a good reminder.
“No great thing is created suddenly.”
— Epictetus, via Quotes on Design
on expectations.
“When a lot is expected of you, it’s very easy to let the pressure of meeting those expectations get to you. In fact, it can be paralyzing, and that’s not good.
What is good is that if you succeed and you meet those expectations, the cumulative impact is exponential. That’s because expectations are just leftover praise. You’ve earned them by doing something great.
So, the next time you feel overwhelmed by expectations, just remember that if you weren’t capable of meeting them, they wouldn’t exist.”
— Words of wisdom (part 1) from Chris Shifflet at Brooklyn Beta 2011
Business, design, quotes,more Brooklyn Beta.
The sign outside the front door was handpainted. Not the first clue it was going to be awesome.
While the conference days were really laid back and the schedule was flexible, the event was extremely well-planned and executed. You could tell the organizers worked hard to make everything special and comfortable for us. Well, as comfortable as you can feel in a room full of people you don’t know. I did my best to be social, but it was also nice to retreat back to the Greenville crew now and again.
Greenville has a really talented web community (many of whom are part of CoWork, where Andrew works). In spite of the small size of the conference (there were about 250 attendees), there were a good number of Greenville designers and developers there. Serious kudos to these (and others) who are putting Greenville on the map when it comes to quality web.
Speaking of quality, check out these pillows in the hang out area.
Our friends Mark and Paul gave a demo of their project Coursebook.
Andrew wearing his name badge. Us being somewhat anti-social.
A couple things I really really loved about this conference:
· Each attendee was given a name badge that had a custom bio written by the organizers. I have no idea how long it took Chris and Cameron to research and write these, but you can’t make things much more personalized than that!
· The speakers weren’t announced beforehand, which might have been a drawback for any other conference. But considering the rave reviews from last year and the quality of everything else, I didn’t think twice about it. It was actually really refreshing to sit down, not knowing what was coming next. I hope to share more about the content of the presentations and discussions, but for now I’m still processing everything.
· This conference was all about bringing the social media connections into the real world. Which means there wasn’t free internet. From the event email:
“Like last year, we will not be providing Internet access at the conference. We see this as a feature, not a bug. You’re of course welcome to use your fancy phones and other devices that can talk to the Internet without our help.”
People still used their phones and computers to access the internet, but in a crowd of heavy Twitter users, I thought it was relatively rare. Real conversations were taking place and most people were engaged during the presentations, not surfing the internet or busy tweeting profound tidbits.
· Both lunch and dinner were provided for us on all three days of the conference. What I loved most about this is that we were introduced to even more great local Brooklyn food without even leaving the building. Personally, my favorites were the sweets. Pies from One Girl Cookie and unbelievable cookies from FattyCakes.
After this, the bar for conferences has definitely been set high. I took notes, and left inspired to make my corner of the world a better place.
Greenville, design, life,brooklyn inspired.
Right now I’m in New York for Brooklyn Beta, a web conference that has far surpassed my expectations. I feel incredibly privileged to be here and want to say a big thank you to OOBE for sending me out for it. From the minute we walked in the door, you could tell that everything was going to be top notch.
A photo of the conference space before things kicked off.
To say this has been inspiring would be an understatement. The underlying theme of the conference has been Make Something You Love. But today’s discussions deepened that concept by adding Make Something that Matters. It’s great to be reminded how design and development can actually make a difference in people’s lives, especially when I work for a very customer-oriented company whose goal is just that. Lots to think about.
The concept and the people behind this conference are amazing, the details are perfect (hand-painted signs, incredible local food, etc) and the sheer number of people I’m meeting is pretty overwhelming. It’s good for me to get out of my comfort zone though, and I’m looking forward to what tomorrow holds!
design, inspiration, Business,hard graft.
Several months ago, I traded my old Apple laptop for a sleek new MacBook Air. I LOVE my new computer, and so began the task of finding a case suitable for it. I dug through page after page on Etsy, searching for just the right one. In fact, I was planning to do a roundup blog post on all the great cases I found.
Problem is, I couldn’t find enough I liked and would recommend!
I wanted a beautiful handmade case. And having sewn a few things over the years, I’m pretty picky about quality. I know that I could make myself a case, but I’d rather buy something that’s better quality than I can do at home on my sewing machine. None of the fabrics I saw were right (I have a hard time with patterns), and there are so many (expensive!) ones on the market with bad or uneven stitching!
After lots of searching online, I finally found the one I wanted. But it cost a fortune.
So for months now, I’ve been carrying around my new laptop in one of these (not even joking) while I saved up for the case I really wanted. And last Friday, it arrived!
