Case in point!

Last week I was able to participate in a stand up paddleboarding focus group.  It was by far one of the coolest experiences I have had.  There were 6 of us there (3 women and 3 men) plus the moderator.  What I gathered was that they wanted insight regarding stand up paddleboarding clothing, who we are as SUPers, what fabrics work while exercising, colors, logos, etc.  It was so awesome and embodied who I am as an athlete and also as a clothes lover.  I soaked it all in and gave them a ton of my own feedback regarding color schemes and fabrics that really wick moisture.

Here's the thing though, I again got put into a box.  When people see me at first glance I think they think I'm a certain kind of person.  They see someone who dresses well, who is poised, and then I think they just think I sit on my behind all day.  When the moderator asked what the stand up paddleboarder looks like, I looked around the room and said, "Diverse."  One of the ladies looked at me and said, "No offense but when I saw you I would have never thought you were a paddleboarder."  I mocked offense and one of the guys said (in my defense), "I would have seen you as a paddleboarder."  I told him thank you, but there it is again with people looking at the outside and making snap judgments.  I told one of my friends about the incident and she said, "It's a good thing though because you're always surprising people."  I guess that can be a good thing, but I wish that people started to realize that there is so much more to a person than the way they appear.  So I'm going to say that before you make a snap judgment know that humans tend to be deep and it goes way beyond what you see on the outside!

How does one get a cool blog header?

When you aren't an artist, you have artistic tastes, a certain vision for a blog header, then how do you get what you want?  Well I'll tell you how.  I heard about 99designs through one of my good friends who read about the company in The New York Times.  After going on the site, posing a question or two via e-mail to them, I decided to go for it and post a creative brief.  Basically the concept of 99designs is that you post a creative brief of what you want, what look you’re going for, and then designers from all over the world have 7 days in which to submit their designs.  You then can provide feedback for what you do and do not like, what can be changed, and they can submit new designs.  The costs vary depending on what you need and want. 

I submitted on the banner ads section per the recommendation of one of the associates at 99designs.  Within a few hours I had my first design, and after a few days nothing came in.  I online chatted with a 99designs associate who moved my contest to “other designs” and started my 7 day clock all over.  Well those 7 days came and went, and then nothing.  I had only received that one design, and I had communicated with the designer that he was on the money regarding the overall look and I wanted a few things tweaked.  Well no tweaks ever happened, and at the end of the contest I had nobody to award the prize to.  Discouraged?  Oh yeah, and that’s when I decided to see if maybe my friend who is a copywriter at an ad agency knew of anyone who could draw a design for me.  I used to work at an ad agency and have graphic artist friends, but I really wanted someone to take my vision and push it even further, so that’s why I decided on 99designs. 

After a few days had passed after the contest ending, I noticed that two designers asked me to reopen the contest so they could participate.  So I decided that since it wouldn’t cost me any extra to reopen the contest, I would.  Well, once I opened it more designs came in.  I got the chance to work with some great designers who were willing to make the changes I needed.  After awhile you can get tied to the designers because you e-mail them back and forth, and they work so hard to get it right for you.  It made me feel so bad about not choosing one of the designers who worked so hard on her design and really took into consideration what I wanted.  When there was only about a day left and I thought that I again wouldn’t award a winner, a design came in that caught my eye.  It’s like that “aha” moment.  Well after communicating with the designer and tweaking a few things, we were well on our way.  I extended the contest by 3 more days, got even more designs in by other designers and knew which one I was going to go for.  You can now see the finished product as my blog header.