Business cards are a big deal at ALT. People spend weeks designing the perfect representation of them to share with other attendees. So, for this conference I wanted to do something where I could continue to be inspired by the business cards long afterwards. I decided to include them in a scrapbook.     At every ALT, there's a place for attendees to display their business cards. I love these boards because there's no way you can meet everyone. This gives you the opportunity to see everyone's hard work. (I have more photos of the business cards from ALT SF in a Flickr gallery.)     One of the sponsors of ALT SF, Vivint , gave all the attendees a notebook for jotting down our thoughts. (They also gave us a bag for holding all of our business cards, a journal specifically for collecting cards, and a roll of orange washi tape for securing them.) I used washi tape that another sponsor, MailChimp , had given us to secure the cards as well as flair Vivint provided atte...

I collect inspiration. Magazines. Catalogs. Children's books. Direct mailers. You name it; if it has an interesting design, chances are I have it squirreled away.     Rarely do I sit down and ponder what grabbed my attention or really think about my own design aesthetic. Until Week 5 of Find Your Voice workshop, I had never really looked at my collection and identified why an individual piece or series of pieces spoke to me.   Where do you find inspiration?  

Part of my exploration of fonts for my updated logo led me to really think about the weighting we give fonts and the words written in those fonts. After this exploration, I used my two logo fonts in a project for the Find Your Voice workshop I'm contributing to. With the fonts, I created I AM photo labels.     We all know that words have power. Often, in childhood, we're called names that are hurtful. When we're embarking on a new adventure, friends and family maybe more confident in our skills than we are; their words bolster us. Like fonts, the words we use to define ourselves are personal.  

Fonts have personalities. They say a lot about who you are. My logo has always been a selection of two fonts, one soft cursive or handwritten form and one bold all caps selection.   I want my logo to say: Bold. Confident. Approachable. Personable. Fun. Fresh. Uncomplicated. Easy Going. all at the same time.     When it comes to type, one thing most designers will agree upon is limiting your font choices to two or at most three fonts. Up until recently there were five fonts in my branding: CK Ali's Hand Official Big Noodle Titling Bododita Regular Georgia Park Avenue   My extra fonts were in my logo. These fonts were hard to let go, even though in all honesty they hadn't matched the rest of the blog in feel for awhile. (The Purdue Online Writing Lab discusses how you can determine a font's personality .)   My discomfort with my logo really grew when I attended BlogShop . In class assignments, I found myself experimenting with CK Ali's Hand Official ...

This time last week I was nervously getting ready for Alt SF. I'd been to Alt SLC and I'd been to Alt for Everyone, but I still had butterflies in my stomach. Every event is unique. The sponsors vary. The bloggers attending change. Current events, in the world and in our lives, are different. Distractions may or may not be present. But, that's not what you care about. You want to know: are the butterflies worth it? Absolutely.     I'm not going round up the top ten most inspirational quotes from Alt SF ; Mere of Not Merely Living, did a fantastic job with that. And I talked about what I saw as the main theme that tied all of the sessions together, Embracing Your Fears , on Monday. (I've collected these recaps plus others on an Alt SF 2013 Recaps board on Pinterest.)   I am going to talk about expectations, setting goals, choosing an Alt experience to meet those goals, and finally what you can do to maximize your experience.   Managing Expectations I'll adm...

Throughout the month I take a lot of photos. I start a lot of blog posts on the train, while I'm standing in line. I look forward to synthesizing those reflections on what Gates has been doing or is up to into a cohesive narrative for her The First Two Years Blurb book. Lately I'm having trouble finding the time.     This month's portrait and update almost didn't happen, for reasons similar to why Gates' Nine Month portrait didn't. With a new full-time day job and lots of projects going on, I've been prioritizing spending time with Gates over chronicling her life.   Not wanting another gap in Gates' twenty four month portrait series, we set up the camera on Saturday (a little late in the month) and had our photo session. (If you're planning on taking monthly portraits, keep it simple. I shared tips I wish I'd known before I started in place of Gates' Nine Month portrait.) Photos from Gates' 15 month photo session are up on Flickr, an...

