the insignificant ramblings of a disturbed graphic designer
Wednesday, October 01, 2008
Thursday Top 5
Flying pengiuns
Counting to 4 with Feist and Sesame Street
I’m a PC Microsoft’s fighting back against Apple’s “I’m a Mac” ads, and so far the ad campaign is pretty good.
I’m a Wii
The real hunt for Red October Author David Hagberg and former USSR Naval Chief Engineer Boris Gindin tell the true story of the events that inspired Tom Clancy’s novel. Red October’s one of my favorite thriller movies, so I’m definitely interested in reading Hagberg and Gindin’s Mutiny.
Posted by espd at 7:58 AM |
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Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Where have all the citations gone?
A few lifetimes ago I was a marketing and communications specialist for nonprofits, most notably for Bay Area Action and its later incarnation as Acterra.
For a few years I wrote and/or edited weekly email newsletters and action alerts. I started doing this for the Headwaters Forest Project at BAA, then created a weekly EcoCalendar of events all around the Bay Area, and later founded Acterra's first general email newsletter.
During that span of about eight years, I also performed a lot of other communications functions, especially surrounding the Headwaters issue. For a few years my website and email list were the best sources for news on the controversies emanating from the North Coast, and I fielded inquiries from small and big sources alike, everyone from elementary school students to the big media outlets such as Time and CNN.
I spoke at events (the Green Party's state convention comes to mind) and universities (I presented to a Stanford law class once, which was a bit unnerving, but then I reminded myself they were just students), I did radio interviews, I fielded calls and emails and faxes from reporters all over the world, and my email list contained addresses from places as far-flung as Japan and Australia and people from the press, government, and even Hollywood.
Copy this, please
This all happened in a time when the migration of such information to the Internet was much, much less frequent, and a lot harder to do. Nevertheless, lots of people copied my emails and forwarded them along to others. Which is what we wanted. Unlike commercial material, for which one might have copy-protection concerns, we wanted this information spread far and wide. Granted, we didn't want people to re-edit the information, so I simply attached a footer to my email template that stated that permission was thereby granted to forward the email in its entirety, for non-commercial purposes.
And people did it. In droves. They forwarded it on to their friends and family, co-workers, whomever. Some maintained their own large lists of concerned citizens interested in environmental issues, and they sent my emails along to them. Others posted my newsletters and action alerts on their AOL and Geocitieshomepages, on university listservs, and lots of other places.
Here are a few examples, still archived in various niches of the 'net:
Later, as search engines became more adept at crawling and indexing the content of the web (this had all occurred before Google existed), I'd be doing Headwaters research on AltaVista or Yahoo! or Dmoz, and come I'd across some of my old emails and articles scattered across the web.
Fading way
In more recent years I've noticed that Google's algorithm seems to be devaluing these old (nearly ancient in Internet time) posts, probably for fairly legitimate reasons (the HTML of those old web pages would not withstand semantic rigors of modern search technology), so they rarely show up in results, or if they do, they're buried many, many, many results pages deep. It's probably that a lot of those pages are simply gone now too, as people fold their old accounts or Geocities pages get closed down, or whatever.
When I first started noticing this, I must admit that it was a little sad, as it seemed almost as if my contributions were disappearing from the universe. I know this is not strictly true, but in a world where we seem to rely increasingly on Google to provide us with what we want to know (I'm certainly guilty of this reliance), it's disappointing that the content of those older articles is devalued in large part because the method used for archiving them did not use the modern HTML standards.
It's a little like devaluing the best encyclopedia in the (physical) library because its publishers have not yet made it available online. Perhaps the actual content contained in that encyclopedia is of better quality than anything published on the web, but most people would never know it because they'd never see it.
I'm conflicted about this on many levels. Partly because I believe passionately that people should have access to the best quality information (so I want people to go the library, or wherever they need to go for that single best source), but I also want that high-quality information to be much more widely accessible than that. Let's face it, the researcher in Prague seeking information on West Coast salmonids can't easily get the 700-page document off the dusty shelf of the tiny library of the Northcoast Environmental Center in California, can he? But what if it's the single best source, and it's not available online at all?
Technology will catch up
I believe (nearly) all of these documents will be available online someday. It may be a decade or more away, but it will happen.
And I will do my part. I have archived all my data from the Headwaters Forest years, and all my BAA articles and photos, and while they're not really in any usable order right now, I am confident that technology will continue to advance in ways that make the data easier to sort and publish. It's already been happening, with sites like Flickr making it easier to share photos, and tools like blogs and wikis making it easier to publish and collaborate.
