Today when I retrieved my mail I was greeted with the best surprise ever: Etsy deliveries! Last week I ordered three items from three different merchants on Etsy.com, and all three sent the ordered items in these amazing homemade and personalized envelopes. It was probably the most excited that I have been about mail in quite some time! The care that each of these women took in sending me something special and unique to house the merchandise that I ordered from them made me want to turn around and send exciting things to other people in the mail. The envelopes were not the only extra special touch that was included; inside each one I found a personal note from the seller. I have experienced nothing short of amazing customer service and attention to detail from my exchanges with shops on Etsy. The sellers take great pride in their merchandise (because most of it is home made or some kind of DIY), and they are probably just as excited to sell it to someone who shares their interests as we all are to buy from them.

I was also excited for the contents of the envelopes. I went feminism crazy! I have been oogling the Riot patch for weeks and weeks and finally bought it. I also love my new pink Feminist button, and my Bikini Kill button. The sellers also threw in two additional buttons and a zine! When is the last time you bought something at the mall and they threw something extra in for free, just because you like their stuff?? Yeah, I thought not.

Buying on Etsy and supporting local and small businesses whenever possible is something that makes me feel good, and I wanted to share it with you. What are some of your favorite shops on Etsy, or other online retailers that support small business?

Fitz and the Tantrums - Pickin' Up the Pieces

Fitz and the Tantrums are playing at the Showbox tonight and I am so excited! My friend introduced my husband and I to their music about a year ago, and their album “Pickin’ Up the Pieces” is an amazing work of art. Soulful rock n’ roll reminiscent of the ’60s, hit after hit. I kind of can’t believe that I’ve never heard them on the radio – maybe I’m listening to the wrong stations (likely). The band is obviously popular because they played at Bumbershoot this year; but that’s a concert we tend to avoid due to crowds, so we opted to wait for a regular show. Anyway, we have been looking forward to this concert since Christmas and I think it’s going to be a blast!

To relate this post to design, I have to say that I am in love with this album cover and its styling, as well as the band’s logo. Retro elements distilled down to their basics and mixed together for a huge pop, perfectly aligning the design with the band’s sound. Their website is also worth a visit; the site is extremely clean and well-organized, and consistent with the band’s image. I like the tour date landing page, and finding the blog on the home page of the site once you enter it. They make it very easy to connect to their fan club, purchase their album, and find the band on social media.

Sidenote: I noticed in their online shop that they only have “unisex” (meaning Mens) size shirts. I am hoping this is not the case at the concert, but we will see. Finding women’s clothing at rock concerts that is not pink tends to be challenging – personal issue of mine.

This concert is gong to be great and I am looking forward to a wonderful night.

YMCA Website

My husband was on the YMCA website earlier this week. I saw it over his shoulder and was immediately impressed with their design. Clean and eye-catching, and a wonderful use of color. The site is informative, easy to navigate, and it gets me excited about the organization. One neat detail is how they chose to integrate their logo into the slide indicator on their home page – the slant of the Y shows what image slide the user is viewing.

Hands On Network Website

After viewing the YMCA website, I wanted to find more nonprofits utilizing great design. Another site that I found was the Hands On Network site. Great logo, great use of color, clean and professional. It makes me want to learn more about the organization and spend more time on the site because of its elegant presentation. I like the “Donate” button to the right of the screen that follows the user as they scroll through the site – it is not pushy or distracting, but it’s there if you decide you need it. I also appreciate the placement of the “Find Volunteer Opportunities” box right at the top of the home page – you don’t want to waste any time when you’ve got a potential volunteer in your hands. If the process is too tedious or long, you will lose them.

HopeLink Website

The HopeLink website does a great job of not only designing the site well, but designing the content of the site to match. They are not using out-of-the-box stock photography, they are manipulating their photography to relate directly to the messaging of the site. There is also a nice infographic on the About page showing the various services of HopeLink and illustrating the idea that they’re all connected. The Take Action, Get Help and Donate tabs are all highlighted to draw the most attention, as they should be.

