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2020 was without a doubt one of the most extraordinary years for all of us - both on a business and personal level. That's why I came up with something very special for this year’s Christmas card design for my customers. All of my customers received a lovingly designed Christmas card with Christmas or winter icons in the background. And if you look very closely, you will discover an icon for hand washing and an icon for mouth and nose protection - a humorous integration of the Corona protective measures into the Christmas card design. Since many people's skin is irritated by all the disinfecting and hand washing, I thought to myself: How about a treat for the skin of my customers? So I contacted the soap manufacturer Jochen Neururer , a good old friend from the Ötztal valley in Tyrol, who makes wonderful natural soaps by hand. Some may know him from the start-up show "2 Minuten 2 Millionen" . I ordered 75 handmade natural soaps with a stone pine scent, all of which are organic, vegan, palm oil-free and extra lipid-replenishing. In this way, the skin is not dried out, but rather moisturized in a pleasant way - wonderful! A treat for the hands in times of disinfectant gel. The natural soaps were glued onto the Christmas cards and sent to all customers. I received many calls and emails in the following days, because the soap was a great idea and my customers were very happy.

The publishing industry has been struggling for years with decreasing reach and - as a result - decreasing advertising income in the print segment. Digital add-on offers for print content are no longer an option, but compulsory for every publisher who wants to be fit for the future. In addition, digital add-on offers can be monetized better and better. DIGITAL PUBLISHING OPTIONS There are numerous ways to start a digital magazine or to seriously address the topic of digital publishing: Blog: A blog on a website (an online magazine so to speak) ensures more reach and longer visits to the website. This has a positive impact on the Google ranking of the publisher's website. Of course, the blog and the website must be SEO optimized accordingly. You can see examples of successful blogs by my customers on Blickpunkt LKW & BUS or Maxnhager . Monetization ideas for an online magazine / blog: paid PR blog articles product placements a paid members area for exclusive content E paper: Digital publishing with an e paper is also very popular and probably the most cost-effective way for a publisher to produce a digital magazine. The layout for the print magazine is created in Indesign anyway, the PDF file is generated for the printer. Publishers often provide this PDF file (in web-optimized resolution) as an e paper. Monetization ideas for a digital magazine or an e paper: e paper sale via an online shop on the website (see an example further down in this article) subscription sales for an e paper directly on the website (see an example further down in this article) App magazine: The most professional way for digital publishing is providing an app including interactivity and multimedia features. Rich media at its best! Image slideshows, videos and other interactive elements smartly guide the reader through the app magazine . Additionally, an app is probably the best digital option for brand loyalty, as an e paper or an online magazine (blog) are quickly forgotten when the reader clicks away. With an app, the reader dives into the app magazine and is not distracted by many other tabs that are just waiting to be clicked. Monetization ideas for an app magazine: in-app purchases of individual magazine issues (like what I implemented for my customer connecting comPETence ) in-app purchases of individual items free access to the app magazine only as a print subscriber paid PR blog articles product placements advertisements (more on this in this blog article ) You can read more information about the new article-based app design approach in this blog article . MY LATEST PROJECT: DIGITAL MAGAZINE SUBSCRIPTION AND E PAPER SHOP My latest digital publishing project: Austria's no. 1 transport magazine Blickpunkt LKW & BUS has been available as a printed magazine for 35 years, for about ten years also as an interactive and multimedia app magazine for tablets and smartphones (on iOS and Android). I've been responsible for the design of the website , print magazine and app magazine for many years. In order to benefit from the full potential of digitization, I designed an online shop for magazine issues from the archive, to be bought either as a printed copy or as a convenient PDF download (e paper). Additionally, I implemented digital, paper and combined subscription options , which can be purchased directly on the website and are automatically billed every year. The great thing: Just 24 hours after the implementation, the first purchases were made in the shop and a few days later the first digital subscriptions were bought on the website. This is a clear signal for successful digitization in the publishing industry. As part of the digital and combination subscription, paying subscribers receive an email from the website backend with a practical e paper download button. Email marketing couldn't be any easier than that. MY OFFER FOR PUBLISHERS Are you a publisher or do you publish regular print products and would you like to get started with digitization? Or would you like to improve your digitization steps that you’ve taken so far? Then book your free appointment here.

