Trip to Paris and Maison & Objet Excites “What Inspires You?” Entrants

DesignSherpa, the leading social media and internet marketing system for design professionals has officially closed the “What Inspires You” contest for new entries at midnight, June 21, 2010.  Hundreds of submissions were received on this site, all including an image and 100 words of inspiration, and our judges will now go to work selecting the top 100 contestants to move to the next round.  We will feature the work and submissions of our favorites until the judges award the ultimate prize of $10K, the trip to Maison & Objet, and the chance to blog about it for DesignSherpa.  We can’t wait to uncover the amazing design talent that rises above all others.  Will a design industry icon be acknowledged or will a new talent be discovered?  Keep checking back here to keep up with all the news.

We launched this social media contest to give something back and to thank the home design and remodeling industry that so quickly made DesignSherpa a successful service for providing full service social media solutions to such a wide array of design professionals, showrooms, and retailers.  We had no idea what to expect or what part of the ultimate prize would be most interesting to the design community.  It looks like Paris and Maison & Objet topped the list based on a survey we hosted here since the launch of the contest.  Who knew?

“What Inspires You?” Contest Nearing June 21 Entry Deadline!

Just An Image and 100 Words!

DesignSherpa’s “What Inspires You?” contest is nearing the entry deadline of June 21.  There is still plenty of time to become eligible for the $10,000 and trip to Paris and Maison & Objet in January.  100 contestants will be selected to move on to the second stage of the contest this summer.  You can find out more and enter here. And for a little inspiration….here is the submission from our 100th contestant to enter “What Inspires You?”:

The natural aesthetics of an autumn leaf, the color of lichen, and the sculptural form of a bleached bone inspire me. Clean, modern design also gets me up in the morning. It is the union of these two stimuli, however, which truly make me feel alive. On the hunt for a unique wall installation for a client, I found these bleached bison skulls while visiting Jackson Hole, Wyoming. To create visual interest within the arrangement I removed the horn caps of one skull and stained it black, lending an interesting yin/yang affect.

You have until June 21 to let us know what inspires you!

“What Inspires You?” Contest Entries Are Inspiring

Entries for DesignSherpa’s “What Inspires You?” contest are pouring in over the last week as design inspired and social media savvy entrants are getting into the game for the 10 day trip to Paris, visit to Maison & Objet, and $10,000 cash prize.

Here is entry #49, which we really like…..(Hint?)

Infinite possibility. A blank slate. A fresh canvas. These are my inspirations. What could this room be? Who will visit? What memories will be created here? In the quiet moments of standing in a room-to-be, a million possibilities flash like a old movie reel though my mind. In a split second this room could conjure a french market cafe, a morroccan riad, Notting Hill, a Soho loft. Will the room say mid-century Eames? Classic Dorothy Draper? Cool Vicente Wolf? Or maybe pop art campy kitsch? This is my room and this room allows me to dream.

Entry deadline is June 21!  It only takes 100 words and an image to get into the judging for round 2.  Besides “What Inspires You?”…What are you waiting for?

DesignSherpa and Designing Profits on Social Media Leapfrogging

One really successful Interior Designer told me that attending David Shepherd’s Business of Design events helped her to organize her business for purposeful and charted financial growth.  Looking back, a major piece of her learning was centered around the deployment of of social media tools as a foundation for a powerful internet marketing strategy.  So, we were really pleased to get a reference and a call from David, inviting us to participate in his September event in New York City.

We launched our DigitalSherpa turnkey social media solutions last summer, and are now managing close to 1000 social media campaigns for local companies in home design and remodeling, as well as other sectors of the local home and real estate business communities.  The overarching goal of the program is helping companies achieve the results of an expertly executed social media internet marketing program, while saving them the 40-50 hours a month of their valuable time that would otherwise be invested in the usual business of running their businesses.

This is a particularly exciting time for DesignSherpa since the program and its participants are receiving lots of attention across the blogosphere spurred by our recently introduced “What Inspires You” Contest. The contest is open to everyone, DesignSherpa client or not, professional or consumer, with an inspired design sensibility and reasonably strong set of communication skills.  The winner will find him or her self in Paris for ten days, attending Maison & Objet, with a $10,000 cash prize just to make things a bit more luxurious.

The contest was launched to celebrate the amazing reception design professionals across the country have afforded us since the introduction of DesignSherpa, and it is our small payback to celebrate social media, design pros, and design enthusiasts.  We have been simply overwhelmed by the level of two way engagement and participation we have enjoyed with so many design professionals as we work steadily at establishing their social footprints.

Most importantly, we are really eager to share some of the secrets of social media marketing with the design industry in New York in September, and to take it a step further by making ourselves available to implement and execute the programs in turnkey fashion and at affordable monthly rates.

We hope to see you in New York in September!

Where Do Designers Buy the Latest Trends?

Do you often find yourself wondering how designers learn about the latest trends? Where do they find furniture?

For many designers out there, Highpoint Market is the answer. Highpoint Market is held two times a year in Highpoint, North Carolina – once in the spring and once in the fall. The spring event just wrapped up on April 22nd.

