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From the Design Talk blog by John McWade

“Isomorphism in design means that we humans interpret visual objects based on our own experiences and memories. Too bad it’s such an unintuitive word, because isomorphic correspondence is probably the most intuitive of all design techniques. You’ve probably used it many times. Our makeover illustrates how to use isomorphic correspondence to turn a flat, technical design into a yummy, touchable one.”

Read the article and checkout the makeovers
http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2011/08/isomorphism-if-youve-read-it-talk-to-us/

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I just received an email inviting me to sign up for one of the last three spaces in a Vinyasa Class at a nearby spa. But the email had one big problem. The links weren’t helpful to me – and therefore, not really helpful to the sender.

I wasn’t  interested in that class; it didn’t fit my schedule. But there were other classes listed in the sidebar that looked interesting.

So what’s the problem? There were several links on the page, why didn’t this email work to get me into one of their classes or to one of their other services?

• The biggest link on the page was to register for the Vinyasa class. I didn’t want that one. (It was also buried “below the fold” because the title bar was unnecessarily large.)
• Another link was for directions. But I wasn’t going there.
• The first link on the page was how to Unsubscribe.  Was that what they really wanted me to do?

What was missing was a link to their website so that I could find out more about those other classes or about their spa.

All of your email marketing should serve two purposes. First is to publicize the specific event, service, or product that is the subject of the email. Second is to publicize your existence and give the recipient an easy path to find out more about you.

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Creating consistent and helpful website or blog content is a great way to build community and trust around your brand. But cranking out daily content is a challenge. Read Janet Aronica’s article  in PR Dailyfor some suggestions on how can you keep ideas flowing, make sure the content is fresh, and prevent yourself from rehashing the same old topics?

 

Although not all of these ideas are relevant to yoga teachers or yoga studios, they offer many proven tactics and provide some thought-provoking ideas to spur your creativity.

 

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John McWade posted this on his Design Talk blog.

It is certainly true of our experience as designers – but it seems equally true for our experience as yoga teachers. There is so much for us to know to effectively help our students – it sometimes seems overwhelming. But his is why we continue to take classes as well as teach – and to continue to learn as much as we can.

From Ira Glass . . .
“What nobody tells people who are beginners — and I really wish someone had told this to me . . . is that all of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, and it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase. They quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know it’s normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”

http://www.mcwade.com/DesignTalk/2011/04/nobody-tells-this-to-beginners/

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Do Schools Kill Creativity?

This animate was adapted from a talk given at the RSA by Sir Ken Robinson, world-renowned education and creativity expert and recipient of the RSA’s Benjamin Franklin award.

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 Coach Al’s blog has a new post and video about bringing more students into your studio during the holidays.

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How can you bring more students into your yoga studio this holiday season?  First, you need to understand what motivates people to come to your studio during this time of year.  Here are the key reasons:

• They need to buy a gift and don’t know what to get
• They are moved to give to others
• They are making New Years resolutions
• They are “challenged” emotionally by some aspect of the holiday experience and need to release emotions and reduce stress

With these four motivators in mind, the next step is to select ways to promote your studio’s services and products in a way that will help people with these things.

Here’s a list of ideas I’ve collected over the years.  Some are common, others not.  Pick the ones that are likely to generate the most money with the least effort.  Remember: Business is experimental – not all of them work for every studio.  But, at least some of them will work for yours. Read the complete article>