News from WithIt.Inc

by Stephanie Lowder, Rare Bird Creative

HOUSE LUST STILL ALIVE. Poor Dan McGinn. His book House Lust, published in January by Doubleday, amid the mortgage crisis. But his premise remains valid: a contagion of people spending hundreds of thousands adding lavish kitchens, family rooms, master suites to the homes they live in now; watching hour after hour of HGTV; longing for even more, something with "artistic imagination, dreamy, something different." Wake up, people. Even now, perhaps especially now, we home furnishing folk can make use of these passions, if we will.

LOOK-ALIKE INDUSTRY? Stanford law students have started handing out "diversity report cards" to big law firms, ranking them by how many female, blacks, Hispanics, Asians, and gay lawyers they have. And they're publishing their rankings at www.betterlegalprofession.org. Nuff said.

WHICH KEYWORD RESEARCH TOOL IS BEST? From a guy who ought to know, "most are a scam, selling you data that you can find elsewhere for free." There isn't a best, the good tools are much alike, and they include: Wordze, Keyword Discovery, Wordtracker. Thanks, copyblogger.com

BUSINESS INFLUENCERS 2008. Forces you can't afford to ignore this year, including those you know, climate change, China, declining dollar, mortgage crisis. And: shrinking middle class, health care (changes the elections will bring, perhaps reducing the employer's burden in the equation, or not), and interestingly. . . trust. Think lead in toys� (or, in our case, wood sourcing, etc). Though Americans' trust in global business is at an all-time low, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer 2007, 58% of college grad opinion leaders say they trust business. Folk trust local brands more. And "people are nearly twice as likely to believe a regular employee of a company as they are the CEO." So, empower employees to be truthful and act on problems. Entrepreneur Magazine, Mar 08.

IT'S THE NEWS, NOT THE PAPER. But the newspaper devolution prompts thoughts, including: "We are dismantling the institution of newspaper journalism precisely at the moment when it seems to be of greatest social value." Malcolm Gladwell, author of The Tipping Point, and Blink.

WHICH BRINGS TO MIND, OTHER PRINT. Goodbye to a great friend, House & Garden, 100+ years in service to Home Makers, last issue December 07. To all the great writers and editors, much love, and we hope to travel with you along new pathways to shared truth and beauty.

CAN'T GET ENOUGH TRENDSPOTTING? "The Heights of Fashion in the World of Architecture," what all well-dressed buildings should wear in 2008:
� Metallics: evolved with special effects, Corten (rusty) steel, metal mesh, brass and gold, perforated.
� Crystal Shapes: deliberately clunky, asymmetric, or resembling a spaceship from a 1950s B-movie.
� The Natural Look: old-style texture, organic, tweedy, authentic, appearing hand-hewn, always partnered with a directional modern shape.
� Coming (even in architecture): Big Bold Prints, florals the most obvious, also geometrics, mosaics, arabesque, Islamic. "Be warned: easy to overdo." As for Acid Color, been-there, "too try-hard," on the way out, fast. Tom Dyckoff, The (London) Times, Feb 23 08.

AND, FINALLY ARRIVED, NEW NOUVEAU. We've been looking for you. Seen on Spring runways, hair shows, jewelry collections: curling brass hair combs, twisted tendrils or voluminous waves, nymph pendants, Werkstatte broaches, Klimt and William Morris everything, Cecil Beaton interiors, woodland fairy romanticism (natural and carnal), plus florals, florals everywhere. The original Art Nouveau was driven by those weary and wary of industrialization - New Nouveau is driven by those weary and wary of informationization?