Stick a Fork In It !

One of the first things that I identified as a requirement when I started trying to develop my Latin American businesses was the need to attempt to communicate in a language that my customers understood.  In 1990, the first of the mass fax programs were now affordable as were the early attempts at translation programs. So I learned the software, spent  three months developing my leads list, and started faxing out monthly sales letters to the top 500 retailers in the Caribbean, South, and Central America. I translated these into Portuguese and Spanish with the help of the computer and started being referred to as the “fax man” when I finally met these future clients at trade shows.

One of the companies I represented was Retroneu , a higher end flatware company.  The top tier of their product line was branded as the “Landmark Collection”, bridal registry flatware that retailed for $150 - $200 per place setting.  I wrote a marvelous sales letter explaining why every top retailer should be carrying the magnificent  Landmark collection in their bridal departments.  I then proofed the letter, ran it through the translation software, and faxed it out.

Unfortunately, the program didn’t recognized the word Landmark and substituted its best guess which was “heap”. The literal translation for heap is mierda  (sp?).  So I sent out a letter to the merchandise managers, owners, and buyers of the major  Latin America retailers explaining why they should be carrying “un magnificante colleccion de mierda,” loosely translated as a marvelous pile of excrement.  I received more than 3 dozen responses within the next 2 days explaining my error.

I didn’t know it at the time, but that mistake did more to endear me to customers/prospects than almost anything I had done to that point. I became human. I was making an effort to communicate, however poorly, in their language. I opened more new accounts in the next few months than at any other time during that particular part of my sales career because I wasn’t another  indifferent salesman trying to make a sale, I was just another human trying to make a connection.

The reason I share this, is that it amazes me how many people don’t do things because they are afraid of making mistakes.  We learn the most from making mistakes, but sometimes during the process, we also make wonderful friendships because we care enough to try.  I’m sure that I’ll make plenty of mistakes as I try to be part of the transition from traditional marketing toward personally connecting with and listening to our individual, human customers. But I guess I’d rather look foolish than to be left alone and out of business. 

Flowers are red young man, Green leaves are green

"And she said...

Flowers are red young man
Green leaves are green
There's no need to see flowers any other way
Than they way they always have been seen"

In forth grade, we were given an art project to paint a spring picture. My creation was a grand collection of color and movement, flowers and clouds and colors.  In my mind, it was a fabulous, abstract piece work. The art teacher , in front of my entire class,  announced that it was the worst painting any forth grader had ever made and required that for homework I look up in the encyclopedia what a Tulip was really supposed to look like.

Since I had no artistic ability, I decided to try out music. The second day of class, the instructor played a series of notes and asked if each one was higher or lower than the proceeding one. I had never studied music, and so I didn’t really understand the terms.  My music instructor, again in front of the other members of my elementary school band, informed me that I was tone deaf  and should pursue other activities. Can't paint, can't play music, I must have no creative talent.

I discovered photography when I entered high school, and considered myself fairly competent. In my senior year, when asked about my future plans, I stated that I either wanted to be a photographer or maybe even a teacher. My parents, teachers, and guidance counselors all sang the same chorus to this. Photography is too competitive and you’ll never be able to provide for a family on a teacher’s salary. Join the military or get a degree in Business. I chose the latter.

I did well in business. I grabbed onto using technology to be more productive with my Apple 2e and fell in love with the prospects of what could be done. I ended up opening the Latin American markets for 20 mid-sized US manufacturers using Compuserve, an internal fax/modem, and then e-mail and the Internet. I had great adventures, but was never completely happy. 

The devaluation of the Peso and the destruction of the Mexican middle class, a run on the Brazilian banks, the depression in Puerto Rico caused by new policies in regards to the pharmaceutical industry, import restrictions in Venezuela with a new government in place,  textile tariffs in Argentina, and then the Asian Flu. Wallah!  In under 6 months, the business was gone.  Such is life.

While trying to figure out what to do at 38 years old and having lost my motivation to go back into sales, a bumper sticker in a parking lot led to a conversation with a stranger that led me into a Web design firm. Circumstances forced me from just designing in the back room, back out in to the world of sales and recruitment. A midnight talk with a janitor led me to seek interns at a local college, which one day led to that school asking me to teach an Introduction to Computers class.

