Warm up wrapped in a faux fur blanket from Restoration Hardware. Perfect for sleigh rides or snuggling by the fireside.

 A beautiful Pine Bark scented Diptyque candle can immediately fill the air  and set a cozy, festive mood.

Something about the aroma of fresh, hot popcorn that draws you in and immediately feels like home. Popcorn is the original comfort food. Go old school with this old-fashioned Whirly Pop that makes about 6 quarts in just a few minutes. Yum. 

No fireplace? Well, we can solve that with the Anywhere Fireplace. Beautiful, portable warmth anywhere you need it. I’ve always wanted a fireplace in my bedroom ….

Via the Dieline: “Leave it to the world’s most precious single malt whisky to translate the beauty of photography into its bottle design. For the fourth edition of its award-winning Masters of Photography series, The Macallan teamed up with the most influential living photographer, Elliott Erwitt, to capture the spirit of Scotland. His resulting work, ‘Great Scottish Adventure,’ was just released as a bespoke photo-archival book featuring a total of 158 images, shot by Elliott during his trip.”

The post Inspiration :: Hot Designs // Cold Nights appeared first on Elements.

bake a pie // DISNEY // run through the woods // long family bike fall bike ride  // TRICK-OR-TREATING // pumpkin carving // jack-o-lantern spectacular // DAY TRIP TO NEWPORT // homemade applesauce // caramel apples // plant daffodil bulbs // DESIGN CAMP PATCH // leaf art with kids // try fall brew // FOOTBALL GAME // fall walk alone to sketch // geocaching // HOMEMADE SOUP // host thankgiving // plan holiday card // FIREPIT // family photo // harvest fair // CORN MAZE //

That should keep me busy for awhile! Click on some of my links above. You may be surprised ….

Okay, your turn …

~Amy

The post Here’s A Thought :: Fall 2013 Bucket List appeared first on Elements.

It’s a celebratory day here at Elements – it’s Amy’s Birthday! We’re, of course, celebrating all things Amy today and put together a typography inspired birthday message {as seen above}. Each letter is unique and vibrant, much like our fearless leader.

So Amy, we hope you celebrate your special day with the ones you love doing the things you love most. Just in case you needed a reminder, we’ve made a moodboard inspired by – you! And while I’m sure we left a thousand people and things off this board that you love, this is a reminder of the things you have to celebrate today.

photo credits for Happy Birthday:  “Happy“:  extra-oomph.com via Pinterest | “B”:  ffffound.com via Pinterest | “I”: typographyserved.com via Pinterest | “R”: flickr.com via Pinterest | “T”:  jpboneyard.com via Pinterest | “H”: dfharo.com via Pinterest| “D”: etsy.com via Pinterest | “A”: dribbble.com via Pinterest | “Y”: dfharo.com via Pinterest | photo credits for Amy: “A” | ffffound.com via Pinterest | “M”: glyphosaurus.com via Pinterest |  “Y”: sewyeah.co.uk via Pinterest | “!” bhg.com via Pinterest | photo credits for moodboard: ice cream:  thecuriousbumblebee.tumblr.com via Pinterest | fireworks: cjangeleyes via Pinterest  | camera: findgoodstoday.com via Pinterest | paris: Palloma Quintale via Pinterest | red sox: nesn.com via Pinterest | yellow roses: growquest.com via Pinterest | caramel bowl: thecarameljar.com | all other images via Amy Graver

The post It’s A Certain “Type” Of Day Here – A Birthday! appeared first on Elements.

While most companies take it easy on their marketing efforts over the summer and many of us are in vacation-mode, here at Elements, we tend to use this time to get some of our own larger communication projects ramped up.

And although it may be difficult for some organizations to get projects completed during the summer months because of time-off, here are a few reasons to consider giving it a try:

1. Availability: Many of your trusted vendors {Elements included!} are much more available in the summer slowdown than the rest of the year. It’s a great time to get some projects off your list before the rush in the fall when everyone else is calling. Take advantage of our ability to quickly turnaround your requests and be more flexible with scheduling.
2. Review: Hard to believe, but by next month, half our year will already be behind us. It’s an excellent time to sit down and assess your marketing efforts for the year while it’s a little quieter. By the way, we’re available for a free marketing assessment consultation with you to review your marketing objectives, make any suggestions and help answer any questions to keep you on target for reaching your goals this year.
3. Photography: One of those oft neglected tasks is updating Elements’ photography – both of our projects completed and our professional headshots. The summer is an ideal time to do both. First, as stated above, the photographer is more likely available. Second, why not take advantage of the slowdown to organize a photo shoot? And third, why not get your head shot retaken when you have a natural, healthy glow or images of your company when everything is in bloom, green and sunny?
4. Stand Out: If you were to send out marketing communication during the summer, chances are, you’d stand apart from the crowd. Take advantage of the fact that your competition is at the beach and consider a summer marketing effort.
5. Get Ahead: Even if a full-fledged marketing effort in the summer doesn’t make sense for your particular business, you could still work on getting a leg up by stockpiling other efforts – such as getting some blog posts written and put in the queue, get your corporate e-newsletter started, comb through and update your website content, and so forth. You will be that much further ahead heading into the busy fall.
6. Catch-Up: When the phones aren’t ringing as frequently and you find you are actually able to focus, take this opportunity to catch-up and get ahead with work. This is the time of the year I actually see that there is, in fact, a bottom to my “IN” box.
7. Back to School: Since your clients are taking time off, you should as well. But why take more than just a vacation (although that’s a must). Instead, why not take time to enroll in a class? It could be something useful – such as brushing up your skills in a particular area. Or perhaps a course that will advance your skills in a new, related area – for example, I’m attending the Yale/AIGA intensive course “Business Perspectives for Creative Leaders” this July. Maybe it is something simply for fun that allows you to get creative or innovative – such as a pottery class or tennis lessons. You never know – it may just lead to something much, much bigger.

