When does simple = boring?

First, before I get into the main topic of this post (design, or specifically, simplicity vs. "boring-ness"), we're gonna chat money.

I did my taxes by myself this year and I'm 99% sure I did something wrong. Right now, per TurboTax, I'm set to get a $1,540 refund. This seems ridiculously high, especially since I usually owe Uncle Sam moola (and sometimes, depending on how well the market did, I'm stuck paying estimated taxes).

I'm hoping that I did them correctly and will pocket the $1,500, but in the meantime, my mama (pre-kids finance wizard that she was...) is reviewing them. Fingers crossed.

But moving on to the topic of the evening....

Y'all know that I work in marketing and communications. And some of you may know that I was a relatively accomplished artist in my younger years. (Um, hello award-winning 7th grade paintings!) I think I have a pretty good design aesthetic when it comes to marketing collateral.

So you can imagine my disdain when my design taste was challenged.

Here's what happened: yesterday, our art director Tracy came up with a great structural design for a client's new web home page. I loved the layout. However, the colors didn't resonate with me, especially one of the accent colors. I thought was too bright. Tracy's response?"You're always so blah and boring!"

Ouch.

Now, Tracy is an absolute doll and one of my favorite people, and I know she didn't mean it to be so, well, mean. What she meant was that my design aesthetic, be it for websites, brochures, logos, ANYTHING, errs on the side of what I call "simple and clean." Tracy, however, calls it "blah and boring." To be specific, she doesn't think I push the envelope enough. In her opinion, everything I like looks the same.

After talking to Tracy, I went back to my office and looked through some of the collateral I had helped produce for my clients over the last year. And to some extent, Tracy's right. There are common elements to everything I've created -- simple lines, lots of negative space, subdued colors, large fonts...you get the idea.

This whole convo got me thinking about simplicity and when, if ever, simple becomes boring. At what point does a clean and simple look and feel just become an uncreative blank slate? At what point does everything I like just begin to look the same?

Now, I still don't think my design taste is boring. But I do think I have a high level of comfort with a specific design perspective, and sometimes, just *maybe*, I don't push the envelope enough. Perhaps my actual design aesthetic isn't boring, but my inability to test the waters beyond what I'm comfortable with, or what appeals to me, is? To be honest, I don't know. But it is food for thought.

What do you think? When does simple = boring when it comes to design? When are you no longer simple...and just plain dull?

My must-have iPad apps -- and no, Flipboard isn't one of them.

I recently had the good fortune to catch up with one of my besties, Alexis. She's a high powered business woman currently on rotations all over the world, so seeing her is a rare treat. Over delish salads at our usual Houston restaurant (Brasil), we chatted and gossiped about all the normal stuff -- works, travel plans, boys. She also picked my brain about my iPad. Her bro (another high powered business person -- what's with the Jhamb family??) upgraded to an iPad2, so he gave Lex his "old" first generation iPad. "What are the must-have applications I need to download?" she asked.

To be completely honest, I'm not a huge app person. I have about 30 or so downloaded on my iPad, significantly less than the hundreds occupying space on my friends' iPads. Generally speaking, I wouldn't call myself a "simple woman" but when it comes to my iPad, less seems to be more. (And as much as I love technology, I'm pretty retarded when it comes to using it. I won't elaborate, but it's often kind of embarrassing.)

So, what are some of my fave, MUST HAVE, MY LIFE WOULD SUCK WITHOUT THEM apps?? Here you go. They're not fancy (I have Flipboard and have it used all of two times) or popular (Angry Birds? What's that?) but having them on my iPad has, as cliche as it sounds, sorta changed my life. Or at the very least, changed the way I absorb, share and use information on a daily basis.

- The New York Times. This is probably the only app I use almost EVERY SINGLE DAY. I love the NYT and the iPad interface makes reading articles fun and easy. It's like having the paper version, only without the messy black fingers afterward. And although the NYT is no longer free, it is worth every penny to get access to some of the best journalism in the country.

- NPR. Like the NYT, I *heart* NPR. I grew up listening to it and still tune in to it everyday during my commute. The NPR app is one of the cleanest and easiest to use, and I love that I can listen to hundreds of my favorite programs while also reading other NPR news through the app.

