Lessons from SXSW

SXSW was everything I had hoped it would be and then some. There are many critics of the conference, but as a virgin to event, I was pretty blown away. Non-stop information and inspiration at every turn…even if your feet are aching by day two from speed-walking all over town. Before I left for Austin, I spent a little time online looking for tips in order to fully reap the benefits of SXSW, gather some insider info, etc. I scoffed at most of the them (drink a lot of water, rest, blah, blah), but in hindsight…I get it:  A few days in Austin during SXSW will wear you the hell out.

A few things I will remember next year…

1. Wear. Comfortable. Shoes. I think I walked about 422 miles on the first day.

2. Take a nap. Even a short one will make a difference. (I did not take this advice)

3. Buy food (wine + beer) at a local grocery store when you arrive. There aren’t a ton of quick-eating options around the conference center (unless you’re into bacon-flavored waffle cones). I would have been thrilled to have had snacks in my bag.

4. I discovered first hand that the best panels or workshops are often flying under the masses’ radar. Give yourself permission to walk out of the talks that seem to be garnering the most attention if you’re losing interest.

5. You don’t need all the junk. Leave the promos behind. If they’re that cool (like the cardboard ipod case below), just take a photo. The end.

6. Make a point to seek out music. I’d anticipated that I would just fall into the laps of  amazing bands in every bar on 6th Street. There were a couple open mics and standard blue bands, but nothing that knocked my socks off. I realize that I should have stuck around for the music portion of festival if I really wanted to check out the stellar gigs, but I’m not sure I would have survived even one more night in Austin. One evening I did seek out music, and saw Austin-local Mandy Lauderdale’s (above in the cute red and black dress) show. Fantastic.

7. You may be too old for parties with the promise of free drinks. I always prefer to be out late rather than up early, but I am definitely too old to wait in line for free beer or a crowded party. I would rather have a glass of wine in the hotel lobby or a shot of tequila in a semi-deserted bar and watch the ‘kids’ stand in line.

8. Get off 6th Street. Austin is huge and awesome.

9. Expand your networking horizons. I made many more valuable contacts randomly chatting with people around town than I did going to SXSW events. They’re great, but I found them to be a bit too crowded and loud to make valuable connections.

9. If you can, give yourself a buffer day off when you get back from your trip. You’ll be happy to have a day to regroup, and go through all your notes while they’re fresh.

10. Schedule a midday flight home. We were on a 1:30pm flight and the security line was only fifteen minutes. The word around the airport was that the line had been over an hour early that morning. Not so fun after a long night standing in line for free beer.

Postcards from Vegas

I just got back from a whirlwind two days in Las Vegas for fashion tradeshows Project + ENK. Although ENK feels like a sophisticated and elite cocktail party, Project is a trendy circus.  A plethora of chandeliers, discoballs, photobooths and creative seating dotted the convention center.  Above are images from the scene.

Afternoon in Downtown Los Angeles

After cruising around downtown for a bit on Monday, I spent the afternoon with my good friend and collaborator David Dietch of Dietch PR. He recently finished renovating a beautiful penthouse space in a building circa a million years ago. The finished look is modern meets vintage meets industrial with lots of natural light and clean lines. The elevator ride up is tomblike and seriously tested my panic button, but it was absolutely worth it once I stepped out into his massive rooftop haven.

A Trip North

This week I headed up to Canada to visit with a new client. Home to a million Canadians, Calgary is a walking/public-trans town. Calgarians (?)  jogged, walked and strolled until the sun set at around 9:30pm. A few highlights from the brief trip:

+ A tiny, asian-inspired fast food spot called Atomic where I had an amazing curried tuna sub and green tea boba drink.
+ Art Central, a visual art complex in downtown Calgary that is home to over fifty artist studios, galleries and cafes.
+ Uppercase Gallery, a clean, open space and brick n’ mortar location for the magazine and blog of the same name.
+ And check out Nation, a clever store filled with bright artwork and vinyl toys.

Admired: Antonin Kratochvil

I had the pleasure of studying photography with Antonin briefly in 1999. He’s an incredibly poetic shooter and one of the most creative living documentary photographers, in my opinion. His site is really nicely designed. Clean, clear, to the point - the primary goals when displaying photography. Let the images do the talking. Especially these.

New Design Grads in London

Ravensbourne, a digital creative design and communication College in London, just released a bunch of grads into the wild. Their work is on display here and we are digging the presentation. Great content, clean design, creative navigation.

What you’re asking about: Email Marketing

“I’m running an email campaign, but my list is ridiculously small.”
You already know that staying in touch with your busy clients and customers is the best way to stay on their radar, now you need to keep that contact list growing. Do you have a place on your site to collect addresses? Increase your reach by snagging more email addresses with an email sign-up to your homepage.

“I’m running a campaign, but my emails aren’t getting as big a response as we’d hoped.”
There are many reasons that your campaign may not be garnering as much of a response as you’d like, from simple tweaks to more complicated design or copy-related issues. Either way, we can help. Note: It’s also possible that your campaign is more successful than you think compared to national averages, you just may have a small list.

“I’ve never run an email campaign, but it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. Is this going to be a pain?”
Whether you only have a small amount budgeted or are ready to flesh out a massive campaign, we can develop customized campaigns just for you simply, quickly, efficiently. No matter the size, they will be polished and unique.

Hands down, email marketing is one of the most effective (and cheap) methods to get face time with your clients and customers. Get in touch and we’ll tell you more.

Jonathan Harris

For the past few years I’ve been admiring the work of Jonathan Harris, a storyteller and digital anthropologist who creates stunning online experiments.

Think human-spirit-meets-computer-science:

We Feel Fine / “Harvesting human feelings from a large number of weblogs.”

Universe / “Using the metaphor of an interactive night sky, Universe presents an immersive environment for navigating the world’s contemporary mythology, as found online in global news and information.”

I Want You To Want Me / “This chronicles the world’s long-term relationship with romance, across all ages, genders, and sexualities, gathering new data from a variety of online dating sites every few hours.”

From Detangle: Inspiration from Paris

Moustache is a Paris-based editing house that creates beautiful moving things.

For more inspiration: check out Detangle.Us

Featured Site We Love: Uniqlo

Uniqlo, the simple-but-stylish brand out of Japan, is consistently dynamic, inventive and unique with their approach to online design and marketing. I have yet to check out the actual goods, but the clothing receives rave reviews online. Even if a new Japanese scarf/cardigan/t-shirt isn’t on your list, the sites are worth a visit simply for a dose of admiration.

Uniqlock
Uniqlo Try
Uniqlo Main Site