Today I am the program director for Graphic Arts and Multimedia Design at Florida’s second largest private university. I usually have more freelance photography, illustration, consulting, and web work than I can take on. But mostly importantly, I love my job, I love my life, and I can draw a Tulip any way I damn well please. I can only wonder what would have been possible if I had been born with a little creative talent and some education along the way.

"But the little boy said...
There are so many colors in the rainbow
So many colors in the morning sun,
So many colors in the flower and I see every one."

-Harry Chapin, Roses are Red

Go Ahead, Make my Day! I may make it worth your while.

How often have you been made to feel special? Really special ? Important, valued, respected, and appreciated? If you’re like me, then most likely it just doesn’t happen often enough. It’s funny how in our rush to collect contacts, to get noticed, to drive traffic, we often forget the most important thing: the human element. Who cares how many followers you have or friends you have if you get nothing from them? But if you aren’t getting anything from them, it is probably because you aren’t giving anything to them.

I went to a SND meeting for the first time last Friday, Stephen Komives  met me at the door. When I met him at the door, he said, “Hello, Greg. It is great to see you here today. Let me get your badge for you.” The enthusiasm and sincerity were real. I don’t know if he took the time to research a little about each of the 1^st time visitors that were at that meeting or not, but it certainly made me feel like he was genuinely interested in me, as a person.

Following a post or a blog, I sent a friend request to Bruce Ramsay  because his comments really seemed interesting and useful. I received an e-mail back that stated “Greg, you're an amazing person. It is my honor to be friends.” Wow, talking about making someone’s day! Yes, I want to be fiends with someone who is that thoughtful.

Of all the people I follow on Twitter, three have extended the hand of friendship with a direct message, just to say hello. Guess who I follow most closely?

And finally, from my campus president 5 minutes ago, “First of All – YOU ROCK and your students ROCK!  I love these. “ It is because of comments like these that our program is always willing to help out other departments on campus, the front office,  and the Chancellor’s office. Thanks, President Rogers.

The point is, the reason social networking became such a popular phenomenon is that we all got tired of feeling like, and being treated like, a number. We wanted to express ourselves, be noticed, connect with new people, learn and experience new things. But without the connection, are we accomplishing any of that?

It doesn’t take long to say thank you. It doesn’t take long to let someone know you appreciate them. It doesn’t take long to turn a chance meeting in cyberspace into an ally, a loyal customer, or even a good friend. Take the time to say thank you, take the time to recognize each contact as a valued, human being. It’s that little step that will do more for your career or business than all the friend collecting and retweeting in the world.

Here are a couple of other blogs that you might also find useful.

• Web 2.0 is better than ME 2.0
  
• Customer Loyalty — Why You Need It and How To Get It 
  

So, when was the last time an online friend made you feel special? How do you let your online contacts know how much they really mean to you?

A Revolution takes Action

Contrary to popular opinion, your voice does count and yes you can make a difference. That is one of the great things about the communications revolution over the past decade or so. Many of the barriers to making a difference have been or are being removed.

This may be a long blog.  I am specifically writing for my youngest daughter who is furious that once more the public education system is limiting her choices and inhibiting her ability to get the best education she can.   But it certainly has implication for anyone who is trying to be heard. Be it a political cause, a new branding campaign, or a campaign to find a new job, the  many to many marketing approach is changing the landscape of our world.

Step Number 1 –  Have an idea. Write it down. Be passionate about it.  If you don’t know what you want to accomplish, there is very little chance of accomplishing this. Thanks Phil for the reminder. Sometimes we get so distracted by the numerous opportunities that surround us that we fail to remain focused on what we are really hoping to accomplish. By writing down a mission statement, you can keep yourself ,  your efforts, and your message from getting lost in the noise.

• This is where you come up with your domain name, your blog name, etc…
• The idea helps us define our strategy and our design.

Step  Number 2 – Begin by Taking Action… TODAY! Quite often we are not confident as to what we are doing and wait until we do before moving forward. As rapidly as the communications channels are transforming themselves, if you wait until you know everything, it will be obsolete.

