Design*Sponge » Blog Archive » well, at least they spelled my name right…

yay!! my picture’s in the paper! woohoo!! hooray! and it’s a big picture too!

oh look- and there’s an article that goes with it! ooh lots of words! lots of blogs! ooh- more pictures! (so that’s what those guys look like! love that vase, maxwell!)

wait a minute…i’m getting the sneaking suspicion that i’ve been cast as the bad blogger. boooo! they didn’t tell me that when they said they wanted to do an article on me! man, maybe i shouldn’t have been so wasted during that interview. it’s no secret that the relationship between the print media and bloggers has been an uneasy one, you know, the usual complaints: we work fast, shoot from the hip, don’t check facts and have no journalistic integrity. and as it turns out, i’m the example of all of these! and after reading the article, i’m starting to believe it! i don’t want to read my own site!

so it turns out that being the assistant to someone who is paid to promote our clients is a serious conflict of interest for someone who runs a personal blog. with my big mouth, i would have been more than happy to talk about our clients and all the gossip i get at work, but my boss and i agree that i have a tendency to say things that she wouldn’t want associated with our clients (whoops!). i don’t know why, maybe it was all that bad-mouthing karim rashid.

so, to summarize….my picture’s in the ny times! woohoo!

Hey, Grace!

It’s your Aunt Kathy’s wacko friend, Vickie. Just wanted to tell you not to be surprised if she gets picked up for standing on the street corner passing out copies of the article to strangers while yelling, “Hey, this is my niece!” Obviously, she’s very proud. :)

And I NEED to know what color that is on the wall behind you in the picture. I’ve been waiting for something to strike me for my living room and that be it. Of course, it will be another 4 or 5 years before I get around to painting it…ask your Aunt K. about Lily’s bedroom…

Take care! And email me at vickiemullins@richmond.com if you get a chance about the color. THANKS!

i’m reading it online right now…

…

wait a sec, haven’t you disclosed that your day job promotes some of the stuff!? i recall that you’ve done that… if so, get them to print one of their page99 retractions. that way you’re in the paper twice…

ok, besides that, the fact that they point out that you et al. are not a “journalists” to me* seems a little like axe grinding.

you do have the first picture there on the page at least. congrats. does that picture feature the laptop that refuses to work properly?

*i guess in all fairness i should disclose that i’ve been a friend of d*s for a while and therefore may be biased.

#1: Kick-ass photo. Very cool.

#2: Don’t let Mr. Lockhart Steele (seriously, that’s this guy’s real name?) get you down. He’s probably too jaded to understand why someone would want to work in design *and* dedicate their spare time to writing about it for *free.* Must be something fishy. Think again Lockhart Steele! (Just typing his name makes me feel like a pulp romance novelist!)

#3: Massive congrats, and get ready for a readership spike - you deserve it!

Congrats on the article!

Unrelated to the article but relevant; do you have permission from either the NYT or the photographer to reproduce the photo on your site? If not, you should consider taking it down quickly.

I was in the NYT in 2002, and had a copy of the photo on my site. The photographer who had the copyright came after me threatening a lawsuit and only went away after I deleted the photo and paid him money.

Please be careful. It was not pleasant at all.

For what it’s worth, I wasn’t put off by the Times’ comment. In fact, I’m looking for an up-and-coming “Style Guru” to host a series of style events sponsored by the magazine I work for (one of the 10 largest in US), a liquor client and a national retailor. One hour in front of an audience of suburban ladies. 12 events. Exposure throughout the year in a national women’s magazine. Interested in hearing more? It pays too (not that that matters).

WOW! I discovered your blog, not thru the NYT, but thru your Dad’s Fotolog… and I’m blown away by the fun and creativity and downright inspiration I’m seeing & reading here! You are amazing! -Dave

Grace,

Who cares if it’s your job to promote certain designers? I don’t feel “tricked” at all. Gee, maybe it’s because, like other commenters have noted, you mention all the time that you work in the industry, that Vitra is one of your clients… I’ve always gotten the vibe that you just post what you like. So phooey on LS.

I enjoyed reading about you and your fellow bloggers. You provide a savvy and hip contribution to the web. So don’t kvetch about being outed on non-disclosures. It wouldn’t hurt to mention your connection when there is one. You are clever and creative — do it in a cool way. So settle down, shake it off and don’t badmouth the Times.

