DRIVING WOMEN FORWARD

i was hesitant at the beginning of this video but by the end i was ready to give audi a round of applause for this branded campaign. take a look:

good, right? a couple of things i like about this piece:

- it has a "this is bigger than us" feel which allows for the impact of this to go far beyond audi customers.

- the campaign is connected to the core of the brand. i love when brands do thoughtful, cause-related work but sometimes it truly has no connection to their brand or product. the result is that it feels nice but doesn't really resonate. here, they've taken an issue, found a way in which their product is affected by it and blown it way up. the result? cause-related work with brand-related impact.

- the goal is clear: take ownership of the hashtag.

- BUT. it doesn't have enough of an action. they want you to retweet their tweets, but they're not giving you a real next step. there is no microsite or facebook page or campaign around this. so, while the video is a great first step, without a true action at the end driving viewers to share it, connect with audi, read more or sign up, it's a great video and a missed opportunity. 

more here.

via adweek

PASS THE PRETTY PAPER

i wanted to share a project that kind of combines all the things i love: design, small business, female entrepreneurship, the dc creative community, and well, just pretty things in general.

appointed is an american-made brand of beautifully designed desktop goods.

from them: "we believe a beautiful work environment fosters creativity, productivity and overall well-being. and we believe that each new notebook represents untapped potential and endless possibility. our goal is to add beauty to the workday and to outfit workspaces everywhere with tools that energize and inspire."

i've written here before about how important i think it is to bring design and beauty into everyday spaces that are typically beige and boring. so, i love the idea of having polished, thoughtfully designed office products that can go in and out of all the spaces of life - from the 9-5 stuff to the creative stuff to the to-do lists and the big dream brainstorming. if it's something you're interacting with multiple times a day it should be beautifully designed!

pretty right?

added bonus? appointed was started by dc-based graphic designer and creative powerhouse suann song. i've been following suann for years and she's consistently made beautiful things and supported dc small business.

they launched on kickstarter a couple of days ago so go and get em!

as they say on their kickstarter, "beautiful tools to inspire beautiful work." indeed!

ONLINE/OFFLINE

we've all been to great conferences, talks, or events. at their best, they can be interesting, inspiring and amazing sources of content. here's my problem: conferences are where content goes to be born and... then die. so often, the great quotes, ideas and conversations that are generated at live events are not translated into anything tangible that can live on. i'd like to see more brands and organizations make an effort to help bridge the online-offline gap and try to pull some of the great content their offline events generate online.

one example i came across lately were these quote images from makers. (more about makers over here!) they've created images (that are very pinnable) with some of the best quotes from their annual conference. while it's nothing out of this world, it is a small effort to encourage their viewers to help their offline content live on.

have you seen any great examples of brands or organizations pulling offline content online? would love to hear about it!

more here.

ADVICE TO LITTLE GIRLS, FROM A YOUNG MARK TWAIN

i’m always discovering beautiful and thought provoking things over on brain pickings. author maria popova says this is one of her favorite posts and it’s one of mine too.

in 2011, maria came upon an italian edition of a little known story by a very young mark twain. written in 1865, and featuring artwork by russian-born illustrator vladimir radunsky, the book playfully, and beautifully, encourages girls to think independently. last year maria brought the book to america. (you can get your copy here. i just got mine.)

i am in love with these images. and this playful text. and with the concept. and with the fact that it was done in 1865. and that it was written by a thirty year old mark twain!

"Good little girls ought not to make mouths at their teachers for every trifling offense. This retaliation should only be resorted to under peculiarly aggravated circumstances."

"If at any time you find it necessary to correct your brother, do not correct him with mud — never, on any account, throw mud at him, because it will spoil his clothes. It is better to scald him a little, for then you obtain desirable results. You secure his immediate attention to the lessons you are inculcating, and at the same time your hot water will have a tendency to move impurities from his person, and possibly the skin, in spots."

"If your mother tells you to do a thing, it is wrong to reply that you won’t. It is better and more becoming to intimate that you will do as she bids you, and then afterward act quietly in the matter according to the dictates of your best judgment."

via brain pickings

MAKERS' MARK

today i'm talking about makers, a digital and video storytelling platform that hopes to be the largest ever catalog of stories about women. launched in 2012, they feature original interviews with amazing women from different fields. i wanted to share because i think this project is beautifully done and critically important - for the ladies and the guys - but also because makers is a great lesson in how to do video right. read on for more on why makers is doing video design well and how they can be doing user experience design better.

looking good: the videos are short and they feed into each other, which is great for keeping attention. the site is very searchable - an area where so many (actually, most!) content focused sites fail. it is focused and well organized.

but here's the thing: every video - which is typically between one and five minutes - is branded with makers at the beginning and the end. this is great from a branding perspective but not from a functionality perspective. the problem is that because the videos are so short (and every featured person has a few videos) you usually end up watching a couple of videos. but after 4 videos, the makers intro and outro gets pretty annoying, and add onto that a 30 second ad every other video and you've got a recipe for pushing people away.

so, long story short...

dear makers people: i love the initiative and the site, i think it is intelligently designed and packed full of inspiration, wisdom and brilliant women. but you should replace the intro and outro situation with simple overlay branding and have your developer friends find a way for the videos to more seamlessly flow in and out of each other. that way we can ensure that as many people as possible watch as many of these videos as possible.

dear readers/bosses: spend some time on this site. look at how they treat video design-wise and in terms of functionally. also, you should probably watch *allofthevideos* - you’ll leave inspired and engaged.

see how makers is making its mark here.