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Many people spend more time in their office than their living room. Whether you work in a cubicle or at a spacious home office, you can design your workspace so that it encourages productivity and peace of mind.

Here at Peak Seven, we’ve just renovated our offices to increase the flow of ideas and create a more appealing environment. We’ve knocked a hole to connect our two offices into one, so that everyone can share the same brain space. We’re also adding a foosball table for a little fun and levity – taking breaks now and then is an essential component of progress.

You can also use the art of design to enhance your creative flow. It’s not necessary to spend a fortune on a major overhaul; just a few small changes can really make a difference.

1. Use color correctly. Certain colors influence people universally – just think of the woman in the red dress. العب وربح Color psychologists have determined that blue stimulates the brain, red affects your body, yellow makes you more creative, and green has a calming effect. The intensity of the hue also matters: pastels are more relaxing, while bright tones are stimulating. Painting your entire office neon yellow is probably not the best idea to stimulate creativity – instead, choose a pop of color with accent pieces.

2. Bring the outdoors inside. Studies have shown that simply having a potted plant on your desk can improve cognitive attention and increase productivity. Plants also filter the air, removing mold and bacteria and generating oxygen. Try some lucky bamboo, a pot of succulents, or a sweet smelling peppermint plant.

3. Adjust your ergonomics. Sitting all day while you work has been linked to a higher risk of disease and even mental health problems. But for many office workers, it can be hard to avoid. الرهان على مباريات كرة القدم Start by improving your workspace ergonomics. Consider the height of your computer monitor, desk and chair. With your hands at the keyboard, your upper arms should be perpendicular to the floor and your wrists should be almost straight. Your thighs should be parallel to the floor, and all of your most-used supplies should be within easy reach. You should be looking neither up or down at your monitor, but straight ahead.

4. Create space to walk around. Being attached to your desk can make you feel sluggish and stuck. Take a regular 20-minute walk to un-stick your brain during the early afternoon energy slump, instead of the usual sugary snack. Have an alternate workspace that you can use to shake things up, like a kitchen table, coffee shop, or chair by the window for brainstorming sessions.

5. Declutter your junk. Being organized with your digital life as well as your physical surroundings helps reduce anxiety. Knowing where things are will save you time and frustration in the long run. Use a filing system that works for you, including an inbox that you sort through frequently.

6. Make it fun with office supplies that you love. Whether you want an Office Space-style Swingline Stapler or a cup full of colored gel pens, using supplies that make you smile is an easy way to enhance your workday. What school supplies did you love as a child? Use pretty highlighters, colored folders, and striped paperclips to add some levity to your workday. قوانين لعبة بلاك جاك

Did You Know…

… that a menu written in an elegant, scripted font can make soup taste richer, creamier, and more enjoyable?

… that writing your product information in a familiar typeface can encourage consumers to trust your company?

… that test questions written in a funky font can force you to pay more attention – and get more answers correct?

Behold, the power of the font. Everyone knows that words are powerful, but the font (or typeface) that you choose to convey those words can have an important emotional impact. Discover the five main types of fonts below, and learn how each style can affect a reader’s emotions:

SERIF

A serif is a small line attached to the end of a stroke in a letter or symbol. As the oldest variety of typefaces, serif fonts evoke a feeling of reliability, respectability, and tradition. Impressive and authoritative, they are often used by law firms and brands that want to emphasize their prestige.

Serif fonts include the ubiquitous Times New Roman, which frequently appears in mass-market paperback books and is used in Microsoft products – making it one of the most widely used typefaces in history. Serif fonts you may be familiar with include:

• Times New Roman
• Georgia
• Garamond
• American Typewriter
• Baskerville

SANS SERIF

“Sans” is the French word for “without” – and sans serif fonts indeed are lacking any embellishments or lines on the end of the letters. Clean and modern, sans serif fonts project objectivity and stability. These business-like fonts are perhaps the easiest to read, offering an efficient experience for the user. Popular sans serif fonts include:

• Arial
• Helvetica
• Verdana
• Calibri

SCRIPT

Also called slab serif, these elegant fonts breeze across the page with a friendly, feminine feel. Script fonts offer an air of creativity, almost like a handwritten note from an artist. They soften your message with sophisticated affection, but use them sparingly – they can be hard to understand. Script fonts work best when the reader isn’t in a rush. You’ll find them fairly often on menus at fancy restaurants. Example of script fonts include:

• Lucida Calligraphy
• Edwardian Script
• Bickham Script

MODERN

To convey a progressive message with strength and style, use a modern font. These chic, no-nonsense fonts are bold and edgy, and favored by tech companies. Fresh and intelligent, modern fonts evoke an exclusive, in-the-know vibe. Some of our favorite modern fonts include:

• Eurostile
• Futura
• Century Gothic

DISPLAY

Unique, expressive, and a little bit funky, display fonts provide a touch of whimsy to your brand. Fun and amusing, display fonts are often used for products aimed at children – just think about the Disney logo. True to their name, these fonts are best for displays and work well in larger sizes. Display fonts include:

• Cooper
• Chalkduster
• Giddyup
• Curlz
• Eccentric

The next time you see a popular text logo, consider the font that the company is using. Does it convey the right feeling for the brand? Notice your emotional reactions to different fonts, so that you can choose correctly for your next design.

As I opened my inbox this morning, it was more obvious to me than ever that Black Friday has already started. موقع قمار اون لاين “BLACK FRIDAY SNEAK PEEK” and “LAST CHANCE DEALS” are just a few of marketers attempts at FOMO-inducing headlines (or Fear Of Missing Out for all my non-acronym fluent friends). Black Friday used to be just Friday, but with retailers and marketers alike pushing consumers to buy buy buy, Black Friday now begins Thursday afternoon for many stores. Furthermore, Cyber Monday began this week, instead of the Monday following Thanksgiving. What’s the deal? And no – I’m not talking saving money here!
Starting consumer savings before Black Friday means retailers could get a head start into the “black,” or be financially solvent (if they weren’t already). Unfortunately, many uneducated consumers do not know that Black Friday is NOT the best day of the year to get the best prices on items, and neither is Cyber Monday. Clothing is hit-or-miss and often you get much better deals at end of season sales or through retailers such as 6PM.com (Zappos’s clearance website, my credit card’s most hated website). In most cases, there are great deals on electronics for Black Friday, but the electronics you can get the best deals on come and go in trends. This year, for example, the PlayStation 4 is rumored to be one of the hot items that you can get the best deal on. Therefore, before you rush out to camp out outside of Best Buy or hit the mall at 5a.m., you should do your research. Take advantage of retailers who post Black Friday “sneak peeks” on their website or through e-blasts, check social media, and check sites such as RetailMeNot.com for additional coupons and savings. Amazon.com and previously mentioned 6PM.com are my secret weapons for finding lower-priced anything. In the meantime, since you’re already probably surfing the Internet for holiday deals, check out some of these facts about Black Friday and Cyber Monday:

• In 2013, New York City had the most people shopping online during Black Friday, followed by Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., and Chicago (source: Entrepreneur).
• 1 out of 3 Americans plan to shop on Black Friday (source: Entrepreneur). Hopefully the other 2/3 have more sane plans. موقع مراهنات 365
• Up 18% from 2012, over $1.9  billion was spent in online Black Friday sales (source: Entrepreneur). That’s a lot of Chipotle burritos!
• Surprisingly enough, shopping in stores at 10am or later was the most popular time, while 1-3am was the least popular (source: Entrepreneur). Glad to see people have at least some common sense.
• Online Black Friday sales peaked around 9am in 2013, and Google searches between 8am-noon, then again from 4pm-7pm (source: Entrepreneur)
• Amazon.com is the most popular Black Friday retailer with 7.7 unique visitors, followed by Wal-Mart at 3.5 million and then Best Buy at 2.75 million (source: National Retail Federation)
• Clocking in at 87%, the most popular Black Friday purchase were electronics, followed by clothing at 71% (source: Entrepreneur)
• Black Friday shoppers referred from Pinterest spent 77% more money per order than those referred from Facebook (source: BusinessInsider)
• Conversely, shoppers referred from Facebook converted into sales at almost 4x the rate of Pinterest (source: BusinessInsider)
• In 2012, Wal-Mart had the most Twitter mentions at 77.5% of the voice, but 4:1 of those mentions were negative (source: BusinessInsider). This is not surprisingly, considering the types of incidents that are reported year-after-year at Wal-Mart.