But why hasn’t anyone mentioned that your url was wrong in the article? designsponge.com is a website design firm. Luckily I found you through a link on apartmenttherapy.com

congrats grace — that’s super exciting! we haven’t met but i know and LURVE your blog and we have rena tom in common (www.renatom.com for any of you jewelry lovers out there).

don’t be bummed about the conflict-of-interest comments — reporters think it’s their job to always kick up dirt, whether relevant or not, plus i’m not the only one who has read many times before on your site where you explicitly mention who you work for. doesn’t matter — you find great stuff and that’s why we’re reading… plus, you got your picture in the times!

go celebrate and keep up the great work!
kelly
http://www.bussbuss.com

you write about your clients products without disclosing that you are paid for them. i don’t think this is a good blog idea at all and I do feel tricked since i’ve been reading your blog for a while and haven’t even sensed a slight bit of this possibility. you’d be a good politician.

Dear Designsponge. Please disregard the person who posted that bitter note. Your enthusiasm and joy for beautiful and creative things is a talent and gift that you share every day while we sit with our coffee and a grin– anticipating what cool things you’re about to show us.

thankyouthankyouthankyou!

Congrats!

Headline: DSponge mentioned in the Big Blog (NYT)
(LOL)

Looks like that, has a nose for good design and plays roller hockey. Your AC is lucky. If you got a southern drawl, I’m gonna ask for a clone.

I love the site. Keep up the good work.

Hey, only just came across your site via the NYT article (via MocoLoco), but thank you, thank you for dumping on Karim Rashid. I can’t understand why there’s this conspiracy of silence about his lack of talent. The Emperor has no clothes on!

His ideas seem like poorly plagiarised Marc Newson (often shamelessly so), with little sense of scale or proportion. None of which would be a mortal sin if he wasn’t such a ruthless self-promoter. But really, how did anyone fall for this guy?

Fantastic blog! It’s just what I needed. As for the “bad blogger” bit, you’re just incredibly lucky to represent a company whose product you like enough to endorse personally, off the clock. They had to give the article an edge, I guess, and it looks like you’re the scapegoat. It looks like you’re appreciated enough for none of that to matter, though.

I’ve got to be honest… I was alittle put off by you not informing your readers of your line of work. It’s not wrong, just kind of sneaky. I think it’s safe to assume I’ll be alittle more hesitant when I read your blog.

GRACE, I WOULDN’T WORRY SO MUCH ABOUT THE COMMENT ABOUT BEING THE “BAD BLOGGER.” WE LIVE IN A CULTURE OF IMAGES, AND JUDGEMENTS USUALLY FOLLOW FROM THOSE, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, RATHER THAN WHAT’S WRITTEN. AND YOU LOOK PRETTY GOOD FROM HERE IN PARIS.

MATTHEW ROSE PARIS
http://WWW.ARTVITAM.COM

To the reader above, Ms. Sponge has written numerous times about her line of work. I have only been reading her blog for a few months and I was well aware of it.

Grace, you are doing a fantastic job with the site. You and I have weirdly similar (and whimsical) tastes…coming to your page is a highlight of my day.

(By the by–I’m still on my laptop bag search…I’ll keep you posted when I find something new and cool.)

Congratulations! I read your blog maniacally everyday. And when you posted the info yesterday, I rushed out to buy the NYTimes. Hoorah for you! and for Apartment Therapy. BTW, everyone with a clue knows how you are employed. Helloooo?

hellooo from brooklyn everyone-

ac and i just walked in and i just got back online- i swore i wouldn’t look at anything computer related for the whole trip.

just wanted to thank everyone for their wonderful comments. i’m so so excited to be back home and i’m ready to post some more. man, i’m so excited that i get to be back in front of the comp gushing about design again. hooray!

san francisco was amazing and i’ll post more about it later. thanks for those who politely mentioned that i’ve never hidden my line of work or clients. love ya!

gotta go, must feed hungry kitties.

xoxo
d*s

Just happened to bumped in to the article from one of my mailing list. A gil from Brooklyn in the NY Times huh….wooo you’re famous now girl. Congrats.

And how is Brooklyn these days? I miss Brooklyn, well not so much of it just my old campus at Pratt. Well, so long n enjoy the fame :-)

brooklyn is quite lovely, thank you. albeit a bit cold.

btw- the paint color is “chelsea grey” from benjamin moore. someone above asked, sorry it took me so long to get back to you. btw, it looks much more grey in person than in that picture. it looks a bit purple in the pic.

ps: don’t hate lockhart, the icky part of the article wasn’t his fault.

I’ve been reading your blog for some time and think you do a great job. Having said that, I think the point made in the article about disclosing *possible* conflicts of interest was fair and one you shouldn’t feel defensive about unless, in fact, you are shilling for your employer - which, I presume, you’re not.

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