- Kindle. After my first disappointing jaunt into the Apple iBook store, the Kindle app saved my life. With it, I have access to Amazon's entire collection of e-books (I think it's close to a 1 million) including free classics I can download. My only issue with the app: it's one stop shopping, meaning I can buy dozens of books -- and spend hundreds of dollars -- in a matter of minutes. Which I've done. A lot.

- Hootsuite. Nothing particularly exciting here, but as a frequently tweeter, Hootsuite on my iPad is essential. Hootsuite doesn't work through Safari on the iPad, so you have to download the app.

- Sketchbook Pro. For all intents and purposes, a canvas on your iPad. Gorgeous interface and extensive options when it comes to creating digital artwork. Not super easy to use, but some of the sample work produced through it is incredible. (My art work, not so much.)

- Evernote. Like I said above, I generally wouldn't call myself a simple woman. In fact, if we're going to be completely honest here, I'm pretty complicated -- and so is my life. Evernote helps me capture and organize all the random notes, ideas, pictures, etc. that I come across and think of on a daily basis. And it works from my phone, my desktop, my laptop, and (of course) my iPad. For someone whose professional success is determined largely by the ideas and innovations I provide my clients, this is an essential tool.

- Epicurious. There is nothing particularly special about this app, but it's my usual kitchen companion. I just prop my iPad up and it becomes an instant digital cookbook with recipes covering everything from appetizers to cupcakes. It also has cool search options for finding specific recipes and it creates shopping lists based on the recipes you pick.

Other apps that I love and use frequently -- Netflix, ABC Player, and Sex Trivia. Ok, I'm kidding on the last one. (Don't bother with it. It's lame.)

What are your fave apps? Share!!

I don't do resolutions...

....but as my coworkers and boss can attest to, to-do lists and I are friends. Very good friends.

So instead of 2011 resolutions, I'm crafting a to-do list for 2011. I'm picking 10 things and writing them out -- in a public place where hundreds of people my mom can keep me honest. We'll see how I do. I'm aiming for a 100% success rate; knowing me, 50% will be worth celebrating.

The first item on my to-do list: Update my blog more than once a quarter. Ideally, once a week. So to get started, I'm going to post each of my "to-do" list items as its own blog post. That guarantees at least a few more posts in the next couple weeks. YAY! See, I'm making progress.

So now that to-do item #1 is taken care of, let's move on to to-do list item numero 2:

Stop reading crap (um, hello Girl with the Dragon Tattoo) and trade up for some real literature. Think AP English, albeit 10 years later. There are a million lists of "Top 100 books" you can find online, and on average, I've read anywhere from 10 to 50 of the books on the lists. Yes, this is a depressingly low number for a liberal arts educated chica like myself.

But we're gonna fix this travesty! A few books I hope to cross off (and a couple I want to reread) this year include:

- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, by the great James Joyce. Technically I read this my junior year of HS, but by reading I really mean laying in bed, reading a couple lines and then falling asleep. So yeah, I want to read it for real this year. It's a bitch of a book, but its a lot shorter than Ulysses, so I think I can do it. (DISCLAIMER: I'll bet you 10 bucks I don't make it past page 5 of this book. Just putting that out there now.)

- Native Son. Another book I read -- this one for real -- but I can't remember much about it. I do remember it making an impact on me when I finished it at 16, so I think rereading it 12 year later would be even more powerful.

- A Passage to India by E.M. Forster. I LOVE Forster, which makes it all the more ridiculous that I haven't read this book. My high school thesis was even an analysis of his earlier work (A Room with a View, Where Angels Fear to Tread, I think Howards End...). Anyway, I really don't think I've read A Passage to India, which I must read this year.

- A Farewell to Arms. I have nothing to say about this one except how sad it is that it's on this list.

- The Catcher in the Rye, 1984 and Animal Farm. See above comment about Hemingway. I have no idea how I reached the age of 28 without reading these books, but I did.

- The Age of Innocence, by Edith Wharton. I love NY, I love the 19th century, I love societal tragedies. Done, done, and done.

- Slaughterhouse-Five. Looking back, I think all of my ex boyfriends owned this book. And since they are all pretty smart dudes with good taste (after all, they did all like me at one point!) I'm gonna trust that this is one book I should read.