I love music - whether it's pop, RnB, German hip hop, house, electro, soul or classical music. In my day-to-day work as a designer, music has an even bigger significance: it can actively improve my creativity and thus allow for even better design outputs. In this article I will give you a little insight into my playlists and you will find out which music can be particularly useful in which situations. Maybe there is some musical inspiration for you too? "The right music at the right time - so music is not an energy guzzler, but a useful creativity turbo." # 1 - MUSIC FOR MAXIMUM CREATIVITY IN LOGO DESIGN A logo design or a holistic brand design requires a maximum of creativity. Trouble-free working without mail, telephone and annoying notifications on the smartphone is essential. As a logo designer, I listen to classical instrumental music in order to really get the creative flow going. To be more precise, I listen to the music of Ludovico Einaudi from Italy. The protagonist of his music is always the piano. For me, Einaudi's pieces always combine two different melodies in one song that complement each other perfectly - similar to Yin and Yang. The sounds of the piano are always floating in the air and free. Like a leaf in the wind that whirls freely in the air and has no fixed points. It is exactly the same with my creative thinking as a logo designer when a maximum of creativity is required. Ludovico Einaudi's music definitely pushes my creativity to a higher level. As a designer, if I had to translate the word "creativity" into something musical, it would definitely be Ludovico Einaudi's unmistakable style. # 2 - MUSIC FOR MAXIMUM CREATIVITY IN BRAINSTORMING Brainstorming also requires a maximum of creativity. Every idea is allowed here and explicitly requested. Two very special songs from the deep house genre have proven to be perfect for me brainstorming (at least they were called deep house about 10 to 15 years ago, today it is a little different): "Stockholm Go Bang!" And "Sandcastles" by DJ Jerome Sydenham . Originally from Nigeria and now living in New York City, he has never lost his African roots and skillfully packs them in his music. Jerome Sydenham often worked with Dennis Ferrer, also a DJ in the deep house scene. Together they built sand castles: The musical build-up in "Sandcastles" and the comparatively monotonous sounds in "Stockholm Go Bang!" shift my thoughts into an almost meditative, trance-like state. Absolutely perfect for brainstorming. # 3 - MUSIC FOR MAGAZINE LAYOUTS When designing layouts for magazines on a regular basis (whether as a print version or digital app), creativity is not as important as in the examples mentioned above. It is clearly about transporting information. At the beginning of every collaboration with clients from the publishing industry, I design templates for layouts that are used in the course of ongoing media design. This saves me time as a media designer and thus costs for my client, the publisher. When designing print and app magazines, it can also be music with vocals - pop, charts, RnB, soul or classic radio . # 4 - MUSIC FOR ADMINISTRATIVE THINGS For administrative work such as accounting or updating my website, I like listening to The Beatles, Michael Jackson or The Busy Twist - a DJ from London who unites Caribbean and African elements with electronic beats. # 5 - NO MUSIC FOR COMMUNICATION Everything that concerns communication needs my full attention, which is why there is silence here, so there is no music in the background. This includes reading and replying to e-mails, reading or writing newsletters or writing blog articles. CONCLUSION One thing is very clear: The more creativity is required, the more it has to be instrumental music for me. How is it with you? I am looking forward to reading your comments!

As some of you might know, I grew up in a family of publishers. That's why I have a special affinity for magazine design. In addition to media design for print magazines , I have also been taking care of the digital publishing for my publishing clients for many years. This is how I contribute to digitization in the publishing industry. I have been working with the Belgian software company Twixl for many years, before that with the Adobe Digital Publishing Suite. From my personal experience I can say that Twixl provides the best solution for digital publishing. The general technological progress also affects digitization for publishers of course. This is why all apps created with Twixl have been converted from a formerly magazine-based approach to an article-based approach. You can find out what that means in this article. WORKFLOW FROM PRINT TO DIGITAL May it be magazines, brochures or catalogues - they all have one thing in common: they are created in Indesign. The creative design process in publishing houses mainly takes place in Indesign. As part of my App Design Service , I work with my Belgian software partner Twixl that offers the perfect interface between Indesign and the world of apps. So I create both print and app designs in Indesign, enrich them with interactive and multimedia elements (also in Indesign) and then manage and structure all content assets in the Twixl Distribution Platform in the course of my software license. This ensures a smooth workflow from print to digital which is in the best interest of my customers. The combination of Indesign and Twixl is the ideal option to make content available on various platforms (print, app, web, mobile) - also from a financial perspective. „One format to publish to print, to web and to mobile, adapting the layout per medium and being able to offer a captive reading experience. You need to adapt to the medium and to the user.“ Twixl Media NEW FEATURES FOR ARTICLE-BASED APPS The most important new feature: The magazine is no longer a self-contained unit, but is offered as a collection of all articles within that magazine. In the past, you had to download the entire magazine to read the articles. Now you can consume individual articles separately. The articles are downloaded one by one, which takes up less storage space and speeds up the download process significantly. This allows for a maximum of flexibility, the content can be structured as desired: by topics by reader groups by time periods by issue number by whatever you wish For my app customers, I implemented a dual structuring scheme: The division according to issue number is still there for everyone who likes to read through a magazine in the classic way. In addition, selected topics can be found as separate articles in the corresponding topic tiles. This allows the user to conveniently decide whether to read magazine issue X or whether he/she prefers to read individual articles on the subject of Y that are stored in tile