Go Blog Social – St. Louis

Today I attended Go Blog Social's St. Louis conference! The event took place in the beautiful Lumen Private Event Space and featured a full day of speakers and hands on opportunity to connect with other bloggers and business owners. I attended with my sister Sophie and we especially enjoyed, Julie Blanner's, talk on relationships with brands, the two discussion panels with local and out of town bloggers, and making flower crowns with Snapdragon Studio! Here are a few photos and takeaways:

Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social!
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
  • Be persistent, but very polite (when working with brands).
  • Research and personalization for pitches is important.
  • Produce high-quality photos and content.
  • If you are persistent, luck has a way of finding you.
  • Analyze your life and present environment; reinterpret to share with the world in a distinct way.
  • Editing is vital, find good mentors to help with this process.
  • Focus on the social media platforms you are most passionate about.

We also enjoyed a delicious breakfast and lunch by 23 City Blocks Catering! I especially loved the Olive Gelato (served in a frozen tomato) which is pictured below. Thanks, Go Blog Social, for a day full of learning/connecting with wonderful people and brands!

Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL
Letters Are Lovely | Go Blog Social STL

Hallmark’s Creative Leadership Symposium

Letters Are Lovely | Hallmark's Creative Leadership Symposium

 

On Tuesday Hallmark hosted their Creative Leadership Symposium and invited the entire creative community to attend! The day long event was filled with amazing speakers, and I have so many notes I knew I needed a blog post to process all the amazing tidbits I scribbled down. Best of all, it took place at the beautiful Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts. Here are some takeaways from my favorite speakers:

DAYTON MOORE

Senior Vice President, Baseball Operations
General Manager, Kansas City Royals

  • You have to have a vision to win. 

  • The habits that you have off the field can lead to a broken focus.

  • We have to manage failure, and the will to win for one another must be first. You win with an undying passion for something bigger than yourself. 

  • Share the glory together, settle disputes quickly, lead with hear

GILLIAN FLYNN

Author

  • If you want to write, write. Trust in your own weird voice.

  • It is easy to follow the market, but that is not always the best route.

  • Creativity is 99% work.

  • It is important to buckle down, have discipline, and if something isn't working get rid of it. 

“I have no muse, if there is one she does not care for my company.”
— Gillian Flynn

MAURO PORCINI

Chief Design Officer, PepsiCo

  • The world has radically changed in the past FEW years. 

  • Brands have competition beyond their direct competition and need to be part of a two direction dialogue.

  • In this new (elevated) competitive landscape technology will touch everything. And customers are savvy, smarter and connected. 

  • People don't buy products anymore, they seek out holistic solutions, meaningful experiences, and authentic stories. 

  • People consume content at the speed of light and brands now need to become the topic of conversation, and they must earn this right. 

  • The brand experiences then becomes even more important. What will buying the product communicate about ourselves to others?

  • Products must be relevant to people's lives. Purchases are either visceral (impulse), interactive (satisfaction & loyalty), or expressive (communicate something).

Art by Amber Goodvin for Hallmark CLS

Art by Amber Goodvin for Hallmark CLS

ROB RIGGLE

Actor/Comedian/Writer/Producer/Director

  • Brevity is the soul of wit.

  • Great writers aspire to make an impact as quickly as possible.

  • Electricity is being around others who want to make others laugh.

  • Choose joy, choose happiness, choose laughter. 

  • Humor, honesty, and sincerity from those you love never goes out of style. 

  • His goal in life is to make someone happier because they came in contact with his life's work.

  • Comedy is not about overwrought perfection, it's hunting for the joy. 

“You turn folded card stock into joy grenades!”
— Rob Riggle

CARLA MOORE

Vice President of Talent Acquisition, HBO

  • Live with purpose. You already posses the power to change your own life. 

  • It takes a personal transformation to make a leadership transformation.

  • Life presently. Passion is for you, purpose is for others. Purpose provides motivation.

