Category: classes and presentations

These are posts centered around presentations delivered by John LeMasney on various technology, branding, and design topics.

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62 of 365: Using Pinterest to Gain a Visual Audience (book chapter as serial post, part 4)

fig 07 - architecture search results
fig 07 - architecture search results

Please visit part 1, part 2 and part 3 to read the rest of the chapter so far.

How does one use Pinterest?

fig 07 - architecture search results
fig 07 – architecture search results

Searching – the search engine in Pinterest is a fantastic starting point to help build a board. If you are looking to develop conversations about your vast bicycling historical artifacts collection, maybe start with a search on vintage bicycles. By searching on topics, keywords, and tags from your ILS collection in Pinterest, you’ll be able to find pinners with like minds, boards related to your topics, individual pins that speak to your collection, and sources to gather more visual information for new pins.

Research – Once you add a pin and it is part of your curation in a board, the pin gives you other resources such as the person who pinned it (who may be a source of other related pins and worth following), other pins from the domain where it was pinned from (which you can bookmark in your browser), and other boards containing the pin (which may be existing collections similar to the one you are building). Finding like-minded pinners and organizations on Pinterest is a large part of the power of Pinterest as a social network. You connect, share, and learn through imagery.

Discussions – the point of social media is to engage, and discussion is a great way to do that. Great pins spark great discussions, and can be a place for you to develop deeper or different relationships with real or virtual patrons. If you are followed by and follow patrons on Pinterest, you may even get to the point where you share pins individually between them and the library, which strengthens that relationship, but also potentially grows the understanding of your brand and theirs.

Collaboration – Pinterest makes it easy to invite people to curate together. If you’ve ever wanted a low-threshold way to bring staff together around a topic, invite patrons to develop programming in a low-risk way, or invite an untapped demographic to engage with your library, Pinterest’s group boards may be a great way to do that. Create a board about Children’s Services, Emerging Technologies, Technology Programming, Learning Resources, or other topics to begin to show your interest in those topics.

Curation – Pinterest is a platform for curation, collection, organization, citation, classification, and review. That should all make perfect sense to a librarian.  You can use Pinterest as a second catalog, but one that catalogs everything that your library does and cares about, not just the assets.

fig 07.5 - more from lemasney.com
fig 07.5 – more from lemasney.com

Campaigns and Programming – if the main way that you are marketing your events and programming is via paper fliers inside your library, consider just pinning those fliers (in digital form) to a programming board or boards as a way of seeing if it increases awareness and participation. If discussions, repins, likes, and follows happen, that would be great too.

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52 of 365: On recycling cardstock: hand cut and stamped business cards

Hand-made, stamped, recycled business cards by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Hand-made, stamped, recycled business cards by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Hand-made, stamped, recycled business cards by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Hand-made, stamped, recycled business cards by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
Hand-made, stamped, recycled business cards by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

On caring for nature

I was once in an environmental action committee for an organization. In the meetings, we’d plan events to raise awareness for recycling methods, whole food and gardening, saving electricity, promoting alternative fuel sources, and so on. It was quite successful. I was proud to be a part of it, and was active in the meetings.

There were a few times when I think I might have gone a bit too far in my suggestions. For instance, when there were popular suggestions to give out recyclable water bottles and t-shirts, offer games of chance to promote awareness with store-bought-beanbags, and print agendas for the meetings, I protested a bit.

I suggested that we promote the use of already owned recyclable water bottles, (since it seems like everyone already has 10 of them,) and that we offer a small sticker to anyone who shows up with a used bottle, so that we could still share and remind people of our brand.

I said that the new, printed t-shirts should be on-site printed recycled t-shirts, and that the bean bags should be from hand-sewn fabric scraps.

In the case of the agenda printing, I suggested that we use Google Docs instead. This is fairly common for me as a suggestion. Anytime someone offers me a piece of paper with something on it that may change, I suggest that we’d do better, stay more organized, and save costs by moving the document to GDrive.

This is all to say that I take ecological concerns pretty seriously. Which leads me to the point of this post:

Recycled, hand made business cards

I hand out a lot of business cards. If I meet a shop owner, a card almost always comes out. You never know who may need your help someday. I used to get the most beautiful miniature cards from Moo.com that everyone would say something nice about. But because I was printing on new paper, I felt like a hypocrite, when I print so little otherwise.

