Sharing the Journey: A Meaningful Logo Transition

I'm feeling very blessed to have begun work as the Bellevue Public Schools Foundation's first executive director earlier this month.  After 20 days, I'm all moved in, learning much and putting several new pieces in place, with many thanks to a hard-working and dedicated Board of Directors along with top-notch leaders in the Bellevue Public School System. One of the first things I did was use my 25+ years of marketing skills to update the logo, and wrote a brief overview of the thinking behind the design choices for anyone interested in a more in-depth explanation. I posted pieces of it on social media recently and thought I'd share it in today's blog in case of interest.

Today's Quote:
"Change can be scary, but you know what's scarier? Allowing fear to stop you from growing, evolving and progressing."
-- Mandy Hale

How to Ensure Best Practices in Your Visuals

I've had a lifelong interest in creating aesthetically pleasing things, and continue to work at learning and growing in this area. While my degree is in broadcasting, I've worked in image-building much of my career and have had numerous experiences in print layout and design.

Information Everyone Can Use

I noticed something interesting once most people began doing their work on computers: we all have times when best practices in our visuals would serve us well, and especially now--in this age of social media and apps galore--when there are more tools out there to help us communicate better visually than ever before. The tendency I see in novice designs is often either a very vanilla lack of anything visually appealing or the opposite--an over-designed look that jars the eye. That's why I thought this would be a good time to blog about key things to consider when working in the graphic design arena.

The Four Main Elements of Graphic Design

In her book, The Non-Designers Design Book, Robin Williams does a nice job of simplifying the main elements of graphic design: contrast, repetition, alignment and proximity (remember C.R.A.P. and your designs won't look like crap!). If you're interested in seeing great examples illustrating each concept, I highly recommend this best-selling author. She writes with humor and levity, which makes learning fun!

Contrast

If we look at each element separately, contrast is simply making elements stand apart from one another visually, whether it be a headline from an article or subheadings within the article (as shown in this blog), or graphic elements in a logo, or a focal point of a flyer, or different pieces of a web page, etc. Contrast simply means if you're going to make things different from one another, make them very different for visual clarity.

Repetition

If there are like things in a design project, make them all the same. The subheadings of this article, for example, are all in the same font, bolded and in the same point size, adding visual clarity and making an easier map for reading.

Alignment

Imagine an underlying grid which shows ways elements of a design can relate to one another. A good rule of thumb is to have an element line up with at least one or two other elements in the design, again creating clarity and unity which is most appealing to the eye. In this article, everything is left-justified, or lines up along the left side of the page, so your eye knows right where to go to read the next line.

Proximity

The distance between elements in a design is also key. If you're creating a business card, for example, similar information like the address, phone and email may be single-spaced in a block together. However, a logo, tag line, quote or other non-data information might be set apart in some way, again for visual clarity and readability.

If you start looking at visuals with these key elements in mind, you'll begin to quickly see what makes for stronger design, and have fun incorporating them into your own work. Here's a recent business card I created with these elements in mind. Can you find these four elements?

Whatever you're creating--even a simple report--can be improved with these quick tips. If you have other ways you like to ensure clean strong designs, please feel free to share them in the Comments section below. I'd love to hear from you!

Today's Quote:
"I strive for two things in design: simplicity and clarity. Great design is born of those two things."
-- Lindon Leader

What Would You Do Differently if There Were No Tomorrow?

I've been challenged with a cold and bad cough for close to a month, and it has really forced me to slow down and take stock of my life and current pursuits. It began in the countdown to Acappella Omaha's fall show--Out-of-This-World Harmony: Good for What's Alien Ya!--in which I was an actor, singer, dancer, promoter, ad designer, ad buyer, flyer designer, postcard designer, ticket designer, program designer and would-be media spokesperson--had we gotten any invitations from the media blitz of press releases to 30+ outlets I also did. I'm not listing all this as a "waa, waa, poor me." I got myself into it all and fully intended to handle it with grace and dignity...until illness set in. I can usually shorten such a cold with three days' bedrest, but had put off the focus on my health so long, it has taken a lot longer to recover.

On top of all that, I was blessed with some contract work for my little iWiNK Enterprises business, and have had other interest in me for future work. I've lamented the fact that I've felt so miserable, I haven't even been able to fully enjoy all these nuggets of hope sprinkled in my path! Okay, maybe that last comment was a little "poor me", but I really do appreciate all that's going on--nice and/or sometimes challenging. 

Life often tosses in those kick-in-the-pants moments where deeper thought and consideration is needed. This weekend--on Thanksgiving day, in fact--my husband's step uncle passed away. This was one of those loved-by-all types of guys whose last few years were stolen by Alzheimer's, so while not a total shock, it does make one remember our time here is not infinite. We need to spend it wisely--with people who love, value and appreciate us, and with those about whom we care deeply. The blessing amidst the grieving in that same family is the birth of a tiny baby girl a couple days later--life is a mystery...

