Tuesday, January 31, 2012

CCSF Floral Class - Web Lecture

This might seem like an odd topic for a floral blog, but it's important. I love floral design, and have been through most of the program at City College of San Francisco. Along with that I have worked in the arts my entire life, and have frequently worked as a graphic designer or creative director for dot.coms and software companies.

Many people don't quite understand the huge paradigm shift that has happened on the web, with HTML 5, CSS 3 and the general user expectation to participate in a conversation/relationship instead of looking at a static informational website. People become confused and overwhelmed by all the choices that are available. Web site, blog, Google +, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter - how do all of these work together? Floral designers need to harness this power and communicate about their designs and what they do.

Below is a short presentation I did for the work study class at the CCSF. Please contact me by e-mail at kim_munson@yahoo.com if you have any questions.


Monday, January 9, 2012

Kitayama Brothers Tour



If you can't see the slideshow above, click here to see it on flickr.

Last week, I had a business meeting at the KB (Kitayama Brothers) Farms in Watsonville, situated on the Monterey Bay near Sunset Beach. They have about 1 million square feet of greenhouse space, and I was amazed by how tall and beautiful the flowers were. When we were walking through the greenhouses, it seemed like they went on for miles!  I also enjoyed hearing all the stories about how things really work, like the fact that the birds that get in the greenhouses prefer to only eat the shoots of purple flowers and what holidays/seasons the crops are grown for. It was fascinating, and worth the drive to see it in person.

If you click on the slideshow in full-screen mode, you will get the captions.