Adobe Voice: Great for telling stories, not so great for sharing stories.

Adobe released a new story telling app for the iPad called Adobe Voice. It’s a simple and really fun way to make voice-driven explainer videos.

You begin by recording a short audio recording. (Don’t worry, there’s a magic automatic make your voice sound better element included.) You can then add royalty free icons, photos or text—or you can upload photos from your iPad. You have a choice of 30 or so themes with set fonts and transitions and a limited selection of background music.

Here's a short video I created with Adobe Voice:

Simplicity = success. You’re only limited to a choice of 5 different layout per slide. While it would be nice to be able to tinker a bit more, the strength of Adobe Voice is in its simplicity. The average person will be able to create a nice looking video without knowledge of typography or design. There are even prompts that ask you about your story if you don’t know how to proceed. Yes, you can do a lot more with programs like iMovie, but Adobe Voice lets you create a beautiful piece in minutes.

Sharing is caring. To share your Adobe Voice video you have to upload it to Adobe’s servers requiring you to create an Adobe Cloud account. From there you can share on Facebook, Twitter or use an embed code. While the player page is beautiful, it gives you no indication of how many views. or where the video has been shared. I would really like to be able to save the videos onto a device (useful for kid’s homework) or to be able to upload to YouTube, to be able to leverage the searchability of the Internet’s second largest search engine.

Rating: Creative: Excellent Social: Fail

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Happy creating!

Freelancing and taxes.

Receiving all the 1090s in the mail every year is like receiving postcards from good friends. And then I had a sudden realization.

How to keep it exciting.

In life. Design. Writing.

Sketchnotes from Social Media Marketing Worlds #smmw14

So I attended the big social media fest once again—Social Media Marketing World 2014 #smmw14. It's held here in San Diego so it is silly not to go. Some interesting takeaways

• Always maintain your own piece of the web
• Your email list can be your most profitable channel

I had great success with visuals standing out in Twitter feeds building on success from last year. Next year that strategy will be flooded. And when it came to sketchnoting, using a much fatter brush for font emphasis is a quicker way to go rather than block letters.

Here is the entire collection:

The Top Gun Guide for Social Media Mavericks: #smmw14

So Social Media Marketing World is blowing into town this week! Beginning with an opening event at the USS Midway Museum. Did you know that the movie Top Gun, that 80s tribute to naval aviation starring Mr. Cruise, was filmed right here in San Diego.

As a matter of fact, you should get in the mood by having lunch at the Kansas City BBQ, the scene where Maverick and Goose are out with their family and hot naval instructor PHd girl friend. The Kansas City BBQ is located within a short walk of the Midway.

So I'll see you there tonight.

But anyway, on to the Top Gun Guide for Social Media Mavericks.

The creative tribes gather at CuriousitY19: The AIGA San Diego Y Design Conference

It was another two days of creativity and community at the Y Design Conference. My two favorite speakers were our local heroes. Architect Rob Quigley spoke ever so eloquently about keeping true to original intent whille designing the new Central Library. And Ron Miriello shared his take on life/design/life with the enthusiasm of a beginner tempered with the wisdom that only comes with experience. There is always the reacurring theme of become your own client and create your own projects.

AIGA San Diego Y Design Conference 19 – Sketchnotes from Anne McColl

Copy + Cocktails Vol. 1

Copy + Cocktails was a roaring success with quite a few freelance San Diego copywriters coming out. Some people I had met online before and not in person. We had a great time comparing notes, sharing comma trauma stories and swapping strategies. After putting in a long day, it's hard to get out and meet new people. But it is SO worth it. It really wasn't until I started freelancing and didn't have the built in consistancy of a creative department that I understood the value of building community. It's about meeting new people, encouraging serendipity and promoting the collision of new ideas.

There will definitely be a Vol. 2 in the not too distant future.

Copy + Cocktails: A gathering for copywriters

I was talking to a fellow copywriter on Twitter and we missed each other at the San Diego Ad Club's Mingle Bells for the the second year in a row. So I decided to organize a copywriter meetup and invite every writer I know that I've never met. Sometimes it gets lonely hanging with art directors and designers all the time as a freelance copywriter.

Copy + Cocktails Facebook group

Copy + Cocktails event

How a copywriter spends their time.

I presented to copywriting class at The Art Institute-San Diego and shared this slide (a creative way to emphasize the importance of planning and the creative brief.)

Then I realized I was only focusing on the creative process. There is a lot else I do, I spend so little time actually writing. When you perform a craft for a living, there is a whole lot of business around the craft.

So what do you call the Super Bowl: Other names for the Big Game.

So basically, the NFL will come after advertisers if they use the copyrighted name "Super Bowl." Here's a few creative alternatives for marketers.