• Go ahead and jump in. Start a blog, set-up your Facebook, Twitter, del.icio.us, and Digg accounts and start using them.
• Be willing to add original comments and content.  If  all you do is provide links to pre-published material, why are you necessary? There are already million of sites and posts that do that for us.

Step Number 3 – Be willing to make a mistake. We learn more by making mistakes than we do from getting right the first time. The nice thing about beginning our campaign is that if you make mistakes, you probably won’t have too many people taking notice, yet.

• Write your first blog. Request friends. Respond to some other posts.
• Ask your friends, family members, and colleagues to join your cause.
• Ask these people to recommend friends, to tweet your posts, and to provide honest feedback.
• Include your blog url, your twitter account, etc. to the signature of your e-mails.

Step Number 4 – Recruit like-minded allies. If you’re coming to be heard you need an army behind you. This is where the social networking phenomenon becomes you’re best friend.

• Start checking out and joining Facebook groups and fan pages.  Send friend requests to people who are very socially active.
• Tie your twitter, Digg, Blog, YouTube,  Flicker and Del.icio.us accounts into your Facebook profile.
• Make sure to include a ShareThis  button on your posts to make it easier for others to follow and share your information.

Step Number 5 – Give back. If you want others to help you, be willing to help them. Recognize the efforts and passions of others and make sure that you let them know how much you appreciate their efforts on your behalf.

• Comment on other people’s blogs, posts, and twits. Let them know there voice is being heard.
• Re-tweet great posts.
• Write to those who choose to follow you. 

Step Number 6 – Get out of your Comfort Zone. If you are to succeed, you need to identify and make connections with the people who can take your efforts to a larger audience.  This may mean interacting with, communicating with, and getting to know others who may seem to be out of your league. Remember that we will eventually become like the people with whom we choose to spend time. Your current associations only got you so far, you need to learn and grow.

Step Number 7 – Be consistent with your efforts. We all want to see an immediate result from our actions, but that’s not very likely.  An hour a day, done religiously, will get greater results than a Blitzkrieg that wears you out and fizzles in a few weeks.

• Posting your blog every Monday morning and Thursday morning will result in more followers than will posting multiple blogs in a single day, or just posting at random times.
• Treat your campaign like a job and dedicate a certain amount of time each day to productive activities.

Step Number 8 – Don’t forget traditional methods of sharing your information and building relationships. These tools may not be as glamorous, but they are often still the most effective.

• Join social groups and professional organizations. Meetup.com.  Facebook Events. Facebook Groups.
• Write letters to the editors of traditional media. Furnish press releases. Call or write your senators and congressmen. Attend rallies. 
• For a list of  Florida news and political contacts, check out http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?uid=93965691360&topic=9928.

Step Number 9– Remember to say thank you.  Whether we get the results we want or not, recognizing those who made an effort, not only lets them know their energy was not in vain, but it also says an awful lot about your own character.  All people want to be appreciated and the big shift we are seeing as we move to the many to many marketing model, is that individual recognition and appreciation makes for loyal friends and lifetime customers. 

Ten Great Blogs to follow on Social Marketing

It started out as a fun way to connect with friends and family.  It was our little safe haven for self-expression. It was  our pathway to creativity.

Well it isn't anymore! Like it or not, social networking is transforming industries, creating and breaking businesses across the globe, changing the face of politics, and influencing our career path at every turn. It is the next big wave and will offer more opportunities  than the World Wide Web did at the end of the last century. Those individuals and businesses who embrace it and harness it will be the next overnight success stories. Those who resist or ignore it, will be struggling to find work and customers in the very near future.

I have been exploring and studying this paradigm shift in personal and commercial marketing along with my students for the past several months and I am only beginning to grasp some of the plethora of tools that are available. I feel overwhelmed, have sworn off sleep, and can't seem to find enough time to do all the little things I know I should be doing to promote myself and my students.

Tonight, the subject came up in three online conversations tonight with friends who are as curious as I am on how to position themselves and their businesses to take advantage of the coming surge. So for the next few weeks, I will share what I can

and hopefully learn as I go. I look forward to learning with you and from you.

