“Shit is bleak“ Humor is often used to poke fun at tragic or depressing events. Good-natured comedy can help us cope with a negative situation. Take this Onion headline parodying the sober subject of climate change, for example, or this screenshot from comedian Marie Faustin’s pandemic-themed skit. What could be less funny than killer virus…
When the Stone Soup story is interpreted through an entrepreneurship lens, the full flavors of community and collaboration unfortunately go to pot. I am often asked how I came up with the name Stone Soup for my business. I refer to the popular children’s book, first published in 1947, which was based upon an even…
In 2019 I had the pleasure of leading a workshop at the Day of Innovation at Butler University, Indiana’s full day innovation event that brings together leaders and practitioners from all sectors and backgrounds, hosted by Centric Indiana. The conference theme was The Power of Together: Diversity, Inclusion, Collaboration and Team Building for Innovation. It…
This past spring my husband and I – along with our bulldog Violet – took a month to travel out west with our little Casita travel trailer in search of mountain biking adventures. Here’s a ~4-min re-cap of our journey, explainer video-style!
It’s 2021 and I’m celebrating twenty years of being self-employed at Stone Soup Creative. What does it mean to be a solopreneur and creative professional for this long? I’m old, and I’ve been at this for a while. But I’m also wiser than when I began. Here’s 20* lessons I’ve learned about running a business,…
Inspired by my muse – my bulldog Violet – I created this Doggo Lingo infographic (and a few animated GIFs, just for fun). What is Doggo Lingo? It’s how dogs “talk” online, of course! If you are interested in: 1. Live sketchnoting OR 2. Illustrated infographics, like this one – – I’ll happily be there to make your next event,…
I was doing live visual note-taking to support a local online discussion, “Let’s talk about mental health care in Terre Haute”. The speaker used the term silo. She was describing how there are several task forces and other groups in our city with similar goals to generate solutions that help people with mental health issues,…
[Note: this post is an abridged version of a paper I wrote for a Graphic Design History class from November, 2020 while I was pursuing an MFA at Indiana State University. The project topic was to focus on graphic design in the service of social issues by writing a paper and an accompanying Pecha-Kucha-style slideshow…
Is there a visual learner in your life that you’d like to encourage or support? Or maybe you wish to engage a group you work with by using visuals? Here is a curated list of ten fun, practical and unique art supplies, tools, books, and other gift ideas for a variety of age ranges, for…
The event has ended and it was a success. Participants are fired up with new knowledge. A graphic recorder captured the event (either virtual or in-person) and people loved seeing their ideas and discussion points come to life, or they were inspired by the speaker’s innovative story-telling. They feel connected to the message and want…