2014 wouldn’t be complete without another Apple product announcement accompanied with another sassy critique (the last Apple critique of the year – I promise!). This time, the world’s attention has shifted from the iPhone 6 to the brand new Apple iPad Air 2 and iPad Mini 3. تنزيل لعبة الروليت Once again, Apple lures us into a technology-feeding frenzy where everyone in society suddenly becomes a Veruca Salt: we want the newest iPad, and we want it right now! However, instead of introducing an array of fabulous new features that add value and utility to the iPad, the new iPads emphasize just one feature: its thinness. Although it’s hard to argue against a thinner product, some people just can’t handle having nice things as we’ve seen recently with the iPhone 6. For example, there was #BendGate, where people who sat on their iPhone 6s noticed they were bending (gee who saw that one coming!). Then there was #HairGate, where consumers said the glass of the iPhone 6 was pulling out their hair (honesty people it’s like 3 strands, let it go). But these flaws, not had with past iPhone models, do shed light on the greater issue on hand: While lighter and faster technology is the goal, it seems product quality may be taking a hit. Is customer satisfaction Apple’s goal, or are they just out to stay ahead of the competition?

At a statuesque 5’2” with baby hands, the new iPhone 6 is too big for my grasp. This size of the new iPhone, in addition to not needing a new phone, ultimately played a role in my decision to not get the new iPhone. Additionally, the phone feels so thin that it could slip out of my hands at any moment, leading me to possess a constant fear of dropping it. What is the point of having the new iPhone if I’m terrified to use it anywhere other than in a room with padded floors and walls? Why couldn’t Apple have kept the size of the iPhone 5/5C/5S and made that thinner or lighter? At this rate, should Apple continue to make every succession of iPhones larger and thinner than the previous, they are going to size-out an entire market of baby-handed people, young and old, alike!

In all seriousness, Apple has an obsession with going thinner and lighter than both itself and its competitors. Why? Because most people are not going to say “no” to a lighter and thinner device (except me because I’m a baby-handed rebel). Apple’s claim to fame on the new iPad is that it is the thinnest and lightest tablet in the world. The iPad Air 2 is 20% thinner and 28% lighter than the fourth-generation iPad model, and 18% thinner than the previous Air model. What does this do for you? Nothing except lighten the load in your purse or backpack by a few ounces. Thanks, Apple – you truly are focusing on the important functional characteristics that consumers take into mind when purchasing a tablet (not). Furthermore, the shock value of thinner products has diminished over the past few years: everybody’s doing it, but how thin can you go before we are all texting on cell phones that are as thin as paper? كيف تلعب لعبة بينجو It just isn’t practical. Apple needs to readjust its focus to improving and developing new features for the iPad, rather than competing in the rat race for the thinnest tablet.

It’s enough with the Trimspa for iPad, Apple. Instead of wasting money trimming edges and weight off of the iPad Air, Apple should have spent their money working to fix certain flaws and adding value to the product through new working features. For example, iPad’s 10-hour battery life has been standard since its introduction in 2010. While 10 hours of battery life were fantastic in 2010, it is now 2014. Don’t you think after five generations of iPad we could exceed the 10-hour mark by now? Additionally, Apple should have developed features that add value to Apple’s products. While Apple introduced one of the first tablets, they lack many standard features that their competition has, such as split-screen sharing applications, an Apple stylus-type pen, and increased RAM. Sure, there’s probably an app solution for some of these, but what *if* Apple could make these features standard instead? العاب تربح مال Imagine if Apple could save all of us lazy people the time and trouble of downloading 3rd party apps! What a crazy thought!