I work with index cards sometimes to organize my thoughts in physical space, especially for momentary lists, daily to-dos, or to take notes in a phone call. I decided to take these 4×6 cards, used on the lined side. I’d quarter them to use as business cards printed about 20 at a time with a custom stamp I got from staples.com with my contact information and (jl) logo on it. They were fun, obviously hand torn and hand stamped. Imperfect and beautiful, a lovely combination.

A new way to re-use otherwise cast-off cardstock

As I was throwing away a box that held a bulk set of tea bags, I broke it down and opened it up, and realized how nice the weight of the paper was, and how the designer paid attention to the palette to create a soothing package. I decided to cut the box into card sized slices and stamp the unprinted side. The result is lovely: my contact information on one side, and an interesting pattern on the back. They remind me of the recycled vinyl signs that end up as messenger bags. I’ve used the hand stamped cards for about a month, and have gotten some great responses. People I know tend to love hand-made objects of any kind, and my theory is that people are so used to seeing perfectly edged things all day long, that when they see the ‘thumbprints in the clay’, the kind imperfections, I think that they pay special attention to them.

What do you think? Am I a good ecologist, and respecter of nature, or am I just cheap? 🙂 One thing is for sure: my secondary branding is definitely represented by using these cards. Anyone who gets one should be able to see that I’m interested in recycling, that I’m frugal, and that I like making things. That’s a pretty solid set of brand attributes that I’d be proud to align with.

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On the importance of a great Calendar: Work/Life balance and management at LeMasney Consulting

51 of 365 on meeting management by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
51 of 365 on meeting management by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
51 of 365 on meeting management by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
51 of 365 on meeting management by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

On the importance of the Calendar in my work.

After a recent conversation with a client in which we were discussing appointment finalization, we discussed how I kept track of my meetings. It made me realize that my workflow for meeting management might make for an interesting template for others. I had another friend ask me what it was that allowed me to manage my work best. I replied without thinking that if something exists on my calendar, it’s real. Otherwise, it’s just an idea.

In that light, here is the way that my calendaring works:

  1. I use Google Calendar as the basis for everything. Because both my personal account and my business account both are Google based, it makes sense that I use the various tools there, including, drive, music, photos, contacts, Gmail and calendar. http://calendar.google.com
  2. Because Google understands my contacts in context, it makes it especially easy to add people and places to the meetings.  I am sure to add geolocation data when I enter business cards and contact info into contacts. When I start to type a client’s name in my location field in Calendar, it autocompletes with their location if present in contacts. http://contacts.google.com
  3. I use a Gmail feature that makes recognizable dates and times in my email into links that create new events in Calendar. http://email.about.com/od/gmailtips/qt/et_mailtoevent.htm
  4. I use Rapportive to give me socially-contextual information in my right sidebar. https://rapportive.com/
  5. I use Doodle.com. Doodle is best known for its service for letting multiple people arrange their meeting time. However, they have a less known feature called “Meet Me” pages, where you get your own Doodle URL that people can go to and choose an open spot (all busy times show as simply busy) on my Google Calendar. Meanwhile, I do not have to go through the relatively restrictive controls on sharing my Google Calendar with someone without a Google account, or with one I don’t know. Also, I do not have to make my calendar public. Doodle sends me a notification, and I confirm. Doodle updates my calendar, and syncs changes I make from Calendar.  The openness of Google Calendar’s APIs allows Doodle to make a better tool. http://doodle.com/lemasney
  6. I use If This Then That (IFTTT, pronounced ‘ifft’) in order to add certain social activities to my calendar. IFTTT takes the response from one service, and outputs it to another service. In particular, I have a calendar that just shows scrobbling (a log of what I listen to on my devices) from last.fm, and I add checkins (places I visit and geotag) from foursquare to my meetings calendar. http://ifttt.com
  7. Finally, I like Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but I also enjoy both chocolate and peanut butter. With Google Calendar, I have multiple account calendars. One for public meetings, one for my time with my boys, and one for my personal meetings. I have a second account on Google that has its own calendar. You’d never know I have all of those calendars, because they all appear on one Calendar, with custom colors to differentiate them. Within Google Calendar, you can either create a new calendar, subscribe to another Google Calendar user, or subscribe by ICS to anyone using a standards based Calendar. This is one of the reasons I love open standards.
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46 of 365: Factor of Safety design principle (Belt and Suspenders)

