Things I'm loving: unlined corrugated board

We, in the biz, call this unlined corrugated board. We, in the biz, call this awesome.

One of our concepts for this Christmas season at work included some earthy, natural colors and materials. I wanted to use unlined corrugated board, it has such a great texture, warm color and it's cheap(er). What's not to love? We ultimately didn't pursue that direction, but I've been using our leftover material to enhance my office. Check out my new wallpaper of sorts:

Some vendor samples of pedestals made of unlined corrugate:

I visited Anthropologie the other day and found they're using it in lots of the same material in their visual merchandising for accessories and what not... how chic?

I love the beauty found in simple, raw materials.
Image sources: olive manna

Also, check out this use of the unlined corrugate in packaging.
Image source: Lovely Package

Wallpaper Wednesday | 024

Alex Osborn is creditied as the Father of Brainstorming and this thought resonated with me while we were discussing brainstorming in one of my classes. It's a good reminder to strive to create something everyday.

024 | Wallpaper Wednesday

Well, it's about time for the first Wallpaper Wednesday of the year. School is back in session, meaning I'm reading a lot more. A LOT more. So, that means two things:

1. Blog posts are going to be even more sporadic than they have been the past couple of months.

2. Wallpaper Wednesday is back! I'll try to capture any interesting learnings from the week in my Wallpaper updates. This week, it's from an article in HOW magazine.

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Another quote from class, thought this one was interesting.

021 | Wallpaper Friday

This quote was brought up in my class last night... hard hearing optimists are usually wrong, but it has a happy ending!

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More great advice from Sean Adams that I need to learn to follow...

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True that.

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Something from class...

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For the return of Wallpaper Wednesday, I thought I'd put out something a little more light-hearted that I borrowed from our Photo Art Director...

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Last week I attended a "Chat with Jack," Hallmark's new Retail President, which was very impressive, but the following quote stood out as really interesting to me. He was speaking on his past experiences and how "sometimes in life you catch a headwind, sometimes you catch a tailwind." I thought this was an interesting perspective to keep in mind, that sometimes no matter how hard you work or try, it's still up to chance or the way the wind happens to be blowing...

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Another quote from Sean Adam's visit to Hallmark...

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Another great quote from Randy Pausch

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My mentor at Hallmark, gave me this piece of advice early on in our meetings. She's given me great advice during our touch-bases and I truly appreciate her feedback.

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Today's Wallpaper Wednesday comes from Jane Fulton Suri from Ideo, a design firm that "creates products, services, and environments for companies". Jane spoke at Hallmark some time ago and when an audience member asked her what kind of employee's they look to hire at Ideo, she responded with "T-shaped people," and it struck me as very profound. It's described really well here:
"We look for people who are so inquisitive about the world that they’re willing to try to do what you do. We call them “T-shaped people.” They have a principal skill that describes the vertical leg of the T — they’re mechanical engineers or industrial designers. But they are so empathetic that they can branch out into other skills, such as anthropology, and do them as well. They are able to explore insights from many different perspectives and recognize patterns of behavior that point to a universal human need. That’s what you’re after at this point — patterns that yield ideas."

008 | Wallpaper Wednesday

Here's a saying that my co-worker shared with me. How powerful?

007 | Wallpaper Friday

I'm starting a (bad) tradition of missing Wallpaper Wednesday... but here it is only a couple of days late! This one is from a day away I had here at Hallmark, I can't remember who said this, but I think it is so true and so profound. I'm glad that I have this on my desktop, because I need to be reminded of it every once and awhile!