You guys probably have figured this out already, but I’m a huge fan of thin typefaces. So when I saw this fun & new font (valentia) on the Lost Type Co-op, I got pretty excited. It’s one of those typefaces that has a little bit of added character to it, which is another reason why I love it so much. Don’t worry – you can easily pick this font up for yourself by heading on over here. It’s waiting patiently for you, go get it!!

Did you miss last week’s “for creatives” feature? It was all about doing what you love and not constantly comparing yourself to others. Check it out and keep doing what you love.

Let’s face it, as creatives and/or bloggers, we’ve all had times where it’s hard to stop comparing ourselves to others. The creative community (on and offline) is overwhelmingly huge, and can be quite scary when you think of its vastness. Your blog, or art, represents a just a tiny space. But you know what?? That’s okay! You own that space. It’s yours.

I’ve learned that it’s a lost cause to start the downward spiral of comparing yourself to others in the blogging world. There will always be bigger blogs. There will always be someone who does something you wish you could or did first. Let’s face it, these sorts of “wants” will always creep up in the back of your head at some point or another and that’s perfectly healthy. We’re just human beings wanting to succeed at what we do.

So I’m here today to tell you to give yourself a little break. Stop comparing yourself to others. If you’re constantly negative towards yourself, your work and/or blog will suffer. It won’t be you anymore, but rather, the product of what you’re comparing yourself to. Stay true to yourself and take pride in the fact that you’re out there doing what you love … and simply enjoy it.

Let’s talk twitter, shall we?! Is it weird that I don’t know what I’d do without twitter? Yeah, probably. But in all seriousness, I have developed some great relationships with talented creatives over the site … I dig it. So, I thought today I would would share some of my thoughts about our favorite little place, twitter:

1. Be yourself. It’s as simple as that. If you let your personality show, people will respect you for it and enjoy “following” you. If you try to be somebody you’re not, chances are … it’ll show. People don’t like that fake kind of thing. Sure, maybe you use twitter to showcase your blog, portfolio, etc., but your readers like to hear about YOU, too. Don’t be afraid to share what you had for dinner or what your favorite movie is. People like to know that you’re a real person!

2. Say hello. This is a biggie for bloggers and online creatives. Some of the most rewarding and best networking relationships I’ve made have come from twitter. All it takes is a simple start up conversation for a relationship to flourish. You never know, your future business partner could be waiting for you to simply say hello. It’s funny how those sorts of things work! Connections are made every single day.

3. Don’t be annoying. Of course you can use twitter how you please, but if you’re trying to connect with others, you should keep a few simple things in mind so you don’t lose them. There are TWO things that bug me (and certainly many others) on twitter: First is when I’m constantly bombarded by linkage and advertisements. For example, I think follow friday (#FF) is a GREAT idea, don’t get me wrong, but when people suddenly shoot off 50 names and all I see is blue, my eyes immediately skip over them. If you want to promote people, try to get creative with it to avoid people blazing past your tweets. And secondly, long twitter conversations can be quite overwhelming for people not involved. Again, I think connecting with others is exactly what you should be doing, but when your chit chat sesh has become 30 tweets deep, maybe messaging would be a better idea?

That’s it, folks … I wanted to keep it pretty simple. I could go on and on about tips for networking with twitter, but I think that’s a story for another day. Just remember, be yourself, don’t be afraid to say hello, and be mindful of what you’re putting out there.

I’m on twitter, right here, if you’d like to say hi! I love hearing from all of you, seriously. Tell me who you are!!

For this week’s for creatives post, I thought I’d keep things simple. It’s been awhile since I’ve highlighted a specific typeface. In fact, that probably hasn’t happened since moxee had to start fresh with posts. So here I am with my typography face on!!

Let me introduce you all to PISTILLI … a thick and juicy serif font. It’s weird, back in design school, I was all about sans serif and modern typefaces. Honestly, you couldn’t catch me using something different. Luckily, I’ve grown since then and realize variety is essential sometimes. So hello, pistilli, I kind of sort of really love you. And … it’s free guys! Download it and play around, let’s see what you can do!!

