Visiting Villanueva, Colombia with Google Street View

Image from Paola’s trip

When my Bogota-based Spanish conversation partner Paola faced a mechanical issue with her car, she and her family ended up stranded in Villanueva, a small town in northeastern Colombia. Ever the optimist, Paola chose to see this as an opportunity instead of a frustrating setback. She explored, sampled local delicacies, and befriended the workers at her hotel. And when we met for our weekly Skype chat, she gave me a tour from her balcony.

I wanted to see more. Less than a year before I’d visited two continents within the span of six months. Leaving the country—and certainly the city!— had been a regular occurrence. Now, ten months into a raging pandemic with no immediate end in sight, the extent of my travel was Target’s curbside pickup. Seeing unfamiliar landscape, even through a screen, felt like the jolt of inspiration I needed to get through the next stretch.

Energized by Paola’s intrepid sense of adventure, I decided to explore Villanueva (population approx. 4500) on foot using Google Street View. Yes, the same tool that you might have used to check out the block of your AirBnB before arriving on a BeforeTimes trip. In a pandemic, Google Street View isn’t just a preview of your trip—it’s the entire experience.

There’s something all-powerful about grabbing that little orange Google Street View fellow (he even has a name: Pegman) by the scruff of his neck, dangling him above a town, and dropping him wherever you fancy. In a time with so little control over my own life, I was suddenly able to exert complete domination over this little character. And while in my real life I could barely walk a block without panicking about the virus, in this virtual space I moved freely without fear. Even better, I did it while bypassing some of travel’s other nuisances entirely: passport control, baggage claim, jet lag.

I plopped the orange guy into Principal Park, strolled to the Hotel Villados where Paola was staying, and finally meandered to the very end of one of the roads, where Google Street View stops and the sidewalk literally ends. And while we were walking, I realized something. Traveling with Google Street view offers many of the intangible wonders of travel, risk-free.

The chance to connect with friends...
Not in person, of course. But strolling the streets of Villanueva made my connection with Paola stronger because I was able to visualize exactly where she was stranded. Since the “trip” to Villanueva, I’ve used Google Street View to revisit the cobblestone alleys of Toledo Spain, where I studied in college, and to rediscover a whimsical sculpture park near a friend’s home in the outskirts of Boston. “Visiting” their town squares or local pubs provided a sense of connection and familiarity in a time of isolation.

At the end of the road in Villanueva (image Google Street View)

…and with strangers
On Paola’s recommendation, I visited the Heladeria de Nevado paleteria (popsicle) stand, where unexpected flavors included avocado, Viagra (!?),  and yuca and bean. As I scrolled through crowd-sourced images of locals posing with their paletas, I remembered for a fleeting moment what it felt like to dine in community (good, I think? It’s been so long. What even are other people?!).

An opportunity to learn something new
Even on the mostly empty streets of Villanueva, there was plenty to learn. I treated the visit the same way I’d approach a trip to any new city: I did some research. Reading up on the region’s foods, I encountered a local culinary delicacy, hormigas culonas: fat-bottomed ants. On one of my strolls I encountered a corner store labeled ferretería that featured faded images of tools on the sign. The word was vaguely familiar. I looked it up and realized I’d never learned the word for “hardware store.” 

A sense of endless discovery
300+ days of daily pandemic walks means I’ve all but memorized every block within a four-mile radius of my apartment. I notice every time a neighbor adds or removes holiday decor. I’ve observed the evolution of neighborhood signage as the pandemic progressed: from We’re All In This Together to Support Our Frontline Workers to Black Lives Matter to Biden 2020 to Thank You, Georgia. I could write a newsletter about which books appear in our Little Free Libraries. While that familiarity can be reassuring in a stressful time, it can also be a little… boring.

Villanueva’s expansive skies, clay tile rooftops, and surrounding mountain ranges offered a welcome change from Chicago topography (flat), weather, (bleak, grey) and architecture (blocks of brick three-flats).

