My wife loves to watch “deals” websites that specialize in children’s and moms’ stuff. Zulily is one of those sites that she recently ordered some items from. Now, I know, I know. It’s not magic related, but I couldn’t get over the thank you card they sent along with her order and I think there’s something we can learn from it. Here, have a look at it:

First of all, here’s a short comment on the design: all of the design elements work well to portray a store that specializes in baby and motherly products. It’s simple yet elegant and is soft and calming. The thing I really liked about it, though, is the copy around the edge of the card which reads:

A simple card isn’t quite enough to thank you properly. You deserve something extra. Please consider yourself high-fived and confetti-showered. We also did a happy dance in your honor. With spins! Still, we want to give you more. That’s why we put a Very Fun Thing on the back of this card.

Of course on the back they put a fun, short activity that you may or may not take part in.

That short bit of copy around the edge adds a fun, light-hearted human element to what would normally have been a bland, yet well-designed thank you card. Personally, I think it takes it up a notch to being remarkable and all it cost them was a little time and creativity.

Consider how we can add that human touch to our own materials. Sometimes all it takes is interjecting a little conversational humor.

By day, I work for a high end grocery store in southern California and we receive all sorts of products that come in to be photographed for our ads. One product was this Planters mixed nut bag that had us all in the office laughing our faces off!

Obviously, they were going for more of an artistic look, showing just some elements of Mr. Peanut. I’ll tell you though, the first time I looked at it I thought to myself, “This looks like a crime scene!” Maybe it’s just me, but I fought the urge to draw in a monocle just for completeness. Or maybe he was robbed at nutcracker-point for his monocle. I just don’t know.

Anyhow, there is a lesson to be learned here: look at your concepts and ideas from every possible angle and have others give you feedback on it as well before you finalize anything in print. Jussayin’.

As you may have heard, it was announced today that Steve Jobs passed away. He truly was a great creative man who had a knack for being able to tell what people wanted before they wanted it. If only some of us magicians could master that!

Of course he’s responsible for more than a few things, like creating computers and hand-held devices that are as beautiful as they are easy to use, or changing the way people buy and consume media.

I’d like to direct your attention to an article, One thing we owe to Steve Jobs, published on CNN, that credits Jobs for the fact that you have the choice of a multitude of fonts on your computer. It’s a very interesting story and offers a small look into Jobs’ life you may not have known existed.

For a little more inspiration, here is A Collection of 60 Inspirational Steve Jobs Quotes About Life, Design and Apple.

Mr. Jobs, thank you for being a great example of creative thinking, leadership and good old hard work. Take a load off, sir…you deserve it.

I like to call this piece "amoebas."

What you see above is the result of taking one of my own doodles and manipulating it in Photoshop for five minutes. Here’s a little offshoot of last week’s post:

Want to fire up your creativity? Try doodling! It’s a great way to really stretch yourself sometimes. It’s not just for artists and designers, either. Get out a pen and a piece of paper and go to town!

It’s sort of like when your English teacher in school told you to free-write about absolutely anything during class, only this is drawing. So for five minutes, do nothing but draw. You don’t even have to draw on a piece of paper. Try drawing on your napkin or cup from lunch. Make your drawing interact with whatever designs might already be on there. The point is, do it!

Now, don’t you feel more creative? I thought so.