That's right--- yet another FREE and fabulous e-zine from Design for Mankind... now in its FIFTH ISSUE!
This month is all about inspiration in nature--- from your neck of the woods to overseas, inspiration is everywhere. Special thanks to all of you LOVELY contributors... we've got some great ones this month!
Download your FREE e-zine right here, and feel free to hit up issues 1-4 here.
OR, you can view the past three e-zines right here via Issuu. Enjoy!
As always, if you'd like to be added to the eZine mailing list, send an email to designformankind@gmail.com with the subject line 'MAILING LIST' and I'll add you asap!
[taking tuesday off--- exhausted! will be back in action wednesday in full swing!]
welcome.
5.26.2008
inspiration e-zine: issue five.
true story.
Did I say I was off to the beach? Wishful thinking. I'm actually holed up inside on this bright and sunny day putting the final touches on Design for Mankind's monthly ezine: Inspiration [Issue FIVE], to be released tomorrow!!!!! :)
I'll post a sneak peek for you tonight if you're tuned in, so do check back around midnight, you night owls!
Until tonight...
what the world eats.
Ok, I really am heading out now, but I can't quite shake this project. What a compelling, thought-provoking photo essay examining what different families eat throughout the world and their average weekly grocery bill.
Thank you, Time.
5.23.2008
thank you, james!
So. I must interrupt the regular-scheduled programming to MASSIVELY thank dear James Saavedra for the sweetest, most well-planned interview I've come across. You may know James from TLC's 'Clean Sweep', but I know James through his fabulous blog, Decor Fellow. And I just e-love him to pieces.
Anyway, feel free to head on over to Decor Fellow where James has kicked off his Style Maker series with... ME! I simply can't believe I've been grouped together with style icons such as Kenneth Brown, Kelly Wearstler and so many more. Gracious. I'm floored. Anyway, my interview can be found right here [in which I discuss how much I love my readers, Sharpies and sheets!] and do tune in next month for Part II of the series with Kenneth Brown himself!
James--- I can't thank you enough! You are tremendously dear!!!!
this week in inspiration: 05.19.08 to 05.23.08.
10. This week, there is beauty in the homeless.
9. The Bubble Project [thanks, Andrew!].
8. A clock photo for every minute of every day.
7. 'Being not truthful works against me.' One of the most surreal installations I've seen.
6. Craft Mafia and Fringe Bazaar. Eek!
5. Shadow casting panels. Watch the video [thanks, Drzach and Suchy!].
4. Mike Sacks takes fascinating photos of his TV.
3. He took a Polaroid every day until the day he died.
2. The heart behind the art: SpoonFedGallery and its true meaning.
1. FREE Dwell on Design tickets offered to Design for Mankind readers. Enter here with offer code 'BDODEC' [thanks, Cory!].
product of the day: posh trash.
"almost too pretty to use."
from the portfolio of maija louekari. [thanks, cati!]
telephone sheep.
A bit late to the party on this (try two years), but I love this installation from The Museum of Communications. Made entirely out of telephone parts, it's baa-rilliant. [thanks, Lenny!]
print of the day: the girl and the head.
"she misunderstood when her father told her to get ahead."
£13 from DaWanda.
5.22.2008
roadmaps: creating a business plan.
Woo hoo! Roadmaps time! It's been a few weeks since my last Roadmaps post, simply because things have been a bit manic around here. Just to recap, Roadmaps is a guide to discovering your passion and in doing so, organizing your pursuit for creativity. The series is geared toward those in the planning stages of their businesses, but will eventually cover a wide range of topics that more seasoned business owners may struggle with as well.
So, now that we've created a life plan and distinguished a few key business models, it's time to put some meat on our bones: the business plan.
OK. Here's my beef with the business plan. I'm just going to dive right in: this is NOT for everyone. The benefits of having a business plan are INCREDIBLE in a lot of avenues: investor relations, organization, key goals, organization, pr, organization. Did I mention 'organization?'
BUT. Don't let this hinder you from making a move. If you're scared stiff of a business plan [which you shouldn't be], just know that it is not an end-all document. I like to think of it as a doc that is constantly changing and reforming, and if used properly, will be your most utilized Word doc to date.
With that said, you know what you can handle. If you simply don't have the time and/or resources to focus on this step, do what you can. To make it easier, I've included a breakdown of the most basic business plan I've come across. I'll do my best to highlight the areas that I think are key, and those that you could skip if you're feeling totally overwhelmed.