46 of 365 - factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
46 of 365 - factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
46 of 365 - factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
46 of 365 – factor of safety design principle (belt and suspenders) by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Factor of safety is about preparing for unknown flaws in a design, even though the issue may never arise. In the interest of preventing system failure, a designer can make more safety elements than are necessary. In general, it is the act of adding more elements than are strictly necessary in a design to prepare for situations that may or may not happen. In graphic design, you might add restatements of an idea to make more sure of the delivery of the message. In structural design, you might add more beams to the underlying structure. In urban design, more roads and parking, and so on.

I decided to illustrate the most common expression of the factor of safety that I can think of: “belt and suspenders”. In other words, you might say “belt and suspenders” in response to someone bringing a USB key with their materials to a presentation even though the materials available online. In the event that Internet access is down (e.g. the belt breaks) you’d still be able to present via USB (e.g. suspenders).

 

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42 of 365: $35 is the new $19.99 – price point design principle

42 of 365 - 35 is the new 1999 - price point design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
42 of 365 - 35 is the new 1999 - price point design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
42 of 365 - 35 is the new 1999 - price point design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com
42 of 365 – 35 is the new 1999 – price point design principle by John LeMasney via lemasney.com

Price Point design principle

When considering pricing your product, you are considering more than the cost of the parts + some percent for profit. You also have to consider the other factors at play. For instance, what is the value in the mind of the consumer, regardless of your costs? What is the perceived value in the consumer’s circle of colleagues and friends? Do the consumers have experiences that might degrade their perceived value of your product? You have to choose the price that the consumer is after, the one that they can justify for themselves or others.

$35 is the new $19.99

I’ve noticed a trend that reminds me of my younger years. I remember watching commercial after commercial for products offered at the magic price of $19.99. But recently, there seems to be another magic price, one that no one would blink at. $35.00 is the new $19.95, it seems, and I have some examples to show what I mean. I gave a presentation at Cherry Hill Public Library recently where I talked about these, and so they were fresh in my mind. I included the presentation below.

Successful Examples:

  • The ChromeCast – Google’s smart TV in a dongle, sold out about a day after its announcement. Google is particularly sensible about pricing generally, though I think the Chromebook Pixel may be an exception. ChromeCast offers the ability to run app content from apps like Netflix and Google Play Music on your HDTV with the great surround sound, and allows you to control it from your phone, tablet, Chromebook, laptop, or desktop.  I use it all the time, and often bring it with me as a backup for presentations, since I can run presentations on it using Google Drive.
  • The Raspberry Pi – This is a $35 computer, very simply put. You’d need to BYO keyboard, monitor and mouse, but once you have those, you have a rich, powerful desktop machine. You can also use it as a headless server, with remote access.  You could set it up as a design workstation, with apps like GIMP, Inkscape, and Scribus. You could use it as a media server complete with a navigable interface in the form of XBMC. You could use it as a security system with a motion sensor, and camera. The possibilities are endless, and what a great price point.
  • The Arduino Uno – The Uno is a great electronics learning and testing platform from Italy. It is less than $35, often available for as little as $25. The Arduino has a higher learning curve than the others here, but also potentially has the greatest flexibility and rewards. You can use Arduino for home automation, light shows, and any other electronics project you can think of. You use an open source programming language called Processing to make sketches to direct the inputs, like switches and sensors, and outputs, like LEDs. It’s products like this that allow you to “scratch your own itch”.

Here is my presentation on these devices.

And here is my presentation on Context, Connectedness and the self, a look at the ways that sensors are increasing in importance.

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Resources for Staff Day Training at Woodbridge Public Library

Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
Libraries, the original co-working space cc-by lemasney
An important distinction
An important distinction (Photo credit: lemasney)

Today, I’m presenting on behalf of Library Link NJ on the topics of eBook borrowing and the Basics of Graphic Design.

In this session, we are going to look at using Overdrive to borrow eBooks, a very common method in libraries today. We will spend the rest of the time looking at the basics of Graphic Design concepts, like inspiration, font choice, layout and visual branding. The materials that I am distributing are below.

The graphic design presentation is here.

The eBooks handout (Brisbin, Lemasney, 2014) is here.

A complete list of all of my presentation materials is here.