Welcome back for a second day of work. If you're just punching in then you should know Highlowaha is having a creative work week. We are in the process of redoing our website and we want YOU to weigh in. Many readers have suggested that our current tag line ("Where Creativity and Community Meet") does not satisfactorily explain the essence of our Highlowaha community. We're contracting with you to help us.Added bonus... join us all week and you will discover an interesting approach to problem solving and creative thinking - Six Hat Thinking, (De Bono, 1999).
Yesterday the white hat. Facts, figures, neutral, and objective. Information generated during yesterday's white hat thinking will serve as the backdrop to ideas shared and bantered about the remainder of this week. Here is some of what we came up with....
Word of mouth is important; the word, "overwhelmed" was used more than once in talking about Highlowaha; One suggested "vulnerability" and "commitment" as qualities associated with readers most apt to engage; blog readers look for creative and practical ideas; the word "connected" was used multiple times; mothers and/or women between 22-60 represent our largest population; people don't post when the don't connect or cannot relate,
Today we wear the opposite hat. Today, the red hat.
Think of fire. Think of warmth. Think of feelings. Using the red hat gives you an opportunity to express feelings, emotions, and intuition without any need to explain or justify. Today's comments might start with phrases such as these:
- I feel...
- My intuition tells me...
- I have a hunch..
- My gut feeling tells me...
- I sense...
- I don't think...
About what specifically will you be sharing your red-hat-thinking?
Share your feelings, intuition, or hunches, about the five tag lines displayed below (the short descriptor listed above each is for your benefit. It will not appear on the tag line). Pick one tag line you want to vie for all week long or share some of your red-hat-thinking about all five. The choice is yours.
Highlowaha is like a Tribe
Highlowaha is like camp
Highlowaha is like membership in a Greek organization
Highlowaha is like a fun college campus
Highlowaha is like living in a neighborhood
Two things to bear in mind as you make your red-hat-comments.
- The goal of this week's activity is to make our blog more accessible to prospective readers, by developing a tag line/identity that better describes who we are.
- The facts generated during yesterday's white hat thinking exercise might provide some important backdrop. Consider that information while sharing your red-hat-feelings.
See you in the comment section...
***P.S. Special thanks to Peggy who submitted one of the ideas.
22 comments:
Taking the plunge to jump in was hard but once I did I felt immediately welcomed. Heck you guys even miss me when I'm gone. Heck, Dooce doesn't come looking for me...
I am glad I stopped in to play today.
Camp: Sounds a bit young and like I might have to go four days without a proper shower. Gritty, rustic, and kid focused is what pops into my mind.
Greek: I am pretty sure would never get in and if I did, you would talk about me behind my back. Not at all welcoming, exclusive, snotty. A very specific person reads this site, and they think exactly like you do. Also makes me feel as if there is something very not authentic happening. However the logo is the best...super cute.
Campus: Again, hitting a bit young, but it is better than camp. At times there has been mention to HLA people working on campuses. This theme, in combo with what you all do may make me feel on the outside. It does suggest learning and growth though…and keggars.
Tribe: Can I just say I do not like it? It doesn’t feel right to me. Like it is on the verge of becoming ethnically offensive. Sorry, I am one of those PC freaks.
Personally I feel that the Neighborhood theme is the most accessible and universally appealing. A neighborhood suggests a welcoming community with a variety of people on the block. That logo want my favorite though.
Sporadic Spy
I love the neighborhood theme. We are all very different people who would probably never hang out in real life, but the "neighborhood" of HLA has brought us together. I feel like the other themes are a little less welcoming or maybe not something that all people can relate to.
I'm not a fan of the camp or tribe themes.
I wasn't Greek in college still not Greek-seems to exclusive not inclusive.
Campus-I get that this started with women who worked at a college and some still do but I'm past college. I loved it when I was there but I'm at a different stage in life I have a child and so do all my friends.
Now the neighborhood theme I love it. Everyone has lived in a neighborhood at some point and knows what it's all about.
Wow! I totally agree with everything Sporadic Spy stated.... although I like the thought about Camp for Grown ups... when reading the definition of camp and a thesaurus of antonyms... I completely understand the gritty-ness to camp... (I'm not explaining, just reviewing my thought process when I was having fun) I guess I meant more of an exploration of your inner child and a re~living of things that are fun to try again or for the first time. Thinking outside the bun. And at times, bringing silly FUN back into the picture of busy lives and PC ness.
Every once in a while you need someone there to give encouragement and be YOUR cheerleader, and maybe give you a different perspective of whats actually happening in front of you!
Loved the Greek logo, but all I could think of was Animal House and House Bunny.
I agree to with SS, about Campus.
