field guide

March 1, 2011 free art + printables, live

living . Forward March

I’ve been thinking about opportunities lately. Over the last year I’ve been presented with many opportunities. Some disguised as changes or challenges or even as catastrophes. As we turn the calendar on March, I’m reminded that Spring is the season of opportunity where buds long dormant begin their trek toward blossoming. Sometimes it happens overnight. Just last week I noticed that from Tuesday to Thursday, the Bradford Pear tree outside my window transformed from a woven pattern of bare gray branches to a fluttering display of white-petaled blossoms.

As I’m considering the opportunities before me, more and more I’m feeling the weight of a choice — the choice between what is familiar and comfortable and what is new but uncertain. It’s the choice that must be mastered with virtually every opportunity. I’m recognizing about myself that often that place of familiar wins out simply because it has the assumption of security and stability. To reach toward something that is unknown is scary, even when the possibilities of that something are abundantly apparent.

This life doesn’t come with annotated step-by-step instructions. Each twist and turn in the road requires some sort of risk and unknown. The only alternative is to stay still and close off that every-widening journey of opportunity.  When I take time to think about how I really want my life to be — my work life, my home life, my digital life, my inner life — I find that I don’t want to let simple familiarity govern my attempts to attain it. I want to embrace the opportunities that take me where I want to be. I don’t want to settle for simple security. I want to dare to imagine that day-to-day existence that inspires me. And I want to orchestrate whatever comes my way to help me achieve it. Thoreau expressed it well in his Walden treatise…

“if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavours to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.”

Success unexpected in common hours. In finding the courage to choose to move in the direction of that life we imagine, we are most assured of success. Each step toward what we dream brings with it the freedom and joy of moving. Moving forward. Moving toward something, even if that movement contains a little retracing.

That’s the inspiration for this month’s desktop wallpaper design. I want to reach forward. Spring forward. Even March forward. And, as I begin acting with confidence, reclaiming areas where I’ve surrendered my dreams to the commonplace for the sake of what’s simply become habit, I find myself gaining that familiarity that was so comfortable. I find myself gaining a familiarity with my own dreams, with my own abilities, with my own voice, with my own direction, with my own confidence and courage. So, I weigh those opportunities, and I know. I know from that most familiar place–the heart of me–what will get me closer to that dream. I know what it feels like to reject standing still. To move forward.

[Click the desktop wallpaper version above to download and enjoy with your technology and grab these iphone and ipad wallpaper version as well.]


February 28, 2011 learn

Tools for Sane Social Media

During this first year of Small Pond Graphics, I’ve really seen a lot of exposure and new business opportunities sparked through my profiles on both Twitter and Facebook. I’ve been experimenting over the last few months with different ways of sharing client projects, original content, inspiration and ideas there and integrating the content here on Plop! as well. There’s no question social media takes time, and as with any marketing effort, for it to effective it takes some planning and thought as well.  Today I thought I would share a couple of tools I use to help me with the logistics. Time spent on social media can get away from you if you’re not careful, and it can quickly turn non-productive. I use these tools for scheduling and managing the content I want to share–and for keeping my time on social media sane. Maybe they’ll help you as well.

1. Twaitter.com — Twaitter is a marketing tool for Twitter that allows you to draft, schedule and send tweets. You don’t need a separate account, you just log in with your Twitter username and password. Simple enough. There are many twitter tools that facilitate the process of scheduling and sending tweets. The reason I like Twaitter is because I can schedule recurring tweets on a very specific time frame. While I don’t recommend bombarding your Twitter followers with repeated messages, I do think it’s valuable to send regular tweets with general information about your business. I use Twaitter to send a weekly tweet listing my services with a link to the Pond website and weekly tweets inviting followers to join my facebook page (with a link).

2. Postling.com — Postling is a great comprehensive service for posting to multiple social media channels or blogs at one time. It also allows you to manage multiple brands if you have more than one business on your social media plate, and it allows you to schedule in advance. I frequently use it to schedule the Daily PONDspiration posts I add to the Small Pond Facebook page each day. I like it because you can select to post to both your personal FB profile and any pages you administer and Twitter. It automatically shortens the links for my posts and I like it because it allows me to choose an image from the linked page to include, much like if I was posting it directly into Facebook. That’s important to me because my posts are design oriented. I usually spend some time over each weekend scheduling the upcoming week’s daily FB posts all at once. Makes my life easier!

Note: Postling also tracks comments and interactions with your social media posts. Nice.

3. Amplify.com — Amplify offers a very similar service to Postling with a few added features I love. Like Postling, it allows you to choose multiple profiles and media outlets to post a single message. But, Amplify offers an easy browser toolbar button that lets you “amplify” a link right from your browser. I use it to share links or information on Twitter or Facebook on the fly without a lot of additional browser windows or logins.  If I want more control over what is shared, I also sometimes use it  to schedule Daily PONDspiration posts. The toolbar button offers the option to “clip” a page. I can select an image and various paragraphs of text straight from a web page. [It’s very helpful for those webpages whose images won’t automatically import into Facebook.] Another great feature of Amplify is that it lets you compose your Twitter and Facebook wording separately since you can utilize more characters on Facebook.

Note: Amplify sets up your amplified posts as a micro-blog of sorts that you can promote if you desire. When posting, you can link to this micro-blog or to the original web page you are sharing.

4. Network Blogs — I wanted to throw in a tool I use for Plop! as well. Network Blogs is a Facebook application that lets you link your blog content to your Facebook page and/or profile. You can essentially set up a mini page for your blog and manage how it is “syndicated” to your FB profile or any pages you administer. The application creates a “blog” tab showing all your posts, and it can automatically post links for new blog posts to your wall. I also activated the feature that lets you post to Twitter automatically as well.

Of course, some of the services these tools offer overlap. I’ve established sort of a mish-mash protocol for how I prefer to manage my social media marketing. These free services may offer you the opportunity to do the same!

February 25, 2011 favorite things

favorite thing . Calligraphy Address Stamp

Don’t you love hand-written notes? I remember receiving several congratulating the launch of Small Pond Graphics, and they made the words  that were communicated so much more powerful. Hand-written notes are kind of a lost art in the digital world we inhabit these days. Perhaps that makes their impact all the more pronounced, and I’m determined to incorporate the effort into my correspondence a little more. [No scoffing from those who have seen my hand-writing, please.]

I was thinking about small ways to add that human touch to communications and I came across this great calligraphy shop — Paperfinger. The custom calligraphy address stamp caught my attention as a great opportunity to add a bit of personality to personal or even business correspondence — especially if your handwriting is like mine and produces more frustration than joy. They also offer some other beautifully whimsical stamps and the option to create something custom.

Think small today.

February 23, 2011 favorite things

font crush . West Balaio

Today my favorite font is West Balaio. [I say today because my “favorite” seem to change on a daily/hourly basis. Oh well.] I love the whimsy and texture of this font. It just smells like Spring fever. You can download it for free here.

And, here’s what I’m thinking about doing with it… some oversized “thank you” postcards for my clients!