---

Step 1 - Learn from the Experts

You may be a forerunner, but you are not a pioneer. There are people who know a great deal more than you and I do and who are willing to share this information with anyone willing to invest the time to read it.

Here are ten blogs that I read regularly which I have found to be very useful.

• ProBlogger Blog Tips 
  
• Seth's Blog 
  
• TigerTwoTiger 
  
• Designing Success 
  
• Vital Design Blog 
  
• SEO Book.com 
  
• Design Matters - Podcast
  
• SEOmoz Daily SEO Blog 
  
• Fasturtle Interactive 
  
• Skelliewag.org
  

I am not a big fan of listing other people's blogs, but because of the questions tonight, I am sharing these as a place to start. 

Relay for life 2009 - Shave the Williams

Yes it time to share, and time to care. It's time to have a little fun and hopefully help the fight toward finding a cure for Cancer. The Lakeland 2009 Relay for Life is this Friday Night @ Lakeland High School. Because of our huge success last year, I have been asked to sacrifice my head for the event. Yes, If we can raise $500.00 between now and 6:00 p.m. Friday night, not just the hair will be shaven off, but the beard as well. For $750.00 I might even be willing to let the hair on my legs go, but we'll have to see about that one.

Further, there are 5 areas of the head that are available for corporate sponsorship. Think about it. Your logo plastered across my freshly shaven scalp or written across my forehead...

Anyway, please donate and help us in our efforts to raise awareness, have some fun, and help find a cure. 

 Greg Williams 

Click here to visit my personal page.


If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:


http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY09FL?px=2446383&pg=personal&fr_id=13549&fl=en_US&s_tafId=251853Click here to view the team page for Team Keiser

All content and works posted on this website are owned and copyrighted by the
American Cancer Society, Inc. All rights reserved. 2008 - 2009 ©

10 ways to find Inspiration and Increase Creativity

One of the challenges of being a designer (or a design student) is constantly coming up with fresh ideas. So how do you constantly find inspiration, new ideas, fresh perspectives?

1. Keep a visual journal. When you come across photos, ads, web pages, videos that you thought were really unique, put them in your journal along with the specifics of what you liked about them. When you feel uninspired, open it up and look through it.
2. Try something new. Whether it is a design, a new technique, a new program. It could even mean driving to work in a different way. Routine and habit often lead us into the same tried and dull solutions and ideas.
3. Ask for and give critique and feedback. Others’ input can lead us in new directions and  critique helps us define our own creative process and find new ways to express our ideas.
4. Brainstorm. Although this is great as a group activity, it can be done individually. Write as many ideas as you can and then keep adding them without critique or criticism. Ideas are energy and as you start creating energy, that energy will lead you to other new ideas.
5. Read. The more new ideas you expose your mind to, the more resources you’ll have to draw from.
6. Do something embarrassing. Take a pineapple shopping with you.  Put a sign around your neck and stand on the street corner. A lot of time we are inhibited by what others might say. Once you’ve given a seminar with your fly open or hopped around Target with bunny ears on, you’ll find out that that other’s opinions don’t really effect your world unless you let them.
7. Go for a walk, have lunch with a friend, get away from your computer. Our best ideas don’t usually come at expected times in expected places. Expose your mind to other things. It frees you up from the mental roadblocks.
8. Write daily about anything that is on your mind. Getting rid on that mental noise helps clear your head so you can focus on new ideas. (borrowed from The Artist’s Way)
9. Practice meditation and visualization exercises. Again, learn to calm the mind and not get trapped by all the mental distractions. Learn to let ideas and thoughts flow freely by without having to focus on them.
10. Exercise. The brain requires oxygen. Exercise causes us to fill the blood stream with oxygen, which in turn gives the brain what it needs to function properly. Go walk around the lake, practice yoga, golf, go bowling. You don’t have to go to the gym to get your body and mind working together. 