Y. THE BENEFITS FOR PUBLISHERS AND APP PROVIDERS In addition to the modular, flexible structure, the new app design offers other great advantages for publishers and app providers alike: The content can be managed and updated on article level. Individual content parts can be updated independently of each other - and in real time! Each tile can trigger a paywall or login wall and only give a specific group of users access to certain articles. Push notifications can now also address certain topic tiles directly and not just the app as a whole. Push notifications are a great way to stay in touch with the readers! The integrated browser client: All app contents can also be made available in a browser client (= on a domain on the Internet). Different design options for columns and tiles for tablets, phones and the browser client for an optimal user experience (UX / UI). Higher degree of customization in terms of design. For example, custom fonts can also be used in the app. As a corporate designer, I’m of course particularly pleased about this. NEW ADVERTISING POSSIBILITIES WITH THE NEW APP DESIGN Digital publishing, like print publishing, costs money. It is therefore important to think about monetization options for apps from the very start. As described in this blog article , it is, for example, a mistake to include paid print ads one-to-one in the app without asking the advertisers to pay separately for that service. A new, additional monetization option for article-based apps is possible by using advertising tiles, as you can see here in the example of my customer Blickpunkt LKW & BUS : In addition, there is of course still the option to pay for content via in-app purchases . If you want to find out more about advertisements in digital magazines, I highly recommend reading this blog article . In addition to advertising tiles and in-app purchases, paywalls or login walls can be implemented for individual topic tiles. In other words: A specific topic X (tile X) is only accessible when paid - or alternatively via login for specific users. For example, this was implemented for my client connecting comPETence for PETnology / tecPET GmbH. The magazine is published three times a year, has around 120 pages in the printed version and is also offered as an app. Paying print subscribers can log in to consume all app content at no extra charge. If you don't pay a print subscription, individual issues have to be bought in the app. THE BENEFITS FOR THE READERS The advantages of the new article-based app approach for the readers are obvious. In brief: better overview individual articles can also be consumed separately practical structuring in topics more convenient handling requires less storage space on the tablet or smartphone faster download of content convenient online and offline reading APPS FOR CATALOGUES AND BROCHURES Such an app design is not only suitable for regular magazines. The flexible, modular structure is also very well suited for digital catalogue design , a digital brochure or other publications with interactive and multimedia content to be published in the Apple App Store (iOS) or Google Play Store (Android). A huge image boost, a wider digital offer to advertising partners and last but not least digitization for the readers are perfectly served with this app service from HCG corporate designs. CONCLUSION The new, article-based app design approach offers countless options for efficiently producing content and distributing it just as efficiently across various channels. Managing the content on an article level instead of on a magazine level allows for a maximum of flexibility in terms of design and perfectly timed publishing of the content. Additional options for monetizing the app with advertising banners and a more convenient handling of the app for the reader is a great win-win situation.

Many car manufacturers have recently redesigned their brand symbols ( BMW , Mini , Opel , VW , Audi , Citroën , Seat and most recently Nissan ). However, those modernized brand designs do not only concern the logo design alone, but often secondary style elements and typographic adjustments alike so that the brand as such is not lagging behind the logo redesign. FROM "OLD STINKER" TO "ZERO EMISSION" The automotive industry sees the need for an image shift from "old stinker" to "zero emission". The motto is: a clear commitment to a more sustainable future. This new perception of a brand naturally requires a corresponding visual adjustment. The fact that valuable raw materials for the car batteries’ production are mined from the earth (thus keeping the exploitation of our planet going), the fact that most of the electricity for "fueling" e-cars is generated "not so environmentally friendly" and the question of how to dispose the electric cars’ toxic waste in future - all of this is of course a completely different topic and shall not be the subject of this article. HIGHER REQUIREMENTS FOR LOGOS - NO MATTER WHICH BUSINESS Our everyday lives are increasingly accompanied by different sizes of communication touchpoints - be it an app icon on a smartphone or an XXL billboard on a football stadium’s side. This extreme balancing act must be mastered by a great logo design. A professional logo design always creates the perfect balance between simplicity and uniqueness. In addition, it also has to work in small size as well as in large size. Scalability is one of eight things that make a good logo design . LOGO REDESIGN FOR AUTOMOTIVE BRANDS Here you see an overview of old and new logos of automotive brands; and how they look like on the corresponding websites. As a corporate designer, I find the "moving frame" as Volkswagen’s secondary style element really beneficial and executed very successfully. The frame ensures maximum flexibility in connection with the new VW logo in flat design style: WHAT THE NEW LOGO DESIGNS HAVE IN COMMON All these new logo designs have one unmistakable goal: the clear reduction from the former 3-dimensional appearance to a flat symbol in the flat design style. Flat design has been on the surface (haha, great wordplay) since the introduction of Windows 8 (it's been a long time). Even if Apple is mostly seen as a design pioneer in the IT industry, it was Microsoft’s designers who really introduced flat design into our everyday lives and thus created a worldwide design revolution that has since gained a foothold in all industries. CONCLUSION With new brand designs, the automotive industry is trying to fulfill the society’s demand for electric mobility and the ever increasing challenge of different sizes of logos. Flat design is driven to the extreme here - in most cases it works out nicely, although the customers need some time to get used to the new logos - as it always is with a logo redesign.