Ok ready? Here we go. The basic ingredients of a successful business plan are:
1. Executive Summary.
I suggest doing this last. It's basically like titling your painting-- one big paragraph or two that summarizes a whole lot of stuff. You'll want to include your basic product/service description, current business and financial position and the request [IF this is an investor-centric plan].
2. Company Background
This is a section that will be continually updated. You'll include a description of your business, company history [just think when you'll have five/ten years under your belt!], current position and business, as well as ownership. For freelancers and/or sole proprietors, this is a great place for your 'business bio.' Since you are essentially the brand itself, a personal bio can work, too.
3. Services
Expand on the description of the services you'll offer. Get specific. If you're a stationery company, what products do you offer? Flat or folded? Qty? You'll also want to include a competitive comparison. To do this, find your top ten 'competitors' in the industry [I'd be happy to help with this if you live in a bubble!]. Then simply include what distinguishes you from your competitors. Keep it brief and TANGIBLE.
4. Research/Development
Do you need to research existing printing methods? Tax info? If there's something you DON'T know about, include it here. This will be a big expanding section, so feel free to jot a lot of questions for you to answer later. Of course, if you're seeking an investor, you'll need to have this research finished prior to meetings.
5. The Industry, Competition and Market
You'll want to research your industry for this section, including your specific market size. For instance, if you want to build a blogging business, you'll want to know that there are sixty MILLION blogs out there. Specifically, you'll want to find out how many blogs are in your genre (i.e. design, art, biz advice, etc). Get some concrete numbers down-- you'll thank yourself later.
6. Marketing Plan
This is my FAVORITE. It's also my specialty, as I sold my soul to a top marketing firm a few years ago. Here you'll want to list your pricing, distribution channels (i.e. will you promote your work through a blog, other blogs, publications, i.e., and what publications will those be?), promotional plan and feedback. Feedback includes any customer comments that are helpful toward the production of your goods or service. Constructive comments are most useful, for obvious reasons.
7. Operating Plan
Another favorite of mine, and an easy one. Chances are, you already have an Operating Plan, you just haven't written it out. Include location of your business (whether it's in your living room!), facility, operating equipment and personnel plan. If you plan to hire employees, include the details of your hiring process here.
8. Management, Organization and Ownership
Here, you'll want to make an organizational chart of some sort. If it's just you, then list your management principles should you expand your business in the future. [can skip this if you're burnt out, but do visit it later]
9. Goals and Strategies
This is a NECESSITY. You'll list your business goals, keys to success and a mission statement here. Spend some time on this, and make your goals realistic. They'll help you in the long run.
10. Financial Assumptions
There are some VERY helpful worksheets here, i.e. profit/loss and balance sheets. Include a cash plan, as well, so you can keep spending at the forefront of your mind.
11. Appendix
Not totally necessary, but sometimes helpful. Include any worksheets you've used in the body of the business plan, as well as some kind of personal financial statement and perhaps client testimonials. If you have a brochure and/or marketing/collateral, this is a great place for that as well.
[note: all business plans are NOT created equal. for a good example in your industry, visit bplans.com and check out a free template that is in line with your business market].
My final thought re: the business plan is that when you give it the time and attention necessary, you'll find that it becomes a bit of a self-fulfilling prophecy. When you spend a Saturday afternoon focusing on your business, you'll start to feel a lot more like a business owner. And when you form a [real! live!] mission statement, you'll be well on your way to living it out.
Now. The biggie. I know this will probably be the death of me, but I'd like to offer my services for those of you that need it. I'm a massive advocate for small businesses, and have done a great deal of research. In doing so, I've compiled a questionnaire of sorts that you'll need to think about prior to completing your business plan. Email me right here if you'd like a copy.
If you simply can't wrap your head around the idea of sitting down and hashing this out, I'd love to assist you. My goal is to give each of you the access to a decent business plan you can customize for yourselves. Truly. I think it's quite important.
So, for those of you that need it, email me for your questionnaire! Everyone else? Get to cracking on that business plan and email me if you need ANY help along the way.
Love to you all.
product of the day: little darren.
"if i ever have children, this just may be the only doll they'll ever need."
from the portfolio of eloise corrdanch. [thanks, sam!]
style pick of the day: numph martha dress.