I'm still fighting the crud, so won't continue to wax on about such, but just wanted to fulfill my blog-a-month self goal with a snapshot of where I am right now...and I believe it's a transition of sorts--only time will tell. 

If you've gone through an illness you think meant more, I'd love to see your story in the Comments section below. Many blessings to you and yours this Thanksgiving time of year. I'm thankful for many things--including anybody who actually reads this blog! ;oD

Today's Quote
"The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to give it away."
-- Pablo Picasso

Age is to be Celebrated (you'll understand when you're older)!

I've had several recent events which have made me more keenly aware of my age of late, and I felt moved to make this month's blog about loving your age--whatever it is.

Many women in my life have been perennially concerned about others knowing their age for as long as I can remember. I've always celebrated mine and other people's ages and thought it sad they couldn't do the same. I feel every age has its high points and challenges, and the fact society seems to have overarching attitudes about such which can make people feel small is incredibly sad. In my experience, this seems to be more of a female challenge than male, but I'm sure both genders have moments of agism at some point. I try to move on and not dwell, but it's interesting how passing 50 has brought this to the surface more often than in previous years.

I've been between full-time jobs--after my position was eliminated following a subsidiary merger--for more than two years, and have been looking for a public relations media spokesperson position in an education, entertainment or chamber type entity. With such specific goals, the opportunities have not been overly abundant, and in the probably less-than-10 positions for which I've been interviewed and considered, I've felt most of the passovers have been due to assumptions relating to my age. Where I see my wide range of experience as a plus, others may see it differently (she'll be asking for too much money; we won't hold her interest with this type of role; if we can't pay her what she was making previously, she won't stick around long; she might have paradigms to shift, etc.). 

The truth is, no one job will ever be able to meet every need or interest of anybody's. That's why people have hobbies, are involved in groups outside work, sometimes have more than one job, have family lives, meet with friends for social events, etc. I've experienced this all my life because my interests have always been all over the place! My intention has never been to expect any one person, job or role to fulfill all my needs. This allows me to enjoy where I am when I'm there, and look forward to where I'll be next. I feel age and experience have allowed me to be that happier healthier hard-working responsible employee, family member, friend, group member, etc. and that's a good thing!

Last week, an incident occured which brought the age thing to light yet again. My husband, a school principal in a year-round school whose minimum days are 10 hours long--but who had been working even longer hours with parent-teacher conferences while fighting a bad cold--experienced a vasovagal syncope (fainting) episode at a restaurant with my folks and me. He had this happen 7+ years ago, when he was running a high-poverty school, putting a second school together and experiencing an extra heavy load of stress. At that time, he was completely checked out with a clean bill of health and we were told this is a common reaction to stress. 

This time, as I was trying to explain his history to the folks in the restaurant, a few seconds went by with what looked like the sudden death of my husband, and I started to lose it...he had one eye looking straight, the other looking off to the side as if frozen in time (almost like a computer locking up), wasn't breathing, was totally limp, lost his water, etc. When the restaurant manager and I turned him on his side, he finally began to wake up. Again, a 911 call, fire truck, ambulance, trip to the hospital, all kinds of tests and again, a clean bill of health with assurance this is a common reaction to stress. However, other than his being sick and working longer hours, this week shouldn't have been any different than any other, so it seems less stress can bring this on now and we need to be extra careful. Has our age made drama like this even more likely? If we choose to, we can let worries like this keep us up at night...but that's what it is--it's a choice. We can also choose to move on, listen to our bodies, eat nourishing meals, exercise, live a more mindful existence, etc. None of us know how long we'll be here in this life. I believe episodes like this are those kick-in-the-pants reminders to cherish every moment.

I'm blessed to be in a female acappella chorus, whose youngest member in the 18+ years I've been with it has been nine, and the oldest member has been 90. We joke that "everyone's the same age in Sweet Adelines", but I think it's even more fun to know Molly member, age 60 is standing next to Sally Singer, age 20 and they are having a GREAT time harmonizing together! Age should not be the great separater society seems to make it at times. We can all learn from each other and celebrate what every age brings with it. Instead of allowing ourselves to find differences, let's start looking for the similarities and support one another in this human journey. Age it just a number!

Speaking of such, the sun's going down on this Halloween evening, so I need to wrap this up and go see the adorable trick-or-treaters...

I'd LOVE to hear stories of how you celebrate yours and/or other's ages. Please share in the Comments section below and we can joint you in your positive perspective. 

Today's Quote
"What helps with aging is serious cognition - thinking and understanding. You have to truly grasp that everybody ages. Everybody dies. There is no turning back the clock. So the question in life becomes: What are you going to do while you're here?"
-- Goldie Hawn

A Review and Recommendation of Achor's Happy Secret TEDx Talk

In my efforts toward personal and professional growth, I subscribe to and/or follow a variety of online offerings--one of which is the TEDx channel on YouTube. TEDx is an independently-organized version of TED Talks (TED = Technology, Entertainment, Design--a global set of conferences run by Sapling Foundation with the slogan "ideas worth spreading"). Every once in awhile, I'll scan the topics or a TEDx Talk will pop up in my feed and pique my interest. The last one I watched was really worthwhile--Shawn Achor: The happy secret to better work. It's a unique, often hilarious and surprisingly scientific look at how our brain works and how we often misdiagnose what it really is that makes us happy.