The balcony at Hotel Villados (image Google Street View)

No virtual exploration session could ever replace the traveler’s insatiable need to connect, converse—the all-important human element is lacking. Still, it scratched the exploring itch in a time when I am mostly confined to my home. Traveling with Google Street View reminded me that the world is still ours to explore, and it will be waiting for us when it’s safe to do so. Until then, you can find me on the other side of the globe, planning future journeys one screen at a time.

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I spoke about my experience traveling with Google Street View at Karen Ward’s wonderful Curiosity Winter Camp. 

On practicing daily piano in a pandemic

In a letter to his friend, Jacques Durand, Debussy wrote of one of his piano compositions, “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum is a kind of health-oriented, cumulative gymnastics: it should be played every morning before breakfast, beginning moderato and ending spiritoso.” It’s fitting, then, that I start my day with this exuberant piece.

In order to maintain my sanity and physical, mental, and emotional stamina for what appeared to be a long haul in the early stages of the pandemic (although back then I thought that meant 6-8 weeks. Little did I know...) I decided to create a new schedule. A series of daily practices imposes structure and creates routine where it no longer existed. Besides morning yoga, journaling, and getting outside for at least 20 minutes a day, it includes daily piano.

I’ve practiced piano every day since March, playing five favorite songs in the same order. It’s a calming ritual that brings me joy, but I found myself wondering: why these songs? Why now? The truth is I hadn’t given their choice a lot of thought. In the early days of the pandemic, I just wanted comfort, and these five provide that for me. While wildly different in structure and tone, each is a crowd-pleaser, and more importantly, fun to play, so I * almost * forget about everything else…

Here they are, the five pieces that have carried me through:

Two Part Invention No. 14 in B flat major, Bach

Bach’s inventions are a collection of pieces in varying keys where recurring melodies are essentially in conversation with each other, exchanging dialogue across key changes and inverting melodies freely. Originally written as musical exercises for his students, these lively pieces offer an inspired way to start daily practice. This is an upbeat, bright song that’s as enjoyable to play as it is to hear.

Sonata No. 20 in G major. Beethoven

In this joyful sonata, the notes fly across the piano in dramatic arpeggios and winding scales. The structure is simple but reassuring, and the scales almost play themselves after years of practice. It may not dazzle like a Mozart sonata or impress like a Ravel concerto, but it’s a cornerstone of my practice for its reliably cheerful consistency.

Children’s Corner L. 119 L. 113 Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum, Debussy 

After the methodical, structural precision of Bach and Beethoven, in bursts Debussy with the rousing Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum. The piece opens with an onslaught of legato sixteenth notes that leap across the piano nearly nonstop until a slower portion about two-thirds of the way through.

No one knows how to elicit pure, raw emotion from the piano quite like Debussy. But perhaps because of that, his pieces are challenging and require many hours of practice to get right. Without exaggeration, I’ve played this piece thousands of times; I performed it in recitals and competitions as a teen and I’ve revisited it throughout my life—and I still stumble regularly. When I do get it right, I’m transported to another dimension, one where melodies flow like water.

Intermezzo, Manuel Ponce
This piece has special meaning to me because it’s one of the first I learned when I started piano lessons again in my early thirties. My Mexican-born instructor at the time introduced me to Ponce, a Mexican composer active in the first half of the twentieth century who deserves more name recognition for his piano compositions in particular (he’s mainly remembered for his guitar music). This moody, melancholic piece is written in 2/4 time, but there’s something rather waltz-y about the supporting trio of notes the left hand plays while the right hand carries the tune. Must be played with feeling! 

Partita no. 1 in B flat major, Gigue, Bach

Bookending my daily practice with the Invention and this Partita/Gigue ensures that my fingers get a workout. This is a rapid-fire piece that involves a LOT of tricky hand crossing. At a certain point, you have to just give in and completely trust that your fingers will carry you through. It’s inevitable: as soon as I stop and think, I make a mistake. It’s practically an athletic feat to get through it; I can actually feel my joints strengthening. The triumphant ending sums it all up in a tidy fashion. 

