I stumbled upon a great presentation from DC-based interactive agency Jess3 today. The presentation makes some great points about working with a designer and using your designer as a strategic partner for your organization.

What am I supposed to be doing? I’m supposed to be working on the content for my new website. My new fabulous website. My new fabulous website that is so fabulous I actually have no desire to update my comparatively old, ugly, outdated website. The new one is really great — it’s modern, it’s clean, it’s bright, and it has lots of fun tools that I love and my developers hated. (Thanks, Related Media!) So why isn’t it live so you can all sing your praises? Procrastination. (That and my fabulous clients have kept me super busy — which is a super good thing that I’m really grateful for.) But tonight is a slow night, there is decent TV to keep me company and I really should be doing laundry so that I’m forced to take breaks every once in a while, and it really is an ideal time to knock out some web copy.

But oh! Is that a new issue of Fast Company? And I really would like to take a bath! And read my new magazine! Ok, I will! So I did. And now, I’m writing a blog post, because writing anything other than my web content sounds really fun right now. Sigh.

As I flipped to an article on “How TED Became the New Harvard” it reminded me of one of my favorite TED talks “Schools Kill Creativity” by Ken Robinson. Ironically, it was listed alongside “Surprising Science of Motivation” — a talk I clearly need to watch today.

The Fast Company article explains how TED actually started: Richard Saul Wurman, renowned graphic designer and information architect, realized conference participants wanted a single track of programming — a shared experience that they could discuss in depth on breaks. Despite having participated in two different TEDx events in two different cities, I really hadn’t ever realized that the talks permeate the entire event. I knew I met lots of people at the events, I knew I discussed the talks, but I never realized that the shared experience of watching these talks was what I enjoyed most.

A few days ago @davidmcgraw posted a link to his favorite TEDxPotomac talk. The @joshsundquist TED talk was one of my favorites too, and one I had mentioned previously in my blog post on the event. So, we exchanged a tweet and continued the experience. I’ve been to a number of conferences and TED is the only one where I remember specific emotions, reactions, and topics. Perhaps it’s magic of the event, and perhaps it’s the shared experience. Or perhaps the format of TED is a format more conferences should emulate.

Below, my two favorite TED Talks from TEDxPotomac. Enjoy!

(These aren’t the official TEDxPotomac videos, in fact Luke Spring’s video isn’t from TED at all, but work with me!)

The May 2010 issue of Women’s Health had a statistic that for every interruption during your day, you lose 10 IQ points. The video below, which contains an interview with Jason Fried of 37 Signals, explains why it is that work days have become longer and longer, and yet our productivity has decreased. From personal experience, nights and weekends are the best time for me to get work done. Email notifications aren’t constantly popping up, the phone is quiet and interruptions are non-existent.

What helps you find time during the day to focus?

It’s no secret: I LOVE to cook! It’s a great way to unwind after a long way, and there is something about the colors and smells and feel of being in the kitchen that really gets the creative juices flowing. When I reached in my spice drawer the other day, I realized how uninspiring the drawer is…boring handwritten labels that had seen better days. My solution: I headed to the computer to design a fun new set of labels for my spices. Download your own copy below, and grab a set of Avery 8293 labels to print them on. Bon appetit!

Spice Labels

Here in DC we are bracing for yet another crippling snow storm — with predictions of up to two FEET of snow on the Nation’s Capitol, we’ve been warned to prepare to stay in place for the next 3-5 days. (If you have a project you need done quickly, now would be the time to ask!) We’re planning on making the best of the storm and getting done some of those pesky tasks we’ve been putting off for weeks…like taxes…and laundry. But once the chores are done, there will be plenty of time for recharging our mental batteries. Here are a few suggestions if you find yourself out of options (and beer).