The Case for Social Networking in School

The sole function of education was to open the way to thinking and knowing, and the school, as the outstanding organ for the people's education, must serve that end exclusively. - Albert Einstein

Educational systems have always been and still want to be the brokerages of knowledge. Accreditation agencies demand certain academic credentials, not because the credentials make a person a great instructor, but in order to maintain a monopoly on how education is distributed. At the local level, schools have tried various forms of censorship and tend to do more to inhibit innovation than to foster it. From controlling which books you must read, to controlling what viewpoints can be discussed in the classroom, to controlling what methodologies can be used in teaching, formal education wants to make sure that every student becomes a clone of the system. No wonder so many people feel that creativity and original thought are beaten out of our children by the third grade.

Educational systems tend to honor tradition and convenience, not the best interests of the students they are there to serve. Schools were slow to adopt TV in the classrooms until they could control content. Schools were slow to adopt to the Internet and online learning tools, because they were afraid of becoming obsolete. Today, schools are scared of social networking and are blocking access to Facebook, Myspace, Youtube, and other wonderful resources because they would rather ignore it and block it than to find ways for the students to benefit and grow from it.

“We can't solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them." Albert Einstein

As an educator, I have come to understand that self-directed learning is usually the most authentic and provides the greatest long-term results. I also believe that in order to truly reach your students you must seek to understand them, go to where they are, speak in terms they understand, and then guide them to where they want to go in the future. The social networks are perfect tools for doing this. They are going to go to the social networks with or without our guidance, supervision or permission. Doesn’t it best serve the student to be there and learn with them how to best use these tools to harness the vast amounts of information and knowledge that they will need to process in their future lives?

"Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods.” -Albert Einstein

So here are a few ways in which I try to use social networking to better prepare my students.

1) I “friend” all of my students so that I can hopefully provide a model of behavior and acceptable conduct. I monitor my students’ profiles and posts and warn them when they something they put online could be detrimental to their safety or long-term success.

2) Through messaging services such as Facebook, I am able to provide direction and guidance when I am not face to face with my students in the classroom. Over the weekend I had several students doing research on their current projects and I was able to offer them suggestions for further research or direct them toward other networked people who could possibly offer expert advice.

"If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it?" - Albert Einstein

3) Most jobs are never posted and more and more often, jobs are found through the friends and colleagues. By using Facebook, MySpace, and Linkedin, students are able to begin to develop professional relationships, find mentors, and receive feedback from successful people already within their field. I know of more than one student who is now conversing regularly with employers in the area.

4) Requiring or encouraging new students to become “friends” with their classmates, older students, and former students, new students more quickly get to know one another and are able to build upon shared knowledge in a collaborative, learning environment. Further, research shows that the more connections a student has to a particular class or institution, the more likely that student will successful complete that course or graduate from that institution.

5) By using Delicious, Digg, and Twitter and by linking these to their profiles, students are able to more quickly share valuable resources with one another. This can become a valuable tool not only for current students but it allows each new group of students to build upon the knowledge base of previous classes.

6) By using WordPress or Blogger.com students learn to write more professionally and write with more substance. Students can also use these sites to receive feedback from one another and from those whom they will probably never meet face to face. By tying their blogs to their Facebook, Myspace, and Linkin profiles, the student’s works become instantly viewable and open to critique by friends, colleagues, and future employers.

"It is, in fact, nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not yet entirely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry." - Albert Einstein

7) Important meetings, events, news stories and class announcements can rapidly be shared with all students instantaneously and discussion can begin well before the next days scheduled classes.

8) Students use and share valuable interviews, documentaries, and tutorials on Youtube and Itunes and are able to share these with their classmates. Students are also able to post their projects for peer and outside review thus helping establish their own credibility and gaining ideas for improvement from numerous outside resources.

The whole art of teaching is only the art of awakening the natural curiosity of young minds for the purpose of satisfying it afterwards." - Albert Einstein

9) Students are able to do more current research by directly contacting sources of information through facebook friends and other social networking sites. Most of the top designers, publishers, and editors in the visual communications and design industries have profiles, blog publicly, and answer intelligent questions from serious students.

10) Students are able to be informed of class happenings when they miss a day or two. This makes it easier for the absent student to stay caught up in class, connected with his or her classmates, and feel more comfortable to return to class when his or her condition allows. One of the greatest reasons students drop a course or out of school completely is they fall behind and feel awkward or afraid to return to class. Social Networks can help bring these students back into classroom and keep them on the path toward successful completion.