Since the CJEU judgment of October 1, 2019 (see my blog article about its effect on all websites in the EU), the term "cookies" is associated with headache among web designers and online marketers. I implemented a legally compliant cookie consent banner solution for my customers. This means that all website visitors are informed about the type and use of cookies right from the start and have the option of only accepting technically necessary cookies or additional cookies for preferences, statistical and marketing purposes as well. In the data protection section of the website, the visitors are also informed which cookies are set specifically and how long they are stored. In addition, every website visitor can change his or her cookie settings easily at any time. COOKIES AND GOOGLE ANALYTICS Since the use of legally compliant cookie consent banners, user numbers shown in Google Analytics have of course decreased. Not because there are fewer website visits, but because they are no longer tracked due to the lack of a cookie consent on the part of website visitors. This represents a massive problem for online marketers, who often feel threatened in their right to exist and therefore often ignore the cookie consent obligation and thus run into legal issues. Well, it's a dilemma: "Google Analytics in combination with a legally compliant cookie consent banner is like buying a Lamborghini and sneaking through the city at a speed of 30 km/h.“ MORE AND MORE COOKIE CONSENT BANNERS Over time, you notice that more and more companies are becoming aware of their duty and are implementing legally compliant cookie consent banners on their websites. Fortunately, this goes hand in hand with a higher acceptance of cookies on the part of users, as I hear from online marketers. SMART COOKIE BANNER DESIGN I use Cookiebot for the legally compliant cookie consent solution for my website customers. For a few months now, Cookiebot has been offering more options for buttons in the cookie consent banner, which my customers benefit from. Up until a few months ago, preference, statistics and marketing cookies had to be selected separately and be confirmed by a click on the "OK" button. At this time, the cookie consent topic was still relatively unknown and many users felt overwhelmed, which is why there was hardly any user consent. Hence: hardly any tracking in Google Analytics. More options in the Cookiebot backend now allow for a much easier user consent: there are two buttons - one for "only technically necessary cookies", which I design in a subtle way, and one for "allow all cookies", which I design prominently for preference, statistics and marketing cookies altogether. If I take a closer look at the backend in the cookie consent solution on my customers' websites, I can see a significant increase in user consent (in green below). The user consent to all cookies (green) now exceeds the user consent to the only technically necessary cookies (red). CONCLUSION A smart cookie banner design significantly increases tracking in Google Analytics and thus helps your website analysis. Your online marketer will be delighted.

This blog article is about one of my favourite topics: typography. My entire typography collection counts almost 2,400 fonts at the moment. Picking my personal favourites here would do my font library an injustice. Nonetheless, I want to introduce three fonts to you that I currently really like. #1 > FINADOR Finador comes in a slab and a sans serif style. By the way, serifs are the little feet at the bottom of a letter which make copy more reader-friendly - especially in large amounts of text. Finador was designed by Julien Fincker . I like the geometric arrangement and the high x-height of the letters. The x-height marks the upper end of lowercase letters and, thus, contribute to the reading flow very much. The font is distinctive and powerful but does not overload your eyes. I use a combination of Finador Slab Heavy for text and Finador Heavy for numbers in my latest campaign for my 10 years jubilee of HCG corporate designs : #2 > QUINT UPPERCASE Quint Uppercase is, as the name suggests, a font that comes in uppercase letters only. Take a closer look at the "Q", it somehow reminds me of a comic creature with only one leg. The "G" almost reminds me of a video replay button. Also the "R" and the "K" are special. All in all, Quint Uppercase offers a good contrast between round and straight shapes. However, you should slightly expand the width between each letter when using this font. #3 > TT NORMS STD CONDENSED TT Norms Std Condensed is a member of the TT Norms family. I bought this font because it transports simple clarity and strength despite being condensed. This makes TT Norms Std Condensed an ideal font for legal copy like T&Cs, privacy policy or disclaimer. The font is slim, still uncongested as the letter spacing is quite wide. This shows an interesting and very well executed balance between "does not need much space" and "great readability". I’m looking forward to using some of these fonts in one of my upcoming projects.

