I was supposed to write a final paper for a grad school class, an elective, on Educational Leadership but took a risk and designed and wrote a graphic poster instead. The assignment was to read a scenario and respond as if I was a student in the principal preparation program. Which I am very much not – and the…
Exciting update to my grad school MFA (Master of Fine Arts) plans (see Why I decided to go back to school at age 48): I’ve enrolled in the NEW #designthinking for innovation and collaboration certificate program at Herron School of Art and Design in Indianapolis. Hopefully I’ll get a bunch of credits transferred to Indiana State University. With apologies to my ISU…
Experiments with #digitaldrawing continues. This time it’s #sketchnoting while listening to a 17-min. #TEDx talk in my studio. I used a #Wacom #Cintiq and #AdobeIllustrator. It was really hard to get the control I wanted from the pen, but it was fun to be able to move elements around and colorize stuff, which I can’t do…
Today I locked myself in the studio and practiced my digital drawing skills. Starting with photos of a few of my sweet kitties, first I drew them by hand, then traced and colored the digital sketch using Adobe Illustrator and a Wacom Cintiq tablet. My ultimate goal is to get familiar enough with the tools so I can…
Why I chose to read this book “Facilitation: helping, improving, or making something easier” ¹ “Leadership emerges from a desire to help others” ² I was drawn to this book since the author is both a visual scribe and a master meeting leader, as well as a frequent keynote speaker and author of several books…
I’ve spent most of my professional life involved in visual communications, but that’s not what I studied as an undergrad (environmental education, at Hampshire College) because I didn’t even know what graphic design was then, and I was terribly intimidated by the “art students”. By my late twenties I had taken a single life-transforming class…
Do you sometimes feel your nonprofit is having an identity crisis – like one of your programs or events is more well-known than the organization itself? If the public recognizes the event or program, but not the organization that has worked so hard to make it a familiar success, this can be a problem —…
Brand Personality is the visible and outward manifestation of your brand [CLICK TO TWEET], in subtle and obvious ways – everything from the copy on your website, to your logo, to the signage in the window. When your organization’s brand is defined in this way, your community will more easily be able to connect with you –…
If you dream of making your content more engaging so people actually read it, try adding some simple infographics. This engages the reader by making it easier for them to understand your point. It’s kind of like a visual pull-quote. Here’s five ideas – and lots of examples – of how you can use simple…
I read a good article today on NPR’s All Tech Considered, Fake Or Real? How To Self-Check The News And Get The Facts. Except I figure people who aren’t schooled in figuring out the difference aren’t likely to be reading an NPR article. So I quickly put together this infographic based on the article and a…