First of all, thanks for all of the great feedback about last week’s for creatives post! I could be more thrilled to keep rolling on with that sort of response. I’ll be writing these weekly, so if there is anything you’re ever curious about let me know!! I’d be happy to talk about many things.

This week I want to talk about blog content. A lot of bloggers out there don’t exactly know where to start at the beginning and it can take some (dedicated) time to really develop not only what your blog will contain, but your voice as well.

When I started blogging for moxee, I posted about things that were pretty. Now that sounds pretty general, doesn’t it? It was. I didn’t have any guidelines set for myself when creating posts. The result was a blog that wasn’t as cohesive as I would have liked it to be.

At the end of my final design portfolio review in undergrad, one of my professors looked at me and said “You’re all about art, food, and fashion, aren’t ya!?” It dawned on me that yes, I am. My career is centered around art and design, I’m constantly thinking about what I’m going to eat next, and I love fashion. From them on, I knew exactly what I wanted moxee to be about. These three things have given me a focus of sorts, which has proven to be helpful.

Now, think about yourself and what it is that you love. After all, you should really enjoy (and love) what you’re posting about. If your forcing yourself to write about things you don’t necessarily care about, it will show. That’s for certain. And really, the sky is the limit when it comes to blogs. People write about everything from their children to high fashion. In time, you’ll know exactly what your blog is.

Having scheduled features has also proven to be quite helpful for myself. For instance, right now I’m writing a post for creative bloggers, like yourself. I have chosen to do this weekly, which in the end, helps organize my schedule of posts each week. Readers tend to look forward to these features and like to follow along, so having a few of these isn’t a bad idea.

Just remember, be yourself and enjoy what you’re doing. Your readers will pick up on that and come back for more, I promise.

Before I lost the old moxee and started fresh, I had many posts aimed to help creative bloggers. There were free fonts, wordpress tutorials, and all sorts of fun things … all of which are gone now. BUT – you know what? I’m still okay with it. Starting fresh was no big thang! Yesterday, I mentioned that I would be writing more on moxee. SO, the newest feature is for you guys, bloggers. I’m hoping to cover anything you’d like to know, from starting a blog to coding one. There’s so much in between and I’m excited to get started:

For my first topic, I thought I’d start from the beginning. I know tons of people out there who would love to start a blog, but get nervous about it as soon as they have to come up with a name. And I get it, it’s a pretty scary thing having to come up with something that you have to look at every day. Yikes!

Before I came up with the name moxee, all I had written down were words like “creative, bold, and strong.” These were things I wanted the blog to portray. And I’m not going to lie, moxee wasn’t an overnight “aha” moment for me. I took several days of jotting down words, crossing things off, and using a thesaurus endlessly.

Although there are many theories and ways you can come up with a new name, I’m just going to cover one of my favorites. I like to call it the thesaurus game.

Get out a piece of paper or journal and begin jotting down words and phrases that you either A. really like, or B. think portray what your blog will be about. Heck, do both! Next, take those words and enter them into an online thesaurus. You’ll instantly get hundreds of words that relate to what you already like. GOLD! Plus, you can keep clicking through to new sets of words. It’s like magic.

If you look at the chart above, I made a very cheesy example of words I picked out from looking up “happy.” Once you have a good solid list of words, start combining things, crossing off the bad ones, or even mixe up spelling. For example, moxee isn’t correct, is it? Moxie was my inspiration!! You can even start using a different language. Don’t quite like the word “quaint?” Okay, then how to you say it in French? Spanish? In no time, you’ll get somewhere, I promise! These sorts of things take time and rarely come at an instant. Have patience and you’ll find the perfect solution for YOU!

SO, what other things would you guys like me to post about? I’m open at this point to whatever you’d really like to hear about. Tell me!