- War and Peace, by Tolstoy. I think this book is buried somewhere in my bookshelf. All 1,500 pages of it.

- Les Miserables -- but not in English! I wanna read it in French. (However, given that I can barely read a French newspaper now, I think this book will remain on the list for 2012.)

There are about a million other books I should read -- but we'll start with the ones above. Any others I should definitely add?

Being strategic....and then just getting sh*t done

As most of you know, I work at Pierpont Communications, one of the largest communications firms in the South. It's an awesome company -- brilliant people, cool accounts and a LOT going on, every single day.

My role in particular is pretty neat. In a firm that focuses largely on public relations and public affairs, I'm one of two dedicated marketing professionals. Yep, I'm special. :) And unlike many of my peers, who spend 100% of their time on client work, my job is divided into three distinct roles: client work, marketing for Pierpont and managing the graphics department. Essentially, in any single day, I may do some strategic research into a client's competition, write and proof copy for a Pierpont eNewsletter we're sending out, and create estimates and purchase orders for new design work that a client needs. To sum it up -- I am an account planner/client manager/production coordinator, all in one. But that doesn't fit on a business card, so they just call me a Sr. Account Executive.

So yeah, I'm ALL over the place. And I LOVE IT! But that doesn't mean it is easy. The most challenging part: making sure that I think strategically and critically....while at the same time ensuring that we stay on schedule and on budget with every projects. Yeah, it's crazy.

Fortunately, I manage my professional life a bit differently than my personal life. In my personal life, I'm not exactly what you would call organized. My room is a little messy (not dirty...just messy!), I sometimes make plans and forget about them (I have been called a flake, albeit a very nice one!), I leave a trail of stuff wherever I go (like in airports and hotels...) and I tend to forget to reply to personal emails, voicemails, and texts (sorry, but I really do forget!). But at work, I've got my stuff together. Why? Because of the tips below....

- There is a time for project management. And then there is a time for strategy. Multi-tasking doesn't work if you want to be a strong project manager. And it definitely doesn't work if you need to think critically and intelligently for a client. When you need to manage a project -- like write work orders, check schedules and just make sure stuff is getting done -- devote yourself to that. When you need to be more strategic -- write copy, critically research a client's industry or just spend a few minutes thinking and processing a client's brand strategy -- devote yourself to that. It's hard to switch between the two quickly -- devote time to each one separately to ensure success.

- LISTS ARE AWESOME. I make lots of lists, and I spend ample time reviewing them every day. My "master list" is actually a notebook with EVERY task I have to do. It's VERY long, and at any given time I can have four pages of "to-dos" listed. Then, I have a smaller, "Daily list" that I create from this master list -- it just lists all the urgent tasks I need to complete that day. As I finish projects, I cross them off from both lists. I like this dual list process because it allows me to keep track of everything I need to do at some point, but still prioritize what I need to complete that day.

- Turn off the email. Yep, that's right. Turn off your email. If I am working on a project that requires a lot of concentration -- developing a strategic brief for example, or crafting copy for a website or brochure -- I turn my email off. In any given hour, I'll get up to 20 emails about 20 different projects....it's distracting! Turning off my email allows me to focus on what I need to do without getting sidetracked every three minutes to read an email.

- Take breaks! I think my brain is a pretty efficient little machine (hello!?!? It did go to Mount Holyoke!) but even it needs some rest every now and then. When I'm working nonstop, my brain gets pooped -- I overlook details, focus too much on just "getting stuff done" and am inefficient when doing anything that requires real thinking and strategy. The key for me is to take a mini break every hour. Even just getting up and getting a glass of water, or hitting the ladies room -- it all provides rejuvenation so you can provide the best work possible.

What about you? What tips can you share when negotiating between strategy and project management -- two very different, yet equally important, tasks?

Eek.

Once again, it's been FOREVER since I posted. And I don't really have an excuse, other than being lazy, lazy, lazy. Yes, I admit it. Lazy. But that is changing -- beginning today.

What inspired this? Quite simple actually. Some fellow Pierponters and I (@briguyblock being one of them, Emily Bernard -- who isn't on Twitter I think -- another) developed the first official blog schedule for Pierpont. (Check out the blog here.) That's right...an organized, step by step and date by date blog schedule. Sadly, we're already off by one day (grr!) but I'm not letting it get me down. In fact, I'm using this "calendering" as I call it to inspire me to create a schedule for my own blog. As many of you know, I work well when things are structured -- either someone creates the structure for me, or I do it. Otherwise, it'll get done, but it will take a lot longer. (Hey, at least I'm honest.)