Do you let your fears get in the way of your living a full life? I do sometimes. (I think we all do at one time or another if we're honest with ourselves.)   An underlying theme that surfaced in many of the sessions at ALT Summit SF last week touched on this. More than one speaker encouraged us to embrace our fears and not overlook small signs of success.     Good things just happen when you face your fears . - Aaron de Simone, I Heart Luxe Don't be afraid to show your personality . - Cathie Toshach, Bing Step out of your day-to-day . - Rene Tom, Makeshift Society   I've worked with and for many entrepreneurs. At some start ups, we tackled our fears head on; we recognized there were naysayers and we plunged on ahead anyway. At other start ups, we got mired in self doubt and succumbed to a whirlpool of indecision and restarts.   What are your fears? Are they rational or irrational?   Out of the six plus start ups I've worked for, none have avoi...

The middle of the month is becoming my favorite time here on the blog. I'm really enjoying all of the Good Life stories that everyone is sharing. Today Michelle Wear joins us from Denver, CO. Michelle blogs at Table for Five , and is a wife and a mom to three boys, Coda, Holden, and Oliver.     Michelle and I met virtually through The Summer Bucket List Challenge . If you're participating in this summer's Find Your Voice Workshop, a free 8-week storytelling workshop led by Kristin Tweedale of Rukristin Papercrafts , you'll know that we're both contributors there.   I love how down to earth and real Michelle is, and hope to get to meet her in person in real life one day. The story she told for Find Your Voice: Week Two made my heart melt, and I totally get, how she like me has a hard time stepping out in front of the camera (read her story about a surprise love shoot her husband got her!).   Today, Michelle takes time out of her busy life to share a snapshot o...

Raise your hand if you've ever participated in a photo-a-day Instagram project. Now lower your hand if you've ever done anything with the photos after the project concluded. Like me, you probably haven't.   Until this week, the only Instagram photos that I'd printed or compiled into a physical project were those from Alt Summit SLC. It was a simple project, 20 photographs with no captions. This week's project, a photo memoir box combines photos and captions to tell a story.     What do you do with the photos from your smartphone?  

A mentor once told me " Hope is not a strategy. " I had this idea that if I worked hard, took on extra projects, and got results, then I would get noticed and I would get offered the position I wanted. I worked hard, but not very smart. How? Because hope leaves your fate in someone else's hands, which is never a good place for your fate to be.     "If your plan requires getting picked and you're not getting picked, you need a new plan. ... Your talent deserves the shift in strategy that will let you do your best work.   The problem isn't that it's impossible to pick yourself. The problem is that it's frightening to pick yourself. It's far easier to put your future into someone else's hands than it is to slog your way forward, owning the results as you go. " -Seth Godin, " But I don't want to do that, I want to do this "     Continuing to do the same thing again and again gets you the same results again and again, if yo...

Fourth of July is special for us. Two years ago yesterday over our holiday break Gates was conceived. (Yesterday she celebrated her fifteen month birthday.)     It's our fifth year heading north for the Fourth of July weekend. It's our third year volunteering at the event, working parking ops. Of all the things cubes and I do together Priceless is my favorite. I love the mountains and getting to escape to them with friends and DJs we love is the ultimate getaway. Unlike Burning Man, Priceless is held in a town that exists 365 days of the year. It's a true vacation. There's running water and a full-service restaurant and bar (the Bloody Mary's are to die for!).     To say Priceless goes smoothly every year would be a stretch. Our first year, we joined a few fellow campers and hopped a bus to Belden. It was a very hot summer that year and the bus overheated. All was forgotten when we arrived at the gates to the town and crew welcomed us.     Arriving at...

I was once told I was not creative. At that moment I realized I'd failed to show the person who I was, who I am: a maker. I didn't know then, but people write their stories of you based on the data they see or don't see.     Deciding I was creative and taking proactive steps to show I was creative was foreign to me. Until that moment I'd always answered who I am by listing what I wasn't. (I finally realized I was approaching my answer from the wrong direction at Alt Winter this past January. My big A-HA moment was "Don't define yourself by what you're not.") I wasn't conscious that I could choose how I wanted to be defined until yesterday when I worked through Lesson 2 of the Find Your Voice Workshop.   When did you realize and appreciate who you are?

July is always an awesome month for me. July means Fourth of July and fireworks. July means a vacation; a vacation that typically doesn't leave my PTO (paid-time off) balance negative.   It also means I'm starting or partway through an eCourse or participating in a workshop. This summer the workshop is Find Your Voice , led by Kristin of Ruskin Papercrafts. And it's one you can participate in as well--for free!     How are you spending your summer?