business

blogging hiatus

| heather parlato

i have been so buried with work, i actually had to stop blogging. this is a sad thing, because i like blogging, but just can’t spare the time and energy. perhaps next week i’ll be able to return with the highlights of all the cool stuff waiting for me in google reader over the last 3 weeks, but in the meantime, i’ll leave you with this nice article, good for clients and designers alike:

The goal of any information design task is to communicate a specific message to the end user in a way that is clear, accessible, and easy to understand. Even an elementary review of educational theory, how we learn, can provide the designer with crucial insight into the needs of the end user (and make a big difference in the way aesthetic decisions are made). This overview of learning styles has immediate implications for visual communication.

how magazine, may 2011

| heather parlato
how magazine, may 2011 cover
how magazine, may 2011 cover

if you’ve got your how magazine‘s design & creativity issue for may 2011, check out ilise benun’s piece, “making the move,” on how to transition to freelance for advice from myself, alisa bonsignore, lydia varesco racoma and kristin maija peterson. i’ve been talking a lot about how i started planning for my transition and then put it into high action during an unexpected layoff. 3.5 years later, i’m still going strong and only getting better. if anyone has questions about what they should know or what to be aware of, i’m always happy to help.

making the move, by ilise benun
making the move, by ilise benun for how magazine

i’ve been reading how for about 15 years, and i’ve met so many great people through it, it’s a true honor to be able to contribute to it and be included in helping other designers learn different aspects of our industry.

for more on the transition to freelance, check these links below:
Ready to Conquer the World? by Ilise Benun for creative freelancer blog
Take 6 Steps Toward a Successful Freelance Career by Ilise Benun for HOW
In House Interpersonal: Walking out of the house from the InHOWse designer blog
Interview with Heather Parlato on Freelancing, podcast with Ilise Benun
Freelancing 103: When to Make the Leap to F/T Freelancing by Ilise Benun
Freelancing 102: Balancing Two Jobs by Ilise Benun
Freelancing 101: How to Begin Getting Clients by Ilise Benun

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

branding

burlingham woodland walks
[image: the click design consultants / identitydesigned.com]
as a person who frequents state and national parks, i really love it when branding for public spaces is done well, with reverence to the landscape. this makeover for burlingham woodland walks gives an elegant and instinctive feel to our connection to nature. see the whole package at identitydesigned.com.

infographic

beer infographic
[image: fastcodesign.com]
for a bit of fun, fastcodesign.com presents 14 surprising facts about beer in a super-cute poster-sized infographic. check their post for the full graphic.

design industry

if you’re looking for inspiration of the reading variety, fastcodesign.com profiled pentagram’s interactive site where you can click on your favorite designer and get their favorite reading suggestion.

mike montiero delivers his expert mix of humor with the straight truth in how to pick the right clients, my favorite quote from which is: Beware of clients that wait to call you until they have a perfect diagram of what they need. If they’re not coming to you for strategy and problem-solving, they’re not coming to you for design, they’re coming to you for production. And if you take on production work, you don’t get to call yourself a designer. (Yes, there’s a union. And we’re vicious.)

if you’re looking for ways to meet these clients and that same old elevator pitch doesn’t seem to be connecting with anyone, try rethinking what you’re saying with marcia hoeck’s ditch your elevator speech for parse blog.

finally, part 2 of my sustainability series for neenah paper is up on the against the grain blog: green with envy? put green ideas to action!

los angeles

some fun things floating around LA recently include this hike through the silver lake hills, a new electronics recycling center right here in echo park, and the oddly-comforting, instantly-beloved you are listening to los angeles.

food

nasturtium vinegar

some fun things going on food-wise include the fact that it’s springtime and flowers are everywhere. i’ve been foraging it up with dandelions, and finding all kinds of fun things to do with nasturtiums. before that, we celebrated the coming of spring with green garlic. get to picking and get down with your bad self!

event calendar, march 21 – 27, 2011

| heather parlato

artist's palette, death valley
[artist’s palette, death valley]

i just got back from a weekend in the eastern sierras and death valley, with a matinee at the amargosa opera house. i’ve also been on a bit of a blogging hiatus, so it’s time to change that and jump back into the swing. good thing i’ve got just the thing for that.

what i’m doing:

wednesday, march 23, 6:30 – 8:30pm shine: the entrepreneur’s journey screening at blankspaces, FREE with rsvp! a short documentary produced by biznik, stories of solopreneurs and indie pros and how they got started, how they keep going & why they do what they do.

other design events for this week:

tuesday, march 22, 6:30 – 9pm, adobe illustrator users group LA, FREE with rsvp.

thursday, march 24, 7-9:30pm postmodern suicide FREE at art center.

marketing mentor podcast: how to transition to freelance

| heather parlato

marketing mentor

i did an interview with ilise benun of marketing mentor and creative freelancer blog about how to transition to freelance, all the things you want to plan and the mindsets you want to change. working with ilise through marketing mentor has helped me refine so many of my marketing practices, given me great ideas about where to expand, and helped me stay on track and forge ahead. i was honored to be able to contribute to her podcast and encourage anyone else to make the jump.

listen here: how one creative made the transition to full-time freelancing from marketing mentor

