Tea for Two and Two for Tea

Why am I feeling all design-y this weekend? Must be something in the air.
FIN

via http://www.yankodesign.com/images/design_news/2010/01/06/hanger_tea3.jp3

Nice Package

Even CWs know a nice package/product design when they see one.

Great concept, Go green, point taken.

*Could use clever copy on bottle instead of copy that's quite a bore.

Make that list and check it thrice

Found a new Gadget for you obsessive movie lovers out there. IMDB's top 250 movies (I've seen 110/250) and you can keep track of all you have seen, and share it, save it, print it, everything it. Me like.

getting more for your buck

I've noticed an interesting new development for this specific disaster in how people can donate. Aside from the texting donations as Dani as already pointed out, I've noticed people donating goods and services for donations. As in, buy this and x% of proceeds are donated to Haiti.

a few examples:
Barry's Farm
This super cool shop is donating half of all purchases to the cause. So if you were already planning on buying something cute, you can do so and also feel like you're making a difference, while still getting the product you want.

or in the case of Studio on Fire, 100% of purchases of their already awesome calendar goes to UNICEF.

Josie Maran Cosmetics promises 50% of purchases to donations.

Many retailers on Etsy are also donating anywhere from 20-100% of purchases to Haiti as well.

i think it's a great way for people who already have to purchase something to be able to help at the same time. It's also a great way for those who may not have the extra money to donate, but may have the talent to donate goods they make to help with the effort. In any case it just gives people more opportunities to contribute the best way they can.

-suzy

TEXT Abuse

SCUM: Haiti Disaster Attracts Hoaxes and Scammers: "

There’s a word for it: sad. Even in the wake of a disaster the magnitude of the Haiti earthquake, some individuals feel the need to play hoaxes or — even worse — try to scam their way into an actual profit off the tragedy.

CNN reports on the hoax meme that spread like wildfire on Twitter over the last 24 hours, alleging that American Airlines would be flying doctors and nurses to Haiti for free. The official AA Twitter account debunked that myth, prompting a second wave of retweets about the hoax.

Going even farther down the scumbag rabbit hole, Switched reports via FOX News that some scammers are actually setting up fake charitable organizations to collect “donations.” Both “text-to-donate” scams and unsolicited e-mail donation scams appear to be sadly common after global disasters — the FTC issued consumer alerts about the practice as far back as 2007.

This shouldn’t deter you from donating to Haiti relief — but it should warn you to take extra precautions to make sure you’re giving to a legitimate source. The Red Cross has now raised $4 million in its text-to-donate campaign. Native Haitian Wyclef Jean’s Yele organization is another legitimate outlet for donations (text “YELE” to 501501 to send $5).

via mashable

Quite a shake

I have been glued to the media coverage on the devastating quake that hit the already desperate island of Haiti. Sadness ensued for all of my family is from the islands. In any case my post is not about the media coverage of this disaster, or the fact that it takes a disaster to draw attention to countries already in need. My post is about the commercials that sneak in between said coverage.

On every channel that is relaying the story, the commercials are "Come visit the Islands", "Take a royal Cruise [to X, Y, and Z]... you get the picture. And I am telling you my precious readers this is happening on every channel. I can't decide how I feel about it, is it taking advantage of the situation and it's popularity? Or are we as advertisers doing that trick "when things are bad, don't dwell on the bad, remind them whats good...". Or is it that other ace we have in our pocket, the theory that if the economy is down, or if your product is down, increase increase increase the amount of ads you show for the product, in this case Haiti being the product/client.

What do you think? Even after Obama's speech, the commercial that followed was for a Vacation package to the Islands. 

in any case,  you may visit the following sites to donate:
redcross.org
yele.org
*but because everyone in the world has their eye focused on this situation, you may find the traffic too high to even get on the site.

BUT again, our media obsesed culture always has another solution
you can text 501501 with the message YELE to donate $5 to the relief fund
or you can text HAITI to 90999 (red cross) to donate $10 to the relief fund

Here lies another problem. I interned with Obopay when it was just getting started. This is a program where you can essentially pay for items, or pay money to friends from your phone. Yes, simply text McDonalds and your No.1 Big Mac with large fries and a Dr. Pepper is paid for in seconds. It works, but the problem we encountered is that people have not caught up with the technology, and do not believe it is possible, and if it is possible then it definitely can't be safe. (remember your parents telling you that the internet was a fad and would never take off, or that it would be terribly dangerous and we will never take part in it...) But this is an amazing program that has so much potential, and is helpful, simple solution for making quick donations between lunches, picking up the kids, and juggling meetings.

I asked my 18 year old sister to deliver the message to all of her friends who each have a cell phone glued to their hand, texting most of the time. She texted me from school saying that no one understands, or believes that this is possible, that you can send money from your phone. Who is it going to? How do we know it is getting there? Why should we believe you?

How do we reach people who are not glued to the latest technological advancements and tell them "hey, this is coming, this is how you use it, just embrace it". The answer is that we may just let it ride. It will catch up to them eventually. (Facebook is just now in the past few years catching up to HS students, twitter is trailing behind, most HS students don't find the need for it, or know of why to use it) HS students have a long way to go—for heaven's sake most of them barely check their email! They have little reason to....yet.

fin

*editors note: why does my spell check keep telling me "texting/texted" is not a word?!!

a cartoon, if you will

an image I created to represent the times.

-suzy