There are so many ways to tell the story of how Clever came to be – as you have probably experienced on your own path, there are lots of events that happen before you change course on something.
And so it goes, that along the course of my life as a blogger I have have changed a lot. I mean, A LOT. And that’s just since 2008. If you have followed along for any length of time you’ve seen this go from being very topically focused (eco-friendly interior design) to very broad. We have had lots of guest contributors and periods of high and low activity. It’s always been a direct reflection of what was going on in my life – as my interests and responsibilities changed, so did the blog.
When I moved from Inspired Design Daily to Clever, I wanted to make sure that readers understood why we were doing this (it was a pretty big change!) and that my decision was based on a need for growth in all areas. My experience with branding has taught me two major things: 1. Consistency is super important and 2. It has to make sense. It was a risky move to change my identity after working for 4 years to build an audience. But IDD just didn’t make sense anymore.
What DID make sense was the idea that creative people don’t stay put for too long. We have lots of ideas, are constantly inspired and subsequently need to keep moving. Rather than fight it, I chose to embrace it and create something that allowed us to continue growing and exploring all the things that interest us. The name Clever came out of a branding session with Nicole Longstreath – we realized that this blog didn’t fit into the niche of Design or DIY blogs. In reading them we always found beautiful things, great photography and women who appeared to lead such awesome lives.
I love my life, but it would be quite a struggle to have to live up to something as picture perfect as that. And to be honest, I’m too rebellious to enjoy it.
So along with the change in identity, we set into motion a larger plan for ourselves and our futures – part of which I’m thrilled to announce today:
Nicole and I are joining forces to become Co-Editors of Clever
And we have lots of exciting things in store.
It’s not that anything is really changing, but what I started 4 years ago has now come into focus. It means that everything good will be enhanced, what makes sense will continue and what doesn’t will go away. With a clear vision, we can now deliver something really great. Consistent and Relevant.
We’re looking forward to it!
We would love to hear your thoughts: What do you want to see from Clever?