The majority of the big name manufacturers and many  smaller names show off brand new products and trends. Store owners, managers, buyers, sales representatives and visual merchandisers come from all over the country. It is a very long, jam-packed, stressful week, but it’s well worth it in the end.

The show presents new products, addresses new technologies, showcases trends and determines which products are being discontinued. Can you imagine walking into a 40,000 square foot showroom of all new products, accessories, wall art and fabrics? It’s absolutely amazing!

Many Continuing Education seminars and presentations are held throughout the week. We always hope that someone attending the event will bring back information for us! Many manufacturers ask a local representative to give presentations for all of those that could not attend. It can still be amazing, but it’s not quite the same as seeing it in person, touching or sitting in the latest upholstery.

Networking is also a big part of the event. Dinners, luncheons and golf outings are often held to give the furniture industry  professionals a chance to reconnect, meet new people and discuss current trends.

Stores place their orders at Highpoint Market and begin to see the product flow into their showrooms by mid-summer. One thing to keep in mind if you live near North Carolina is that many of the showrooms have sales before the event to clear old products off the floor. Some also have big sales afterward to clear out the new products and make room for next season.

If these dates don’t work for you, there are also many mini-market manufacturer showrooms you might be able to visit and purchase what you need.

Have you ever attended a market like Highpoint Market? What do you think about this type of experience?

Transforming Your Room to Include a Home Office

Today’s employees are more mobile than ever, often working from home. When you consider master’s classes, children’s homework, social media networking, and keeping current with changes in business, a home office is a necessity in today’s households. You may wonder how to fit a small office into your home, when space is at a premium.

Nowadays desks come smaller, suitable for our laptops and wireless networks. Your printer doesn’t have to be on the desk anymore. It can be in a centralized location for the entire family to use. Manufacturers are beginning to offer 40 to 48 inch desk work surfaces that are only 24 to 30 inches deep. This is the perfect size for a laptop user!

There are many places suitable for a small desk, aside from a home office. How about your bedroom? Do you have extra room in front of a window so you can look outside while you work? Pair the desk with a nice upholstered chair that corresponds with your bedding and the space can look amazing.

Find a spot in the laundry room. Or perhaps you have a small loft space upstairs? A desk might work perfectly there. A dead end hallway can allow for even more opportunities. Try fitting a small desk there and it will accommodate the entire family.

How about your family or living room? What a great way to keep an eye on your kids while they are surfing the Web or doing their homework. It can also be great way for you to work while watching your favorite television program.

Speaking of the television, did you know that your computer can hook up to your set and allow for larger viewing during conference calls or Webinars? Now that’s what I call functionality!

Whatever fits in your home, you can’t go wrong with a small home office. How have you turned your room into a work space?

“What Inspires You?” A Design Contest That Just Might Have You Facebooking and Tweeting From Paris

The explosion of social media tools and networks, like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, create a unique opportunity for design professionals, retailers, showrooms, service providers and other luxury home design businesses to get active driving their profiles and brands on the web.  DesignSherpa, our revolutionary Internet marketing service for the home design industry from Network Communications, Inc., the country’s largest group of regional home design media brands including Atlanta Homes & Lifestyles, At Home in Arkansas, Colorado Homes & Lifestyles, Kansas City Home & Garden, Mountain Living, New England Home, Seattle Homes & Lifestyles, St. Louis Homes & Lifestyles and more, is tickled to announce a new social media contest that provides an opportunity for those in the greater design community – even those who blog about design — to share what inspires them for a chance to win amazing prizes, including a $10,000 cash prize plus a paid trip to Paris combined with a full visit to Maison & Objet in January, 2011. All inspiring entries will be reviewed and judged by an esteemed panel of high-profile stylemakers that reads like a Who’s Who in the design world, including Diane Carroll, Tobi Fairley, Michael Fink, Elaine Griffin, Marcia Sherrill, and Clinton Smith.

Here is how the “What Inspires You?” online contest works:

The Grand Prize winner will be determined by advancing through four (4) phases by a distinguished judging panel of leading design experts.

Phase I: Entrants submit a 100-word post and image on what inspires them.

Phase II: The one hundred (100) entrants with the highest scores will submit a 350-word post about an interior or architectural design topic that communicates their unique passion for design.

Phase III: The top ten (10) entrants will submit a video of no longer than three (3) minutes produced and created by them that is both entertaining and informative about some element of home design.

Phase IV: Three (3) Finalists will each be interviewed via phone to determine the Grand Prize winner of:

• $10,000 cash prize
• Expense Paid 10-day trip for one to Paris, France, with a retail value of $15,000, that includes: round-trip airfare, hotel accommodations at the Jean-Louis Deniot designed Hotel Racamier, and a 4-day pass to the annual ‘Maison & Objet’ trade show in January 2011
• Plus, the opportunity to contribute to the community of DesignSherpa blogs

Social media tools are helping home design businesses organize engaged online communities that drive meaningful leads and referrals for their companies.  Likewise, consumer design enthusiasts have been sharing their design sensibility and building profiles for themselves in the Design blogosphere, an option not unavailable to them before the proliferation of social tools.  So, we thought we would add a little excitement to the talented community of writers that is already generating amazing content on the web, and to those that aspire to inspire, but are undiscovered so far.

