We hope that 2011 has been a great year for you.

We are very excited at the prospect of bringing you new and exciting design tips and concepts in 2012 to aid in your creativity and in your business ventures.

We want to thank our readers for your continuing support of Designed by Dianna. We wish you and your family a season of joy and much happiness in 2012.

Happy Holidays,
The Designed by Dianna Team
Our Creativity is YOUR Power!

The really good sales professionals I know sell other people’s products just as readily as the ones they earn money selling. Successful sales people don’t push a product; they listen for people’s needs. Develop the habit of listening first. Find people’s needs – even when you are not working. Really listen. Hear more than what is coming out of their mouths. Find the way to be helpful and the habit will continue to pay you forever.

Customer service begins with empathy but cannot be exceptional unless paired with action. Sometimes, empathy is all you can offer. Take a delivery delay – that is out of your control, but first deal with the situation with empathy – be personal with all your interactions, and respond from the other side of the fence.

Empathy plus action is what makes really great customer service. Practice this as often as possible, do it at home. See the situation from the other person’s point of view as often as possible. Look for potential ways to help. And remember, really listening makes someone feel heard which is just as important an action as any other.

When someone asks if you are in sales, are you reluctant to admit that? What feels comfortable? What seems to need work?

Valentine secretly married couples until he was caught. One legend suggests he left a farewell note for the jailer’s daughter before his death which said “Love from your Valentine,” the first Valentine’s card.

It was the pope who set aside February 14 to honour St. Valentine in AD 496. However, the day was not often celebrated until the Middle Ages. Gift giving and exchanging of hand-made cards became common in England around the 18th century, while in the 1840s the holiday caught on in the US.

But while the day is about love, cards, chocolates and flowers in the US and Canada, the day is celebrated differently around the world. For example, in Finland the day marks the honoring of friends, not lovers.

So on this day, remember to honor your friends as well as your lovers!

And as a designer, don’t forget to add that bright spot of color in the midst of your winter designs.

Creative people in the arts must develop a deep sensitivity to their surroundings — colors, sounds, and emotions…

I suppose being more sensitive to one’s surroundings can be a trigger for emotional mood swings. When the creativity is high, depression can be lurking in the wings, awaiting a lull in the creative process to rear its ugly head!

A major study showed a great many people suffer at least a few minor symptoms of “winter blues” or seasonal affective disorder (SAD). As an individual that suffers from SAD, I am not sure how I feel about creativity being linked with madness. This time of year I try to get at least 15 minutes of exposure to daylight…walking outside in the bitter cold is not my favorite pastime, but it helps keep the “SADness” at bay, at least until the dreaded month of February!

Experts say mental illness does not necessarily cause creativity, nor does creativity necessarily contribute to mental illness, but a certain ruminating personality type may contribute to both mental health issues and art.

Whether your creative nature is slight or extensive, personality characteristics are similar: contrariness, drive for dominion, capacity for solitude, production of personally identified works, and perhaps a tendency toward psychological “unease”. More than two thousand years ago, the great philosopher Aristotle proclaimed, “No great genius has ever been without some divine madness.” There are many examples of great artists, musicians, poets and novelists who exhibit the classic signs of major mood disorders…years from now we may well be identifying creative genius in technology, web design and a multitude of graphic pursuits. Well, if that is the case, may we all be welcomed into the ranks of greatness! (Even if we are all a bit “mad“!)