So while I look forward to getting away for a couple days with my family for some much needed R&R, I’m equally excited at the prospect of making an impact in our company’s marketing, getting a head start AND learning something new.

So, sharpen that bouquet of pencils.Here’s to a productive, enlightening AND relaxing summer ahead!

~Amy

{image: that kind of woman and one fine dae pencils}

The post Here’s A Thought :: Summer Marketing 2013 appeared first on Elements.

Happy 4th of July everyone! We hope your day is filled with friends, family, fireworks and fun! Elements is closed for the day but we’ll be back in the office tomorrow. Have a safe and happy holiday!

The post Happy Independence Day! appeared first on Elements.

It’s that time of year – graduation. I’ve been seeing countless videos of commencement speeches, articles on career and interviewing advice and social media postings of photos and congratulatory messages for students of all ages. This is a very exciting time of year as summer approaches, the weather is getting nicer and everyone seems in the mood for “change.” It can also be a frightening time for graduates. In thinking back to my own college graduation and I had a mix of both excitement and nervousness for what was ahead. What would I do, where would I live, could I get a job right away, what did I want my job to be? So as I see all the hopeful, yet nervous photos of recent college graduates, it always has me thinking the same thing – what advice do you wish you could go back and give yourself after you graduate.

Here are a few of my favorite pieces of advice ::

1. Don’t Look Back

2. Keep Learning

3. Find Your Passion

4. Try Harder

5. Don’t {Always} Play It Safe

Now, its your turn :: pass along your advice to your younger-self on our Facebook, Twitter or Pinterest Pages.

~Allyson

The post Noted :: If You Knew Then, What You Know Now… appeared first on Elements.

The marketing buzzword of the moment is “content creation”. You hear it everywhere. But do you really understand why creating good content is valuable? Further, can you identify good content when you see and know why it is effective?The importance of content creation is not going away anytime soon – however, I fear most company’s interrupt “content creation” as “daily churning out endless piles of garbage.To quickly bring us up to speed on content vs garbage, take a quick read through this smart, well-done presentation by a UK-based content marketing firm Velocity Partners. This should be mandatory viewing for anyone in your organization charged with your company’s content.

Take Out Your Trash

Now that everyone is hyped-up on content, there are those who think they can cheat the system by repurposing others content and bombarding us with “trash” disguised as relevant “information” that is really just tweaked content from its original writer.

Don’t do it. Don’t go that route.

First, you will get punished by the search engines for recycling others ideas as your own.

Secondly, and by far the best reason, is that you need to be authentic. Have real conversations with your customers, write about your real experiences, what you know and love, and in doing so, you will show that you are a real person. The search engines’ rankings will directly reflect your uniqueness in your content. It pays to be an original!

~Amy

 

The post Noted :: Take Out The Trash appeared first on Elements.

Recently, Ben and I traveled to NYC to attend the Evolve Symposium. Evolve was a two-day intensive event that was specifically created for design agency owners and leaders. Perfect for us as we are always striving to learn and grow as an agency.

We covered quite a bit of ground in the two days. Our topics of discussion ranged from our business models, organization and strategic partnerships to social media, content and strategic presentations and more.

The symposium was well organized and intimate – there were 30 of us in attendance – which was just the right size to become friendly with everyone and have open, honest, helpful conversations. We shared what worked and what hasn’t, lessons learned and best practices. I gained a roomful of new friends and colleagues with whom I’ve already continued the dialogue with – and that’s the best part. It helps to have trusted colleagues you can turn to anytime for solid advice, honest feedback and insightful conversation. That alone was worth the ticket of admission!

Here is just a taste of some takeaways from Evolve. Perhaps they will help spark something within you as well:

1. Lead with curiosity
2. Information will inform the action
3. Through my knowledge and expertise of the industry, develop a clear, singular, own-able point-of-view
4. Marketing is sharing, not selling
5. Force yourself to talk to 10 new people each week
6. Don’t be afraid to ask the tough questions
7. Your website shouldn’t try to answer every question – it should entice. Say more with less
8. Be creative, be generous and make it matter

Emily Cohen speaking at Evolve.

There was volumes more – but the above eight points stuck with me without even referencing my notes. Ben and I are still pouring over our piles of collective notes, sorting out the different initiatives and making plans on which to implement when and in what priority order. The two-days was only the beginning for us! But we are excited to continue to grow and evolve Elements and hope you will like all the changes we have planned for the journey ahead. We are very excited!

~Amy

The post Noted :: Evolving Elements appeared first on Elements.

The Roman philosopher Seneca said, in one of his most favorite of quotes, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”

We all know it takes more than luck to succeed in business, but luck certainly helps!

Let’s take a minute this Monday morning to listen and learn from one very lucky businessman, Sir Richard Branson. What does he think about luck’s role in business?

Was Oreo lucky during the blackout at the Superbowl with their {now} famous tweet “You can still dunk in the dark?”

I would argue the Seneca quote is more accurate – they were prepared, they knew their brand and they were listening. How can you be prepared?

Perhaps we should spend some time this week thinking about how we can keep our business prepared so we, too, can enjoy a little luck!

{image: the fancy}

~Amy

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