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

Erik Spiekermann – Putting Back the Face into Typeface from Gestalten on Vimeo.

infographics

infographic of culinary tools
[image: pop chart lab]
this infographic of sorted & illustrated culinary tools is a virgo, graphic designer, diy kitchen person’s dream! see the whole profile at fastcodesign.com.

packaging

lee never wasted
[image: thedieline.com]
i love this shopping bag commissioned by lee, intended to be cut down and reused as a board game, calendar, ruler, mask, door hanger, and so many more things. see the full post at the dieline.com.

design industry

inc magazine has a great article, survival tips for solopreneurs to help you stay afloat when times get tough.

also, in web design, when you feel the tug-of-war between business objectives vs. user experience pulling you into indecision, here’s how to solve it.

food

chanterelles and potatoes
i found myself the lucky recipient of a few pounds of foraged chanterelles this week, so i wrote about them in seasonal eats: when live gives you wild chanterelles.

book of small achievements, 2011

| heather parlato

book of small achievements 2011

i was just marveling last week about how jam-packed january has been on all fronts: between work and social events, and just the sheer variety of it all. somewhere between realizing i hadn’t cataloged my ever-growing list of guest-blog posts and this lingering feeling after recapping my retreat about how you can never really remember all the great things you did, i got to this point where i realized i needed somewhere to keep track of the smaller steps that lead to the bigger ones. i got the idea of making a book like this as a gift, because it can’t just be me who would like a cheering section in the form of a diary of gold star moments, but i figured i’d try it out first.

enter these fantastic scout books people have been making. luke mysse gave me one of the promotional ones he made back when we spent the day coworking. i’ve gotten a few from friends in the meantime, so rather than archive these as keepsakes [as i do with way too many things] i counted the pages and figured there’s a front & back for each month with room for extra. great! i got out a pen and re-learned once again that, without practice, my handwriting will always be terrible.

book of small achievements, january 2011

i wrote out everything i felt noteworthy and proud of for january, and a couple that got started for february this week. these are usually cool, new things i wasn’t doing before, or opportunities i feel lucky about, milestones with clients, or milestones on my own goals. getting it all down on paper made me happy about this idea all over again, so i’m going to keep the book at my desk and update it whenever i’m feeling good about something i did, or circumstances that go my way, or any time i realize hey, progress has happened!

oh, and see that “updated web content” item on the february list? i did finally catalog the guest-blogging, and never would have imagined this would have happened in 6 months, most of it in the last 3!

how about you, anyone else do something like this? i think it’s going to really help, come year-end assessment time. and before that, it will help anytime i’m having an off day of business pms.

on doing so very many things

| heather parlato

last week i was watching an interview my friend colleen wainwright did, talking about her year-long hiatus and what she’s been doing in the interim, when got to the part where she said she did a ton of writing. in no small part, 2-3 times the amount of writing than any year previous, but people just didn’t see it. then she had animated it thusly:

do people even realize, for every good thing you see on someone’s site, [this] (small hand gesture) is what you see, and then [TTHHHIIIISSSSSS] is what they’ve done—and my arms go out to infinity!

this SO hit home for me, because i do a ton of stuff, and i try to work it into something here or there, but there are already so many things i want to share that haven’t made it into even a mention in a blog post. you have to do so much in order to get good stuff up anywhere, sometimes it’s a wonder we have time to get the good stuff up at all.

so, thanks colleen! hearing and seeing the concept illustrated was a huge relief to my constant feeling of overwhelm from all the stuff-doing i’ve been up to.

creative inspiration

| heather parlato

paper technology

paper fashion
[image: howdesign.com]
couldn’t have said it better myself, from howdesign.com: Yesterday, Macy’s flagship store unveiled seven new window displays on Broadway in Manhattan featuring stunning paper works by fashion design, fine arts, industrial design, and interior design students from Pratt Institute’s School of Art and Design between 34th and 35th streets. The display showcases sophisticated and beautiful paper looks that compliment Ralph Pucci’s Spring 2011 “GIRL 2″ mannequins as well as inventive paper sculptures and will be on view through January 26, 2011. The work is part of an exhibition titled “Pratt + Paper & Ralph Pucci” that was on view at Pucci’s Gallery Nine Showroom in December 2010.

design industry

back in june, i went to the creative freelancer conference, where we met great people, learned a ton, and put a bunch of great ideas on our to-do lists and gave them to ilise benun to mail back to us in 6 months. i just got mine in the mail last week: my creative freelancer “progress report.”

if one of your resolutions involved getting new clients, smashing magazine heard you and wrote up this early identification field guide: how to identify good clients and avoid bad ones.

there are suddenly a bunch of design contest and award deadlines rapidly approaching! print’s regional design annual submissions are due february ! how design’s promotion awards closes march 5, and their in-howse awards are due april 1, no joke. the creative review has extended their deadline to february 9, but they mean it! launching mid-february will be the brand new awards, details forthcoming.

food

kohlrabi with sausage and lemon
i wish i weren’t superlatively under so many deadlines this week, or i’d round up more fun food ideas for you. but HEY—this article on kohlrabi i wrote for LAist should more than cover you, precluding of course, that you promise to buy some kohlrabi. seasonal eats: say yes to kohlrabi!