This is the last piece in the Suzuki Level 4 book, but for me it was such a leap in difficulty and complexity from the previous Level 4 pieces that I’m surprised it’s not in a higher level book.

This daily practice has been as meditative as any yoga flow and as restorative as a brisk walk, and I find it complements both of those activities well.

Isolation experiments: Collage postcard series

About seven weeks into near-total isolation, I decided I needed a new creative project. My usual sketching felt uninspired, probably because I had stopped going anywhere new. So I pulled out some piles of old magazines and cleared the kitchen table for tearing, cutting, and glue-sticking to make a few batches of postcards to send to friends and family. I corralled clippings of tablescapes, vistas, and travel photography and brought them all together with some patterned golden columns that lined the pages of a Travel + Leisure feature. Here’s the series mid-assembly:

The first batch I made had no rhyme or reason to it: a mix of cartoons from old New Yorker covers, prosciutto platters, seascapes, and billowy fabric photographed from above. But I was experimenting with scale, with what to crop and what to include, and most importantly, with the idea of creating something new.

In this small creative act, I felt myself reclaiming some of the most aspirational images I’d clipped of exclusive places and luxurious things I’d never own or see. They transformed from marketing images to mailbox brighteners, repurposed as cheery, bite-sized vessels of hope—a friendly greeting in a dark time.

What did I learn? That I cannot resist certain color combinations: lime green, deep blue, teal, chartreuse, and poppy reds. That it’s okay to experiment if (and especially if) you have no idea what the end result will be—trust in the process and it will reveal the way. That I shouldn’t underestimate the healing, meditative process of making things.

And that it was worth it, and continues to be worth it, to save all those old magazines for “someday.”

Keeping a robust to-read list: The tools that keep good books coming my way

This is part two of a two-part post on how I keep track of what I want to read and keep a steady stream of good books flowing into my life. Read part one here. Now, on to blogs and sites.

Publishing blogs
Chronicle Books Blog keeps me up to date on the SF-based publisher’s latest offerings on creativity, adventure, and design. They publish beautiful, thoughtful books with distinct personality and presence.

LitHub compiles the latest in contemporary literature from hundreds of sources, so it can be hard to keep up with (its posts tend to dominate my Feedly) but so rewarding when you do. A great way to sample writing from an array of publications and discover new ones, too. Even just skimming the headlines gives me a sense of the latest publishing buzz.

The Paris Review’s blog, The Daily, brings the esteemed lit magazine to a digital format with musings from luminaries like Hanif Abdurraqib and R.O. Kwon.  I especially love their series: Revisited invites writers to reacquaint themselves with works they encountered long ago, Feminize Your Canon profiles underrated female authors, and Poetry RX prescribes a poem to match readers’ emotions.

The Millions is another site overflowing with excellent literary content (see The Last Unhappy White Guy), but my favorite section is Lists. Start here to keep up with new releases, top picks, and every long and shortlist contender. A surefire destination to beef up your reading list.

Blogs by prolific readers

For a year, Ann Morgan read one book from every country and wrote about it on A Year of Reading The World. While she’s completed the project, she still writes regularly about books from lesser-known regions. Her dedication really highlights the difficulty of procuring work from countries whose work isn’t easily found in the US or UK.

On A Little Blog of Books, London-based voracious reader Clare logs her latest reads in a well-indexed blog, with reviews dating back over seven years.

Explore the shelves of Book Pickings for a visual tour of Maria Popova’s recommended reads on art, history, psychology, creativity, science, and design. She’s never steered me wrong. The reading lists on her blog Brain Pickings have introduced me to some of the most inspiring books I’ve read. Don’t miss her children’s book picks, either.

