nature

Beauty in the Brown

Yesterday I was in Reedsburg, Wisconsin for a client meeting. Geologically speaking, this is an interesting area of the state. It’s tucked between the glaciated hills of the Baraboo Range and the unglaciated ruggedness of the Driftless Area. As I drove the backroads, I chided myself for breaking a photographer’s number one rule: never be without your camera. Thank goodness for cell phones.

Sauk County, WIsconsin in spring

Even though everything is brown at this time of year (including the unmelted snow), there’s a unique beauty in the monotones of spring.

Irrigation in Sauk County, WI

There’s beauty in repetition right?

Country road in Sauk County, WI

Or the hopeful expectation of a curved road up ahead.

Abandoned farmhouse in Sauk County, WIThere’s even a forlorn beauty in an abandoned farmhouse.

Mailbox decorated for Easter in Sauk County, WIAnd just when you think you’ve seen enough brown, you come upon a mailbox such as this. How fun it is!

So my new project is exciting! It’s going to involve these very fields of Sauk County, Wisconsin, along with good food and awesome art. Stay tuned in the months ahead, there’s more to come!

 

Responsive Web, Inverted Pyramids and Door County, Wisconsin

Cave Point, Door County, Wisconsin

If there’s anything that reinforces the need for good web design, it’s a 4-day weekend in the boondocks. Think about it: If you’ve got the who, what, where, when and why right in front of you, you’re pretty much good to go no matter where you happen to be.

Like Door County, Wisconsin. In February.

Door County is an almost 500-square-mile jut of land between the Green Bay and Lake Michigan. My husband and I were there last weekend for our anniversary. We love going at this time of year because it’s the quiet season. We can snowshoe in the many parks, find miles and miles of diverse shoreline and visit cozy, lakeside villages, all free of the crowds that make them a hot spot in summer.

That’s Cave Point in the picture. Isn’t it stunning? Often, the crashing Lake Michigan waves cover the rocks with sprays of water. This day everything—I mean, everything— was so very still. With temperatures well below zero, the water was a frigid wonder of clarity.

But Door County Wi-Fi? Understandably, not so clear.

Even though Door County is  more commercially developed than it was decades ago (sadly so, in my opinion), it’s still rather remote, especially when it comes to the internet. As we randomly zig-zagged the peninsula on country backroads, I perused my iPhone in search of the next cool place to stop. One minute there was reception, the next there wasn’t. Knowing it could give out at any time, I really appreciated a well-designed website.

I appreciated responsive websites even more.

Nowadays, a responsive website is a necessity for good business. Responsive web design is like the inverted pyramid of the old journalism days; it puts the most important information up front for optimal viewing no matter what device is being used.

Here are three sites I found helpful while in Door County. Two are simply well-designed and put the necessary information where it needs to be. The third is a fully responsive site that properly rearranges itself according to the order of importance and size of the device.

Wild Tomato Pizza, Fish Creek, WI

Here’s the Wild Tomato Restaurant and how it appears on my iPhone. Mmmm, this looks good, doesn’t it?

Many Door County businesses are closed for the winter. Yet when I googled “Door County pizza,” I found right here on Wild Tomato’s home page that they are open, where they’re located and their phone number. The fact that they link to a beer menu tells me they have artisan beers even if I don’t take the time to click into it.

Good business? You bet. The restaurant was super fun and the food was delicious!

St. John Lutheran Church, Door County, WI

Most churches don’t think of themselves as a business. Yet sometimes they need to act like one; for example, when they want to reach out to the tourists of their unique vacation community.

St. John does just that with its website. Right there on the home page I found the 5 W’s needed for knowing about the congregation and how we could attend its services. And yes, the members of this beautiful church in the country were as warm and welcoming as their website!

Door County, WIsconsin

So here’s the fully responsive site: The Door County Visitor Bureau. Check it out on your computer, then check it out on your iPod or smartphone. Notice how it’s packed full of interesting information and rather than proportionately shrinking it en masse for small devices, which would make it way too small to read, its responsiveness vertically rearranges the contents into segments in order of their importance.

That, my dears, is responsive web design and that’s what brings people to Door County, even in the dead of winter!

What about your website? How does it look on a smartphone? Can viewers clearly find what they need to know? Here’s a completely responsive website Adunate did for a Donny’s Girl Supper Club. Contact me if you’d like the same exposure for your business.

 

Wednesday Webs: Earth Day

Earth Day garden plant

I think we should make Earth Day a weeklong event. One day a year simply is not a big enough nod to the importance of taking care of our Earth. Our very beautiful Earth!

So I’m extending my Earth Day celebrations all week.

Earth Day and the Ultimate Designer

Do you ever do mood boards? Graphic designers often do them. So do interior designers and fashion designers. They put together these collages of images, type, color, texture and anything else that helps them visualize a sense of style for the project they’re working on.

So it being Earth Day and all, I couldn’t help thinking of mood boards as my husband and I hauled wood. I’m always amazed how the elements of design actually are elements of nature. Even in this monochromatic, pre-spring time of year, there is artistic beauty everywhere I look.

God, the Creator of our Earth, is truly the ultimate designer!

colors of split wood

It’s fascinating how the colors of nature naturally go together. Here, I loaded my photo in Photoshop and touched the eyedropper tool to various points. Eureka! A very Arts and Crafts color scheme.

 

split wood shows color scheme

Historically, brown is considered to be down-to-earth, wholesome, stable and of substance. Yet, combined with black and near-white hues, these browns takes on a luscious and upscale image. Think ambrosial chocolates or a richly-paneled law firm.

