http://mettespraktikblog.blogspot.com/

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I am currently working on a blog post for this blog about books I have read about design, marketing and social media.

I got an internship at the Danish Vegetarian Society, for whom I work on a voluntary basis already. It was my plan B to get an internship at DVS since I started to send out applications. So after about 20 rejections from other companies, I called DVS and they were hooked on the idea right away.

So basicly I work on the same taskes as I used to, I design and develope their website. Right now I am working on the frontpage, to make it look a bit more exciting. The website is made in the CMS system Drupal, so hopefully this internship will turn me into a Drupal expert B) .  I also told them that I would like to learn more about visual identity and concept developement, so one of my next tasks will be to make the subpages look nice as well. One of the problems is that it is an information site, so there’s a lot of text, my challenge is to make it more inviting for people to read.

Another problem is that I work on my own, so there aren’t really anybody I can ask for help when I need it. But then again, that might be a good thing in the long run because I will learn to solve my problems on my own, which is a big plus when I get a job.

If you know about any great Drupal tutorials, when please link them to me in a comment, that would help me very much.

Thanks!

TIJI “COLOUR” HD from AKAMA STUDIO on Vimeo.

This book touches the same subject as the previous book I made a blogpost about, but this one is much more detailed. They start out by explaining the method of bringing your company into the, so called, groundswell (ground-swell), which is a synonym for the social media world. They basicly devide users of the groundswell (your potential costumers) in to 7 categories: Creators, conversationalists, critics, collectors, joiners, specators and inactives. If you want to use the groundswell in your marketing strategy is is a very good idea to make some analysis of your costumers to find out which category they are in. Eg. if your costumers primarily are inactives, it won’t make any sense to use the groundswell at all.

Furthermore they divide the groundswell itself into 5 different categories, which is kind of a guide to how you should work your way through the groundswell. The categories are called listening, talking, energizing, supporting and embracing. Listening could be a forum for your costumers or employees, talking could be in a blog and so on.

I can definitely recommend this book, it is a very interesting subject and method you are presented to. I am sure that this is a book I will come back to again and again for inspiration and guidance.

The book is easy to read, understand and use. There are plenty examples of how known and established websites work and handle different problems on how to make people visit the website, create an acount, buy stuff, being a active user and contributer and keep doing it.

He talks about how social websites are different from other types of websites. On social websites there’s a big focus on the dynamics between users, and how the activity of users themselves make the website grow and usefull to new and potential users. He uses Amazon as an example, because one of the reasons Amazon is so popular is because of the reviews that other users contribute with. Potential costumers have much more faith in other costumers than in the companies trying to sell something.

So basicly, to make a great social website you should focus on how to make people stay active on your site rather than on how to make people visit it in the first place. Because if you make it attractive and exciting to use, the power of “word of mouth” will do the rest.

This book is not a Bible in social sites, but it’s a great introduction and guide to those who want to know more about social websites and user behavior on the net. Enjoy!

Take a look at it here and remember to subscribe!

Take a look at his website here.

Novum is a creative magazine that has a lot of competition on the market. So the first impression to give potential costumers is by the cover, the cover should express what kind of magazine, you are looking at and what you can expect from the content. A cover like this one, shows that the people at Novum not just make magazines for creative people, but they do it for themselves as well, because they are creative people, they know what people want. People want something they can see is unique, quality and inspirering.

If possible, I want a copy of this edition!

Here you can see a great video about the design and printing process:

Novum 11/11 – Making Of Cover from Paperlux on Vimeo.

Blog source: http://lookslikegooddesign.com/novum-cover-paperlux/ & http://www.novumnet.de/index.php?id=1&L=2

I have a weakness for Berlin, and am very eager to go on an internship in one of the many great design and advertisement companies you find there. I went to Berlin last spring with my school, and we visited some great companies (art+com and vccp) and saw how they work and what they do. It was very inspiring, and certanly made me more keen on the idea of going to Berlin on an internship.

The blog will be updated once in a while, when I have something interesting to write about. I follow a lot of design blogs myself, so there will be plenty of inspiration. I will also try and follow up on the projects I am working on, and try to give you an insight on the development of the ideas, the process and the result, to hopefully give some inspiration back.

You can subscribe to my blog in the contact menu.

a funny animal at VCCP