Girls At Library is like the Coveteur for readers. I’ve gotten many good recommendations here. Also feeling a lot of kinship with the women who share favorite books with me. I really enjoyed Angela Ledgerwood’s profile—we share a love of the Babysitters’ Club, Judy Blume, and Roald Dahl books.

Speaking of Angela Ledgerwood, her podcast Lit Up is such a treasure. Explore the archives for provocative interviews with authors about their latest works and the writing life. Angela interviews with patience, warmth, and a true reverence for the power of literature, so she’s able to have some really fascinating conversations with her guests.

Finding, acquiring, and keeping track of what to read: Part one

A cornucopia of finds at a friend’s book swap

It takes a little work (fun work, but still work) to maintain a robust reading list and make sure you always have something intriguing on your nightstand. Here are a few of the necessary apps, sites, blogs, and resources that keep me stocked with good reads. This will be a two-part post because I have a lot to say! First, the apps:

Chrome’s Library Extension ensures I’m never without a new read and keeps my hold shelf at the library full. If you’re an avid reader and you don’t have it set up yet, stop what you’re doing right now and install it. It works with Amazon and GoodReads, my two other sources for sourcing books and the most likely places authors link when promoting a book. This means you’re only two clicks away from a book review to getting that very title on hold at the library. Speaking of the library…

..I would not get through the number of books I read in a year without one of the most-used apps on my phone, the Chicago Public Library app. I’m constantly reevaluating my holds list, deciding if a buzzy book is worth the wait when I’m #282 on the list and which hold I might sacrifice for some classic I can get in the next two days. It’s a truly Darwinian exercise. Between this and the Chrome extension, a steady stream of new books flow continuously into my home.

Goodreads is not going to be a surprise for most readers, but it’s still worth a mention. It’s the one form of social media I actually engage with on a daily basis. This is where I catalog everything I’ve read and everything I hope to read someday. I like to get really specific with my virtual shelves.

Next: the blogs and reading resources that keep me in the publishing loop.

Urban Sketchers Sketch Seminar: A celebration of sketching on location

Art has always been a part of my life—when I was growing up, I took oil painting classes, did pastel work and ink drawings, and always enjoyed illustrating my own short stories. But it’s only in the last couple years that I started exploring the idea of sketching on location and capturing the life and energy of the city around me. I’ve started getting involved in Urban Sketchers Chicago, a group that meets monthly around the city to sketch on location.

Drawing on location is an entirely different challenge, one that contains an element of uncertainty. There’s no guarantee that one’s environment will stay the same, especially in a fast-moving urban landscape. So putting pen to paper requires a kind of artistic courage that I’d never had to summon.

Urban Sketchers Chicago hosts Sketch Seminar every June, a weekend-long celebration of sketching on location with sketch crawls, seminars where you can hone your craft, and a closing party. Attendees could sign up for four three-hour seminars over the course of the weekend. I sat at my computer refreshing the screen on registration day in March because I’d heard stories of classes selling out quickly. Fortunately, I got into all my top picks:

• ”Composition Tells The Story”
  Instructors: Brian Wright & Suzala Zahler
  LOVED this class. We headed to Millennium Park and situated ourselves on the steps facing the Crown Fountain—an ideal spot for observing humanity in motion, including joyful toddlers, harried parents, and bemused passing tourists.
  
  Brian and Suzala started the class by showing different approaches to establish perspective on the page, including the Fibonacci sequence and the rule of thirds. Lightbulb moment: the fact that I never thought about any of this before putting pencil to paper explained so much about why some of my drawings could barely be contained by the page and others seemed to lack focus.
  
