Marketing Director Barbara Logan is one of the most organized people I’ve met and/or worked with—ever. Being someone who thrives in a certain amount of chaos, I looked forward to getting an inside peek at her daily routine here in the office.
What is the first thing you do when you get into the office each morning?
Each night before I leave I print my list of to-dos for the following day. It’s one of my favorite iCal features. Sometimes I even rank them in order so that they will prompt me in the morning. So when I arrive each morning I get a glass of water, get a handle on my inbox and then take a look at my list to see where to focus my attention first.
What communications medium helps you the most during the day? (IM, email, the phone)
All three! I like the instant help I can get from IM when I might be on a call and need a quick answer from someone. But I like email for the record it creates. I have a LOT of email folders and subfolders that I constantly refer to.
How do you divide your time each day between projects?
I try to work through things in order of their urgency. The flow of work generally sets how I divide my time, although I am usually jumping from one thing to another all day. I don’t mind though—it definitely keeps things interesting and makes the time fly by.
What three software programs do you use every day and could not live without?
I use some of the basics everyday like Excel and Word, which while functional, aren’t that exciting. On the other hand, while I don’t rely on them every day, Keynote and Skitch are must-haves for me when working on presentations or with images.
What is your favorite non-electrical tool you use for work?
Post-it notes because I really like lists.
Thanks, Barbara! I’m going to go check out these “to-do lists” that you speak of…
You can always find Digital Media Manager Megan Morris logged on to something on the Internet. With a mouse in one hand and some other gadget in the other, you can bet she’s jumping into something new for work — and for fun. I interrupted her candy-chomping and code-busting this afternoon to see how a day in the office typically goes for her.
What’s your favorite non-tech tool you use for work?
I don’t really have a lot of non-tech tools in my life, but I guess I would have to say my coffee cup. I cannot even begin to function without a cup of green tea when I first get in to the office, and it has to be out of a coffee cup (I’ve used a styrofoam one before and it’s just not good).
If you could only keep one kind of candy at your desk for the rest of your life, what would it be?
Oh Summer, this is like asking a mother which of her children she loves the most. But if I had to pick just one, I probably would go with Tootsie Rolls. I would have said peppermints, but I know that Natalie always has those up front. So HA!
What communications medium helps you the most during the day?
IM, hands down. I am a multi-tasker and hate to be interrupted by the phone (email is OK, but I can’t stand a messy inbox), and IM lets me answer someone or ask a question without having to completely stop what else I’m doing and get off track. Plus, being a nerd, I just prefer to converse in text rather than in person. I would probably IM my family instead of calling if they would let me get away with it.
What is your favorite on-the-job responsibility?
Lately I’ve been getting into some more involved (well, more involved for me) coding, so any time I get to work with php, javascript or CSS I get excited. I still love writing, but I’m really starting to appreciate the art of building Web sites—even the nerdy back-end part. The more I learn, the more I realize the creativity involved in it, and I love being able to see the graphical elements and the coded elements come together as a nice-looking, functional Web page. It makes me feel very productive.
How do you refocus if you’re having trouble concentrating or getting the creativity flowing?
If I’m getting frustrated and just can’t get back in the groove, I will usually get up from my desk and walk around a bit, or I might read a quick news piece online. Just something to take my mind off the task at hand long enough to refresh my brain. Then I will usually queue up some different music on iTunes (which artist depends on what I’m working on, but I can’t really pinpoint how I decide… I just kind of feel it) and try to get back to it.
When Senior Editor Lena Anthony isn’t training for a marathon or picking up “most photogenic” honors from a host of different places, you can find her at her desk plugging away on the next MyBusiness magazine. I caught up with her this afternoon for a few minutes of her time. And a Clif bar.
What do you reach for when you need an afternoon pick-me-up?
I always pack a Clif Z-Bar for the afternoon. The packaging says it’s made for kids, but I’m pretty sure they meant kids and Lena. I’d seriously jump off a cliff if Clif stopped making them. Get it?
Do you doodle while on the phone or in meetings?
I don’t doodle on the phone but I often find myself jazzing up the letters at the top of a meeting agenda. In a weird way, I think it keeps me focused.
What communications medium helps you the most during the day?
