Living Life Like a Butterfly

My friend Sarah and I picked a perfect day to sit outside for lunch.

Today in Abilene, Texas, the breeze was cool, the sun was shining, the sky was blue, and the monarch butterflies were passing through on their fall migration. Sarah and I just happened to eat lunch together outside today, in a spot where a couple hundred monarchs were fluttering about.

The butterflies were breathtaking to watch, of course. And, more than that, they fascinated me.

Here they were, in the midst of a few-thousand-mile flight south to Mexico for the winter. But these butterflies were not soaring by, as Canadian geese zoom past during their own annual migration. The butterflies' migration looked nothing like an American family road trip, with no stops allowed except bathroom breaks.

Instead, the monarch butterflies seemed to be taking their time. Sarah and I watched as they simply fluttered around this cluster of bushes and trees in Abilene, Texas, almost as if they lived there. Had someone been visiting Abilene today and seen these butterflies, he would have assumed that he had stepped into a permanent butterfly garden - not that these beautiful insects were just passing through.

I want to go through life like the butterflies do.

I want to live life with a destination in mind, with an innate purpose and goal which I press on to achieve. But I do not want to travel toward that destination single-mindedly, like a Canadian goose. I do not want to zoom through life, non-stop, trying to reach my goal without delay.

I want to travel toward my goal like a monarch butterfly. Moving from place to place, with the same path and purpose and focus as the Canadian goose, but enjoying the trip along the way. Slowing down enough to savor each moment, each location, each season. Taking time to get to know people and experience places as I go. Realizing that each stop along the journey might be just as important, and as meaningful, and as beautiful, as the final destination.

Are you living life like a goose, or like a butterfly?

Subways: Boring or Beautiful?

Last week, New York City's Metropolitan Transit Authority unveiled a project that will make subway riders' commute a bit "brighter."

That project is the newly completed art installation by the late Conceptual artist Sol Lewitt. The piece, entitled "Whirls and Twirls (MTA)", is an arrangement of brilliant porcelain tiles on the wall above the staircase at the 59th Street-Columbus Circle subway station. The piece is the first of three Lewitt works commissioned by the MTA; the other two are compass rose floor designs. (Read more about the work at www.nytimes.com.)


Photo by Ángel Franco, New York Times


The piece rather reminds me of another bit of art and culture that was added to the NYC subway recently - without the direction of the Metropolitan Transit Authority. One evening in November 2008, Improv Everywhere, a volunteer group that "causes scenes of chaos and joy in public places," opened an "art gallery" on the 23rd Street subway platform. See their video below:




Both of these initiatives took a typically dirty and dreary part of New Yorkers' daily life - riding the subway - and made it interesting and beautiful. They brought joy (or in the case of Improv Everywhere, "chaos and joy") to the public. At no cost to the public.

What can your organization do to brighten up the lives of your audience? How can you add beauty and delight and surprise and laughter to your customers' experience? What part of your product or service is taken for granted as dull or distasteful, and what can you do to change it?

And don't make your customers bear the cost of this change. Take it out of your marketing budget. The repeat business of your delighted customers and their friends will be more than enough recompense for any extra expense.

Can Art on a Billboard Still Be Called Art?

Palisades Car Insurance is making an apparent effort to beautify the highways of New Jersey, its home state. How? Not through the Adopt-A-Highway program. Not by planting trees and shrubs. No, Palisades is making its contribution to society by displaying art - fine art - on billboards.

The campaign, which began on July 13, is called "Drive With a Smile," from the company known as "The Nice New Jersey Car Insurance Company." According to a recent New York Post article, the goal of the campaign is three-fold: 1) to give drivers something pleasant to view while stuck in traffic; 2) to showcase the work of local New Jersey artists; and 3) to promote the scenic locations of New Jersey. The first two billboards are already on display (see photos below); the art for the remaining billboards will be selected by online vote from New Jersey scenes submitted by local artists. Art submissions, viewing, and voting takes place at drivewithasmile.palisades.com




The question on the table is this: can art on a billboard still be considered art? If a billboard displays a painting, can it still be seen as an eyesore? Or does the painting succeed in beautifying the signage?

I think that Palisades' campaign sounds like a great thing - it sounds like a community service, turning the highway into an art gallery. Beautifying the road. Benefiting society. But, based on the photos above, it seems that Palisades only made a half-hearted effort at their corporate social responsibility.

With the Palisades logo and "Got a Nice Piece?" tagline taking up so much space, it seems that drivers would hardly be able to get a good look at the art. The view seems comparable to looking at a thumbnail of a photo online, without having the luxury of opening the full-size version. Or, if the highway were an art gallery, visitors would be examining an 8" x 10" painting from across the entire length of the room.

I agree with mep's comments on the subject from a discussion on ArtBistro.com: "if you are going to put a landscape painting on a billboard then make the whole 'canvas' just that." Palisades ought to relax their ego and remove the logo and tagline. Let the art fill the entire billboard. Let the billboard truly be art, and truly bring joy to drivers. They ought to build the Palisades brand through the free publicity Palisades would get (both through news channels and through viral marketing), not with a logo that crowds out the art and ruins the effort.

If Palisades simply cannot bear to post a billboard without the Palisades logo, they could place the logo in a corner of the full-sized art. Or, better yet, simply print the website URL, drivewithasmile.palisades.com, along the bottom of the art.

Palisades is almost-but-not-quite there on corporate social responsibility and viral marketing. Hopefully they will change the layout before they post the remaining billboards.