  Then we did a few breakout sessions of 30-second sketches. Using only warm grey-hued markers, we attempted to define a scene quickly by emphasizing or de-emphasizing shadows and highlights. Since I’m someone who can easily spend half a day inking clusters of tree leaves with painstaking precision, this exercise did not come easily! Suzala saw me struggling—what do you do when the main subject of your drawing has the audacity to get up and leave the park?!—and encouraged me to loosen up, suggesting that I mix and match one person’s head with another’s body. “Wait, you can do that?!” I said, realizing even as I said it how silly it sounded. Freed of my self-imposed rules, I finished the sketch. Later, we did the “throwdown,” the moment at the end of any Urban Sketchers gathering where everyone throws down their sketchbooks and we survey the work as a whole.

• ”Fountain Pen World”
  Instructors: Alex Zonis & MJ Ernst
  When was the last time you tried a completely new art form? It’s probably been 20 years since I experimented with an entirely new medium, and now I’m wondering why I waited so long. Because fountain pens are fun, easy to use, and take up much less space than watercolors. Also, they make me feel like an ancient scribe writing a decree… even if I’m just sketching the lamppost across the street.
  
  All attendees received a square sketchbook with thick paper made for wet media, two fountain pens, a waterbrush, and several ink cartridges. Alex and MJ taught us the basics of loading ink cartridges and preparing ink washes, and then we got to work, sketching each other or the view of Grant Park out the window:
  

• ”Think With Your Hands!”
  Instructor: Jingo de la Rosa
  Sunday kicked off with this energetic class in the Art Institute’s south gardens, a serene respite steps from Michigan Avenue that I somehow always forget about. Jingo encouraged us to try contour line drawings and/or avoid looking at our hands entirely while drawing. Again, this did not come easily! My favorite part of this class was getting to page through Jingo’s sketchbooks. He brought volumes of them to share, all bursting with drawings of state fair food, people catching up at a doughnut shop, and lots of lattes.
  

• ”Capturing Chicago’s Rhythm and Energy”
  Instructor: Lisa Flahive
  We settled in at the corner of Wabash and Van Buren directly under the L tracks. Lisa whips up layered, complex drawings in less than two minutes using fat grey markers to convey movement. She makes it looks easy, but I learned from experience that it is not. I didn’t love my final drawing from this class, but I absolutely adored seeing my fellow attendees’ work. Always fascinating: how a group of people can sit in the exact same spot and produce 20+ entirely different drawings depending on shifts in perspective, scale, or color choices. With the creaking L overhead, street traffic whizzing in front of us, and intermittent groups of people strolling by, we had plenty of options to explore.
  
  Read more: I also wrote about Urban Sketchers in Spanish on Paola Martinez’s blog.

Reading lately: Networking for introverts and the magic of serendipity

Commuting is a slushy slog, half the people you know are fighting SAD, and between the polar vortex and weekly snowfall, we’re more than a little stir crazy. February is a terrible month for socializing, but it’s a perfect month for reading. Here’s what I’ve been reading lately:

Taking The Work Out of Networking: The Introvert’s Guide to Making Connections That Count, Karen Wickre
Besides being a 1) self-described introvert, Wickre is 2) a woman 3) over sixty 4) in tech. In an industry where being over forty can feel ancient, it might seem that those are four strikes against her. But Wickre has had a successful 30-year career at companies like Twitter and Google, and she claims to have done it all without ever working a room. Her main focus is on cultivating and maintaining meaningful one-on-one connections, something that introverts naturally excel at. She calls it “organic networking”: the networking you do when you don’t need anything.

Textbook Amy Krouse Rosenthal, Amy Krouse Rosenthal: I’m rereading this one, one of my favorites from last year, in anticipation of my March book club. Krouse Rosenthal died less than a year after its publication (you may remember her from her viral NYT article “You May Want to Marry My Husband”), so sections about life’s brevity feel especially heavy. Still, Krouse Rosenthal writes with such infectious goodwill, brimming with enthusiasm and love, that you soon forget that she’s gone—it feels as if she’s right there with you offering to bake you a pie or get matching tattoos (yes, she really went through with both of these). She celebrates the smallest moments, reminding us that the world is a magical, serendipitous place.

