The Evolution of Design Panel Recap

It was standing room only at The Editor at Large sponsored Evolution of Design panel discussion to kick off Market Week at the D&D Building this week! I was honored to be included with Michael Bruno of 1stdibs, Jonathan Adler, James Andrew of What is James Wearing? and Brad Ford of Design Therapy. Below are a few of the bullet points that were made during the discussion.

• Michael Bruno kicked things off by suggesting that if you are a designer who plans to write a blog, you better make sure it is the best blog you can make it. Don't be one of those designers who only writes one post and leaves it up for all to see. It looks very unprofessional.
• Brad Ford noted that he started his blog to help promote his work since it can be updated more often that a website that tends to stay static.
• We also all admitted that none of us are tech savvy and often rely on others to help us. Obviously Michael Bruno and Jonathan Adler have teams of employees but James Andrew also hired someone to help produce and write his blog. I don't pay anyone to help me but I do call Christian May of Maison21 at least once a week with a technical question!
• Bloggers are gaining not just readership but power. I had a shop owner tell me that my post on her new store brought in more traffic and business than a mention in a major shelter magazine. After James posted on a vacation home, it was rented by two different people.
• We have no "blogger headquarters" or magazine paying us so we are all trying to figure out how to get paid for what we love to do. If we are creating sales and business for companies, why shouldn't we receive a commission, gift or payment...that we would of course declare to appease the FTC.
• We are lucky to live in New York and have access to the D&D Building and all the showrooms but those who don't have access in their area rely on the internet so showrooms should consider having websites.
• We all agreed that designers and showrooms should have a website. If you Google a company and they don't have a website, it doesn't send a very good message. Since it can be expensive to create a website, at the very least, they should have a landing page with their contact information and a nice photo.
• I know in my case that I have to think twice about posting a company or product that I can't link to since my readers always want to be able to access more information or order a product online.
  

I'm sure I forgot a few but those were the highlights. I think we could have talked about blogs, websites, Facebook and Twitter all day! I always have a lot of people ask me about blogging and my best advice is to find your own voice, be original, don't post badly scanned photos, and be nice! Perhaps I'll write a full post devoted to blogging but that will have to wait for another time. I'd also like to thank all my friends and readers who came out early to support me! I really appreciated it! Bon Weekend!

UPDATE: I just found out that I will be one of the bloggers participating in a Blogger Breakfast sponsored by Hickory Chair at High Point. If you are attending, please stop by their space on Tuesday, October 20th from 8:30am-9:30am.