Not all my contributions have faded away
Interestingly, search technology has more recently broadened to include the content of printed books too. Google Book Search began scanning the collections of several leading universities in 2004. While Google's tool is still in beta and it comprises mostly academic works, I was mildly surprised to see my name turn up with a few results. I was cited in Earth for Sale: Reclaiming Ecology in the Age of Corporate Greenwash, by Brian Tokar, and Writing for Real: A Handbook for Writers in Community Service , by Carolyn Ross, Joseph M. Williams, and Ardel Thomas. I'd forgotten that I was also thanked in Inciting Democracy: A Practical Proposal for Creating a Good Society, by my friend Randy Schutt.
Posted by espd at 1:03 PM |
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Wednesday, November 21, 2007
Green Design: Designers, studios, and ad agencies that work with environmental groups and green companies
I have a reputation for working with environmental nonprofits, so I still frequently get requests to do graphic design for green groups or companies. Unfortunately, I’m usually too busy.
Sometimes they ask for referrals. So I finally compiled this list of other designers and firms that have worked with environmental groups. I’m including a few advertising and PR firms too, since green groups can almost always use some expertise in their publicity campaigns, plus those firms usually have designers on staff too, or work with freelancers.
I can’t vouch for all of these. Some of them I’ve only heard of through the grapevine, but some of them I’ve met and really been impressed by. I hope you find one you can have a fruitful relationship with.
UPDATE 11-01-08: I’ve collected some new green design resources over the past year, and I’m adding a few new design firm listings to this post. Interviews with seven of the companies listed below are available at GDUSA’s website, from “Going Green” in the October 2008 issue.
I also thought I should list some organizations and resources for designers (and clients) who are interested in sustainability issues as they pertain to the graphic design discipline:
UPDATE 11-28-07: Innosanto from Design Action turned me on to a few more companies that specialize in design for social change, and I found a few others on a site called renourish.
a5 Group Inc. size: boutique location: Chicago IL, St. Louis MO, and Grand Rapids MI clients include:Green By Design, Partners in Amphibian and Reptile Conservation, Environmental Protection Agency
Alto size: boutique location: Aotearoa, New Zealand clients include: The Sustainability Trust, Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority
Another Limited Rebellion size: boutique location: Richmond, VA clients include: Vegan Action, Richmond Green Party, Center for an Urban Future
Eric Benson size: boutique location: Champaign, IL clients include: Whole Foods, MADD, Toyota
Big Think Studios size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Bluewater Network, San Francisco Food Bank, United Nations World Environment Day, Center for Biological Diversity
Celery Design Collective size: boutique location: Berkeley, CA clients include: Elephant Pharmacy, The Natural Step, Alameda County Green Building
The Change size: boutique location: Chapel Hill, NC clients include: Fair Trade Resource Network, Higher Grounds, Sierra Club
Conscious Creative size: boutique location: Berkeley, CA clients include: In Defense of Animals, VegNews magazine, San Francisco Dept. of the Environment, Marin Environmental Film Festival
Core Industries size: boutique location: Brooklyn, NY clients include: 1% for the Planet, greensear.ch, Volkswagen Carbon Neutral Project
CSDesign size: boutique location:Melbourne, AUS, and London, UK clients include:Australian Conservation Foundation, Greenbuild Expo, The Fair Trade Company
Design Action Collective size: boutique location: Oakland, CA clients include: United States Social Forum, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Craigslist Foundation, Rainforest Action Network
Design for Social Impact size: boutique location:Philadelphia, PA clients include:Environmental Fund for Pennsylvania, The Nature Conservancy, Recycling Action, ForestEthics
Designarchy size: boutique location: San Francisco Bay Area clients include: Compassionate Cooks, Terrain magazine, American Cancer Society
Digital Hive Ecological Design size: boutique location: San Francisco Bay Area clients include: Institute for Environmental Entrepreneurship, WholeSoy & Co., Canal Alliance, Greener World Media
ecoLingo size: boutique location: Phoenix, AZ clients include: Phoenix Department of Health and Sustainability, Earth Accents, Valley Forward EarthFest
John Emerson size: boutique location: New York, NY clients include: Amnesty International, National Mobilization Against Sweatshops, Human Rights Watch
Fenton Communications size: large location: New York, San Francisco, and Washington D.C. clients include:Greenpeace, Sierra Club, Alaska Wilderness League, Center for Marine Conservation
Fibu Design size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: National Conversation on Climate Action, PG&E ClimateSmart, Media Fund, Help America Vote Act
Firebelly Design size: boutique location: Chicago, IL clients include: Sustainable Chicago, Awakening Organics, Midwest Wind Energy
Free Range Studios / Free Range Graphics size: boutique location: Washington, D.C. clients include: Amnesty International, Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund, the Nature Conservancy
Green Team size: boutique location: New York, NY and Tasmania, AUS clients include: Environmental Defense, World Resources Institute, National Geographic Society
Mark Bult Design How could I not include myself? size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Amnesty International, Anne Frank Center, Bay Area Earth Day, Silicon Valley Bicycle Coalition
Metropolitan Group size: boutique location: Portland, OR clients include: Charles Darwin Foundation, National Park Foundation, The Wetlands Conservancy
Open size: boutique location: New York, NY clients include: EarthAction Network, Not In Our Name, Good magazine, The Nation
Palatal Collective size: boutique location: Kansas City, MO clients include: Pharos Project, Botanical Research Institute of Texas, Girl Scouts of Mid-America Council
Public Media Center size: large location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Earth Island Institute, Greenpeace, Foundation for Deep Ecology, Oceanic Society
Ready366 size: boutique location: New York, NY clients include: Ready366 only launched in February 2008, so their client roster doesn’t really include anything indicative of their focus on sustainability. I list them here with the hope that I can update this post again in the future, with real-world examples of their stated mission of helping companies make consumer brands more earth-friendly.