The interactive website enhances the reading experience, cataloging reader submissions: selfies, photos of rainbows, descriptions of “purple flower moments” (whatever the person is doing at a particular moment in time), plus readings of poems and musical accompaniments. I visited the site hoping it was still up, and happily, not only is it live, but you can still send submissions. There were several reader-submitted rainbows in Chicago in 2018 that I never noticed. Maybe I need to start paying more attention.

Elements of a creative retreat

At the end of January, Jane and I went to Union Pier, Michigan, for a weekend to work on our creative projects. This was our third consecutive year taking a one-night, two-day creative retreat, and these weekends have become a highlight of the first quarter of the year.

Carving away substantial time to set and accomplish creative goals is invaluable—it really helps me visualize the entire year through the prism of creative living. Here’s what we’ve learned from doing three of these:

Location, location, location
We choose small towns without too many distractions that are booming in summer, but relatively quiet in winter months when we arrive. We’ve gone to New Buffalo, MI; Racine, WI; and this year, Union Pier, MI. All three destinations are within a two-hour drive from Chicago, so we can hit the road early on Saturday morning and get started well before noon. We feel like we’re out of town (which is key, being just far away enough from the tantalizing allure of plans with friends), yet the trip isn’t that much longer than a rough commute.

Accommodations
This is more important than a typical weekend getaway because you’ll be spending a lot of time in the room or at the inn. We’ve stayed in AirBnBs and, more recently, a (very generous!) friend’s second home. Consider lighting, table space, room to spread out your supplies, and reliable wifi when booking a place. For us, a big dining room table is invaluable, not to mention a little extra space for morning yoga.

The right kind of cafe
Good coffee shops are KEY. Find a place where you can park yourself for a few hours and the staff won’t give you dirty looks. You want a friendly vibe with enough activity to keep you engaged but not so much that you’ll be distracted from your work. Hearty sandwiches and well-made lattes are a bonus.

Dining in… and out
It’s okay to idly munch on muffins, trail mix, and fruit during the day while working, but we’ve found it ideal to completely separate ourselves from our work at some point for dinner out at a restaurant. We reflect on what we’ve accomplished so far and also just have some non-project-related conversation. The talks invigorate us for the second half of the trip.

Morning routines
I’m a stickler for these at home, so of course I like to have them ready to go on the road. This is my list of things to do before immersing myself in project work, just to get in the right frame of mind:

• 5-10 minutes meditation (disclaimer: I always have the best intentions of doing this, but I rarely do)

• some form of exercise (either a run, a long walk, or some yoga, usually Yoga with Adriene)

• 30 minutes of free writing to get the creative juices flowing (I usually lose track of the time and end up going over on this one!)

List of goals/projects to tackle
The week before we leave, we share a list of our respective creative goals so each of us knows what the other hopes to get out of the weekend. The goals are there to provide structure, but I still try to allow plenty of time for free drawing and free writing inspired by the environment—and just brainstorming to see what develops. If I think of something exciting and new, I'm always fine with abandoning some predefined goals to see where the new idea takes me!

Creative tools packing list
I usually bring some combination of the items below:

• "Big Magic" by Elizabeth Gilbert and "Bird by Bird" by Anne Lamott -- two of my favorite books about writing and creativity

• on a related note, a few "Magic Lessons" podcasts for inspiration

• old magazines to tear up for projects or for scenes/images to use as drawing inspiration

• markers, colored pencils, and other misc. art supplies

• sketchbook

• journal

• blank paper

• yoga mat

Of course, everything doesn’t always go according to plan. Sometimes you never unroll the yoga mat or crack open the inspiring writing books because you end up spending six straight hours on a 2020 Democratic candidate content audit (or maybe that’s just me), and that’s totally okay! The whole point of these weekends is to work on whatever you want and see where that takes you, especially if your work goes in unexpected directions. Since there’s no one’s schedule to adhere to but your own, you can enjoy several uninterrupted days to absorb yourself in passion projects and embrace the lack of structure to see what transpires.