"b/c hey mary--- martha wasn't THAT bad."
£49 from lilac rose.
defaced.
This week is total Jen week, isn't it? Just couldn't resist posting this project entitled 'Defaced' from Jen's flickr loveliness. Fabulous, yes?
5.21.2008
print of the day [part deux]: bjerg.
"bjerg is grejb backwards."
from the portfolio of sofie hannibal.
print of the day: jacques et...
"jacques et madeleine de morsauf, le lys dans la vallée, balzac. and no, i have no idea what that says."
from the portfolio of loren capelli. [thanks, print!]
style pick of the day: honk for peace.
"honk for peace, or honk for peas. whichever you'd prefer, really."
£25 from PeepShow.
double take: a good year.
Kylie's back at it today with another fabulous Double Take--- go for it, dearie! :)
--
A Good Year = Good sets + good actors + good plot + the most spectacular scenery you have ever seen. Director Ridley Scott brilliantly transports the viewer through different worlds -- from the fast-paced financial hub in London to the slow-moving countryside of Provence. This travelogue really hit home for him as Scott lived in Provence for fifteen years with frequent day-trips back to England. Provence is a place that I only wished I could call home...
If you haven't read any of Peter Mayle's books, then add A Year in Provence, Toujours Provence, and of course A Good Year to your list. That's exactly what I did at the beginning of last summer then we (thanks to my sweetheart) took a little trip to the Lubéron hilltop towns to see what all of the fuss was about. And no wonder Mayle has written a small library of books about Provence. Gordes, Lacoste, Ménerbes, Cucuron, and Bonnieux are just a few of the towns that are featured in film (if you are interested, there is even a small-group tour).
Château la Canorgue took center stage in the movie as it became the home of Max Skinner (Russell Crowe), the high-powered stock broker turned vineyard owner after the passing of his beloved uncle. This château rests at the foot of Bonnieux and is known for producing fine organic wine. Few alterations were made to the property for the movie (it's just that beautiful!) with the only major one being a second swimming pool for filming purposes.
Sonja Klaus, production designer, was responsible for transforming the château to the home of dear Uncle Henry. Klaus used beautiful antiques and rustic furniture to give a sense of nostalgia. Even if we don't have an Uncle Henry or a vineyard in our backyard, we can try to recreate the general feeling of this château with a few selective pieces in our own space.
The washroom is my favorite set with its sink console, small cocktail table, vintage french lace curtains and gorgeous floorlength mirror. You could create a similar look with the lucca single skin console, jessie table, alencon lace curtains, and carved cheval mirror.
The cottage ride headboard (available in several sizes and finishes) would be the perfect backdrop to your bed before waking up to breakfast prepared in your rustic kitchen. Drink your morning coffee at the provence extension dining table while using your Hutschenreuther blue onion china. For an evening glow, find some vintage candlesticks from the wide selection on eBay.
And finally take in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery on your wyndham outdoor cafe armchairs (similar chairs available in a copper patina finish here). All we need is a chess table and we're all set for a glorious afternoon in Provence. Perhaps I'll pop the dvd in for the eighth time...
Image credits: Twentieth Century Fox, Pottery Barn, Amazon.com, Wikipedia, Picasa, The Luberon Experience, Luberon Live, Horchow, Oly Studio, Home Living Style, 1stDibs, Crate & Barrel, English China Shop, eBay, & Ballard Designs.
the dailies: jen tauritz gotch [part deux].
Eek! I'm so excited! Last time Jen joined us for The Dailies, you fell in love with her [ok, I totally did, too!]. The style! The photography! The glamour! In case you're not familiar with Jen, she's the writer behind My Polaroid Blog, which has been getting manic press these days [yay, Jen!].
Naturally, that kind of awesomeness can certainly translate overseas. Don't believe me? Jen has agreed to let Design for Mankind readers tag along during her fabulous trip to Paris. Ahh, je l'aime juste.
--
4:13 am - - - It’s hard to sleep in Paris. I’m just so excited. It’s our second day here and I still haven’t adjusted to the time change. I will say that I find insomnia totally bearable in France.
9:02 am - - - Ok, now this is more like it. 9am is a totally respectable time to wake up while on vacation. We are sharing an apartment for a week with our friends Jeff and Lisa. It’s wonderful.