Rizco Design & Communications size: boutique location: Manasquan, NJ clients include: Corbis, Huntington's Disease Society of America
Roughstock Studios size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: East West Herbs USA, Mission Arts Foundation, Search For Common Ground
Studio 7 Designs size: boutique location: Victoria, BC clients include:PESCO Environmental Solutions, Juniper Tree, UN Golden Chapter
T-LUX Design size: boutique location: Los Angeles, CA clients include:’Licious Dishes, Pacific Edge Magazine
Tumis size: boutique location: Oakland, CA clients include: Natural Heritage Institute, Strategic Action for a Just Economy, Urban Strategies Council
Underground Advertising size: boutique location: San Francisco, CA clients include: Environmental Defense, Union of Concerned Scientists, The Pew Charitable Trusts, Greenbelt Alliance
Vivace Design size: boutique location: Montreal, Quebec clients include:Tori Amos, Liberal Party of Canada (Quebec)
Willoughby Design Group size: boutique location: Kansas City, MO clients include:Hallmark, Kansas City Zoo, Women's Political Caucus, Sheridan's
Several web-based companies have sprung up in the past five or six years to provide small businesses, nonprofits, and individuals with better tools for managing large email lists and collecting statistics on how well one's email marketing efforts are working (or not working, as the case may be).
I have a long history of managing large email lists, having done so for a number of nonprofits in the past 12 years. I used to manage a sizable list for the Graphic Artists Guild, and a couple of pretty large ones (several thousand email addresses) for Headwaters Forest preservationists and for Bay Area Action.
Back then, you had to do all the list management with your email program (I used Eudora, which was pretty good for this sort of thing), or often a server-side program called a Listserv, and there was practically no way to measure success other than counting your "Message delivery failed" bounce message.
Things have come a long way since then. Now we have online services that take a lot of the headaches out of managing your data, and which provide a lot of extra functionality and usually offer a lot of info on best practices for creating and sending email marketing.
Some advantages of these services:
Far less administrative time required by your staff or volunteers.
Email examples and templates are provided, or you can often upload your own.
How-to articles offer insights into best practices for content and design.
Automated list management removes duplicate emails, invalid addresses, and more.
Robust statistics track your success: open rates, clicks, and more.
You have to pay for these services, but it's generally very reasonable compared to the savings your likely to realize in saved time and headaches.
If you're in the market for this sort of thing, here are three you may want to look into:
Posted by espd at 8:14 AM |
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Thursday, April 12, 2007
Thursday top 5
Conan O'Brien's commencement speech to the Havard Class of 2000 Freakin' comedy genius. I miss Conan. Sometimes I wish I had TV again. » www.february-7.com
Rebel Alliance or the Empire? Vote for you favorite Star Wars stamp at USPS. » www.uspsjedimaster.com
Universcale An site that interactively lets you see the respective scales of things, from the largest known thing to the smallest known thing, and lots of things in between. » www.nikon.co.jp
"This American Life" Animated segment by Chris Ware for the new "This American Life" Showtime TV show. Makes me want Showtime. So. Damn. Much. » brightcove.com Google Earth adds hiking trails » lifehacker.com
Flying pengiuns
.
For a few years I wrote and/or edited weekly email newsletters and action alerts. I started doing this for the Headwaters Forest Project at BAA, then created a weekly EcoCalendar of events all around the Bay Area, and later founded Acterra's first general email newsletter.
Interestingly, search technology has more recently broadened to include the content of printed books too. 
Aaron
Alexis
Anne
Anya
April & Matt
Ari
Bo
Brian
Bryan
Chris
Dave & Terri
Dave H.
Debby
Drue
Fibu
Four Waters
Fwegan (aka Ynnej)
Holly
Hilary
Internet Rockstar
Jason
Jen
Jesse
Jessica
Kansinee
Karl
Laura
Leah
Marc
Martin
Matt
Mike
Morgan
OkayDave
Olya
Paco
Peter
Rick
Rocky
Ryan
Stellah
Tatum 
Trent
Velma
Veronica
Yuliya
Yu-Po