What has been leaking through for a few years and what I have been taking into account in all my website projects for my clients from the very start, Google now officially puts into practice: mobile first indexing is coming in September 2020. WHAT DOES THIS MEAN? Whereas Google crawled and ranked a website’s desktop version in the past, Google will use a website’s mobile phone version to crawl, index and rank a website from September 2020 onwards. Hence: If content A and content B are important for you and you have A and B on your website’s desktop version, but only content A on your website’s mobile version (due to space limitations maybe), your website will be found for content A, but NOT for content B any more. Your website ranking in the Google search will go down because of that. Let me quote Google here: "WARNING: If it’s your intention that the mobile page should have less content than the desktop page, you can expect some traffic loss when your site is enabled mobile-first indexing, since Google can't get as much information from your page as before." IS MOBILE REALLY AS IMPORTANT AS EVERYBODY SAYS? Sistrix mentioned in a recent blog article that Google already switched to mobile first indexing automatically for about 70 per cent of all websites as the Googlebot found out that websites already fulfill mobile expectations and standards. On the other hand, that means, that approximately 30 per cent of all websites are not ready for mobile yet - we’re talking about millions of websites here that will have to be worked on in the upcoming months. However, it’s wrong to believe that most people visit a website using their smartphone. Simply take a look at your Google Analytics or other tracking tools. There are massive differences between B2C and B2B as well as regional discrepancies. Checking your website’s analytics will give you more insight on that. However, mobile first indexing is definitely a very important aspect to consider for all web designers and website owners. HOW DO I KNOW IF MY WEBSITE IS OPTIMIZED FOR MOBILE OR NOT? The Google Search Console gives you the answer. If you have no idea what this means, simply ask your web designer. The following screenshot shows what the Google Search Console has to say about my website www.hcg-corporate-designs.com : "Nutzerfreundlichkeit auf Mobilgeräten > 0 Fehler". That’s German and translates: "User friendliness on mobile devices > 0 errors". That’s how it should be and how it definitely MUST be by September 2020 if you want your website still to be found, indexed and ranked by Google. WHAT HAS TO BE DONE? Same content on desktop and mobile version! This is the key. And I’m not only talking about the content (copy and images), but also titles, meta tags and ALT text for images for your SEO optimization. The best content on your website is useless if it can’t be found on mobile and won’t be seen and indexed by Google. The challenge is to use the small space of your smartphone display wisely and place as much content as possible on as little space as necessary. Well, happy designing, I would say! If you want to skip the headache, hire a professional to create your website which is 100 % fit for mobile first indexing.

On 28 and 29 February 2020, Martin Grödl from Process - Studio for Art and Design OG (Vienna, Austria) held an exciting workshop on generative design in the WEI SRAUM Designforum Tirol . As I’m a big fan of data visualization (in a private and business aspect!) and create great infographic designs for my clients , that workshop of course caught my interest within a second. WHAT IS GENERATIVE DESIGN? I personally would describe the term "generative design" most probably like this: Data is visualized systematically based on design parameters you define. Those definitions happen via programming in JavaScript or other coding languages. The data can be displayed in a static or interactive way, you can for example hover the mouse over an element or click an element. We learned some basics of P5 which belongs to the Processing coding language and created some simple designs. A few of my very first P5 sketches can be seen below. Please click on each image to open it in a separate window to see the interactive animation work. Hover over with your mouse and have fun! I’m most proud of my smilie that I came up with during a break (please click on the smilie) : Nothing compares to having some fun while programming, right? ;-) MY CONCLUSION The workshop was well received and fully booked. That once more shows how important data visualization has become. This is not surprising thinking of the amount of data being generated, stored and processed daily worldwide. Martin Grödl and WEI SRAUM gave us workshop participants some great and hands-on insights into generative design with P5. Thank you!

