Here’s why we won’t be at South by Southwest this year:
1. We make real products, not virtual ones.
2. Half our staff is on their way to production facilities all over the world to oversee the finalization of 5 new products coming off the line.
3. We design one brand new consumer product every week.
4. We intend to spend our travel budget selling your products to retailers worldwide rather then frolicking with internet friends.
5. It’s in Texas. (Just kidding… sort of)
We discovered this fun fact while Ben was filming a segment for El Economista, a CNBC Spanish-language affiliate, today at Quirky HQ.
We’re happy to welcome two new interns to our design team. Feel free to post some warm ‘n fuzzy comments to make them feel at home!
Kate
Hometown: Rockland County, New York.
School: Class of 2009 at Syracuse University with a degree in Industrial and Interaction Design.
What makes her quirky: Every Monday night, I travel crosstown to meet up with random people to play Scrabble. And, I eat my grilled cheese sandwiches inside first!
Jihoon (a.k.a. JSHIN)
Home country: Seoul, South Korea.
School: Senior at Parsons School of Design in the Product Design Department.
What makes him quirky: It is hard for me to get people’s jokes. I sometimes create very awkward situations by being serious when someone is joking. Jokes are difficult for me… but that doesn’t mean I hate them!
Sometimes things get a little, well, quirky around Quirky HQ… ESPECIALLY when massive amounts of caffeine are involved. Nikki, our Director of Operations, just reenacted the following classic scene from Ace Ventura 2: When Nature Calls.
The office responded with uproarious laughter.
Yep… it’s been a long day.
To regroup after the craziness of the move, we held our first Community Pulse meeting in our new model shop (pictured above) to discuss all things related to YOU, our wacky, quirky, infinitely loyal community. This weekly meeting is just one of many ways we’re working to improve the Quirky experience.
Here are just a few of the many, many things we discussed:
- Creating a central dashboard so that when you log onto our system, you can immediately view new activity on the site, receive notifications, track the projects you’re influencing, be alerted to follow-up comments on forum threads you’ve posted, etc.
- Demystifying our influence engine by creating a number of graphics that clearly illustrate various influence earning scenarios.
- Improving our idea submission process in such a way that makes it easier to peruse and compare submissions. This will be important as the number of submissions per week continues to grow.
- Recognizing active Quirks with a badge/reward system, and rewarding those who have been particularly successful with social sales. We now have a “User of the Week,” who receives a free product idea submission and recognition in the weekly newsletter, but we want to do more!
- SWAG! By popular demand, we are working with our branding folks to come up with a super slick line of Quirky products, which will hopefully go up for sale in the Quirky store soon.
These changes, and the others we discussed, will take some time to implement, but we’re working hard to get the ball rolling now. Please continue to let us know what you think about these and other ideas and improvements. If you couldn’t tell by now, we value your opinions!
By popular demand, we’ve made a few changes to the layout of our Community Forum:
- There is now a small link to access the forum directly on the top bar of the site. No more digging around in the Learn section! You can also bookmark the following link for easier access: http://www.quirky.com/forums/.
- On the bottom of each thread post, you can find the following new links:
* Link: click here and a link to that particular post will appear in your browser.
* Edit: finally!
* Delete: duh.
We’re doing our best to make the Community Forum a comfy place to hang out between project phases. These are just a few of many user-suggested changes to come. Keep hitting us back with feedback, and we’ll keep implementing your ideas!
Yep, you heard us. We’re continuing our search for great, quirky people to add to our team. Check out the job description below, and pass it along to anyone who you think might fit the bill!
The Quirky e-Commerce & Online Marketing Guru will be responsible for selling Quirky’s products directly on quirky.com <http://quirky.com>. This person will have experience with online marketing strategies such as SEM, SEO, affiliate networks, CPA display advertising, social sales tactics, and partnerships with other sites to drive sales. This person will also have experience with data-driven direct marketing techniques and work closely with a technology team to develop conversion tracking, A/B testing of UI, landing pages, etc. He/she will create an unparalleled customer experience that drives conversion rates and grows revenue and profitability. The ideal candidate will have strong e-commerce experience and a passion for design and consumer products, as well as a healthy obsession for the Quirky brand.
What We’re Looking For:
– Two or more years of experience in e-Commerce marketing, preferably with consumer-facing e-commerce site(s).
– Experience bringing ideas from concept to prototype and the ability to document functional requirements and work well with the Quirky technology team.
– Excellent written and verbal communication skills. Equally effective communicating in formal and informal settings with senior executives, peers, and potential business partners.
E-mail your resume and cover letter to ecommercejobs@quirky.com with the subject “E-COMMERCE GURU.”
My French Press coffee maker is one of my favorite items I keep in my apartment. The version I currently own is composed of many different materials like glass, metal, and some plastic. Each having a specific purpose, contrasting visual quality and feel, all working together to help to achieve its general function of brewing coffee.
There are a few stages to making coffee with a French Press. First you need to coarsely grind the beans, boil some water, stir, wait, cover…then press and pour. This simple method of brewing coffee tends to produce more flavor than a standard drip machine. But beyond taste alone, the french press style of brewing is a process that instills patience and proportion, skills that are much further reaching than your coffee cup.
There are many ways to make a cup of coffee, each one having its own unique aspect of preparation. If you like to drink coffee from time to time, check it out!
