10 Images that are inspiring me at the moment

Print vs Digital

I am at a cross roads, I need to decide whether the new and revamped Sketchbook Magazine should go print or go digital.  I will play the PRO and CON game.

Print:

Pro:
1. Tangible
2. Higher source of revenue for ads
3. Vision was always to be in print
4. Print magazine will do illustrations justice

Con:
1. Expensive to print, distribute, and pay
2. Time consuming to get a print issue done
3. First two print runs won't make any money
4. Require a publishing license
5. More staff required which means higher source of revenue

Digital: ( But printing a Sketchbook Book once a year)

Pro:
1.  Quicker, easier to set up
2.  Gain more followers, stir more attention
3. Wider reach
4. Test out articles, tone, mood, stories interest
5. More time to allocate sponsorship and advertisers
6. Time to create a good first issue
7. Cheaper to launch
8.  Can build a stronger database
9. Less staff

Con:
1. Have done the digital thing for a few years
2. Online ads are not as reliable or high
3.  More likely to get a source of revenue from directory, posting jobs

I have met a few publishers this week and so far the feedback I got was more digital and less print. Your thoughts? 

Columnist for Khaleejeque

Just to make me more blog guilty I am now a columnist at the Khaleejesque site. Khaleejesque is a personal client of my agency Obai and Hill. They are one of my most favorite clients, I love representing them. I also write for their print issue and online site. Check out my articles here and let me know your thoughts on them.  

Just Say Yes 

Don't Do Anything For Free or So My Dad Says 

By Young People For Young People 

To Manage or Not To Manage 

Guest Curator @ Boticca

Honored to be a guest curator for the Boticca brand!


Creative Entrepreneur: Wafa Alobaidat

Wafa Alobaidat says she has always wanted to “bridge the gap between young and innovative artists and their potential clients.” With her varied background in fashion, Wafa has had the opportunity to do just that. Wafa studied fashion in London, and she had the opportunity to work with fashion designer Liza Bruce and her husband, artist Nicholas Alvis Vega. After graduation, Wafa started a blog called Fashion Ambitions, where she wrote about her experiences working in fashion. It wasn’t long before Wafa decided to take on a new challenge. She was chatting with Luma Bashmi, the Features editor of Sketchbook in London when the pair realized how much they wanted to see a new kind of magazine, one that would showcase new creative talent and feature original illustrations. Rather than waiting for that magazine to come along, they decided to launch it themselves. Thus, Sketchbook was born. Wafa became the editor-in-chief of Sketchbook, which launched in 2009 with an issue dedicated to fashion bloggers. Sketchbook is entirely original, featuring profiles of fashion and culture industry insiders and original illustrations from up-and-coming artists. The launch of Sketchbook led to other opportunities, including a Sketchbook pop-up shop and a digital app. Wafa has taken on a new challenge: she launched her own creative agency, Obai & Hill, with offices in her native Bahrain. She is currently the creative director of the agency, which offers branding, digital and social marketing, custom publishing, and other creative services. With a staff of young creatives and a portfolio of emerging clients, it seems Wafa is truly living her dream. Find out which Boticca pieces caught this young entrepreneur’s eye.

Link: http://boticca.com/guest-curators/wafa-alobaidat/

Sketchbook Made it to Brownbook

The sketchbook story made it into Brownbook magazine, my fave magazine of all times. This is a huge milestone for me. What a way to start the year. Now I just have to make it into the Creative Review, Magculture, Design Taxi, Wallpaper, and Monocole Magazine. Hope you can all get a hold of the new issue!

That is a wrap

I haven't blogged in 7 months. I am appalled, shocked at my lack of discipline but I must say that the last 7 months have been insane. With trying to double up my clients and landing the Organic Food and Cafe account my life has just been dedicated to my agency. I have had to take 100 steps back and away from sketchbook magazine, the love of my life project to focus on financing my business and making sure my clients were satisfied and happy with the quality of work that we provided for them. On the other hand I also recently lectured at the University of Bahrain, which was such an awesome experience. If you have been to any of my lectures or workshops I say over and over that the best part of my job is talking about my journey as an entrepreneur and sharing my insight about jump starting my business. I get a real buzz from inspiring a young crowd and wish I could do it more often, or full time. To be a paid public speaker would be a dream job, even better than the one I have given myself now.

Which brings me to the end of 2011, usually a busy time for me when the rest of the world is in Holiday mode. I get given a small chance to reflect on the year, as chaotic as it was, and visualize the upcoming year . This year like everyone that I can remember has been a rollercoaster. One I wouldn't be able to get through without the support of some key members in my life. My mother, my best friend Elham, my new bestie and family member Husain Qaseer, and also my work colleagues and mentor Zeid.

Looking ahead I am looking forward to a few key projects, expanding my business further and taking it to the next level and hopefully opening another branch of Obai and Hill. Launching my book or at least finishing the first draft of my book that I will be co -writing with a good friend of mine. and also relaunching Sketchbook Live. It pains me to have had to take a year off the magazine to establish my other business, now it is time for me to go back and finish what I started. I also hope to travel to India, Brazil, China, South America. Fingers crossed.

Need focus, energy, positivity and motivation.

Excited for 2012, a new book, a new relaunch, a new business expansion, travels, and eternal happiness.

Which girl am I?

One of my fave movies was on yesterday, Vicky Cristina Barcelona, title on it's own is delecious. A story about two girlfriends on a summer holiday in Spain become enamored with the same painter, unaware that his ex-wife, with whom he has a tempestuous relationship, is about to re-enter the picture.

A stunning movie set in Barcelona, about relatable characters that fall in and out of love. This movie really makes me question my approach to love. Am I Vicky with her cautious, safe, committed approach, or am I Cristina, more spontaneous, lacking boundary, craving suffering love? Or am I bit of both? It seems at this point in my life, love is an everyday topic. Everyone sees it differently, all of us can't live without it, and most are constantly at battle with it. We are either shaping it or molding it so it suits our needs or escaping it when it becomes too hard or complicated to handle. Whatever it is, every day some are on a constant quest to find and maintain it and others are too wounded to try.

So I guess love to me, is everything. Really. It is my reason to go to work, and my reason to do well, it is my reason to do good and it is my reason to be happy. To live without it is a habit all must learn to master and to have everyday it is a gift. All I know is from my experience once you have been in love.. and I am talking the good kind of love, you can never never ever go back to living without it.

Woody Allen brings out the love in me. Really.
Really.