The ongoing Corona crisis is hitting the world incredibly hard - in terms of health, private and social life (#socialdistancing), emotions and economy. Even though all this is terrible, there are still some positive and interesting aspects worth mentioning. THE TREND INDICATOR FOR THE ECONOMY The economy is marching towards dark times. DAX and Dow Jones, for example, are suffering from massive losses. 9 March 2020 is called the "black Monday" among stock exchange traders . However, it’s interesting to see a very slow and hesitant recovery of the stock exchange market since many governments worldwide put drastic measurements like a ban on going out into place. Of course, the stock exchange is still miles away from looking positive again though. The commencing economic crisis is hitting particularly entrepreneurs, businesses and freelancers very hard. Ongoing projects are cancelled or being put on hold by clients, new business is breaking away altogether. Especially freelancers have it extremely hard these days , as they are often the first ones whose contracts get cancelled. Uncertainty is poison for the economy. And the longer the Corona crisis lasts, the worse. The mood among most entrepreneurs is somewhat like this: "If all this is over after three or four weeks, it’s no drama. If it lasts longer, however, we are running into a huge catastrophy." OSTRICHES, BUTTERFLIES AND BLINDERS What I find very interesting these days: I currently see three totally different moods among entrepreneurs. There are ostriches, butterflies and people with blinders - this is how I would call them. Let me try to describe this: THE OSTRICHES There are the ostriches. Of course they are suffering from their economic basis of existence partly or fully breaking away. For sure a massive problem. A solution? Ostriches don’t want to deal with that. They are too much into their habits and into the things they have always done. Ostriches rather moan and bathe in their self-pity. They bury their head in the sand, bury themselves and, probably, their own business - if only temporarily (in the very best case). Ostriches bury their hand in the sand and leave it like that. THE BUTTERFLIES Butterflies find themselves in the same severe situation like ostriches. However, they quickly learn how to fly and are flexible enough to adjust to wind flows. Butterflies are now investing even more into their own businesses and work on things that they might not have had time for in the past, in order to fully start back into business without (or with hardly any) losses after the Corona crisis. You want examples? Here we go: Where businesses used to have only personal contact with their clients, there are now coachings, consultings and meetings via video conference. Or look at fitness trainers live streaming their sport lessons via Facebook , Instagram etc. to the public or to existing online groups. They add dietary advice and offer recipes, put all that into a package and put a pay button on it for voluntary donations. This way, they are scaling up their business and offer their services to a wider range of potential customers for more profit in the long run - thanks to Corona. I see all this and more in my immediate surroundings. Butterflies are flexible, agile, innovative and keep their chin up. They will very much likely survive and be even stronger after the crisis. There is a word for this: evolution. PEOPLE WITH BLINDERS People with blinders are (currently) not really affected by the crisis. Work continues as always as if nothing has happened. They just work from home at the moment, that’s all. No business is breaking away, there might even be more new business coming in since Corona. Take a look at IT businesses offering WIFI solutions for home offices. Bingo! WHAT IS POSITIVE ABOUT THE CORONA CRISIS? Some entrepreneurs and freelancers who are usually super busy enjoy the imposed pause right now to relax a bit. I have the impression, the mood is "wait and see": Finally there is some time to do things that you normally don’t have time for. I think this is good for many people. New business opportunities will come up. Just think about the daily balcony concerts. They might continue even after the crisis. A creative head will think about a monetization model, I’m sure. I guess more people will start their own business. Now we are forced to have a break from our daily routines. Creative people that have been thinking about starting their own business now have the time capacities and - most of all - the economic necessities for a new start. Change! Awakening! Yes! HOW DOES THE FUTURE LOOK LIKE? How will the world look like after Corona? Less CO2 emissions, less pollution, less toilet paper hoarding? More respect for each other, more satisfaction despite financial worries? I am convinced that companies will offer their employees even more likely to work from home after the Corona crisis. Simply because they see that it works - even though there is room for some adjustments and improvements here and there. This is good for the environment, saves money and it’s good for finding a better balance between work and family, as home office allows for a more flexible time management. The basic mood of many people is somewhat like: "The crisis will be short but fierce. Afterwards, it will go on even better." How this "better" will look like in particular? Futurologists like Horx or the Zukunftsinstitut are publishing their theses. And what about private life? The Corona crises (like any other existential crisis) sharpens our view on life. This is the good thing about the crisis for us as human beings. HOW MORE CREATIVITY CAN HELP US I work in the creative industry. Creative thinking is my bread and butter. This is why I simply know: creative thinking can help us all. Honestly. Beforehand: Creative thinking of course does not substitute a vaccine or other medicine, it does not fill up your bank account with fresh money and it does not take away your worries about your loved ones’ health. Still, creative thinking is the vitamin vaccine for the economy - especially for the time after the health crisis for which many experts are predicting a severe economic crisis. How about new business models? Can you sell my products and services online? Digitalization is massively helping us here. And who is falling behind in this aspect, has now even more valid reason to make up for it. As I said, there might be new business models, new products, new services coming up thanks to the Corona crisis. The current situation can bring as many great things. You just have to (want to) see them. There are certainly businesses that are not helped with digitalization or innovative and creative thinking because the economic basis of existence is really breaking away altogether. However, I’m convinced that this does not have to be the case for many businesses and many ostriches are making their lives only worse by moaning and not doing anything at the moment. I can’t hear all this moaning any more. Roll up your sleeves, actively inform yourself (Information is the best medicine against fear!), think thoroughly, make use of support programs your government might offer you - then many ostriches can become beautiful butterflies. This article is promoting creative thinking - and acting. Now more than ever before. Creative thinking allows for more flexible actions. This is an important ingredient for success in all areas of life, not only in the Corona crisis. And one last thing: Please stay at home. It can, and it will, save lives. Aaaand, I have something really useful for you: My 6 personal tips for making working from home a real pleasure.

