STEPHANIE ORMA :: travel, arts, & design writer

Orma Design & Communications had the awesome opportunity to promote The 27th Annual Tiburon Wine Festival event this year. Along with fantastic media coverage in: Wine Enthusiast, Marin Magazine, Wines & Vines Magazine, Napa Valley Life Magazine, Marin Independent Journal, The San Francisco Examiner, MarinScope Newspapers, Pacific Sun, and the Tiburon Ark (to name just a few), the festival has officially sold out!

27th Annual Tiburon Wine Festival in May 2010 Marin Magazine

Located in one of the most picturesque waterfront communities in the world, The Tiburon Wine Festival is San Francisco’s premier outdoor wine event. Boasting breathtaking views, world class wines (vintages from over 60 premium wineries) savory food from over 20 restaurants and vendors, a giant silent auction, and live entertainment – this event is not to be missed!

To quote Billy Joel, “A bottle of red, a bottle of white. I’ll meet you anytime you want….” Hope to meet you at the The 27th Annual Tiburon Wine Festival next Saturday, May 15th.

Because of the PR buzz Orma Design created for the Tiburon Chamber of Commerce’s 2009 “A Storybook Holiday Festival,” (as seen in: 7×7 SF,Bay Area on the Cheap, NBC Bay Area, InsideBayArea.com, Marin Magazine, SF Gate,SF City Dish, The Squid List, Fun Cheap SF, SF Station, Marin Mommies, Pacific Sun, MoreMarin,San Jose Mercury News, and more!) it has caught national attention – NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC that is.


Interested in capturing the colour and life of San Francisco Bay Area’s holiday festivities, a smallAustralian Film Crew from National Geographic is tentatively set to record highlights from tonight’s celebration: classic holiday caroling by Oakland’sYoung Performers International Chorus, christmas tree lighting, costumed characters strolling along magical Main Street, yummy gingerbread house making, tasty treats and more!

As typical of most small town holiday celebrations, past PR for Tiburon’s local events included banner’s placed around town and mentions in the local newspaper, the Tiburon Ark.Although, hesitant at first to spend the marketing dollars on PR in an economy struggling to gain momentum, the Chamber is definitely seeing the benefits.

With breathtaking views of the city skyline, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco Bay, and Angel Island, Tiburon CA is by far one the most under-rated, must-see small town’s in the Bay Area.  So come join in the festivites this evening from 5:30pm to a “twinkling hour” and experience the town’s eclectic shops and tasty restaurants (who will be offering budget-worthy discounts, btw!)

OR make a weekend trip of it! This Saturday the Belvedere-Tiburon Landmarks Society’s will be holding it’s annual Holiday Crafts Fair on Dec 5th from 10am-4pm at The Cottage at the Art and Garden Center, 841 Tiburon Blvd., Tiburon, CA 94920. The Holiday Crafts Fair will feature fabulous indie goodies from Bay Area artisans. You don’t want to miss this!
(originally appeared in SF Examiner  12/04/09)

When I recently contacted over 16 freelance graphic designers and more than 10 graphic design firms for an article I was writing/researching for a major design publication, the response was seriously underwhelming to say the least. With a fantastic opportunity to gain nationwide exposure for their creative work and boost their business (in this economy no less), why would smart, talented designers choose to ignore priceless PR practically handed to them on a silver platter?

I’m not about to go into a whole spiel on the value of PR. For that, you can read Brett Turner’s insightful article on PRWeek, “Why PR Matters in a Down Economy.” But to address how important PR is specifically to a graphic designer’s career, I will say this: in a highly oversaturated field where even the most talented of folks are a dime a dozen, standing out from the crowd is pretty darn crucial whether you’re a freelancer, employee, or firm. When an unbiased columnist from a major design publication writes a rave review of your creative work, that’s credibility and exposure you simply can’t buy.

For reference, just look at how PR helped the careers of Chip Kidd, Stefan Sagmeister, Paula Scher, and any number of graphic designers you can name off-hand. By being featured in magazines, books, annuals, etc. not only is the design community exposed to their work, but so to are the plethora of businesses that hire them. Yes, the aforementioned designers are incredibly talented. But who’s to say you’re not in their league too? The problem is, if no one knows about your work it makes it that much harder to sell your skills. Unfortunately, talent alone won’t always help us win jobs – we have to be great designers and marketers (of ourselves).