11) If the students are encouraged to engage in social networking, the friendships, alliances, and networking that benefited them throughout their academic careers becomes easier to maintain after graduation.

There are many reasons why students should be encouraged to participate in social networking, not just for academic and professional growth, but for social growth as well. It is amazing to me that institutions whose mission is to serve the best interests of their students take such great pains to imprison these students in the last century instead of helping them become a contributing part of the current one.

 “The world is not dangerous because of those who do harm but because of those who look at it without doing anything” - Albert Einstein

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Embracing Destiny

Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions.

Oliver Wendell Holmes

US author & physician (1809 - 1894)

(http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/26186.html)

 

In reading Paulo Coehlo’s book, Brida, this weekend, the heroine remembers a game her father played. He would ask her to go check the temperature of the water and she would go put her toe in it. Then her father would sneak up behind her and throw her completely in. The lesson was if you are really going to discover anything you have to jump in and become completely engulfed in it.

But most of us prefer to go a little at a time. We test the water, discover its safe and then wade up past our ankles and wait a little longer. After a while we let ourselves go to our thighs, to our hips, and so forth. We don’t know what to expect so we gradually muster our courage and we move forward and then we wait. It is only after we have become comfortable with the change in our condition that we venture just a little farther out. Most of us move cautiously always keeping an eye on the shore because we know that if things turn wrong we can always return to the where we started and be safe once again.

But we can’t. If we retreat, we will return in a different state than we started. We were dry and now we are wet. But also by returning we have reinforced our fear and thus made it more difficult ever to go in again. We fear jumping in and letting ourselves become engulfed in anything because we know that do so means we can never return to where we were and that’s just scary as hell.

Sometimes we know we need to just take a leap, to have faith, to trust in the current. We see the signs around us, and yet it is as if our feet are frozen. We need someone, a friend, a lover, a teacher, life itself, to pick us up and throw us in because left to our own devices we would forever remain stuck exactly where we are.

As I have been exploring ways to further serve my students by coming up with new projects, better methods, and new curriculum, I realized that I was becoming stuck.  I love the feedback I get from my advisory board and fellow instructors, but after a while it seems like the same ideas and suggestions just keep getting re-circulated. For years I have preached to my students the need to expand beyond their comfort zone to meet and interact with new members of their profession, to broaden their horizons. And then I looked in the mirror and realized that I was standing safely on a sandbar as I shouted my advice.

So for the past month I have forced myself to do the uncomfortable. I decided to use various social networking tools to expand my contact base, to broaden the discussion, to reach out and try to interact with the very best minds in our industry. But it is intimidating to write to those people your students idolize and do research papers on time and again. It is like they are Gods sitting atop Olympus looking down on us mere mortals. Who am I to disturb David Carson, Paula Sher, Debbie Millman, Michael Beruit, Brain Hall, editors at major newspapers, professors at the top design programs in the world, and creative directors for the leading labels? It is even a little intimidating to reach out to the most creative talent in my own community. These are busy people. And what will I ask them and why should they bother answering me.

But I’ve taken the plunge, challenged my students and colleagues to do the same and have discovered that these Gods are really just human too and most of them don’t mind helping those of us who are aspiring to have what they have already achieved. And as I’ve started reaching out to the world that lays beyond little old Lakeland, FL it is now reaching back to me. Design instructors at other universities in the US and in Europe have requested that I become friends with them, have invited me to observe their online methods, have shared with me some of their experiences, hopes and fears. And although part of me wants to turn around and go back to the way things were just a few weeks ago, I am now part of something larger, something unfamiliar, something strange. For the first time in years, I am not in control, I am unsure what all the proper protocols are, I have already made a few mistakes and occasionally looked sophomoric or foolish. But I have discovered new allies, and new ideas, and each day is filled with mystery and uncertainty, and anticipation and excitement.

