An Era for Design - According to Forbes

Great article from Forbes about the power and value of good design. Here are a couple highlights worth mentioning and a link to the full article.

All businesses, no matter what they make or sell, should recognize the power and financial value of good design.

...Every day my Twitter feed populates with astounding growth facts about the likes of Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Pinterest and the more recent travel site, AirBnB. It is no coincidence that these successful brands seem to really value design and utilize it to secure a competitive advantage.

...What is certain is that the design bar has been raised and design-oriented businesses are winning.

National Peace Academy Site Redesign

We (my partner Gary Nickerson) and I, recently completed work on the National Peace Academy's redesigned website. As always, there are some further tweaks to be made, but you get the idea....

Our client emailed us to say:

"As you might imagine, we are getting beyond rave reviews. In fact ... the positive response is almost ridiculous - I love that."

Inspiration from a fellow designer

This guy makes me proud to be a designer!

Modern Behavioral Science: Taking the Human Factor into Account

Found this interesting article about human behavior and how you can affect it on a large-scale, say with your non-profit organization or small business (Joe Brewer, Cognitive Policy Works). Of course, we don’t want to go as far as manipulation, but understanding the way humans function on a very basic level (organized into five basic findings from the last century in this article) can help us to better communicate and connect. Check it out for yourself, but modern behavioral science definitely seems worth noting.

The Sierra Club New York Group Website Gets a Reboot!

We're so excited to announce the recent launch of The Sierra Club New York City Group's new website. Gary, my husband and colleague (and a member of SCNYC), has been working on updating the site, and he asked me to help with the masthead as well as several other design components. Take a look at these before and after photos to see the update.

Here's the old website:

Here's the new website:

You'll notice right away that the difference in masthead images is striking! The goal for the new masthead was to actually feature New York City as New Yorkers experience it everyday. We didn't necessarily want those stereotypical images that others imagine our Times Square/Skyline/Wall Street-filled lives to be but actually a combination of the majestic and the mundane that makes New York City our home.

In terms of function, Gary wanted the club's information to be more accessible and easy to use. It was also important to add various social media components to keep up with this fast and useful trend (see reflections on its many uses here). The Sierra Club New York Group is very pleased with the results and so are we.

Interested in learning more about The Sierra Club? Check out their new website for yourself.

Reflections on Social Media at the end of the "bin Laden Era"

Gary Nickerson, my husband and colleague, offered his acute observations on the relevance of social media in the aftermath of Osama bin Laden's death on his blog yesterday. As an addicted Twitter user and follower myself, I found it to be dead on (pardon the pun). And, for those of you venturing into the social media world, I think you'll find it useful. Check it out:

"May 3, 2011 - In the sixties, we used to say the the "Revolution will not be televised." Of course, that was wrong, as shown especially by recent events. However, the fact is that television has lagged in its coverage of all of those events. If you wanted to keep up to date, you had to follow what was going on from the source via FaceBook and Twitter. Often, these events were more reliably reported on those sources than on television news, simply because they were done on the spot. So, what does this have to do with bin Laden?

Well, it turns out that the first news about bin Laden's death came from an an unknown source in the White House. He or she tweeted about it half an hour before the President was scheduled to speak and a few hours before he actually did speak. From there the news spread virally, as we in the Internet world say, and was shortly fodder for TV and radio coverage. I saw it on FaceBook before I heard it announced on CNN.

The point is that if you want to be able to keep up with the actual news, you need to follow Internet sources. This is true even when it comes to regular International  reporting. For example, Al Jazeera, which has no cable outlets but is available on the web, was a better and earlier source of good reporting on the Middle East before CNN International and the networks for quite a while. They simply initially had more and more experienced reporters in place!
But to really keep up, especially with unofficial sources, the raw Internet is still best.  "We are all Khaled Said" on FaceBook was the voice of the Egyptian revolution. Libya Ahurra broadcast live from Benghazzi during the uprising in Libya and gave much better and more reliable news that all the regular news sources that were themselves relying on "official" sources.

The lesson of all this is that if you are not plugged into Internet sources, you are likely to be getting yesterday's news even on TV and radio. Yes, the revolution will be televised, but by then it will be old news.

The message is that you can keep up."

Check out Gary's other writings here.

I remember Mo Nabbous, citizen journalist killed in Libya 3/19/11

I met Mohammed Nabbous online probably on Feb 21 or 22. I think he had Al Ahurra up and running for one or two days. I remember thinking - Live TV from Free Libya?? Can it really be?? Why isn’t CNN linking to this?? Is it possible they don’t know?? How could I have found it when CNN hadn’t?? AMAZING! I watched with total awe and fascination. I was so hungry for real news – news from the source, not filtered through people outside Libya. This was really quite unbelievable.

