Community
March 2009
Ada Lovelace Day
Tue, 2009-03-17 11:08 — HerInteractiveYesterday was Ada Lovelace Day(3/24) - an international day of blogging to draw attention to women excelling in technology. Ada Lovelace is recognized as the first programmer, maniupulating symbols according to rules, and has inspired countless other women to join the field of technology. Today, in addition to recognizing Ada's contribution, we are also trying to acknowledge other women who are in technology.
Since we are a gaming company, we thought it might be fitting to blog about another very influential woman in the gaming industry - Sheri Graner Ray. Sheri joined Her Interactive when it was still American Laser Gamers, working as a producer on McKenzi & Co. and Vampire Diaries, before designing the first Nancy Drew games, Secrets Can Kill.
From there she moved on to other ventures such as working as a senior designer at Sony Online Entertainment and starting her own consulting company. But her passion was finding out what girls liked in games and why they liked the things they did. She even wrote a book titled, Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market in 2003 and founded Women in Games International.
Since we are a gaming company, we thought it might be fitting to blog about another very influential woman in the gaming industry - Sheri Graner Ray. Sheri joined Her Interactive when it was still American Laser Gamers, working as a producer on McKenzi & Co. and Vampire Diaries, before designing the first Nancy Drew games, Secrets Can Kill.
From there she moved on to other ventures such as working as a senior designer at Sony Online Entertainment and starting her own consulting company. But her passion was finding out what girls liked in games and why they liked the things they did. She even wrote a book titled, Gender Inclusive Game Design: Expanding the Market in 2003 and founded Women in Games International.
As a vetran in the industry, she's has worked tirelessly to get more women into the gaming industry and to help the gaming industry develop more games for women. Afterall, if girls don't play games when they're young, they're less likely to be interested in going into the gaming industry as a career. To get women to play games, Sheri believes that there are things about current games that need to be removed because they're offensive or do not complement the way women want to play games.
"We don't have to make games about fluffy pink kitties for the female market to be more interested in our titles. We just have to do things like not put a female with exaggerated proportions on the box cover. We need to address how we structure our tutorials so that they are more open to female learning styles."
For our Nancy Drew games fans, she wants you to know that you can grow up to make great games as well. Her motto is "never give up, never surrender." So follow your dreams, whether it's making Nancy Drew games, exploring the Mars, or becoming the first female President and don't let anything stand in your way. Now that's an inspiring role model!
Sheri Graner Ray's blog: http://twylite1.livejournal.com/
Who is a woman in technology or gaming that inspires you? Post your comments so we can recognize all the women who have made a difference in this field!
Business Cards
Mon, 2009-03-16 10:34 — HerInteractive
As I mentioned last time, we are currently redesigning our business cards to match the new burgundy logo. Here's what the new business card looks like - it's pretty cool huh? Now we have both a front and a back.
A few of our fans mentioned that everyone should have personal cards - cards that tell people just a little bit about you so other people can get to know you better. That's a pretty awesome idea! I like the idea of learning something about a person you just met without searching for 5 very awkward minutes for a topic that you both have in common.
Let's say there are exactly 5 facts that you are allowed to put on the card (there's not a lot of space on a business card template). Here's what mine would probably say.
Jessica C.
Fact 1, Job: marketing producer for Nancy Drew games
Fact 2, hobbies: skiing, running, hockey, martial arts, scrapbooking, shopping, piano
Fact 3, loves: family, friends, bunnies, and food
Fact 4, random: I broke my two front teeth playing roller hockey
Fact 5, quote: "If you want to have sweet dreams, you have to live a sweet life"
A few of our fans mentioned that everyone should have personal cards - cards that tell people just a little bit about you so other people can get to know you better. That's a pretty awesome idea! I like the idea of learning something about a person you just met without searching for 5 very awkward minutes for a topic that you both have in common.
Let's say there are exactly 5 facts that you are allowed to put on the card (there's not a lot of space on a business card template). Here's what mine would probably say.
Jessica C.
Fact 1, Job: marketing producer for Nancy Drew games
Fact 2, hobbies: skiing, running, hockey, martial arts, scrapbooking, shopping, piano
Fact 3, loves: family, friends, bunnies, and food
Fact 4, random: I broke my two front teeth playing roller hockey
Fact 5, quote: "If you want to have sweet dreams, you have to live a sweet life"
Callling Card
Wed, 2009-03-04 15:49 — HerInteractive
When I was young, I would collect business cards from restaurants so I could file them in my Rolodex just like my parents did with theirs. After a few months of collecting business cards, I thought it would be much cooler to make my own business cards so people I could hand them out to other people and feel "grown-up."
They were made out of index cards, cut to the size of business cards and simply said:
Sister's Club
Jessica C.
Super Star
Cindy's Closet - knock for permission to enter
Phone: Leave a note with message at door
When I was in college, I was so excited to get REAL business cards when I worked with the UW's BEDC program. Although I didn't work at a company, the program provided cards had my contact information on them so I could give them to people when I was looking for internships and networking.
Then I started started working at companies and now have a few cards of my own. Here's my current card:
With the redesign of our logo, we've had to redesign a lot of other things, including our teal business cards. Next time, I'll show you what our new business cards look like. It's a long way from my simple hand-cut index cards, although my position isn't nearly as impressive. :)
If you had your own business cards to introduce yourself to others, what would they say?
They were made out of index cards, cut to the size of business cards and simply said:
Sister's Club
Jessica C.
Super Star
Cindy's Closet - knock for permission to enter
Phone: Leave a note with message at door
When I was in college, I was so excited to get REAL business cards when I worked with the UW's BEDC program. Although I didn't work at a company, the program provided cards had my contact information on them so I could give them to people when I was looking for internships and networking.
Then I started started working at companies and now have a few cards of my own. Here's my current card:
With the redesign of our logo, we've had to redesign a lot of other things, including our teal business cards. Next time, I'll show you what our new business cards look like. It's a long way from my simple hand-cut index cards, although my position isn't nearly as impressive. :)
If you had your own business cards to introduce yourself to others, what would they say?