I mention this for my students who sometimes think that I don’t know their fears and trepidations. I do. We all do for each of us has left the safety of certainty more than once in our lives without really knowing where it will lead. That first date and first kiss. Driving by ourselves to some strange town. Going to college. That first interview, that first job, that first client. Falling in love, getting married, becoming a parent. It’s all scary business, but you do it and you live through it, and you learn by it and after a while, its not quite so scary until you realize you’re becoming stagnant and that its time to venture into unknown waters again.

I believe one of the greatest titles in the world is Susan Jeffer’s book, "Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway". There is so much truth in the title alone, and even more in the pages that follow.  It’s OK to be uncertain. It’s OK to be scared. It’s not OK to let that fear immobilize you and keep you from living the dream you were born to live.  “You were never given a dream without being given the power to make it come true. You may however have to work for it.” (Richard Back, Illusions) That dream you have was placed in your heart for a reason. Trust that dream. It is your guide, it is your destiny calling to you. Embrace it, cherish it, feed it, and sacrifice whatever it takes to live it, even if it means letting go of your safety net of familiarity and security. It is your life’s purpose. 

It is who you were meant to be.

Good-bye Blue Eyes

Ok, let’s face it. We all tend to notice those beautiful sparkling blue eyes, right?  With all the media coverage they get, the songs devoted to them, and the attention they garner, wouldn’t it be fun to believe that they actually existed. Sorry. I hate to tell you this. Your wife, husband, lover, or fantasy probably has brown eyes or neutral gray at the very best.

I always enjoy sharing this little piece of information with students when we talk about perception and how the human mind lies to us. That’s not a bad thing, it makes life more vivid and interesting, but it has little to do with what is really there.

A couple of years ago I was in the middle of reading Dan Margulis’ book The Canyon Conundrum when a former student contacted me. She works as a digital artist at a higher end photography studio in Orlando. The studio was doing a series of prints where they were creating black & white images while leaving the pupils colored. The process worked fine with brown eyes and green eyes, but when it came to the images of blue-eyed beauties, the pupils kept coming out brownish. The student wanted to know what was going on.

Being curious, I immediately opened several images and tried to reproduce the effect and the results. In PhotoShop I selected everything except the pupils, applied a channel-mixer adjustment with a monochrome output and WALLAH, I got the same results.

The problem is how the human mind perceives color. Our perception of color is also based on relativity. The mind simultaneously compares contrast in luminosity, while also evaluating what we see as being more green or magenta, and also either more blue or yellow (Think of this as a 3-D color model, where Luminosity is your y-axis, magenta/green is your x-axis, and yellow/blue is your z-axis). This is also how the LAB color model evaluates pixels.

Blue eyes tend to occur in lighter skinned people who have fairly high amounts of yellow and magenta in their skin tones. On a relative basis, a pale brown pupil is less yellow than surrounding colors and therefore is perceived as blue (being closer to blue than surrounding colors). This is also why when you try to sample out the color of a blue eye, you end up with all those strange non-blue tones. The human body does not produce blue pigment. Therefore it is a physical impossibility to actually have a blue eye. 

Playing further with this concept we can adjust the color balance in our images and make relatively neutral pupil colors appear in all sorts of interesting ways.

 

The above have the pupils remaining untouched.

Below I took all saturation out of the pupils (nuetral gray) and changed the color balance of the image. The pupils never change but what we perceive her eye color to be certainly does. (Stare at each pupil individually and they will appear different. If you look at all 4 simultaneously they will look the same.)

What do employers really want?

One of the interesting aspects of teaching is trying to make sure that the habits, skills sets, and knowledge of my students match up to the desires and needs of local employers. Each employer you speak with has his or her own unique set of criteria and priorities. Some are looking for raw talent and passion. Some are looking for artistic ability, creative inspiration, or communications skills. Most want dependability, the ability for self-directed learning and critical thinking skills. Attitude and how a particular person will fit with the existing team is usually a consideration. Some are looking for software experts with high productivity ability. An insatiable curiosity, a broad knowledge base, and a professional work ethic also are sometimes listed.

I toss this out as a question to those in the design profession. What are the most important attributes you look for in a potential employee? To students, what do you think employers want? I hope that your responses will guide both me in my teaching studies and my students in better understanding what they should be doing to prepare for their own future.