SF Creative Mornings Kicks Off

Though Eisenberg has been hosting CreativeMornings New York since 2008, the satellite series—until Friday, just Zurich and Los Angeles—only began in 2010. Heading up the new San Francisco chapter is Greg Storey of Happy Cog, a website design company, and the inaugural event was hosted at the Mission district headquarters of Typekit, a company that offers a subscription-based library of typefaces for the web.

As has become customary for CreativeMornings events, attendees were welcomed with a table of blank name tags. (The tags have become so popular that Eisenberg recently launched Icebreakertags.com with the help of Ian Storm Taylor to allow anyone to create their own conversation-starting labels. At CMSF, the question was weather-appropriate: Do you prefer the sun or the rain?)

At 9 am, Laura Brunow Miner took the mic. A former editor at JPG magazine, Miner founded Pictory after being inspired by Alan Taylor and the Boston Globe's Big Picture blog. "It showed that photos can be as impactful on the web as in print," she said. Each Pictory showcase follows a theme and tells short stories through captioned photographs. It's what Miner calls "community editorial" (her way of "showing respect" to contributors rather than referring to their work as UGC).

Miner's other claim to fame are the creative retreats she's organized: Phoot Camp (for photographers) and Eat Retreat (for foodies and food activists). It's her way of connecting with other creatives and connecting those artists and designers with one another.

In addition to sharing her work during the presentation, Miner also chose the topic "Why We Work." Beyond the financial and practical, she broke it down to three reasons: (as an) Outlet (for creativity), (to be part of a) Community, and (to create a) Legacy.

Up next at San Francisco CreativeMornings will be Mike Monteiro (whose work hangs in Dwell founder Lara Deam's home), speaking on March 25.  For more about the mornings, visit creativemornings.com.