April Newsletter: The Power of Communicating with Images | Facebook Security Tips | $10 off

Celebrate Your Place in Space

The Power of Communicating with Images
As an interactive designer I'm fascinated by how much we communicate nonverbally. From websites to social media to the humble business card, we transmit a lot of information visually. But sometimes the effectiveness of a piece has nothing to do with design, it's simply the emotional power of an image. Take for example the high resolution Earthrise image by the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter showing our planet from the surface of the Moon. To me, April is a celebration of Earth and a reminder that caring for our cosmic home is nothing less than our sacred duty. Like the more famous "Blue Marble" photo from 1968, this shot instantly communicates - without words - that we are one family living together on a tiny planet. Whether you're a small business striving to use your website to boost sales or a nonprofit using social media to attract donors, powerful images reach people at an emotional level and can carry your message far and wide. If you think that's far fetched, consider the ways in which iconic imagery has shaped our cultural landscape and altered the course of history. ​

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Concerned about Facebook? Here's how to protect yourself
In the aftermath of Facebook's mind boggling privacy breach revelations I've had a few concerned calls about using social media. While it is scary that companies like Cambridge Analytica were able to purchase data and quite possibly influence political elections in several countries, those bad actors should not be allowed to overshadow the positive aspects of social media. Like me, many of my clients use Facebook to get new business, share knowledge and connect to colleagues and industry associations. Nonprofits and popular movements use social media in general to fundraise and organize. But like all media, it is important to consume it with a critical mind and common sense. Who benefits from this or that story? Am I taking proper precautions? Assuming the good outweighs the bad, here are some simple ways to make your use of Facebook more secure.

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Happy Earth Day Month!
I love April for it's flowers, bunnies, bright colors and glorious celebration of our celestial home. So I want to share with you some a quote from one of my greatest heroes, Carl Sagan on seeing the Earth from 3.7 million miles away via the Voyager 1 spacecraft. Enjoy  ~ Ame

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"We succeeded in taking that picture [from deep space], and, if you look at it, you see a dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever lived, lived out their lives. The aggregate of all our joys and sufferings, thousands of confident religions, ideologies and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilizations, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every hopeful child, every mother and father, every inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every superstar, every supreme leader, every saint and sinner in the history of our species, lived there on a mote of dust, suspended in a sunbeam."
- Carl Sagan

If you've made it this far, thanks for reading!
​Here is one of my all time favorite songs as your special treat.