2020 Democratic candidates' sites: A competitive audit

The political text chain was NOT HAPPY. It was mid-January, we were trying to pull up some quick info on the 2020 Democratic nominees, and Kirsten Gillibrand’s presidential campaign site didn’t even show up in the first page of Google results. Had she completely forgotten to account for good SEO? Was no one searching for her? Or did she not even have a website?

My friends preferred Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren anyway, so this was just one more strike against Gillibrand. Well, maybe no one else’s site would come up in the results either. After all, the more often people search for a topic, the more likely it is to rise in Google’s search results. Outside of my admittedly intensely engaged political circles, much of the country was probably focused on the government shutdown or Roger Stone indictment, not Googling one of the dozens of potential 2020 Democratic candidates for a race that’s still nearly two years away.

As a content strategist, I perform competitive audits for clients. First I’ll review various competitors’ sites to assess their quality, effectiveness, user journey, performance, and identify any gaps. Then I develop a list of insights and recommendations based on my findings. The more information I gather, the more insights rise to the surface.

Intrigued by the potential presented by so many similar sites bubbling up, I decided to do a competitive content audit to see how the candidates were presenting themselves at this early stage. It was partly selfish—many of the candidates appealed to me, but I was in no way informed enough to identify how they differed on the policy front. When the primaries got heated, I wanted to be able to make a thoughtful decision about my preference, so I figured I’d see how they were branding themselves online and gather information where I could.

What I found revealed little about the issues (with one notable exception) but showed me a LOT about how the candidates are branding themselves—or failing to—in these early days of the campaign.

As of January 27, 2019, when I started this audit, there were eight Democratic candidates who have officially declared they’re running for president in the 2020 race: Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris, Kirsten Gillibrand, Julian Castro, Pete Buttigieg, John Delaney, Tulsi Gabbard, and Andrew Yang. I used the NYTimes “Who’s Running for President in 2020” interactive political graphic as a reference.

Often, my observations lead to more questions. For example:

• Do candidates speak about themselves in the first or third person, and how does that choice reflect the way they define themselves?

• Can you have too many family photos on your site?

• Are you completely out of touch in 2019 if you don’t have a Spanish version of your website? (I say yes)

• What do candidates’ suggested donation amounts say about them?

The original audit is based on notes I took the weekend of January 27-28. Any changes since then are noted as applicable.

Let’s take a closer look at Elizabeth Warren.

Elizabeth Warren
URL: https://elizabethwarren.com/

Discoverability in Google results (when searching for candidate's name): Ad: 1st result Search: 3rd result, after Wikipedia and her Senate page.

Does Google autopopulate "2020" when you enter candidate’s name? Yes, third result after name and net worth.

First impressions: Upon first load, you’re greeted with a video autoplay of her announcement. When you continue to the site, you see background b&w videos of Warren engaging with supporters.

Logo? No, just "Warren" (not highlighting "Elizabeth" until you meet her further down the page)

Slogan: Fighting for America’s Promise for All of Us

Color scheme: Mostly dark blue, with some white, black, light blue and red accents.

CTA: Unlike her fellow candidates, Warren actually acknowledges that not everyone who comes to her site is going to be a die-hard supporter. You can choose from these three options:

• I'm All In: "Great! We'll Keep You Updated With The Latest News."

• I'm Not Sure Yet: "What's Holding You Back?" (still asks for email, zip and cell so you’ll be on her list)

• I'm Not, And Here's Why: "Please Tell Us More" Why aren't you in? (can check a box or submit other reasons). To her credit, she doesn’t push those who aren’t into her campaign to sign up for updates. Instead, you’re taken to a site that links to iwillvote.com so you can confirm that you’re registered.

Of note:

• Uses the word “fight” three times on the homepage

• Only candidate with a linked Flickr account

Read more about my findings and compare Warren to other candidates on the competitive content audit spreadsheet.