Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Welcome
Thank you for visiting my blog. I hope you inform you about my passion the environment. Please feel free to post or comment on anything. I would LOVE suggestions as 'blogging' is all new to me. I would like my blog to be successful and for that to happen i need to provide you, the reader information you want to read about ! Some of the pages are empty and are a work in progress. After you have read my blog take your kids outside set up a blanket with their favourite toys and enjoy the sun and fresh air. Kris xxoo
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Presentation on contemporary environmental artist John Dahlsen
- View on slideshare.com and in full screen as it hasn't loaded the best
Monday, January 24, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Good design
Have you organised your pencils and pens lately? Sorted your clothes into a logical system in your wardrobe? The you already understand the basic elements of good design; its practical, its systematic and it makes life much easier. In the same way, marketing materials that use good design make business easier for their customers. Layout and presentations make a difference as to whether people will understand their products and services.
As Wendy Maynard article "Good design makes good sense" states "Well-designed materials become even more important as their complexity grows. For instance, an ad typically gets someone's attention for five seconds. In contrast, a brochure has the potential to claim much more of your prospect's time and commitment. Hand a customer a poorly-formatted, hard-to-read piece and you may lose them forever".
As Wendy Maynard article "Good design makes good sense" states "Well-designed materials become even more important as their complexity grows. For instance, an ad typically gets someone's attention for five seconds. In contrast, a brochure has the potential to claim much more of your prospect's time and commitment. Hand a customer a poorly-formatted, hard-to-read piece and you may lose them forever".
So is good design really as simple as organizing your shoe collection? Well, not quite. Here is a checklist to follow, according to Maynard, for your next project. Structure and time your piece correctly, and brace yourself for informed customers who are ready to do business with your company.
Five Basics of Good Design
1. Never obscure your message. The KISS (Keep It Simple, Smarty) rule applies equally well to writing copy, creating graphics, and choosing a format.
2. Work backwards from your goal to your marketing piece. Listen to your customers' needs before you make a decision about how to fill them. A website may not initially appeal to you as a tool, but if your customer base is using the Internet, it may be a great way to deliver your message.
3. Present similar kinds of information in similar ways. People love to look for patterns. And we feel good when we find them, so let your customers in on that happy feeling. Chances are it will help them retain your information better and use it more effectively.
4. Save special effects for the 4th of July. Just because you can print in all caps in that cool new font, it doesn't mean you should. Readability wins out over gimmicks every time.
5. Be practical and be dedicated. Consider all the steps involved in a project, from the time you spend creating it all the way through to postage or follow-up calls. Commit to following through on every item or your project may not succeed.
My top 5 favourite blogs
The following are 5 of my favourite blogs. Click on the links to share in the inspiration.
1. Children and Nature (Richard Louv)
This blog has been created by author of "Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deflict disorder", Richard Louv. The blog has been created to encourage and support people, organisations and networks working to reconnect children with nature. As a child i remember camping in the garden, riding bikes through bush, climbing trees, collecting bugs and slugs and telling ghost stories to my cousins in old haunted houses. Somewhere in today's highly organised and structured world, children have become increasing alienated and distanced from nature. Over-anixous parents are contributing to world-wide epidemic. As parents strive to ‘protect’ their children they are missing out on ‘everyday adventures’ where they socialise, learn about their community and grow their independence and mostly importantly discover the world. The children and nature blog provides readers with research, practical advice and a forum to encourage parents and children to reconnect and discover the wonders of nature. I feel very passionate about this topic and Richards blog gives me another outlet to share with friends and family and to provide research from a well known author.
1. Children and Nature (Richard Louv)
This blog has been created by author of "Last child in the woods: Saving our children from nature-deflict disorder", Richard Louv. The blog has been created to encourage and support people, organisations and networks working to reconnect children with nature. As a child i remember camping in the garden, riding bikes through bush, climbing trees, collecting bugs and slugs and telling ghost stories to my cousins in old haunted houses. Somewhere in today's highly organised and structured world, children have become increasing alienated and distanced from nature. Over-anixous parents are contributing to world-wide epidemic. As parents strive to ‘protect’ their children they are missing out on ‘everyday adventures’ where they socialise, learn about their community and grow their independence and mostly importantly discover the world. The children and nature blog provides readers with research, practical advice and a forum to encourage parents and children to reconnect and discover the wonders of nature. I feel very passionate about this topic and Richards blog gives me another outlet to share with friends and family and to provide research from a well known author.
