The problem with working from home is one of focus and productivity. Working from home is recommended for the person who is self-motivated and doesn’t drop performance when working outside the office.

Working from home full time for most, however, can provide distractions and bad communication habits. Like the home schooled child, social interaction is extremely important. If one works from home, then doesn’t interact socially with others that could present a problem. Working in any sort of bubble creates some issues for the individual, but these might be more personal issues rather than professional. Like the programmer in the dark corner office, it’s not like some who do come into the office are very social. It all depends on the person.

I would recommend, based on personal experience and from what I’ve seen, that working from home is a great perk, but nothing replaces the energy of being in a room with other people. I would recommend working from home full time for developers and programmers, and accountants, to name a few types who might work just fine from a remote virtual office. However, team leaders, product managers, and marketing directors should probably have at least part time in the office. Entrepreneurs must leave the office, virtual or otherwise, because they need to keep busy networking and meeting people, so they might be best equipped to handle the fluctuations.

Personally, I really enjoyed working at home, but for me, I like the energy of being around other people and find that just the act of getting away from the virtual office and into the “real” office helps me prep my mind to separate “work” from “home” and I enjoy the luxury of part time in both locations, depending on the work load for that day, and what tasks are due. So, there are some things to consider. Write in the comments below, what’s right for you and why you prefer each one.

Check out the two photos here. Neither one is going to win this forgotten family photographer the World Press Photo of the Year award, but there is a certain something that’s been captured which the family will treasure and value forever. That treasure is not in the well-cropped photo. That treasure is in the horribly-cropped, way-too-far-away-by-professional-standards original photograph.

Notice that while the perfectly cropped version shows the mother and son in their precious moment when the mother is basking in the glory of her son’s 8th birthday, and the son just wanting to dive into that chocolate cake, there is something missing.

The missing elements are the little things which help you remember what it was like to be there at that moment. The little girl enjoying the moment of familial sweetness, the horrible-for-you-but-awesomely-tasting party food, and the super-sweet 70’s wall paneling. These are the elements of nostalgia which would be lost forever with a modern day DSLR and talented (or at least semi-talented) photographer. OK, well, maybe the paneling can remain in the forgotten past…but I digress.

While I’m not suggesting to take horrible photographs on purpose, maybe a good compromise to keep aware of is the not just capture the perfect little cropped moments, but be sure to click a few extra clicks in the direction of the surroundings of all your special events. There’s a reason why wedding photographers capture accents and elements. They know every details will be fawned and reminisced over for the rest of the couples’ lives. Photograph all the elements around you, because they’ll never happen again, but can always be cherished if you can capture them.

In 1994, a senior design director by the name of Lindon Leader, working at the Landor Associates in San Francisco came up with this stroke of brilliance. Leader had an amazing apprenticeship right out of college, by working for Saul Bass, who designed the AT&T logo among many other iconic images. Leader worked for Bass right after graduating from one of the best design school in the country, Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, CA (which is literally just mere minutes outside of Los Angeles).

Like most great designs, the first versions were not the best. Leader stripped  away some of the busy elements and broke it down to simple, yet elegant. It’s similar to the great chef Gordon Ramsay’s cooking. Simple great technique with the right combination of ingredients equal gourmet cuisine. If the FedEx logo were a restaurant, it would have three Michelin Stars.

The purplish blue in the “Fed” portion of the log represents business, reliable, regal stability. The orange in the “Ex” portion of the logo represents action, mobility, movement. For obvious reasons, they are the absolute perfect combinations to match their meanings and provide a subliminal definition behind the words.

Now for the icing on the cake, look at the negative space (aka white space) between the lower half of the E and the left side of the x. You will see a white arrow perfectly placed on the orange Express side of the logo, finally driving home that last punctuation at the end of the perfectly-crafted sentence. It’s like the final paragraph of a novel which finishes the story perfectly and wraps everything together in one nice, tight package.

The FedEx logo is the perfect combination of colors, readability, subliminal brand positioning, and one complete concept which fits the business and what they do, and how they do it, perfectly to a T. Just try to get THAT on Fiverr! Ha!

If you are interested in creating branding which helps you stand out from the crowd of competitors, then Contact Us to discuss the various Branding and Marketing Services we can provide and help you achieve the brand messaging you need to take your small business to the next level.

This has to be one of the best advertisements of all time. It’s the rare and perfect example of the right ad for the right response with the right placement. The stars align only so often, and for this situation they aligned perfectly for BMW.

Right here in Los Angeles, Audi threw down the advertising gauntlet and challenged BMW to respond to the all new Audi A4. Audi claimed that it was a step up from BMW. “Your move, BMW,” read the billboard on the Sunset Strip, and featured an all black Audi A4 against a clean white background. Oh, yeah. It was on now. S#!t just got real up in here…as the kids say.

One of the local BMW dealerships saw the billboard and responded perfectly and with finality. Santa Monica BMW secured billboard space near the Audi billboard and placed an all white BMW against a jet black background and simply put the word, “Checkmate.”

Indeed. Game Over.

First, let’s quickly go over the modern phenomenon, first. It’s viral video at it’s finest. It’s actually better than the typical viral video, because this one is 100% created by fans, it’s only 36 seconds long, and is as good and creative as the person doing their personal take on the video. The “Harlem Shake” videos feature a “normal” setting which explodes into utter chaos in which hilarity hopefully ensues. Before we describe further, let’s take a step back to this viral video’s very close cousin, the spoken joke, “The Aristocrats.”

“The Aristocrats” is an old joke which starts off with a family walking into a talent agent’s office. The agent asks, “so, what’s your act?” One of the family members (traditionally, the father) goes on about the most crazy, and usually vile and outrageously disgusting, acts that one could ever imagine a family performing together onstage. The crazier and more outlandish, the better the joke. After the joke teller is done with the act’s description, the agent asks what their act is called, and the father replies, “The Aristocrats!”

In the video meme version of “Harlem Shake,” the video starts off with a person dancing (usually with a mask or covered head) to the dubstep song, “Harlem Shake” by Baauer. The person is usually dancing in a room with other people around them. The people are completely oblivious (or uncaring) to the lone dancer. About 15 seconds in, when the “bass drops” in the song, there is a jump-cut and everyone in the room is suddenly dancing and going crazy. The wilder and the more outrageous…the better.

Similar to The Aristocrats joke, the beauty of the Harlem Shake meme is in it’s simplicity and completely unexpected sharp U-Turn into silliness. The video’s success, much like The Aristocrats joke success, is purely up to the creator and their creativity.

Here is the trailer for the 2005 documentary for “The Aristocrats” (some language NSFW):

Here are a couple video compilations of “The Harlem Shake” to get you familiar with the fun (some images NSFW):

And, as a little aside, the original version of The Harlem Shake video which inspired the memes actually doesn’t even follow the rules of the meme and is completely silly and has no point…like all things funny. Enjoy!

Comment below what YOUR favorite version was, or link in the comments below to your own version!