10:30 am - - - Everyone is showered and out the door. It’s cold and raining, but it doesn’t matter. Andrew and I each have 2 cameras around our necks. I guess that is why no one is really speaking French to us. They can tell we are tourists. That’s fine with me. It can get quite scary when someone tries to speak French to you when you don’t speak French. It’s so fast. I just stare and stay as still as possible . . . maybe if I do this, they will just walk away.
10:42 am - - - Breakfast at a great café by our apartment. We forgot our handy traveling translator so we each order some sort of egg dish and hope for the best. It’s kind of fun ordering breakfast and not really knowing what you are going to get. It was delicious as were the café au laits.
11:55 am --- Off to the metro station. We love the metro. It’s so easy and affordable. We’ve also been walking a lot. We don’t walk at all in L.A. As a matter of fact I will circle the Target parking lot several times just to get a spot in front. I don’t walk. It’s different in Paris and I love it! Today we are headed to Montmartre (my mom has assured me I will live it, so I’m figuring it’s kind of bohemian).
12:30pm - - - We’re here and for some reason there are about 10 flights of stairs to get out of the metro station. I take back what I just said about walking.
1:15pm - - - We stop at this great little bar called le rendez vous des amis, mainly because we stood at the bottom of yet another enormous flight of stairs and thought that we just can’t tackle them without a drink. We ended up having a couple of drinks. The place was so great. The boys had beers, but lisa and I noticed that everyone in the place was drinking something with limes in little glasses so we said, “we’ll have what they’re having.” Ti punch. Yum. Strong, but yum.
4:15pm - - - Several hours, several flights of stairs and a couple of nutella crepes later and we are done with Montmartre. What an amazing place. Great cafes, great markets, great shops. And now we’re off to the Moulin Rouge.
6:00pm --- Ok, where is this place? We keep seeing windmills, but none of them look like the one in the Baz Luhrmann film. Isn’t it supposed to be huge? Where is Ewan McGregor?
6:28pm - - So it seems we were walking in the wrong direction. We worked it out. The boys were in charge of the maps. Maps can be challenging. I think that is exactly what I said to Andrew, but my tone might have been a bit questionable (I was very tired from walking and coming down from my ti punch). He informed me that he would not be speaking to me for the rest of the trip. I’m wondering if that’s a bad thing? For the record, the Moulin rouge wasn’t really worth the walk, but it had to be done. We’re heading back to the apartment to freshen up, drop off the day’s purchases and regroup.
8:30pm - - - So we’ve freshened, dropped and regrouped. Andrew was brave enough to try to call Hotel Du Nord to try and get us a reservation for tonight. Keep in mind none of us speak French. We actually called another restaurant first, but they spoke no English - - so it got tricky. Success! They speak English and can accommodate us. Hooray. Off to Hotel Du Nord.
9:30pm - - - Ahhh, Hotel Du Nord. So French, so very, very French. The service was a bit questionable, but we are afraid to say anything. We are just trying our best to be very pleasant, humble Americans (and one Australian). Today we learned how to order a carafe of water, so we’ve been ordering it wherever we go, since it is one of about 3 french phrases we know. Our first day we went to a café and when the waiter came to greet us I was trying so hard to be friendly so in my friendliest voice I said, “Au revoir! Au revoir!” He was so bewildered. And I was so confident in my delivery. It wasn’t until he ran away (literally ran) that we all realized that I was saying goodbye and not hello. We all got a good laugh.
11:52pm - - - Back to our neighborhood with bellies full of red wine and steak and French fries (hooray for French fries. They somehow feel sophisticated here)- - but we still had room for hot chocolate before bed. Fortunately all of the cafes in our neighborhood stay open really late. So we indulged. We’ve been doing a lot of that. I realized that earlier tonight when I started dipping my French fry into the pool of butter atop my steak. There is no turning back.
1:30am - - All brushed up and tucked into bed. Another wonderfully exhausting day, sore feet and all. Tomorrow we head to the Eiffel tower. Oh, and Andrew has lifted the ban on talking to me, I think he forgot about it. It’ll be our secret.
--
OK, it's official. Je suis amoureux.
5.20.2008
style pick of the day: criss cross matroyshka earrings.
"criss cross'll make you wanna jump! jump!"
£10 from bonbi forest.
send.a.message.
Karey just sent me a link to send.a.message in response to this post. I'm simply amazed.
"It was meant to keep people apart. Now, it also brings people together."
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