

So being an interactive copywriter, I just had to make a video. No, it's not perfect but I have to remember the mantra I always repeat to the kids, "You have to start somewhere. Just get it down on paper." Produced using an iPhone and iMovie.