E-mail, e-mail, e-mail, did I mention e-mail? It also creates an organized paper trail for those times when I’m drawing a complete blank on something, which leads me to the next question…
How do you refocus if you’re having trouble concentrating or getting the creativity flowing?
Knocking out a mindless task helps me refocus. So does refilling my water glass. Or telling Jamie a knock-knock joke. I’ve also figured out that some days just aren’t meant for creativity, and that’s OK. And then some days it’s like, “Whoa, brain, where are these awesome headlines coming from?!”
What is the last thing you do before leaving the office each evening?
I don’t have an end-of-day ritual, although I guess it should be “turn off my computer.” I read somewhere that would save gobs of money and energy. It would probably also give my computer fan a rest.
This week, Hammock’s design team let me pick their brains about the covers of our favorite magazines. After taking a look at 10 titles, each designer picked their favorite and explained why. The verdict?
For Lynne Boyer, the great photography and simple design of Garden and Gun is a winner. Kerri Davis was drawn to the big graphics and creative cover blurb placement of Texas Monthly, and Ben Stewart was drawn to ESPN‘s unique photo of basketball star Kobe Bryant kicking a soccer ball.
Check out the video and they’ll tell you more—and reveal which big-name magazine cover they didn’t care for.
With so many outdoor buffs at Hammock, it’s easy to catch spring fever around here. Now that the sun is shining and the weather is warm, we’re all fighting the temptation to spend every waking minute outside (I write as I gaze wistfully out my office window). As soon as it’s quitting time, many of us head straight for the trails, lake, garden, etc.; in fact, some of us are even taking up new outdoor hobbies. So, what can you find us doing?
Graphic Designer Lynne Boyer is often one of the first Hammock team members in the office each morning. On a typical day in the office, she stays busy designing and collaborating with writers and editors, but I stole a moment of her time today to find out exactly what keeps her going each day.
What is the fist thing you do when you get to the office each morning?
Check e-mail and read the CNN headlines.
Which meal fuels you better for the day, breakfast or lunch?
Definitely lunch. Just taking a few minutes away from the office to fuel up and clear my head goes a lot further than a bowl of cereal.
What communications medium helps you the most during the day?
IM. So often I just need a quick answer from an editor. I get faster answers with instant messaging than via e-mail, and it doesn’t clog up my or my co-workers’ inboxes.
What’s your favorite non-electric tool you use for work?
The Pantone color swatch book and my “reporter’s notebook” with many random facts and numbers.
What is your favorite on-the-job responsibility?
Feature design is the most challenging and fun part of being a designer at Hammock. It’s more free-form than working on recurring sections (departments) which follow a specific structure each issue. Type, photography and color are open for interpretation. It’s a great feeling when you can get all three to work together and complement the writer’s words, hopefully crafting a clear and visually interesting message.
Thanks, Lynne. IM me later!
For some reason, I’ve been thinking about simpler times lately. Times when I was younger and I didn’t have a 401(k) to fret about. Times when all I had to worry about was remembering my locker combination, whether Keith Barnes liked me or not, and preparing for the English quiz Mrs. Hohertz was sure to give every Friday afternoon.
When my mind goes back to my English lessons in Mrs. Hohertz’s classroom, I can visualize the posters that she had on the walls like they were right here with me today. They had a very 1950s feel to them: the colors, the fonts, the illustrations. The posters that I remember helped me out on more than one of those Friday afternoon quizzes. Each poster focused on just a single word, and these are the ones I remember best:
Associations can take a few lessons away from the wealth of information doled out during the panels and core conversations that filled the days during SXSW Interactive in Austin March 13-17. The five-day conference brings together the best and brightest minds in social media, technology and design.
No matter the subject of the hundreds of panels and conversations that were going on, several topics kept coming up again and again, and associations can learn valuable lessons from those discussions:
Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Are you wearing your green? Many of us here at Hammock are. While we may not all have Irish ancestors in our family tree, we love any excuse to get together with friends and family and indulge in good food, drink and stories—which is exactly how many of us like to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. Though we tend to associate the day with green beer, pub crawls and corned beef and cabbage rather than the 5th-century Christian missionary for whom it is named, the holiday has a long and rich tradition in America.
We like to stay on the leading edge of the curve when it comes to technology, social media, publishing, business and so much more. So when dates are announced for SXSWi each year, we don’t pencil it into our calendar–we write it in huge letters in permanent marker!