 

natural rock shows complimentary colorsCheck out this rock from one of my gardens. The pinks and greens are opposite each other on the color wheel, meaning they are complimentary colors. Such a demure and romantic color scheme, yes? Perhaps a women’s clothing boutique or a hotel master suite.

 

lichens growing on a cut of wood

Aren’t the lichens growing on this slice of wood beautiful? So delicate and interlaced. And then there’s the blue with brown, a color scheme that’s rather ubiquitous these days.

So, here you have it. Mood boards straight from nature! This week, in celebration of Earth Day, take a walk outside and really open your eyes. Check out work of the ultimate designer!

Market Now for Business Ahead

cuttingWood

Here in Wisconsin winter is finally loosening its hold on us. See there in the right corner of my picture, there’s even a tinge of green poking through the ground.

That’s my husband cutting wood. We burn wood for nearly all our heat so he spends many weekends sawing away. I know, with spring around the corner you wouldn’t think he’d need to do this, but the guy just never sits still. He’s also the epitome of planning ahead. Our wood storage is always filled and what he’s cutting now won’t be used until next year, or maybe even the year after.

I posted this picture because Earth Day is coming up in two weeks. It also reminds me that I need to keep up with my marketing.

I’ve noticed an interesting pattern in the eight years I’ve been in business for myself. It seems to take a good 6-12 months to see results on my marketing efforts. This means the projects I’m working on right now are a result of the marketing I did last summer. And whether or not I have projects in my pipeline next winter depends on how much marketing I do now. Obviously, I need to keep my saws sharpened and running!

What do you think? Have any of you noticed this in your business?

Wednesday Webs: First Day of Spring

cedar waxwing in crabapple tree

Happy first day of spring!

This past weekend our crab apple trees were invaded by masses of cedar waxwing birds and one lone robin. The waxwings over-indulged on the apples and sure enough, by the end of the day they were drunk on fermentation and banging into our windows.

The robin, well behaved as he was, was my first spotting of this loyal indicator of spring. And true to tradition, he’s brought one last snowstorm (at least).

Anyways, it’s the first day of spring and here are some delightful links for the season:

  • This Chalk Guy is popping up all over the web. His work is truly amazing!
  • Why spring came a day early this year? Think vernal equinox and other science-geeky things.
  • In spite of the snow and cold, I’ve been hearing songbirds I haven’t heard in months.
  • All you need to know about gardening: Here at Seed Savers’ free webinars.

Happy Vernal Equinox!

These 4 Trends are Everywhere

CRS Lappset playground equipment

Lappset playground equipment, Commercial Recreation Specialists

I’ve been doing some interesting copywriting for Commercial Recreation Specialists (CRS). They’re an award-winning Verona, Wis. company that provides exciting land and water recreational products to businesses like campgrounds, camps, YMCAs, hotels and municipalities. Really, for the sole purpose of effective product research, don’t you think I need to spend a day just playing on them?

All fun aside, this project is intriguing because it’s a style of writing different than I normally do. A majority of my copywriting is business-to-consumer (B2C), however, the writing I do for CRS is business-to-business (B2B). And while consumers and businesses are normally quite different in how they’re motivated to buy (a topic for another day), it’s also important to note their similarities.

Recently, while briefing me for our latest project, CRS Marketing Specialist Carrie Petty mentioned four trends jumping out in the commercial recreation industry:

  1. Active play: Active, as in get off your duff and get going! These days active play is a common buzzword as we strive to improve our health.
  2. Multi-generational play: Multi-generational living, in general, is making a comeback. So why not play, as well?
  3. Sustainable play: Americans are now red, white, blue and green. Of course, we want the places we play to support, rather than take away from, their environment.
  4. Back-to-nature play: Here’s that green factor again. “Natural playgrounds” feature time-honored childhood delights such as rocks, sand and water.

Interestingly, these four trends—active, multi-generational, sustainable and back-to-nature—aren’t exclusive to the recreation industry. From B2B to B2C, they’re showing up everywhere. Have you noticed?

Do you use them in your marketing? If so, how?

Wednesday Webs: Urban Farming

Eagle Heights Community Gardens, Madison, WI

It’s easy for me to garden. I live on a rural farmstead and have lots of room to grow my own food—fresh, tasty delicacies that save me money and maintain my good health.

But what about city folks?

No problem. They can and they do!

Urban Agriculture

I grew up a Michigander girl. It’s hard for me to imagine Detroit as the center of an agricultural movement. Oh, but it is. Out of poverty and need has arisen innovation and sustainable food. Detroit is a great example for everyone.

Or what about this Kickstarter movie: Growing Cities: A film about Urban Farming in America. It documents two friends traveling across the country to meet urban farmers—people who are changing the way they eat “one vacant city lot, rooftop garden, and backyard chicken coop at a time.”

School Gardens

School gardens are outdoor classrooms. Teachers use them as instructional aids for any of their subjects, and students benefit from a therapeutic bonding with the earth. The Southern Door Schoolyard Garden in Door County, WI, is not only successful, it’s expanding.

Here’s an interesting resource for starting a garden at your school.

Eagle Heights Community Garden, Madison, WICommunity Gardens

Madison, WI, is an sustainable town. If you can’t be a farmer in your own backyard, you can rent space in one of more than 50 community gardens for a mere $10-65 annual fee. My kids previously tilled soil in Eagle Heights Community Garden, where horticulture practices vary as much as the ethnic gardeners speaking approximately 60 different languages.

Click here to find a community garden in your town. Or start one of your own!

Container Gardening

Thinking about growing your own food? What better inspiration than a Pinterest gallery of container gardens.