This blog has been created to coincide with the hit kids program ' Dirt Girl World' on the ABC. Dirt girl world isn't just another kids television program its a mini movement, lead by the smallest members of our community, our children. The blog is all about encouraging children, parents and readers that LITTLE things can make a big difference. . The blog has many places for readers to learn how to work towards a more sustainable NOW, shaping the world that we live in. This blog is where readers can share what they know and learn what they don't to live a more sustainable life. This blog inspires me as it encourages readers from watching dirt girl world on television to actioning and loving planet earth in our every day lives.
This blog is written by a mum who lives in melbourne with her husband and five children. The blog is all about organisation and planning with a family. I love the 'where to start' link as it has everything a mum needs from menu planning to children's timetables to family relationships. As a mum to a 3.5 year old and a 2 year old trying to work my way through a university degree whilst still keeping the house running- i LOVE this blog. The design and layout of the blog is appealing and easy to navigate. It inspires me to WANT to get more organised, to have more structure in my children's lives and to live my best life everyday, stress free (well....almost).
This blog is also written by a single mum of four children. The blog is about inspiring parents to garden with children. The blog emphasises that gardening can be simple or as complicated as you wish to make it and to keep in mind that for children it can be exciting new adventure and experiment. The blog advertise the garden as a learning environment, that kids at any age have an natural interest in nature and an enthusiasm early on in life will give them invaluable basic skills and an understanding of how the whole of the eco-system works. With this enthusiasm, come questions and therefore learning. What a better way to learn? I love that this mum views education as so much more than sitting in a class room and studying text books. That maths, english and science skills can be taught whilst gardening or just sitting outside and observing the birds and the butterflies. This blog is trying to instil that nature can teach children not only the theory, but more importantly, how they fit into the natural world and the importance of looking after our planet earth.
This blog is written by kids for kids. Three kids from the same family created planet patrol because they believe that kids aren't getting enough information on the environment. They believe that without information kids cant make good choices about the environment. WOW, it is amazing that there is such passionate and inspiring young people who want to make a difference in this world. The creators of this blog invite eco-journalists to report on issues they are passionate about. The kids passion for the environment comes through in their writing and i am confidence that these three kids are going to make a big impact on this planet. This blog lightens the fire in me to strive to make a difference with my blog that i am creating.
What is RSS?
RSS stands for 'Rich site summary' and is a format for delivering regularly changing web content. Many news-related sites, weblogs and other online publishers syndicate their content as an RSS feed to whoever wants it. So you choose which web sites you want to deliver their latest news directly to your monitor. RSS is perfect for the 'information junkie' as an RSS takes the latest headlines from different web sites, and pushes those headlines down to your computer for quick scanning. So instead of having to visit 14 different places to get your weather, sports, favourite photos, latest gossip, or latest political debates, you just go to one screen and see it combined ("aggregated") into a single window. The RSS headlines headlines and stories are effectively immediate. Once published at the source server, RSS headlines take only moments to get to your screen. RSS save you time by not needing to visit each site individually and ensure your privacy, by not needing to join each sites email newsletter. The number of sites offering RSS feeds is growing rapidly and includes big names like Yahoo News.
10 Myths About Blogs- Scott Rosenberg
10 Myths About Blogs- Scott Rosenberg
Funny video from Scott Rosenberg about the 10 myths of blogging after careful considering and of course googling this is my 11 myth:-p
“You can not make real money with blogs”
Money is money and if you can make even $100 a month off your blog in my view you are making "real money". In most cases bloggers are blogging to simply communicate their passion to the world. Do you really need to make $50,000 monthly to consider your blog successful?
Funny video from Scott Rosenberg about the 10 myths of blogging after careful considering and of course googling this is my 11 myth:-p
“You can not make real money with blogs”
Money is money and if you can make even $100 a month off your blog in my view you are making "real money". In most cases bloggers are blogging to simply communicate their passion to the world. Do you really need to make $50,000 monthly to consider your blog successful?
Friday, January 21, 2011
“HUMMINGBIRD PARENTS”: Seven Actions Parents Can Take To Reduce Risk And Still Get Their Kids Outside
"Even if many of our fears are based on media hype, parental fear is real. It should be respected and not dismissed. But we also need to make sure that children have as much play, as independent as possible, in the natural world. Some parents will be comfortable encouraging their kids to roam freely, but the truth is most won’t. So here are seven suggestions for ways to manage our fear, reduce risk, and still get our kids outside"
Want more ? click on the link :
“HUMMINGBIRD PARENTS”: Seven Actions Parents Can Take To Reduce Risk And Still Get Their Kids OutsideWhat do you think? Practice or unrealistic advice ?
Time outdoors
I got to thinking this afternoon how much time do i spend outdoors and more importantly how much time do my kids spend outdoor? So i am challenging myself, as well as my readers to keep a diary over the next week of how many hours or in some peoples cases minutes do you spend outdoors. Post your findings :-)
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