Love too, the neighborhood theme, not completely sold on the logo. But a community wall that can change with the seasons, reasons and times. One day you can write graffiti on it, the next it's a clean slate, another day it's puzzle pieces (what will unfold?)and the next it's a recipe card, another is a picture 'what do YOU see', the next day it's a box what do YOU think is inside?
SS wrapped it for me as well.
The bricks was a last minute change and at the time I liked it but now I'm not so crazy about the look. I like the feel of a neighborhood because I think it is what best describes us as a group and there are many places you go in a neighborhood. We are a community so I think neighborhood fits.
I think the big thing to remember is that nothing is set in stone at the moment so the feedback on what you like and don't like. Good input so far.
Yes, lots of different people live in a neighborhood and they all get along despite the differences. (I should be studying but left my books at home - how spectacular is that?)
The neighborhood just brings up warm feelings and thoughts..."It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood...Could you be mine, would you be mine, won't you be my neighbor."
A caution to creative thinking is letting one day prevail over another too soon in the process.
So... let me jump in...
Camp: I love my memories of summer camp... friends, arts and crafts, time outdoors, yummy s'mores and so much more. Camp is a throw back to our younger years when life was simpler. Adults go on retreats and go camping, so I think carefully done we could make the segue.
Campus: I am an advocate for life long learning!!! Most college campuses are chock full of students older than the traditional 12-21 year old co-eds. College campuses are actually a little like towns. I love the visual of sitting on the quad sharing ideas, food, and fellowship.
Tribe: Seth Godin, on of my favorite writers, writes about tribes. He says a tribe is a group of people connected t oone another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. Godin says a group needs only two things to be considered a tribe: a shared interest and a way to communicate. I love the idea of a tribe.. respectfully done!
Neighborhood... clearly a favorite among many.
Who else will take a crack at it?
Camp- I attended camp one time when I was 14 and I worked as a counselor at one when I was 21. I can't say that either evoke great memories. Sometime fun. Sometimes not fun. I mostly think of the movie Meatballs starring Bill Murray with all of its hijinx and the one song that goes, "Are you ready for the summer? Are you ready for the good times? da-da-da-somthing-somthing-something and a whole lot of fooling around."
Campus- I was drunk for most of those years. Both drunk and sober, I was fighting to overcome my extreme shyness and discover some type of identity. When I finally discovered the art dept I did think I could go to school forever painting, drawing and creating.
Greek Life- can't relate to this though I know some people really love the relationships they develop in that social setting.
Tribe- Well, if it's for a million dollars I might be able to live on a beach with no electricity enduring rain showers, little food and grueling challenges. I'm a big fan of Survivor so that's what I think of when Tribe comes up. Jeff Probst is cute. Can't you hear him saying "The Tribe has spoken. It's time for you to go." Not exactly what we're trying to do here. :)
Which leaves us with neighborhood, town or a city type theme with neighborhood being the strongest. It's that feeling for Claudia gathering on the stoop, for me gathering in the yard or porch, or maybe hanging over the fence talking to your neighbor because even though we do all communicate with each other here in the comment section there are some days that conversations go specifically between two people.
Not everyone went to camp. Not everyone goes to college. Do I dare say that not everyone has belong to a club- greek or otherwise? That may be a stretch but the Greek does give the air of exclusivity and we don't exclude people. We may all belong to some "Tribe" though maybe not called by that word, it seems too native. But everyone has belonged to some sort of town/city community where they go out to dinner, cheer for a local sports team and so on.
Okay, just got back from my siesta and was day dreaming... I understand your points Claudia, well put! Cheryl you had me spewing on to my screen... love ya!
My random rambling thoughts took me to the neighborhood or the HOOD (Heather)... in Mr. Rodgers neighborhood..... which then turned into Eddie Murphy and Mr. Robinson's Neighborhood (SNL)... which then turns to ME (me, me..) Mrs. Robinson's neighborhood.
I also saw Wilson from Home Improvement peeking over the fence... but it's Ray or (Hal) his alter ego...biving just the right amount advice to make you think... then I thought about Let's Make a Deal... what's behind door (brick wall, wooden fence, billboard) #1... then I thought about those electronic billboards that flip all the time with a new advertisement...and then I thought about the songs.... when the walls come tumblin down (no Jericho)... we don't need no thought control....then I thought of the Berlin Wall, and the Great Wall of China... and then I thought about what different things could be a wall... something with a door in it that you can open up to new adventures...a wall of boxes with something different in each one (sort of like the Altoid table) then what came to mind was the puzzle where you turn two boxes around to match.... I could go on and on... but that's what I was thinking about!!
Camp: I never went to camp, but what I've heard of it reminds me of the times when my dad would go out of town and it felt like a mini-camp. We could do all the things that dad would never let us do- like eat breakfast for dinner. Camp is like spending time doing the things you don't normally get to do at home- bonfire with s'mores, staying up late, playing flashlight tag, etc.