You only have until June 21 to submit your entry.  So, “What Inspires You?”  It just might line your pockets with cash, a plane ticket, and the trip of a lifetime to Paris, France.

About Social Media Marketing: The DesignSherpa Perspective

We believe that the core of a powerful social media program is content. The development of targeted content that is consistent with your brand story, which is distributed through social media platforms that align with your customers and prospects preferences, will generate measurable results in your business performance.

Social media marketing requires expertise and management, and at DesignSherpa our mission is to do the heavy lifting associated with building content and managing the distribution through social networks and increased Google recognition. This work doesn’t remove you or your marketing team from the process: it enhances your resources and focuses you and your team on the work of identifying and engaging high-quality prospects and staying connected with your current customers.

Our Chairman & CEO, Dan McCarthy, has been an early adopter of social media as an internet marketing strategy. In his personal blog, ViralHousingFix, Dan has shared many of his observations about the application of social media to marketing and has articulated some foundation principles.

To better understand our approach to social media marketing and to gain additional perspective, you may want to read Dan’s following posts:

Migrating a brand strategy from marketing to content: A case study

My two principals of social media marketing

Online content isn’t just consumed…it can be transformed

An organizational shift to social media: Project Massive Network

Social media can be a marketing platform: It starts with brand evangelism

What is Your Designer Doing to Give Back?

One rule many of us live by is “to give and you shall receive.” This applies to all areas of life – personal, work, talents, health, etc. So that brings me to my question: what is your designer doing to give back?

I suggest asking and finding out what they might be involved in throughout the community. Involved professionals can network you to all sorts of people whom may help further your own career or life. Since you will be spending the next couple of months getting to know each other, I suggest making sure you are spending your money on an investment.

Last evening I attended a wonderful event for DIFFA (Design Industries Foundation Fighting AIDS), which is “one of the country’s largest supporters of direct care for people living with HIV/AIDS and preventive education for those at risk.” One of my industry representatives invited me to attend and I agreed, not knowing much about what I was getting myself into.

I’ve been involved in non-profit design work before through ASID (American Society for Interior Designers) and also helped start up IDCFC (Interior Designer’s Coalition for Change) in Michigan, but never have I experienced an event quite like this. DIFFA has held fundraisers in many major metropolitan areas, such as New York, Chicago, Dallas and Seattle. Now it is time for Detroit to embrace DIFFA!

Detroit Hour Media, Detroit Home and Rossetti Architects sponsored the event at a fabulous store called Leon and Lulu’s in Clawson, Michigan. Inspiration was all around the design professionals from many areas, including architecture, fashion design, interior design, and photography and consumer product design. This was an extraordinary event where I met many new designers and media professionals to expand my large network in the industry.

When working with a client there are many side conversations that may come up. Just imagine the people a designer works with through all areas of life. Now you may be looking for a great photographer and I may know just the person for you! Or you may be involved in a charity that just might be re-doing an interior space, and I may know a designer who will donate work to help the charity out. It’s amazing what a little bit of giving back and networking can do for everyone.

If you are not involved or your designer is not involved in your local community, I encourage you to find out what’s out there. You just never know what opportunities might come your way.

How do you give back to your community? Has your life been enriched because of networking contacts? Tell us your story or suggest a great organization to get involved with in your area.

Interior Design on the Go: Making Work Portable

I remember my days on my college campus fondly. The smell of fall in the air as the first semester of the school year began. It was not long until I was assigned my first design projects of the term. Being over ambitious, of course I wanted to create the most impactful and awe-striking presentation boards. The only problem was that I lived on the opposite corner of campus from the interior design instruction facility…ugh…which meant the bigger the boards, the more “sailing away” would happen during the travels to and from class. If you don’t already know, design boards are heavy, large, awkward and expensive! So the last thing you want to happen is to have your project fly away in the wind, or worse yet, having the large flat object cause you to fly into traffic!

Designers have come a long way in the last 5 years in regards to presentation methods. I think as an industry we have become a little more mobile, streamlined and all around “slimmer.” I am not saying a good ol’ fashioned presentation board isn’t ever called for – I have just experienced less and less requests for them. They cannot be altered as easily and quickly as digital presentations, not to mention they can take more time to fabricate, as well as to be shipped or delivered. So, as we become more tech-savvy and digital as an industry do you think we are losing something?

The “green” side of my brain says no, but the side of me that enjoys classical music and board games says yes! In regards to designers being more environmentally conscience, I think by creating more digital presentations, we are drastically reducing the amount of embodied energy we put into developing end results (this does not mean we skimp on brain power and the wonderful intangible parts of design work). The amount of shipping that takes place to get samples and then the amount of mounting materials it takes to create presentation boards can be substantial…not to mention that the more digital we go, the less chance there is to experience accidents with Exacto knifes and hot glue guns! I bet you did not know being an\ interior designer could be so dangerous.

In the end, I still think making work more portable through online meetings, graphic presentations and research via the internet is inevitable in order to keep up with the pace of business today. But it is still nice to see a well crafted presentation board on display and think…yeah , I could still do that!

Next Page »