I have been working in my home office for more than ten years. No matter if the Corona virus crisis (COVID-19) has forced to make you work from home or if you have other reasons to establish your home office > in this blog article I'll share my personal tips for making working from home enjoyable and successful. TIP #1: SEPARATE WORK AND PRIVATE SPACE The most important thing is to have a clear distinction between work mode and private mode. I live in a spacious 3 bedroom apartment and have no children. That means, that my 3rd room is my office. I’m aware that most people don’t have the luxury of having a separate spare room just for office use, but still: Have a determined work space that is reserved for your work only. If you have to work at your living room desk because you lack the space, clear your desk from everything private when you work and clear your desk from work stuff when you finish your home office day. TIP #2: PUR YOURSELF INTO (A MENTAL) WORK MODE In order to work efficiently and get stuff done, you must make sure that you can concentrate. Stay focused at work and put your smartphone aside. Put work clothes on. It might look weird to sit in your home office wearing a suit and a tie for example (or what else you would normally wear for work). So what? Who cares? Nobody sees you. But you will definitely sound different on the phone to clients and do your work more professionally, trust me. TIP #3: SET SPECIFIC WORK TIMES In order for yourself to be in a mental work mode and in order for your clients to know when they can reach you best, it’s good to set specific work times and stick to them. It helps to get a work routine into your daily business. This also includes getting up early in the morning. Get up as if you had to get up to drive to an office elsewhere. Don’t sleep in! I always get up at 7 am, also when no paid client work is booked in (which is not often, but still happens of course). Then I do administrative things like book-keeping, blog writing, calling clients I haven’t talked with for a while, marketing planning, content creation and so on: all the things that I don’t have time for when I’m really busy with paid client work. TIP #4: CREATE A HEALTHY WORKPLACE Computer screen: Make sure you look straight into your computer screen. In case you work with a laptop, put it on a specific laptop stand, so you don’t have to look down. If you constantly have to look down you will definitely run into painful neck problems that will lead to headaches in the long run. I had this problem in the beginning of my entrepreneurship and it made me nuts. I now work on an iMac that is straight in front of me. I look straight and never have any neck problems. Office chair: Sit up straight! What sounds like an order from back in the day at school, has a serious background. Having a good chair to sit on is very (yes, very!) important. I used to have a cheap chair which once caused me a huge back pain that forced me to call the emergency because I could not move any more, I was in so much back pain. In hospital, I was given an injection and I was sent to a physiotherapist for a few weeks who helped me get out of pain and told me to buy a better chair and move more during the day. I then spent 300 Euros on an office chair which is the minimum amount you should spend on a good chair, I think. Additionally, I spent another 20 Euros on a special seating cushion that I have been sitting on for a few hours every day ever since. Sitting on that cushion makes my back automatically work its muscles to sit up straight. I sit on it for an hour, put it away again for an hour, sit on it again for an hour and so on. This way, I make sure that I won’t get back problems any more. Watch this video at 4:00 to see my seating cushion: Daylight: Computer screens are back-lit, so they make your eyes tired easily. Make sure, you are surrounded by daylight. In the evenings or when it’s dark, switch a second light source on (the light from your computer screen is not enough), so you won’t get tired so easily. TIP #5: GIVE DISTRACTIONS NO CHANCE In order to work efficiently and get stuff done, you must make sure that you can concentrate. Hence, any distractions are bad and cost you time, nerves and energy. Studies have shown that every single distraction costs up to 20 minutes of concentration time to mentally get fully back into your project you’re currently working on. Stay focused. How to achieve this in times of WhatsApp? Make sure you get no notifications on your phone (no sound and no notification banner popping up on your screen when you get an email, a Facebook or WhatsApp message). It should be an extra effort for you to check WhatsApp on your phone so you don’t check it so often. The best thing would be to have times during the day where you force yourself not to check WhatsApp or social media. Example: no social media and WhatsApp from 9 am to 1 pm and 2 pm to 6 pm. Believe me, you will get so much more done at work. You think that’s not possible? Think again. Are you an emergency doctor? Will the world end if you don’t reply to an email, WhatsApp or Facebook message straight away? Unless you are an emergency doctor, the answer is: no. So focus on your work and put your energy and time into what brings you food on the table and pays your rent: your work. TIP #6: BE CONSEQUENT Be consequent with yourself and people around you. After ten years of working from home I have come to the conclusion: Unfortunately, many people think that working from home means holiday or something like that. This compared with the (how I call it) WhatsApp mentality nowadays, can be a big problem for your business as you will lose a lot of valuable time and concentration what in the end causes you a lot of stress. Remember: Every single distraction costs up to 20 minutes of concentration time to mentally get fully back into your project you’re currently working on. If you give in and answer every private message or phone call during your set work times at home, you will find yourself in a position of not having finished your work by the time you are supposed to finish it, which then leads to working long evenings and having no free time any more to recover and clear your mind. Over time, this can become dangerous and even lead to a burnout scenario in the worst case. So be consequent with yourself and others. If people around you don’t understand you actually work from home, it’s their problem, not yours. They don’t have to understand it, but they have to accept it and you have to make them accept it by setting the right signals. Enjoy working from home! I’m curious to hear your experiences with working from home. Simply share them on my social media channels or in the comments box under this blog article.

