Confessions of a Graphic Designer

Why I think Empire Avenue is a legitimate tool. More than two years ago I began playing Empire Avenue. Created in 2010, there was a great deal of excitement when Empire Avenue made its splash into the social media mainstream in the spring of 2011. Well-known people in social media jumped in, and many are still active players. Last year some of them stopped. One player told me he thought it took too much time. And certainly in the beginning, it could be time-consuming. Others could never really figure out how to play, and although they are still there, their accounts are dormant. As Empire Avenue has continued to evolve from strictly a social media stock market game to a social media tool, some perceived Empire Avenue in a negative way. This new perception came about with the advent of "missions," which offers rewards to players who complete tasks. Some people perceive missions as "buying influence." But some of these same people are also buying fo...

When you're in your twenties, you'll live forever. You're the center of the universe. You are invincible! But for some strange reason, one day shortly after I’d started my design business, something in the obituaries caught my eye and I began to read. As a young adult in my early 20s, it occurred to me these people were now gone, and reading about them in the obits was undoubtedly the last chance I would have to ever cross that person’s path. I was “meeting” them shortly after they'd departed. A social media friend once told me she'd asked her niece to contact me in case anything ever happened to her. And it made me think about my own relationships with friends on Twitter and other social media channels. Some are people I regard fondly, and I would want to know if something happened to them. And in turn, I would want them to know if something happened to me. Do most of us have some sort of plan in place? Local notices include the people in our own back ...

Jack Dorsey on the cover of - Fast Company - Our new hero-archetype? When I was a kid, it was pretty easy to identify heroes. They were policemen and firemen, soldiers and astronauts. They were President John F. Kennedy, Miss America, doctors, teachers and others who showed courage or strength. They were people who were, in some way, extraordinary. Jack Dorsey, co-founder of Twitter and founder of Square, is on the March 2012 cover of Fast Company , and seeing him made me wonder — who do people admire today and why? Are entrepreneurs the new heroes? The fortunes made by innovators today might make a 20-something MBA's heart beat a bit faster because they have realized the American dream — using brains and hard work to achieve success and enormous wealth. But is the ability to turn ideas into money what we should admire or strive to emulate? Having aspirational goals propel us to achieve. And the ability to innovate, and at times create a need for things ...

Real-life Meetups Make the World a Better Place When I first heard about " Meetup ," I had no idea why or how it started, but it sounded like a neat idea. Then a few days before the tenth anniversary of 9/11, an email arrived from Meetup co-founder and CEO, Scott Heiferman. I was so impressed, I asked if I could share it — but in order for it to not get lost in a sea of 9/11 posts and reflections, I wanted to let some time elapse. His message reminded me of two things: the tragedy of 9/11 changed life forever in the United States, but some goodness resulted; and the importance of real-life, or as my friend, Jake, likes to say — "tangible," connections need nurturing in order for each of us to thrive. Scott's message: Scott Heiferman, CEO and co-founder, Meetup Fellow Meetuppers, I don't write to our whole community often, but this week is special because it's the tenth anniversary of 9/11 and many people don...

Note: hyperlinks in red I think of Twitter as a cocktail party, and FaceBook as dinner party. Both can be fun, but they can also be noisy and full of drunk people. LinkedIn is a place where business happens. I’ve been on LinkedIn for four years. LinkedIn is a social network that allows you to make connections with trusted contacts and essentially create a personal Rolodex in the cloud. But it's much more than that. In addition to the convenience of finding your important business connections in one place, it offers a host of useful resources for job seekers, sales people who are prospecting, and recruiters who are looking for qualified people to fill jobs. There are too many benefits to enumerate, but it’s not just a social network—it is a database of people and companies that can be searched geographically—and most of what it offers is freely available. In 2006 my real-life best friend and fellow graphic designer started a job at PopCap , and she invited me to j...