Greek: I was only in a honor fraternity and never a social sorority, but what I know of them is the close relationships that members have with one another. Also, many fraternities and sororities have a huge tie in with service.
Campus: I work on a college campus and love them. They are like the combination of a town and camp to me. For students, the parents are away there are a lot of fun activities like at camp, but at the same time there is a lot of learning, relationship building, and maturity that happens on a campus.
Tribe: I have read Seth Godin's book and a tribe to me represents history and tradition. There is a strong culture within a tribe and close bond between its members.
Neighborhood- I have always thought of HLA as a neighborhood of sorts. It's the place where the neighbors know my name, where they watch after my house while I'm away, they celebrate holidays with me, they share their person highs and lows with me (and yes, ahas too), and we send each other fun MAIL! HLA is like a daily neighborhood block party.
Camp: Bugs, reminds me of the Army, worrying about scorpions and the snake I ran over this summer on the way to take the kids there. It's also hot and sticky. I'm trying to remember the camp fires but you probably don't really want to hear my thoughts on those brain washing sessions.
Tribe: Village is more a word I'd use here, but the same feel, IMHO. Troop? Can't really flesh this out past the obvious huts references.
Greek: Fun, the in crowd, college. But then again there are social sororities and service sororities.
Campus: Being back in grad school, this one is fine for me. Even with a family, we can all remember college or even the later years of HS as mostly fun. (Those bad memories fade away... Or you can check my fb for the high school photo my old bf posted of me yesterday!) I think of hanging out studying in the library or quad. Oh wait that was today... ;-)
I never hung out in the library or the quad studying! HA!
I will post my thoughts and THEN go read so ignore duplicates... better I do this way since I know what I felt when seeing them...
GREEK is out... I hate exclusive, I hate the images that come to mind of airhead sororitiy girls & drunken frat boys...
the COLLEGE one is also out... partly for the same reason as Greek but mostly because not evenyone went to college or even aspires to college so it may be a turnoff
umm...there was a CAMP one... which was cute, but maybe a little underaged for what we are shooting for?
CITY/Town one I liked. Sorta defines what I think of this blog as, really.
Tribe, for me... well, I thought of that island survival show. Sigh. Not.
Claudia, I agree with the tribe... for me, it means something totally different. Our circle interacts with a tribe of Amazon women who hold a particular outlook/philosophy and who share a purpose of their own determining. but on the general level, with ordinary people that are not in my particular chosen community, the word reverts back to the survival show.
Since I have two little boys climbing on me - I'll be short and only talk about one - Neighborhood.
When you join a neighborhood, you may or may not know people but over time you discover people with common interests or some you don't agree with. The dynamic of the neighborhood changes as people change in their lives. Sometimes you may talk to "neighbors" every day (i.e. daily posters) or just wave from your car in passing (lurkers). But in both cases you can't have a neighborhood without both types of people. So my vote is for neighborhood - hopefully I made some sense...
Wow! Great ideas. As we progress through the rest of the week you will see there is lots of black, yellow, blue, and green thinking going on here today!
Show up the rest of the week as we continue delving into tag line ideas.
Camp- Makes me feel like a kid again. Makes me wonder what's next arts n' crafts, mess hall, early wake ups. Positive feelings for the most part
Greek- Makes me feel excluded, nervous. I was never a Greek, never really wanted to be but I think for those who weren't it invokes feelings of imposed inferiority.
Campus- Obviously someplace I like to be...to me it invokes feelings of trying to find my place in the world.
Tribe- This also makes me feel a little like the group is exclusive. Not sure why I guess because membership in a tribe is pre-ordained and there really isn't a way to stumble into it.
Neighborhood-Makes me feel warm and gives me a sense of belonging. Takes me back to childhood but not in making me feel like a kid but in reminding me of fun summer nights spent hanging out with neighborhood kids catching fireflies.
Tera... if you tune in today, THANKS for the good feedback yesterday.
GREAT to have you back. We have missed you!!!!!
Counting the days until we see you at Taste of USA and hear all about that new job of yours.
Well, I gotta say - and I don't mean this in a negative way at all - but I like the HLA tagline now better than any of those proposed.
I FEEL... "Where community and creativity" meet is a fine tagline, and that it shouldn't be abandoned.
MY GUT FEELING TELLS ME... that HLA can, and will be, successful, regardless of what tag line we choose. The neighborhood one has the best opportunity to work; but it abandons the reason the community exists - our common interest in creativity!
I DON'T THINK... our tagline is the "problem"
.......................
Here are my thoughts. I think we need to build on our tagline and concept of where creativity and community meet. Some folks who just stroll in and stumble upon HLA aren't probably interested in the community piece (at first).
Think about it... people who stumble upon HLA probably do it because of the creativity component, not the community component. The word "creativity" is what attracted me as a prospecitve blog reader.
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