I have to say, the packaging only confirmed my decision to splurge on this case. I took photos so I could share the Hard Graft experience.
Each case is handmade. Which means the attention to detail is unbelievable.
Aside from quality materials and construction, another factor that sold me on this case was the design. I needed something that covered the computer completely. The MacBook Air is super slim (aka kind of slippery) and I felt like a case with any open side would be risky since it could easily slide out.
There are many other similar cases on the market now, but I remembered this company and their products from years ago when they called themselves Working Class Heroes. Even then, their detailed but simple designs stood out to me, and they were the first company I saw creating industrial felt + leather computer cases. In a world of copycats, original ideas are worth honoring. And when a company is doing something so well, I don’t think there’s any reason to settle for someone else’s version. It was definitely worth saving up for!
design, handmade, products,christmas in july.
We’re running a big sale in our long-quiet Etsy shop. All of our paper goods are 50% off this month only, so stock up on Christmas cards, gift tags, notepads, etc!
unintentional hiatus + handmade nation
The lack of posts here is directly related to the amount of Indie Craft Parade work that’s been going on in my ‘non-working’ hours. So, while I feel a little guilty about neglecting the blog, I’m super excited about all that’s going on in the Indie Craft Parade world!
First, the exciting news that we’re co-hosting a showing of the documentary Handmade Nation. This will be happening one week from today at the Warehouse Theatre as part of the Greenville Forward Challenge Series*. If you’re curious what the big deal about art and handmade goods is, this documentary is a great way to learn about the modern craft movement. Director Faythe Levine interviewed “artists, crafters, makers, curators and community members” across the country to learn about this subculture in America. Tickets are $10 and you can reserve them in advance here.
The second milestone we’re approaching is the application period, which runs June 1 — June 18. If you’re an artist or crafter in the Southeast, we want to see your work! We’re looking for quality handmade goods in a variety of categories. If you’re interested, or know a favorite artist who should apply, more information can be found here.
*Sidenote: we saw Food, Inc. as part of Greenville Forward’s Challenge Series, and it’s not an exaggeration to say that for us, it was life changing. This series is host to all kinds of documentaries, with focused discussions afterward that help the audience make applications to our community in Greenville. It’s one of the many helpful programs Greenville Forward is behind, and I highly recommend it!
IndieCraftParade, craft, design, art, Greenville,shades of color.
I’ve been really inspired by color spectrums lately.
Instead of choosing one or two colors, multiple shades of the same color or an entire section of the color wheel is used. Despite the number of colors, there’s still simplicity in a limited palette of related hues. A sense of beauty and order.
I’ve seen it show up in everything from design to baking. Here are a few of my favorite iterations of this trend.
Clockwise from top left: source unknown — from my inspiration files / blue paint chip quilt / rainbow cake / NBC’s ‘More Colorful’ campaign / paint chip placemats
design, color,chicago.
I had the privilege of spending my birthday in Chicago this year. It was a business trip, so not much sightseeing was done, but it was still fun to be in a big city and eat great food the whole time. It was rainy and cold when we got there. A full forty-degree difference between Greenville and Chicago!
The entire time we were there, I never pulled out my ‘real’ camera, but I have a few shots from my iPhone that I can share.
I loved seeing the giant old buildings with ‘modern day’ businesses in them.
The first night we went to The Purple Pig, a restaurant that made Bon Appetit’s 10 best new restaurants list. The food was unbelievable on several levels. Amazing flavors and crazy combinations — like fried chorizo stuffed green olives. And the desserts! Pistachio ice cream and paninis filled with nutella, marshmallow creme and bananas. I tried to take a few food pictures, but in the low light they just didn’t look good. Look who we found at the bottom of the ice cream bowl.
The next day was full of business meetings, but we were able to squeeze in a quick trup to one of Chicago’s three Anthropologie stores. Their displays are always so inspiring and this time I got to try a few lovely dresses on!
The giant spheres are made of wine corks.
Our afternoon meeting was at the beautiful offices of Y USA, where I got to meet some of their design folks and learn a little bit more about their recent rebrand. It was really interesting to hear about different challenges they’re facing as they transition from a company with simply a logo, to one that now has a full brand system. It was great to meet everyone and learn about how they work.
We ended the night at de cero, a great taco place in the Restaurant District. They even treated me to a birthday brownie!
It was a quick trip and obviously there are many other aspects of the city I wish we had time to see and experience. But Chicago was already on the (growing) list of places Andrew and I would like to see together. Besides, I wouldn’t mind it being a little warmer next time I head that direction!
life, design,