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Nyman Ink posts on not-for-profit marketing, design, communications and everything in between.

Not-for-profit foibles: what your website is doing wrong

By Jen on November 15, 2010 - 02:00

As you may (or may not) know, Nyman Ink does a lot of work for not-for-profit (NFP) organizations. We’re actually working on a couple of new NFP web projects right now. (Can’t tell you the details yet, though. You know how it is. Privacy. Security. Shhh.)

The more NFPs we work with, the more we identify common tendencies and truths.
 
Not-for-profit organizations, as wonderful as they are, make a lot of mistakes when it comes to marketing — especially on their websites. And sometimes, it can be difficult to get them to change their ways.

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Twitter vs. Facebook (a different perspective)

By Ian on October 25, 2010 - 01:00

I saw this post at thenextweb.com this morning and felt I could relate.

It’s an illustration by Kiersten inspired by a tweet from @Shaylamaddox and it’s about the difference between Facebook and Twitter. The post reads:
 
“It is true isn’t it? People you know who suddenly turn into link sharing, status updating, friend connecting, farmville freaks. Very annoying.

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Facebook & Twitter — a love affair

By Jen on October 4, 2010 - 01:00

At the moment, I have two internet boyfriends.

Well, not boyfriends, per say, but I am in the midst of two distinct love affairs. With two distinct social networks: Facebook & Twitter.
 
I’ve had a  personal website for more than five years now, and I’ve been on Facebook even longer. Initially, I loved it. It was like a big, ol’ party. But my love waned. Privacy concerns and the slow-dawning realization that my Facebook “friends” were largely folks I wasn’t very attached to, I started to pull away. I deleted most of my photos and personal information. I made my account unsearchable. I stopped posting updates. When I found Twitter, Facebook and I nearly broke up entirely.

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How’s your pitch?

By Nicola on September 24, 2010 - 01:00

This morning began like any other. I’ll paint you a picture:

Imagine me, rushing through the Dufferin subway station on my way to work. I was nearly late (it’s a Friday! Need I say more?). I was focused on getting through the crowd.
 
That is, I was focused until something caught my attention. Something heartfelt. Something unusual. Teenagers were in the station, shaking cans of coins for charity. “Help the children,” they called to the moving blob of commuters. “Support the fund!”

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Avoid advertising clichés! (or don’t)

By Jen on July 12, 2010 - 01:00

Different kinds of writing require different sets of skills.

Sounds obvious, right? It’s not. At least, not at first glance. Creative writing and copy writing may differ in many significant ways, but you’d think the basic skill set would be the same. Writers of all varieties need to be creative, concise and clear. And, if we don’t want to be made fun of relentlessly, we need to avoid clichés.
 
Or do we?
 
I hate to admit this, but the truth is that advertising and copy writing depends on clichés. The same goes for journalistic writing. (I should know, I used to be a journalist.)
 
Yes, creativity is better, but a lot of the time, what the client wants in a tag line or bit of copy is comfort and familiarity. They want something that feels right to them, and often, what makes a line or a transition phrase feel right is familiarity (at least on a subconscious level).

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Al Gore … a typeface designer?

By Judy on January 15, 2010 - 02:00

Wow. This guy does everything!

When Al Gore was working on his new book, Our Choice, he decided that no font was quite right for him. He liked Brioni, a typeface designed by Typotheque, but felt that the numeral one (which is an “old style” figure with a low x-height) looked like a shorter version of a capital letter I.

Typotheque considered his feedback, tweaked the typeface, and renamed the font ‘Gore’s choice’.

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