“Nothing will keep me from living the life I imagine.”
— Carla Moore

RAUL ALEJANDRO

Designer / Animator / Letterer / Art Director

  • You can't let your fear hold you back from the things you really want to do. 

  • Life is never quite what you expect it to be.

“My work is not satisfaction from all the people I’ve proved wrong...
It’s a tribute to everyone I’ve proved right.”
— Raul Alejandro

Thanks, Hallmark, for the inspirational day!

April Around The Web

I hope you all had a lovely April! This month was much anticipated, and full of surprises and spontaneous decisions. Here are a few of my favorite finds around the web this month:

“Becoming yourself is really hard and confusing, and it’s a process. I was completely the eager beaver in school, I was the girl in the front of the class who was the first person to put her hand up, and it’s often not cool to be the person that puts themself out there, and I’ve often gotten teased mercilessly, but I found that ultimately if you truly pour your heart into what you believe in—even if it makes you vulnerable—amazing things can and will happen. ”
— Emma Watson

Personally this month I was able to spend a weekend in Lawrence with my mom and sister while Dale visited his friend in Boston. I love being back in my college town, and even got to stop in the new Wonder Fair location. I also purchased a painting this month from my mentor, Lisa Rogers, show. I can't wait to get it home! This weekend I will be reunited with my girl friends for a Bachelorette Party, which will be the perfect end to the month. I can't wait for more springtime adventures in May!

April Updates!

April has proven to be a really productive month so far! My husband, Dale, just finished his first board exam for medical school and it has given me some extra time (during his studying) to work on some things I just hadn't gotten around to. First on the list: New business cards! You can see my design below, I ordered through moo.com. I ordered business cards from them when I was graduating and loved the quality, so I am excited to see how these turn out. This time around I went with their Green option, so I am extra curious about the paper stock and printing. 

Letters Are Lovely | Moo Business Cards

I also officially opened my Etsy shop! I have been wanting to create a space to sell some of my favorite Letters Are Lovely prints, and finally settled on Etsy. There is still a lot do do, I only have two pieces listed right now, but I am hoping to get a few more added and then host a giveaway on Instagram! 

Letters Are Lovely | Etsy Print
Letters Are Lovely | Etsy Print

I have been marking down all of my progress on my 101 in 1001 list I made in January. So far I have checked off around 30 items, though I am a little ahead of myself because sometimes I can't help but mark off exciting events when I get them on my calendar. (**Trip to Italy with my Sister Sophie!) One of my other most exciting upcoming events will be attending Go Blog Social: St. Louis in a few weeks! I'm really excited to meet some other bloggers. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

Head on over to my new page called "The Latest" for the link to my Etsy Shop and for a quick way to sign up for my mailing list!

Jessica Hische in KC!

I have long admired Jessica Hische's beautiful lettering, and the moment AIGA KC announced she would be speaking I immediately bought a ticket. Here are a few quick takeaways from her talk, I can't wait to read her new book In Progress, which I was lucky enough to get signed! Thanks, AIGA, for bringing such a wonderful speaker to KC. 

Jessica Hische in KC! | Letters Are Lovely
  • Jessica talked about how she was most motivated when she could picture someone using/enjoying the end result of the project. 
  • She has found that it's best to do the heavy lifting of a project through sketching (more work in analog=less work in vector).
  • Her process order includes researching, brainstorming, thumbnail sketches, real sketches, and vector drawing, and she has found that a consistent process matters a lot. 
  • She recommended visiting the Letterform Archive in SF
  • Something I found really relatable was when she talked about how it is necessary to start to vary the skeleton of your letterforms in order to create more unique lettering. I have seen in my own work that I have often changed the "dress" of the lettering, rather that starting with a different and unique skeleton. This is something I hope to continue to develop in my future lettering work. 
  • In her final remarks she listed some practical (life) tips, which included a remark about how designers are like indoor cats. Of course I couldn't resist including that in my notes. But seriously, I truly appreciated her humor and willingness to be open about how she works and also how she interacts with clients. Thanks again, Jessica and AIGA KC!