In short, unless you are truly in need of a new iPad, there is no reason to run out to grab this device. While Apple possesses an extremely impressive ability to market itself and its products, the reality is that its product releases for 2014 have been nothing short of lackluster. Here’s to a more innovative and interesting 2015, guys!

You may have heard the news: working 9 to 5 Monday through Friday is extinct, much like the dinosaurs (and hopefully soon this renaissance of 90’s fashion trends). الرهان في سباق الخيل With more ways to stay in touch with people than ever, there are also more ways your boss or fellow employees can reach out to you beyond the normal 9-5. A Saturday morning text, an 11pm phone call, you’re more accessible to your job, boss, and co-workers than ever. Chances are; your home is an extension of your office – a more comfortable one, at that.

Despite the never-ending work day for some, many companies are taking a stand against grueling hours. As start-up companies become increasingly popular and offer their employees more comfortable working environments than their corporate competitors, some corporate companies are taking note and making changes. Companies are evolving from business-casual to just plain casual, meaning their leniency on once-strict and heavily regulated policies is changing too. Working in a boutique agency myself, I love having a more lenient dress code that doesn’t require heels and pants/skirt suits every day. I can wear what I’m comfortable in while still communicating through my outfits that I’m a professional. Recently, Richard Branson of Virgin, the mega-everything company, announced that employees could take as many vacation days as they want, so long as they complete their work on-time. His reasoning? “Flexible working has revolutionized how, where and when we do all our jobs. So, if working nine to five no longer applies, then why should strict annual leave policies?” Sir Richard, I couldn’t agree more.

Other companies worldwide have followed a similar lead. For example, Germany is considering passing a new law that will make it illegal to email colleagues after 6pm during the work week. Andrea Nahles, the German Minister for Labour, studied the relationship between employees having constant access to their emails and poor mental health. اون لاين كازينو Her results were not surprising. “There is an undeniable relationship between constant availability and the increase of mental illness,” she said. France passed similar legislation earlier this year, requiring employees to shut off their smartphones after 6PM during the work week. While some people do not agree with this legislation, ultimately it is important to step away from work and have a life, spend time with your friends and family, and pursue your interests outside of work.

Taking company culture to the extreme is Amsterdam-based design studio Heldergroen, who introduced the concept of a disappearing office. You read that right – every night at 6pm on the dot, a key-operated lifting mechanism, supported by steel cables, lifts desks into the ceiling. casino arab No longer can you burn the midnight oil: that assignment you didn’t finish will have to wait until tomorrow. Everything on the desk – computers, papers, pens and pencils, remain in the same position, ready for employees’ return in the morning. Creative Director Sander Veenendaal transforms the floor into a dance or yoga studio, trend session, networking event – anything imaginable: “The floor is literally yours,” he said.

Some people love the hustle and will tell you that money never sleeps. That may be true, but I love to sleep. While it is important to maintain dedication and passion for your work, a work-and-play balance is essential. Some may argue that having a strict 6pm cutoff time, as in the case with the disappearing office in Amsterdam, puts people under pressure to work. Having a strict cutoff time serves as a motivator for people to finish assignments and to go home with a clear head, rather than having to go home and stressing about tomorrow. On the other end of the spectrum, Virgin motivates employees to take as much vacation time as they’d like, but this is a luxury that may be dangerous to some. Some employees may not be able to handle having an open-ended time frame to complete their work whilst fighting the temptation to take vacation days at their free will.

As companies recreate policies to accompany lax company culture, some will make mistakes, and others will flourish. Developing your company culture comes with knowing your employees and your field of work, and finding ways for your employees to benefit from your policies. Think about it this way: do your employees do their best work when they’re overworked, exhausted and under pressure? Or do their ideas flourish when they’re well-rested and fresh-minded?

Check Out The Disappearing Office in Amsterdam!

Our society’s inability to unplug from technology and demand for instant gratification mean the attention and time we can dedicate to even the simplest tasks are decreasing. Even reading factual articles on the Internet is too time-consuming for us! Content shock, as we touched on earlier, is a phenomenon where readers skip reading articles in full because they are bored, busy, or disinterested. So how do we present information to readers that interests and helps them learn? Enter infographics: content that combines text and graphics into one. Could infographics solve the problem of content shock, or is it just a temporary fix to our society’s short attention span?