Many years ago, when I used to work as a DJ, I toured through India three times within one year. In the course of my India tours, I met Shubham (alias DJ Arsenik ) from Dehli. We here and there worked together, became friends and stayed in touch over the last approx. ten years. In autumn 2019, I was happy to hear that he moved to Dublin. So I thought I’d visit him and he could show me around in the Irish capital. This is how I simply fell in love with Dublin in January 2020 - what a wonderful city! THE CITY TOUR At first, I wanted to get a rough overview of the city. So I jumped on the hop on hop off tourist bus . Dublin’s famous Samuel Beckett Bridge, that looks like a harp, "plays" many beautiful colours at night which makes it look even more spectacular! My city tour ended at the EPIC The Irish Emigration Museum . This is a place where storytelling is executed perfectly! A lot of multimedia and interactive features are offered to the visitors in order to learn more about the Irish identity and the reasons why they emigrated to the whole world. A great museum that you simply must see when you visit Dublin. MUSICIANS AMONG THEMSELVES We could scent some rock’n’roll air in the Irish Rock’n’Roll Museum Experience . The fact that many rooms in the museum are still being used as rehearsal rooms for bands today, inspirits this museum even more. And even my very personal music hero Michael Jackson recorded some songs here that are still unpublished. Michael Jackson even bought a house in the neighbourhood of this museum. By the way, the museum had to return the original sound recordings to the Jackson family. Until today, there are still discussions going on about who owns the sound recordings and if the songs will ever be published or not. Shubham and me > a DJ and a former DJane at the decks. Remembering the good old days! MY PERSONAL HIGHLIGHT My very personal sightseeing highlight was The Little Museum of Dublin . To be honest, I don’t even know where to start to describe this lovely museum. It’s small, cute and full of funny things that were donated by real Dubliners. It’s a museum to laugh in, to be amazed by and to leave with a grin on your face. You’ll discover the true Dublin from a very different perspective. Absolutely worth a visit! The photos speak for themselves. I’ve never seen such a cute museum before! Alfie Byrne (1882-1956) might have been Dublin’s most famous mayor ever. His nickname was "The Shaking Hand of Dublin". He was known for his hard work and willing to serve as many people as possible. For example, he wrote 15,000 letters within his first year in office. And as he shook so many hands, visitors of The Little Museum of Dublin could even shake Alfie’s hand themselves - only a plastic one, but still. Our guide Brenda did a fantastic job. "A pint of plain is your only man" is something like the Irish national quote in which a beer is referred to as your last, best friend when times are hard. SCIENCE Last but not least, I attended the scientific exhibition about plastic at the Science Gallery , Naughton Institute at the Trinity College Dublin . The exhibition was called "Can’t live with it, can’t live without it" - what a true statement. A very interesting piece was this tricycle: Thomas Hoogewerf (Netherlands, 2019) designed this tricycle made of recycled plastic that has already caused quite a stir in Mexico City too. The artist is aiming at demonstrating the potential of recycling, inspiring people to re-use plastic waste and exploring new business opportunities. The bike’s design and blueprints are open-source, making it accessible and rebuildable anywhere. The artist believes that access to affordable, environment-friendly and high-quality transportation is a human right. A pinboard in the exhibition invites visitors to contribute their ideas for future exhibition topics. FOOD AND DRINKS As I don’t drink alcohol, I simply skipped visiting the Guinness factory and the Irish Whiskey Museum. There was something else that much more caught my interest: scones! Scones are similar to muffins, I would say, but much more delicious in my opinion. They are served with butter, jam and sugared whipped cream. And that is how it came that I tried my very first raspberry scone at Queen of Tarts . Splendid! Later on, we went to Temple Bar where we had great live music, tasty burgers and drinks (alcohol-free for me of course, hehe). Apparently, Temple Bar was the first pub in Ireland. Well, I have no idea if that is true or not. However, it sounds good in the tourist guide. CONCLUSION To sum it up: For me, Dublin is an international (student) city with an extremely high level of cuteness. Definitely worth a visit!