So as a champion of creative folks everywhere and in a valiant effort to prevent designers from ever passing over great publicity again, I have provided a short Graphic Designers’ FAQ Guide to Public Relations (for what to do once you’ve been contacted by that dream publication):

Q: What if I’m uncomfortable with the subject matter I’m being interviewed about such as, “how to get clients?” I don’t want thousands of folks to read the “secrets” of how I go about gaining new business.

A: In one of my previous articles, “How to Get Graphic Design and Copywriting Clients: Drop the Mouse and Step Away from the Computer” this exact situation occurred. A few prominent design firms declined the interview because they felt uncomfortable revealing proprietary information that they felt might harm their business. But as creative folks in a creative industry, you are by the very nature of your job description – creative. So rather than turning away priceless PR, apply those creative juices to your responses and spin the information to best feature you/your firm. Talk about an incredibly clever direct mailer you sent out and include images so your design work has a chance to be featured, as well. Mention your blog as a means to gaining new clients and provide the url to drive readers to the site or name drop the awards you’ve won and how that’s helped you gain new business. The point is, with a little effort and creative thinking no subject matter has to be off-limits.

Q: What if I don’t have much to contribute on the subject matter the interviewer is inquiring about? I haven’t really been in that situation before and don’t think I have anything of value to add.

A: Drop the humbleness. Leave it right next to the mouse. And don’t even think of picking it up. Every designer is an individual and thus, has a unique perspective on being a graphic designer. This fact alone makes your thoughts/responses on any design question valid and valuable. So don’t sell yourself short and close the PR opportunity door prematurely. Thinking creatively is what you do for a living! So shift into brainstorming mode, position yourself as an expert, and put in the effort to provide some great, creative responses. The worst-case scenario is the interviewer decides not to use your answers, and the best case is awesome exposure for you! In other words, you literally have nothing to lose by trying.

“That’s all well and great,” you might be thinking, “but while other lucky bastards turned down a great opportunity, how do I get contacted/featured for a design article?” For starters, why not contact me (Stephanie Orma) or the editor of your favorite design publication with an article idea featuring you/your firm (hint: your chances of exposure increase greatly by making it more than just a “here’s my work, please feature me” email).

Bottom line – In the ever-expanding creative industry, if you can learn to apply your already highly developed creative thinking skills from the visual arena to the marketing of brand “you,” then you’ll do more than just survive – you’ll thrive. And who knows, you might just be added to the short list of graphic designers we all know by name.
(originally appeared in SF Examiner  6/28/09)

When running a one-man show as a self-employed creative (artist, graphic designer, illustrator, photographer, writer, etc.), how we prioritize our time is of the utmost importance to the success of our business. When the economy is good, our days are spent juggling “the creative side” with all the other tasks of keeping the company afloat. But when times are slow, like now, an imbalanced portion of our time is spent on promotion. This, of course, is an absolute necessity. But with a significant portion of time spent marketing via Twitter, FaceBook, LinkedIn, blogs, online discussion groups, sending out direct mailers, emails, and the like, at what point do we take a break from all this promoting and start creating again?

Clever new card created for my greeting card company She's SO Creative. Photo Courtesy Stephanie Orma / She's SO Creative.

For my greeting card business, She’s SO Creative, I certainly find myself struggling to justify time spent on creating new cards when business is slow. Do I create new products when I still have a fair amount of unsold inventory or do I just hold off and wait for the storm to subside? Retailers need fresh inventory in their stores because customers will stop coming if they see the same old products day in and day out. And retailers won’t buy from manufacturers if they having nothing new to offer.

Along the same lines, how do we as commercial artists grow our talents in a sluggish economy, if we’re not gaining new clients? Taking on new projects challenges us, keeps our skills sharp, and feeds our creative souls. And those entities are the bread and butter of our business. Plus, creating new work adds another project to our portfolio; an extremely vital element as it’s the actual tangible item that sells our services.

Whether we create a new project in a graphic design or illustration class, take on a non-for-profit client, or write a magazine article on spec, this is our livelihood and we need to keep moving forward. I absolutely believe we should be spending a large portion of our time promoting our services and drumming up new business. But I think it’s equally important to dedicate a certain portion of our day, our week, our lives to creating. In fact, I’m cutting this article short to start working on some new greeting cards right now!

(originally appeared in SF Examiner  3/30/09)