Visualize

Content marketers and companies alike create infographics to convey boring material in a quick, creative and meaningful manner. According to Social Media Consultant Mark Smiciklas, infographics are “a visualization of data or ideas that tries to convey complex information to an audience in a manner that can be quickly consumed and easily understood.” Remember the five senses: feel, smell, see, hear and taste. All 5 senses transmit information to the brain, but 90% of that information is visual! In an average day, a person is exposed to 174 newspapers full of information, with only 1% of that information getting through to the brain. Why is this, you ask? The brain processes images simultaneously and text sequentially, meaning that visual stimuli makes it to the brain much more quickly than textual stimuli. To be specific, the brain processes visual stimuli 60,000 times faster than text. Additionally, Google search volumes for “infographics” have increased by well over 800%. I prefer to think of infographics as children’s books for adults: mostly picture accompanied by minimal text. We teach and treat children as visual learners, so why can we not do the same for adults?

Inspire

Great infographics inspire emotions – be it happiness, sadness, wonder, or surprise. Great infographics use challenging content, tell a story, take your readers on a journey, or provide readers with a fresh point of view. As a marketing tool, infographics are viral magnets. They are easy to share due to their attractiveness and versatility across social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest. Because of their viral magnetism, infographics are helpful to your webpage’s SEO and can ultimately help rank your website higher on Google’s algorithm. You can also easily increase brand awareness by simply placing your logo on the infographic. Placing your logo on the infographic allows you to position your brand as an expert of the topic you are explaining.  If you are not creating your own infographic but simply sharing another’s, you can use the infographic to add value to your content. Just be sure to give credit where credit’s due, which may include the author’s name, website, and a link back to the website or place of origin.

Learn

Research done by Barbara Miller and Brooke Barnett of the Newspaper Research Journal showed that combining both text and graphics is the best method learning information. Their summary stated:

“On their own, text and graphics are both useful yet imperfect methods for communication. Written language allows an almost infinite number of word combinations that allow deep analysis of concepts, but relies heavily on the reader’s ability to process that information. Graphics may be easier for the reader to understand but are less effective in communication of abstract and complicated concepts. … combining text and graphics allows communicators to take advantage of each medium’s strengths and diminish each medium’s weaknesses.”

Think of your favorite children’s book growing up; it probably had tons of pictures and illustrations. Children books feature a combination of text with illustrations because the combination of the two media helps children understand and mentally visualize the story they’re being told. Children have more active and wild imaginations than adults, yet as we age, we find ourselves referencing and learning from text-dense material rather than a combination of pictures and illustrations. In the case of adults, you would think that with a less wild imagination, you would need more imagery to explain concepts. Infographics prove that the adult brain still prefers to learn with a combination of imagery and text than with text-dense information alone.

Research

Beyond having great content and imagery, you must always do your research before creating an infographic. Assuming you want to appear as an expert in your field, it is essential to provide your readers and customers with accurate and up-to-date information. Use multiple sources, but not too many, to gather your data: too much information can fatigue or disinterest your reader. Additionally, use multiple sources to check the accuracy of your information. Include plenty of statistics in your infographic; pie charts, bar graphs, line graphs, and percentages accompanied with images help clearly illustrate statistics and other complicated pieces of information.

Create

Not every company or business has a graphic design department that can readily turn out great infographics. As a content curator, your biggest challenge is not finding content, but rather finding a way to present it to your audience that is both exciting and informative. Fortunately, Peak Seven’s team of dedicated designers can make your infographic dreams become reality. Infographics allow endless possibilities for presenting dense information to readers in ways that are interesting, meaningful, and easy to understand; Peak Seven helps you master these obstacles while helping you stay true to your brand. As 65% of the population are said to be visual learners, we should be presenting information to readers that interests them and helps them learn, not information that exhausts and bores them. Think you’re ready to get started on your own Infographic? Reach out to Peak Seven today, and check out some of our recent info graphics below for Skypatrol.