The Tendo View

Insights and analysis for your strategic communications

First Person archive

  • The conundrum of connectedness

    7/29/10 • (0)

    “This book is about a yearning and a need. It’s about finding a quiet, spacious place where the mind can wander free.” Does this quote strike a chord? Does it conjure an expansive horizon over a shimmering blue ocean and warm sand under your feet, your BlackBerry or iPhone left behind?

    If it does, you’re… Continue reading

  • Don’t use that tone with me!

    7/27/10 • (1)

    A big part of my job is to consult on, create, evaluate, and distribute content. As such, I spend a lot of time writing about content. Some days, however, it seems as though a disproportionate amount of that time is spent trying to communicate what I think/recommend/need in a clear, emotionally neutral way to coworkers… Continue reading

  • Navigating highways and Web pages

    7/14/10 • (1)

    My recent trip to New England reminded me of one of the things I love about the East Coast: People know how to drive. By that I mean they know that if they’re driving more slowly on a highway than others around them, they move to the right lanes to let faster drivers pass on… Continue reading

  • How do sites attract and engage their audiences?

    4/13/10 • (0)

    It looks like spring is finally hitting Northern California. Grass is growing, flowers are blooming, birds are singing, and my son is now 14 months old—all around us, things are changing after a long, wet winter (and early April!).

    At Tendo, we’re gearing up for some changes of our own: We’re starting the process… Continue reading

  • HomeAway.com targets “Vacation” audience

    3/09/10 • (0)

    Now that I have a DVR I usually zoom through commercials, but there’s one that I’ve been  watching lately. I missed its debut during the Super Bowl but, luckily for me, it’s been on pretty heavy rotation in the past couple of weeks. It’s for HomeAway.com and features Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo reprising their roles as… Continue reading

  • Return to the hive

    3/05/10 • (0)

    If social media channels like LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and others are can’t-miss parties for marketers, then what to make of the dishes piling up in the kitchen sink and the thick coating of dust on the counters back home? Venturing off to schmooze and mingle is all well and good, marketers, but not if it… Continue reading

  • Project Runway: naughty or nice?

    1/09/10 • (0)

    The seventh season of Project Runway starts on Thursday, January 14, and I await it with the same feeling of anticipation and dread that I experienced when watching Star Wars Episodes I-III: I wanted to love these movies as much as I loved Episodes IV-VI, but they just kept disappointing me. 

    As for Project… Continue reading

  • FLOR’s design contest wins hearts from carpet

    1/04/10 • (1)

    I’m obsessed with FLOR. Everything about the company—from the cool, slightly Scandinavian-sounding name, to the environmental friendliness of its products, to its inspiring catalogs—makes me want to cover every surface in my house with carpet tiles.

    And now FLOR has given me yet another reason to love it. Last month the company emailed me about its… Continue reading

  • How do you read the Web? Eye-tracking data reveals 5 key findings!

    12/18/09 • (1)

    I learned about eye-tracking technology in my newspaper days, when places like the Poynter Institute would strap headgear onto  hapless readers to record where their eyes moved on the printed page. The data was always useful, since it shows what layout approaches and print elements attract attention and for how long—and also how eyes move… Continue reading

  • What makes a successful infographic?

    11/13/09 • (0)

    Recently, my colleague Bill Golden wrote a blog post about infographics resources. It prompted some discussion at Tendo about best practices for online vs. print infographics. Many of the graphics featured in this link, for instance, are fairly complicated and would be difficult to access online. If an infographic’s purpose is to make information more… Continue reading

  • Video games as a marketing hook? Try me.

    10/26/09 • (0)

    I’m not the target demographic for video games, and I rarely play them. I wasn’t a fan of online games, either—until someone sent me a link this week to TripAdvisor’s Travel IQ game.

    The game was sapping my productivity until I decided it was worth blogging about as a great example of a company… Continue reading

  • 6 good infographics sources–and how USA Today fooled everyone

    10/22/09 • (2)

    I distinctly remember some of the criticism of USA Today when it first launched: the color photography, the short articles, and all of those big infographics. That’s journalism? Do the editors have no faith in America’s ability to read?

    One thing USA Today realized, even before the rise of the Internet, is that we humans have become increasingly visual creatures. Nowadays, with screens and information pervading every nook and cranny we inhabit, figuring out how to organize and present that information is more important than ever. Continue reading

  • Local Dirt creates community, brings food close to home

    10/12/09 • (0)

    I love when technology solves a real problem and brings together people or businesses that otherwise wouldn’t find each other, or, at least, wouldn’t find each other easily. That’s what Local Dirt is doing for those interested in finding, buying, and selling local food.

    I find this interesting not only because I’m a consumer… Continue reading