1. Find some new favorite blogs to read. Alltop allows you to search by area of interest and read all the latest headlines from blogs about your favorite topics.
2. Learn something new online. Interested in improving your presentation skills? Or how about some tips on blogging? Have you always wanted to learn ACT!? Now is the time. There are lots of free videos on these topics on YouTube, or if you are feeling more ambitious, sign-up for a subscription with Lynda.com.
3. Grab your camera and go on a photo safari. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing like the cold air and a blank canvas. Post your best images to Flickr (and post a link in the comments below).
4. Be your own worst critic. Pull all of those brochures, handouts, and flyers out. Put them on the kitchen table and start critiquing them. If there was no budget and no stakeholders, what would you change?
5. Back up. When was the last time you backed up your files? Now is a great time to make sure your photos, financial records, and music is safely backed up on an external drive.
6. Start a blog. Sign-up for a service such as Posterous (where posting is as easy as sending an email) and start writing. Need some inspiration? Try doing a 365Project or a once-a-week variation of that.
7. Play. In the snow or with your kids or with your pet or by yourself. Just play. Let your mind clear, and don’t worry about anything but nothing.
8. Stock the freezer. One of my favorite ways to de-stress is to hit the kitchen. After the last snow storm, my freezer was stuffed full of homemade gnocchi and butternut squash ravioli. All great things for those nights when you are just not in the mood to cook. Test out one of those recipes, or try one of these from DC blogger @floridagirlindc.
9. Learn the five steps to creative thinking. Practice SAEDI (ideas, spelled backwards) at home.
10. Light a fire, put your feet up, and enjoy the fact that you aren’t going anywhere.

Stay warm everyone!

CrowdSourcing, a term originally coined in Wired magazine in 2006, takes tasks traditionally performed by an employee or contractor and presents them to a group as an open call. The ethics of crowdsourced services is hotly debated. (The latest article on this topic — 6 Reasons Crowdsourcing And Spec Work Sucks by Spyre Studios’ Matthew Carpenter — is making its way around the Twitter-verse.) As a general rule, Think Tank Creative is against crowdsourcing, however, there are several circumstances which are an ideal use for the crowdsourced movement:

Funding

The best example of crowdsourced funding we’ve seen is the book Designing Obama. Using KickStarter.com, the publishers successfully raised over $65,000 to print and distribute their book. Funders were able to pay any amount from $10 to $10,000 to support the book. With crowdsourced funding, an idea can receive the support and backing needed because a large group of people can show their support.

Testing (or Users as Testers)

It is near impossible for an individual or a team to find every error in a Website or product. By opening up your product up to a group of testers, you can guarantee that your product or site has been tested on a variety of platforms, operating systems, and browsers. Your testers are real-life people, and they are detached from the development process. They can offer honest feedback on what works and what doesn’t without bias.

Support

Much like testing, support is an ideal use for crowdsourcing. Online communities (such as ExpertsExchange.com) have been providing troubleshooting for years. By providing crowdsourced support, your users will get the answers they need and will often be able to solve problems without subjecting your customer support personnel to repetitive problem solving. A great support community to look at is GetSatisfaction.com.

Last week, the German Federal Office for Security in Information Technology (known as the BSI) publicly recommended that all users of Internet Explorer switch to an alternative browser. This comes as a result of a number of critical security issues (including the recent Chinese cyberattack against Google) which have left IE vulnerable to attack.

According to the translated statement from the BSI:

Affected are the versions 6, 7 to 8 Internet Explorer on Windows systems XP, Vista and Windows 7 Microsoft has released a security advisory in which it discusses ways of minimizing risk and is already working on a patch to close the security gap. The BSI expects that this vulnerability will be used in a short time for attacks on the Internet.

Shortly after Germany’s warning, France echoed the announcement and also warned IE users to switch browsers.

Traditionally Microsoft releases security patches once per month, with the next release scheduled for February 9th.

Credit: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Web_browser_usage_share.svg

Before we can get back to our regularly scheduled blogging at Think Tank Creative, we thought it appropriate to recap the top 5 most popular blog posts from 2009. If you’ve missed any of these, now is your chance to catch up. (And if your favorite didn’t make the list, let us know in the comments!)