VolunteerMatch Website

The final human services related website that I visited was VolunteerMatch.org. I love their identity and use of color. This site is exciting and inviting, as well as easy-to-use. VolunteerMatch also does a good job of integrating social media, which is such a vibrant contributor to the volunteer community.

PBS Kids Website

Next I turned my attention away from human services and on to what I would call cultural nonprofits (maybe there’s a better term for it). The PBS Kids website is one of the best I’ve seen. I love it! This site does a fabulous job keeping its audience in mind. When you hover over any link on the site, a character will speak the name of that link. This is great for young children using the site who might need this type of assistance with navigation. The site also has a lot of movement and bright colors – it is so eye catching! My favorite part of the site was Hooper! I’m not sure if he’s a hamster or a guinea pig or what, but I love that little guy, and I can see plenty of kids loving him too. Very entertaining. This site gets an A+ for audience engagement and retention.

PBS Parents Website

In line with the PBS Kids website, the PBS Parents website is just as successful. It retains the same great use of color and fun, but it is presented in a more refined manner. Very visual, with lots of media to check out. Again, I think this site does a great job giving the audience valuable content that they will want to return for time and time again. I am willing to bet that this nonprofit turns plenty of parent visitors into financial donors during their annual giving drives. The integration of social media is also successful on this site.

SIFF Website

SIFF (Seattle International Film Festival) is a fabulous nonprofit here in the Northwest that fosters the contribution of so much valuable content and cultural happenings to our communities. Fabulous logo, and a site with tons of content to pour through. They keep their calendar front and center on the home page to alert visitors of upcoming events to drive involvement. SIFF is very active on social media and also devote a large portion of their home page to their Facebook and Twitter feeds. This site does a great job of serving up the information and content that its visitors want, in an intuitive manner.

Bellstrike Website

Clover Website

For nonprofits who are not able to pay a design agency for a professional website design, there are several online services of high caliber that cater to your needs – Bellstrike and Clover being among them. These sites provide powerful tools for creating fast and professional-looking websites from pre-existing templates which the user can make specified alterations to. This is a great option for nonprofits. It will help you attract and retain volunteers as well as create better messaging for your clients. Professional websites build trust and credibility, and are an invaluable tool for any nonprofit to have.

Now I turn it over to you – what are some of your favorite nonprofit websites? What are some of your favorite nonprofits who need a better website? 

A few years back I made a prediction to myself that 1920′s fashion and visual trends were going to make a comeback with the approach of the 2020′s, and it looks like I was right! Art Deco is everywhere – jewelry, women’s clothing, and I predict it will begin to show up in design as well. Bold geometric patterns and line, elegant yet simple accents. Brass and gold. Tall, statuesque typefaces. Although I don’t think I will be cutting my hair into a short bob any time soon, I can’t wait to see more of this style.

I was inspired by the 1920′s a few years ago during my time at Western while I worked on a student project. El Parejo 20: A 1920′s-themed Cuban cigar bar and restaurant. Here are the matchbox covers that I designed for that project (I did not design the cigar wrapper, but it goes so nicely!):

You can also view the logo and menu that I designed for this project here. What trends are you excited about that are happening now? What do you anticipate will be taking place in the next few years?

You can view the links to my image sources for my collage on my Pinterest board, here. 

I live with my husband, Aaron, our rescued racing greyhound, Lou, and our cat, Sidney. We moved to Seattle in 2009 so that Aaron could attend graduate school at University of Washington and so that we both would have a better chance of finding employment in our chosen careers. So far we are really enjoying Seattle and all it has to offer, and we hope it is our home for many years to come. In my free time, I enjoy reading, crafting, playing video games and exploring the city. I listen to a lot of music and am a Riot Grrrl at heart. I also love watching movies and supporting local arts.

Other places you can find me:
LinkedIn
Twitter
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My Website

I hope that you enjoy reading my blog, come back any time!

Katy