Beautiful Design: Smitten Kitchen

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cookbook, Deb Perelman, design, recipe blog, Smitten Kitchen, visual design

Modern cookbooks and television shows on The Food Network have known for years what most presentations still do not realize: beautiful design matters.  Think about how food is presented using the print or telecommunication mediums.  Even though detailed information is essential in order to make the recipe itself, visual presentation is never sacrificed.  A large image typically accompanies each recipe, and the large, high-quality image is what convinces us to recreate the recipe in our own home.

Smitten Kitchen is a beautiful recipe blog by Deb Perelman.  She is both photographer and cook, so her website combines visual presentation and food.  For example, the first entry at the top of Smitten Kitchen is a nutmeg maple butter cookie recipe.  Deb posts one image of the finished product cooling on a cookie sheet and three images of the recipe being created.

Image Credit

Sadly, this image is not from Smitten Kitchen… You’ll have to go to Deb’s blog itself to see her gorgeous recipes come to life through her equally exquisite photography.  In fact, her images are so beautiful that Chiara Ojeda and I both found her zucchini fritter recipe earlier this week, and we both (separately and without consulting one another) made Smitten Kitchen Zucchini Fritters.  What are the odds?

What is the most beautifully designed cookbook or recipe blog you’ve seen?  Please share!

In The News… Links of the Week

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in the news, links of the week

Twitter provides me with a wealth of information on a daily basis, so I thought I’d start bookmarking each week’s most incredible news and articles.  This particular collection of good reads includes the 7 deadly sins of public speaking, CSA Images and French Paper Co., and turning an ordinary presentation into a powerful story.

Andrew Dlugan of Six Minutes explains the 7 Deadly Sins of Public Speaking here.  How do sloth, envy, lust, gluttony, greed, wrath, and pride relate to public speaking?  Dlugan explains each deadly sin and gives examples of how to avoid committing those sins in your presentations.

This week, I attended a wonderful presentation by Charles S. Anderson, and I wanted to share with you his beautiful image collection.  He explains the CSA Images website as “A Modern Design Resource for Art and Illustration.”  Anderson’s close friend and business associate, Jerry French of French Paper Co., introduced his speech.  Check out the gorgeous paper at French Paper Co. here.

How do you take an ordinary presentation and turn it into a powerful story?  Dr. Nick Morgan of Public Words explains here.  Morgan explains that there are five basic stories in our culture: quest, stranger in a strange land, rags to riches, revenge, and love story. His article claims that “once you understand the basics of powerful stories, you’ll get how to transform your presentation into one” (Source).

This week, my Professional Communication and Presentation class examined Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.’s persuasive “I Have a Dream” speech for ethos, pathos, and logos – Aristotle’s three modes of persuasion.  There are three fantastic resources for studying MLK’s “Dream” speech on your own.  First, watch the speech here.  Next, read the transcript here.  Third, listen to this NPR interview with Clarence Jones.  He helped MLK draft the “Dream” speech and offers amazing insight at the 20:00 mark.  Lastly, watch Nancy Duarte’s analysis of “Dream” utilizing her sparkline tool here.

What amazing presentation and public speaking links can you share this week?