So in honor of my new blog schedule, which will begin STAT, I'm asking y'all, my loyal readers and lovers of all things Jen, to let me know WHAT you want to hear/read/see about. A lot of this blog has been focused on marketing, social media, and (occasionally) fashion in the past. Anything else you are dying to learn about from moi? Let me know and in the meantime, buckle up. My tank is full and I'm revving up.

Pandora's Box

Is anyone besides me OBSESSED with Pandora? I love it. I have about 10 stations that I switch between while I am at work. Chill hippy music? Check. Really bad 1980s music? Got that too.

My Pandora Station....I think I was listening to my Euro Trash music when I took this screen shot.

Anyway, until earlier today, Pandora was in danger of being shut down. (The horror! You can read about it here -- but to sum it up, it involves royalty payments with music labels.) However, it just reached an agreement with SoundExchange (a non-profit group that works with the U. S. Copyright Office to collect royalty payments for online music) that changes the manner by which Pandora (and sites like it) make royalty payments. It's a little complicated, but TechCrunch sums it up pretty well:

The key part of the resolution involves SoundExchange agreeing to a 40-50% reduction in the per-song-per-listener rates. In exchange, Pandora is giving up either 25% of its U.S. revenue or the new per-song-per-listener rate, whichever is higher. This agreement runs through 2015.

That second part (the "new per-song-per-listener rate" and "whichever is higher") is important -- because these rates are pretty heavy on the wallet, Pandora is implementing a 40 hour per month usage cap on users. For most people, it's not a biggie -- in fact, it only impacts 10% of Pandora's heaviest listeners. But guess what? I'm one of the 10%! In fact, I got an email today from Tim Westergren, Pandora's founder, that said this:

While we did the best we could to lower the rates, we are going to have to make an adjustment that will affect about 10% of our users who are our heaviest listeners. Specifically, we are going to begin limiting listening to 40 hours per month on the web. Because we have to pay royalty fees per song and per listener, it makes very heavy listeners hard to support on advertising alone. Most listeners will never hit this cap, but it seems that you might.

Wow...I had no idea I was listening to that much music. Anyway, I'll still be able to get my Pandora fix pretty easily -- once I reach my 40 hour limit, I simply pay $.99 to continue listening to unlimited music for the rest of the month. Seems like a sweet deal to me, and well worth the buck. After all, Pandora has introduced me to a ton of new artists and genres....artists and genres I wouldn't have been exposed to had I just been listening to my iPod, cds, or (heaven forbid) the whirl of my computer.

Anyone else a crazy Pandora addict? Or am I the only one? If they had Pandora's Anonymous, I would so have to join....

Tour de France...sur le web

When I first bought my bike a couple years back, I only used it for commuting. Then, last fall, I started hitting the road for real. Granted, I'm not a very good cyclist, and my road bike needs some serious upgrades (which should be taking place this week....I *think*) but it's still an awesome way to get out in the sun, burn some calories, and explore the area.

So given my new-found passion for aluminum and carbon on two wheels, as well as my obsession with all things web and interactive, I was pretty stoked to find this Wired article online. It lists all the ways you can use the net to stay up to date on what's going on with the Tour -- even if you are seven timezones away. Among the cool ways you can track Lance and the other bikers: live video and audio streams, really sweet interactive maps and Twitter updates. Check it out.

Facebook addiction

It is official. Signing up for a Facebook was a mistake, because I am now a full-fledged addict. It is seriously like crack (well, I assume...I'm not on crack, so I can't be sure. Anyone with any hardcore drug experiences is welcome to comment though.)

Anyway, just wanted to share my new obsession with you guys. I am sort of delirious today, so apologies for the lame post. I got back from BA today and am absolutely exhausted, but I am somehow going to wake up at 5:45 tomorrow AM and get my booty to a spinning class. Ugh...

I'll post more tomorrow or on Christmas...maybe even some photos of me opening up my new Rebecca Minkoff bag (hint, hint)