Other Names for the Super Bowl: A marketers guide from annemccoll

And thanks to the Internet, I can catch all the ads the day before.

New Year's Resolutions for Marketers.

I collaborated with Fandom Marketing on New Year's Resolutions for Marketers. Which one of these are you guilty of?

Yes, many of these are based on real life. (Not the cat memes!)

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Words to Banish 2014

So what words are you sick of seeing? As a freelance interactive copywriter I've seen enough abuse of the word "curate." Add that one to the list.

A digital detox in the desert.

Once you get outside of the city, the stars shine crazy bright.

I've been camping in the Anza-Borrego desert since I was 12 years old or so. Now that I have kids of my own who inherited my tiny bladder, I have to wake them up to go to the bathroom every night. (Definitely no fun when it's raining or 34 degrees outside.) But when when we open the tent flap and peer up, we are greeted by the most amazing spectacle of stars. At 2 am, all of the campfires have been put out and there are no lights to compete with the galaxies overhead.

One evening my son Robert asked me, "Mommy, are those stars there all the time?"

"Yes, they are," I answered. "We just turn on so many lights, we drown out the stars."

These days, a lot of people are detached from the night sky. We don't just hang out on the front porch like people did 50 years ago. With TV and air conditioning, we stay indoors. And we miss spectacular sights like this.

The desert has become a wonderful refuge, not just for its natural beauty, but for also what's not available. There’s no Internet connection and no phone reception. No YouTube, Hulu or TV to distract us. At night, we sit in chairs around the campfire and make s'mores. (I'm always the first to fall asleep.) And in the mornings, I read in the tent with the kids before venturing out for hot chocolate.

Isn’t it funny, I have to leave home to spend time with my kids?

It’s so easy to get distracted around the house. The laundry. The Internet. The bills. I’m looking forward to another desert trip over New Year's.

I hope between the hustle and bustle of the holidays, you have time to sit with your loved ones and do absolutely nothing together. Just take the phones and put them in a basket in another room, even if it’s for an hour after dinner.

May your holidays be merry. May they be bright. May they be unplugged.

P.S. How I remember the difference between desert and dessert. You only want one desert, that's one s. Who doesn't want two desserts? That's a double s.

How to shop online with eBay!

More video fun. I wrote some scripts for videos for eBay that help educate buyers to use eBay more effectively.

Vine gifs: quicker than video.

I'm loving the way you can make gifs out of Vines. They don't require the user to push play. Insteda, they give you six seconds to tell a quick story or illustrate variety of products, or here, showcase a the work of every third grader in Room 4. (Interactive copywriters are always look for new ways to tell a story beyond words.)

My Favorite Words - A Writer's Advent Countdown

Well, some people try to write a book in a month. Me, I'm an interactive copywriter so I'm pretty sparse with my words—I'm going to write a word a day. Here, they are, my favorite words, one a day.

What to say on Thanksgiving.

Words to say more often. https://t.co/FtGKiJzhcv

— Anne McColl (@annemccoll) November 27, 2013

The ever-changing interactive landscape.

Yep, it's always changing. Remember when AOL was leading edge? And AltaVista? Get ready.

A filter for sharing in the digital age.

Thank you Internet, it's so much easier to share information. But now there's too many cat videos and insightful quotes floating around, we now we need a filter. This is what I try to remember when I share. (Okay except when it comes to Star Wars.)

_________________________

Happy sharing.

Sketch your own blog visuals!

Okay, it’s official, the Pinterestification of the Internet is now complete. Every blog post must have an interesting visual that can be used as an icon to promote it on Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook and wherever else. So what do you do? Go to iStock and find that highly original target or light bulb like everyone else?

Yawn.

Instead, draw your own. And no, you don't have to be a designer or an artist. You can just be a regular blogger, writer, or copywriter.

Who me? Yes, you,  seriously. Grab a Sharpie. Draw on a stickie. Snap a shot. Upload. You’re done.

Here are two people who sketch their own visuals with style.

Shelly Bowen of Pybop.

Shelly Bowen is the simply amazing principal of Pybop, a content strategy consultancy. Go ahead and take a look at the Pybop (which stands for Put Your Brains on Paper) blog page. See what a consistent look and feel they create. And Shelly spends $0 on visuals!

Amber Rae of  HeyAmberRae.com

Amber Rae is a one-woman powerhouse and CEO of the Bold Academy, an accelerator program that teaches would-be entrepreneurs and creatives how keep it real, take risks, and boldly pursue that which they feel called to do. Her Ambergrams capture her bold way of thinking and are often snapshots of her Moleskine musings. Her sketches were even used in a Fast Company profile.

It’s impressive how a diagram and just a few words can communicate so much.

Do you know anyone else who scribbles their blog post visuals? Let me know!

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