5. Making the Case: Showcasing the Strategic Business Value of Your In-House Team
A wrap-up of Stanley Hainsworth’s, Former Starbucks VP Global Creative, conversation on Showcasing the Strategic Business Value of Your In-House Team. Relevant for anyone in the marketing or creative industry.

4. Seven Essential Checks Before Your Website Goes Live
Ready to push your new Website live? There is one final round of checks you MUST perform on your site.

3. Recap: Social Media for Creatives and Their Clients
Five trends in digital media from Ogilvy PR’s 360 Degree Digital Influence Practice.

2. Adding Up: Publications Making It Work in the Downfall
What two magazines did to increase their ad revenue amidst a downturn.

1. And That’s a Wrap! The Final Blog Potomac
A summary of the many topics covered at BlogPotomac, including geo-tagging, iPhone app development, Twitterville, and Ning.

Thanks for reading in 2009 — we look forward to even more exciting topics in 2010!

One of our favorite stock photography sites, Veer.com, constantly manages to come up with some unique giveaways. Their holiday thank you, which arrived this afternoon, is no exception. Check out the photos below.

The Packaging

Opening…

The Gift (Yay! Notebooks!)

The Cover

The Interior

We can’t wait to start sketching in this notebook! Thanks Veer!

Holiday shopping time is upon us and in case you are at a complete loss as to what to get your favorite designer (hint, hint) we’ve put together a little holiday shopping list for you. (Our FTC disclaimer: We are providing these links through Amazon’s Associate program, so if you click on them and buy something for yourself, or for us, or for Santa, we will get a whole shiny nickel. Or a quarter. Or something.)

Up first, Design School Confidential. Sorry design school students, we really hate to break this to you, but REAL WORLD DESIGN IS NOTHING LIKE SCHOOL. Like, major bummer, I know. In the real world, there are clients (!), with opinions (!), and bosses (!), and budgets (!!!). But every real world designer (yours truly included) loves to look back on the time when clients and bosses and budgets and opinions did not exist. We fondly remember our days in design school, spending hour after hour in the design lab making everything just perfect. We also remember not getting a paycheck. Personally, I’d rather get paid to work with my fabulous clients (you really are, I’m not just sucking up for presents), with fabulous opinions and fabulous bosses and sometimes not-so-fabulous budgets than be back in design school. But hey, a girl can dream.

Let’s face it, you already picture us working away at our desk with a coffee in one hand, pjs, and bunny slippers. (Really, we usually work barefoot.) But, nothing could make a designer happier than a fabulous new pair of Bunny Slippers. The best part of these slippers? They come in men, women AND kids sizes! Just picture it — a whole household of freelancers running around in bunny slippers! That’s a picture that will make any client smile! A size 7 should fit just fine.

X-Acto knives are SHARP. And sometimes daytime television is really funny and we get a little distracted while we are cutting. So maybe, on occasion, once or twice, we might have cut ourselves with said X-Acto knife. But fear not! Crazy and Zany Bacon Band Aids to the rescue! These rock for two reasons 1) EVERYBODY loves bacon and 2) sometimes we wind up working through lunch, and these might just serve a dual purpose.

We’ll admit, it does get a bit lonely listening to the sound of mouse clicks and key strokes all day. What better way to keep your designer happy than some new tunes!Yay! We even promise not to order any death metal (makes for angry designs) or classical music (makes for sleeping designers).

And of course, we’ll need something to play those new tunes on…what better than a brand new shiny Apple MacBook Pro MC226LL/A 17-Inch Laptop! You didn’t! You shouldn’t have! You get free designs for like two whole weeks! I know, the Macs are crazy expensive — but look at how pretty they are! (Plus, being a designer and all, we kind of have to use them.)

Alright, one final designer secret…Sometimes we need a little extra creative inspiration. And there are some great books anyone in a creative role should add to their library. Living Out Loud, by Keri Smith, is one of those books. The book is described as: “Living Out Loud is the perfect prescription for a creative jump start to your life. Included are games, projects, activities, crafts, postcards, and playful ideas that will send you off on an exciting adventure, where you’ll discover inspiration around and within you.” We’ll take inspiration and adventure any day!