Web Trends for 2010

As the year winds down, not only do we review the past year, but also look to the upcoming promise of the New Year. 2009 brought us many online trends including tweeting and ‘unfriending’ but what will 2010 hold? Mashable is a Social Media blog I started reading about 6 months ago and have seen some great posts from their contributors. Their CEO, Pete Cashmore has some thoughts on what will be big 2010. Not only am I excited to see if his predictions come true, I am excited to try some of them out – especially the flexibility that cloud computing can hold. Check it out

Color!

I'm always interested in how advertising and marketing uses color to enhance, clarify, and create campaigns. In my past life as a photography buyer, I spent so much time doing photo research that I could pick out where most images in print campaigns I'd see around town came from. I am still on the email lists of quite a few stock photography houses, and I just recently received a case study from Aurora Photos about a campaign they did for a neighborhood bank in Maine. They did TV ads, print ads, brochures, and other collateral. I think the campaign has so much vibrancy and energy that they would have missed with a "quieter" color palate. The bank has even reported a direct return on investment. Check it out!

Photography Searching Made Easy

I've been meaning to post about this website for a while now, but I'm just getting around to it now. For two years, a large part of my job was purchasing stock photography, picking images for marketing campaigns and magazines, and being the general go-to-gal for all things photography at my company.

I'd spend hour after hour searching for that perfect image for a campaign. You cook up this visual in your head of the perfect image, and then it is almost impossible to find an existing image that meets your imaginary criteria.

I recently heard from a contact at Masterfile about their new search functionality. It has been around for a few months now. It is AWESOME. It was actually honored at the Webby Awards. They have tools called "SimSearch" and "Visual Matching" where you can take an existing photo, and it will recommend other images that suit it well. I don't know how they do it. Tiny elves? Magic wands? Some kind of potion? (see why I don't work in tech?) However they did it, they did it well. Check out these examples:

Masterfile has posted a demo video here.

Winter Song

I am a huge fan of Ingrid Michaelson. I went to her concert about a year ago, and she is fantastic.

About the same time last year, I came across a song called "Winter Song" that she did with Sara Bareilles. The song is really beautiful, and the video for it is so ridiculously cute. I love the old-time movie reel effect, and the animation is so simple and fun to watch.

Given that it seems like it will never be sunny in Seattle again, this seemed like the right thing to post on a rainy, cold, windy day like today. Enjoy!

Social Media here to stay?

I found this really interesting video on YouTube today about social media and its effect on marketing and advertising. As more and more companies are learning how to market their product or service through social media, some experts are wondering if social media is just a fad, or something that will be a permanent change in the way we do business.

This video is really well done, and makes you think about the way social media affects our daily lives. Check it out.

Learn something new every day!

A friend of mine just passed along this link to Learn Something New Every Day. I think it is so cute and the drawings are really creative and fun. I also love that the writing is British English. I spend a lot of my day at work editing in British English, and I love the way they spell everything. Perhaps because I secretly wish I was British. And lived in London. sigh.

Here is today's.

Drumroll Please............

Sorry for the long hiatus on the blog. I've been cooking up some new ideas lately, and I'm ready for the big reveal. 

I've been lacking in creative inspiration recently, and decided I wanted to get back into doing some creative work on the side--writing, editing, design, various artistic endeavors, etc. 

The first step in this process was starting this blog. I've since bought the rights to a website, and am turning Vivid City Creative into a catch-all business for all my freelance work. 

Most recently I've been working on a line of original, hand-drawn and hand-painted greeting cards. They're the perfect way to combine writing, design, art, and more all in one product! I love them for their simplicity. 

Although the website is still in the works, I've posted the first of my cards for sale on Etsy. Check them out! There will be more to come soon! I'm looking into doing hand-painted stationary/notecards as well! 

Deeeee-licious

Earlier this summer I did a photo shoot for my friend Kari's website, Bling Cakes. She makes the most delicious cupcakes and sells them all over Seattle. 

I took some photos for her website--with the added bonus of getting to eat the cupcakes after the work was done! 

Twentysomething Book Publishing Opportunity

Photo of the Day

Seattle Japanese Garden, Autumn 2008

Photo of the Day

Pike Place Market, Autumn 2008

Distant Memories

Today is officially six years since I boarded the SS Universe on Semester at Sea. I'm feeling pretty reminiscent about those great 100 days I spent traveling the world. It was the time that absolutely changed my life. I met amazing people on all different continents, had some crazy adventures, and formed lifelong friendships with my fellow passengers. I can't believe that six years have already flown by. 

I spent a couple of hours today going through my pictures from this journey. They are an amazing collection of prints--African elephants, ancient Japanese Shogun castles, classic cars of Cuba, and the amazing rainforest of Brazil. I feel so lucky to have experienced this trip. 

One of the most powerful experiences on Semester at Sea was my day volunteering at one of Mother Teresa's orphanages in Chennai, India. It was such a moving experience that I wrote a piece about it, which won an award in National Geographic Traveler. I thought I would post it here, so please enjoy. 

"One Deep Breath"

 The air is thick and murky. Sienna clouds choke my lungs and I cough black dust. As soon as I step out of the puttering rickshaw, I spin around and realize that I am alone. Alone in the subcontinent, a crying nation long forgotten by the bastardizing effects of the British Empire. The India of Gandhi and Mother Teresa is covered in a dusty layer of oppression and despair.

Two nuns open a squeaky gate and soon I find myself in a small, dark room. I slip off my dusty Nikes and kneel in silence in front of a tiny altar. Tamil hymns and prayers echo off the thick walls, candle light flickers, and

I take my only deep breath of the day.

The song ends and we walk from the peaceful chapel into the main complex of the orphanage. In a shadowy corner, a little girl sits humbly. She is 16, but the poverty of malnutrition has robbed her of an adolescence.

While the nun’s back is turned, the girl grabs my hand and pulls me down a narrow hallway. In front of us is a waist-high gate that protects the entrance to a nursery. Twenty beautiful white cribs are lined up in neat rows, and tiny babies in blue and pink pajamas sleep peacefully under a warm breeze.

The girl softly reaches her hand through the slats in the gate. She points into the beautiful room and a tear rolls down her cheek. I suddenly realize that the sleeping babies in the back nursery will be adopted. The nun catches up with us and guides me away from the idyllic nursery, without time to contemplate what I’ve just seen.

In an upstairs room, little boys squirm on their backs and cry out, their muscles too weak to sit up. I approach one crib, and as soon as I place a hand on the little boy’s protruding stomach, he is instantly soothed. I immediately think of the little children in the secret nursery, and wonder how they sleep so peacefully in the midst of all the chaos. Maybe they know they have a future. Maybe they’ve already forgotten the day they were left at the doorstep of the sisters’ orphanage.

I take a shallow breath and tears come quickly to my eyes. Goosebumps cover my arms and legs, despite the sweltering humidity. This may be the first time in my life I feel truly alive. Thoughts of the life I left behind slip away, and I suddenly realize that this is real life, this is real emotion.

As the day slips away and the sun begins to drop into the red earth, I have to say goodbye. As I close the gate behind me, I wave goodbye to the nuns, and silently admire their dedication and faith in a project that has no visible end.

Every day I still think of them, from thousands of miles away, and every day, I lose that deep breath again.

Photo of the Day

Sunrise in Caye Caulker, Belize. April, 2009

Great Washington Wines--Food Northwest Piece

My friend Matt always has a new business venture or website up his sleeve. His latest and greatest is www.foodnw.com. His site is an insider's guide to amazing Northwest wines, beers, foods, recipes, restaurants, and more. You can check out my first piece here.