Some of the examples he used and the general positive slant reminded me of why I like the Clifton StrengthsFinder so much. It lets people be who they are, focusing on the positive skills, talents and knowledge each person brings to the table--not where they fall short (which we all do somewhere down the line). The idea is we can spend a bunch of time working on improving our weaknesses--but they'll only improve minimally for all our efforts (because they're a weakness!)--OR we can put our focus on maximizing our strengths, which have a much better chance of getting us to the next level of whatever we're looking to accomplish.

Achor talks about how a typical study eliminates the outliers on a graph because they aren't normal and are "messing up" the data. Then he points out that "normal" really means "average" and if all we study is average, we will remain average. 

Achor says "instead of deleting those positive outliers, what I intentionally do is come into a population like this one and say why...why is it that some of you are so high above the curve in terms of your intellectual ability, athletic ability, musical ability, creativity, energy levels, your resiliency in the face of challenge, your sense of humor, whatever it is--instead of deleting you, what I want to do is study you, because maybe we can glean information--not just how to move people up to the average, but how we can move the entire average up at our companies and schools worldwide."

Changing the lens through which our brain views the world makes all the difference, according to Achor. He says only 25% of job successes are predicted by IQ. 75% of job successes are predicted by optimism level, social support and ability to see stress as a challenge instead of a threat. 

The brain at positive is 31% more productive than at negative, neutral or stressed. Dopamine (released in a positive mindset) turns on all the learning centers in the brain, allowing us to adapt to the world in a different way. Achor makes several suggestions to rewire our brains for greater success and I hope you'll make time for the 12 minutes in which he shares all this as it's really fascinating. It's always a helpful reminder to see the attitude of gratitude wisdom framed in a different way, but this TEDx has a more scientific slant and quick-witted humor I really enjoyed. I highly recommend watching and possibly sharing with your groups, staff, etc. if you have the chance. 

Today's Quote:
"When we fill our thoughts with the right things, the wrong ones have no room to enter."
-- Joyce Meyer

The 11 Chords Used in Barbershop Arrangements & Ways to Remember Them

I've been a member of Acappella Omaha--a chorus chapter of Sweet Adelines International--for more than 18 years and have taken advantage of many of the educational symposiums and other offerings the organization provides. Just recently, I enrolled in an Arrange-by-Mail course offered by long-time arranger Kay Brommert, and supplemented by an arranger's workbook the organization offers. I wish I had done this years ago! It's been very interesting and I'm finding I'm really enjoying the challenge of all the music theory. This in no way means I've internalized even half of it, but I'm finding creative ways to work on such, and I decided to share my latest here in case helpful to anyone. This is a copy of my hand-written notes describing the unique characteristics of each of the eleven chords used in barbershop arrangements. I heard recently some school curriculum plans are eliminating cursive, so I'm also sharing in hopes of celebrating this more efficient form of hand-writing, which should be kept alive for so many reasons, I may have to blog about it someday...anyway, happy reading and learning!

Today's Quote:

I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I understand.
-- Confucius

How to Repurpose Old Light Fixtures to Enhance Patio and Garden Areas

There is an biannual event in the Omaha area called "Junkstock", where folks have repurposed old junk into something beautiful or quirky or even junkier, but with pizazz...at least that's what I hear. My husband Bret and I have never made it to this event...probably because we have enough junk of our own which we hang onto so long (you know, because we might be able to do something creative with it!) that--if anything--we should be a vendor at one of these events! 

After I posted something about Junkstock on my Facebook page, I started thinking of old repurposing projects I hadn't gotten to, and the broken chandelier from my childhood home came to mind. My folks had tossed it our way with a "maybe you can do something with this" years ago, and it's been sitting in our basement storage with several of the crystals falling off and the fixture itself in a twisted mangled mess from loose screws on several of the arms. All this talk of junk suddenly inspired me to tackle this project! Here's a step-by-step--by way of Vine videos--of how this went from junk to something fun and unique...


















I found some simpler copper-colored solar lights which didn't compete so much with the cut crystals, so here's what the final fixture ended up looking like:


Shortly after finishing this project, Bret and I were in a Nebraska Habitat for Humanity ReStore and stumbled upon a couple old pendulum lights for $3 apiece, so I repurposed those into outdoor lighting as well.

Who knows--if I keep going, maybe I'll have a booth someday at Junkstock...or just some cool lights in our garden! 

What old junk have you repurposed into something fun? I'd love to hear from you in the Comments section below--and don't forget to include pictures. Peace, love and junk, man...peace, love and junk.

Today's Quote:
"OLD is the new NEW."
-- ReHouse Architectural Salvage