I lurked on the live chat feed for several days saying nothing. I would tune into the site whenever CNN or Al Jazeera started focusing on other things or when I thought I was getting slanted or incomplete coverage. I hopped on when Twitter had news I wanted to verify. I wasn’t powerless and didn’t have to feel like a victim of media bias or worse, propaganda they repeated. I could go to the source. I couldn’t know what was happening in all of Libya, but I could find out how things were going in Bengazhi. I could SEE it on the 9 live cam feeds that Mo set up for us. But more than that, I could just watch Mo work and listen to him chat with the people in the chat room. Mo was OK. He seemed tired, but he was OK.

Finally I signed up for the chat, even though I still wasn’t actually chatting. One day, Mo was setting up something for the first time – I don’t even remember what – live sound maybe. And he tested the sound – “check, check, can you hear me?” How is the sound guys”? And people chatted back to help him adjust – “too much static, too loud, can’t hear you”, then “loud and clear – that’s perfect, we hear you! YAY!” and finally I wrote, something like “I am in NYC and I am AMAZED!” He read what I chatted and said, “guy in New York City is AMAZED – Hey New York!” I didn’t bother correcting him that I wasn’t a guy, seemed like he had his hands full. Another person said something about how his chat feed and video would be in the historical archives after Libya was free, that it was just unbelievable and Mo was a hero. I think Mo chuckled at this “ok guys!” At some point I wrote and said “I hope that you will soon be FREE”. Mo corrected me, “I am free! Benghazi will always be free.”

During the early days while I still lurked, I was amused and impressed by the moderators. If they suspected Gadafi trolls or deemed comments problematic, they would shut down the chat, go to moderator only and ban the offender. They showed no mercy! Chatters sometimes objected, “Why did you ban him?” Mo would say, we’re not a democracy in here – out there, democracy, in here Gadafi style” – and he would laugh. (This was in the early days before Gadafi unleashed unspeakable atrocities to put down the revolution.)

One day, people were on Libya Alhurra chatting about a badge. I didn’t know what it meant, but at some point someone asked if there were any graphic designers on the chat. I said I was a designer and I’d be honored to help. I got my assignment – Mo wanted something with the new Libyan Flag, the word Truth and a map of Libya. I created the badge and posted it somewhere for them to use. I soon got feedback from a moderator – “no green for Libya, can you use another color? They’re all sick of green, you know, that’s Gadafi’s color”. (Gadafi’s flag is green). Of course! NO GREEN. I made the changes and sent the file. The next day there was full on attack somewhere in Libya, maybe Tripoli, maybe closer. Mo was very busy trying to report on events while chatters were trying to coordinate medical assistance where needed.

I watched quietly. Then I noticed something odd in the left corner of the screen. I realized it was the badge but only a corner of it was showing. I now understood what they meant by a badge. They needed a web banner. I gave them something totally the wrong size and shape. I couldn’t help with what was happening in Libya, but I could resize the banner. I quickly fixed it. They were dealing with such urgent things that day, though I also had the feeling this was they day they were "launching" the site. I waited for a lull and posted a link to the new banner in the chatroom. No response. I looked for the moderator who gave me the revisions and let her know. She got it. She would pass it on. Phew. Later that night I checked back. The banner still wasn’t showing right. Mo was there. It was very quiet. I said "hey Mo, i know you've been busy, but i fixed the badge and reposted it for you. He laughed. “Ok, ok, Carol!” It was up the next day.

There was one other time I had an encounter with Mo. It was a slow day, as I recall. He asked people on the chat, “Hey guys, how does Libya Alhurra compare to CNN and Al Jazzeera. I mean, yeah, they have better equipment for sure, I know, but how do you like what we’re doing?” We all chimed in: “Mo you are way better! We love you Mo. You’re reporting what’s happening from the source – you are way better than CNN and Al Jazeera!” He chuckled at our enthusiastic accolades.

I don’t believe I had any more interactions with him personally. And indeed, I don’t feel like I spent more than 4 hours in total watching Libya Alhurra. I would pop on and off for minutes at a time, sometimes lingering longer, sometimes keeping them on the background while I worked. Each encounter with Mo was brief, potent and memorable.

Here was a country across the globe, under siege, and through social media I could personally connect with people basically just like me who were struggling to gain their freedom. And in a very small way, I could even help.

I imagined one day when Libya was free – my husband and I might travel there and try to meet Mo. When I heard that he died, I burst into tears. Mo would not see the no-fly zone he’d been begging for finally delivered by the International Community. He would not live to see the revolution completed and Libya set free. He would not live to see his unborn child grow up in a free Libya.

And as for the rest of the world, how would we know what was really happening in Libya now?

"What we have done for ourselves alone dies with us; what we have done for others and the world remains and is immortal." 

 - Mohammed Nabbous