Follow Friday - Design*Sponge

Each week on Twitter there is "Follow Friday" where you recommend your favorite Twitter people! I thought I would use this day to go a step further and recommend an incredible blog to follow! Before you just go ahead and follow a blog, you want to know about the person behind it, right? Well, perfect - because I have a bit of inside information about my favorite blog of the week!

 

For those who don't know about your blog, what does it focus on and what types of things do you post?

Design*Sponge is a daily design blog that focuses on a range of design themes: interior design, home products, DIY projects, furniture and home makeovers and interviews with new designers. We also run a weekly gardening and recipe column

What inspires you to write?
I was in a job I didn't love in 2004 and decided to start blogging as a way to build up my voice, hoping that I might be able to work for a magazine one day. I didn't really expect it to happen, but D*S sort of became the (online) magazine that I always wished I could write for- I'm just constantly inspired to write about the amazing up-and-coming designers that make me smile when I see their work.

What are your goals and dreams for Design*Sponge?
Oh man, they change every day. I want to expand the Biz Ladies series of meetups we host to be international, I'd like to produce a HD web series for the site, I'd like to eventually expand the blog to include more tools and interactive content. But we'll see- one day at a time. Right now I'm working on the web series

What is something you could live without?
without? dishes. the bain of my existence is doing the stacks of dishes that inevitably pile up from my constant grazing in the kitchen all day. oh to have a dishwasher.

things i couldn't live without: a laptop, GIMP (the free photo editing program) and my editors at d*s.

What blogs do you religiously follow?
I heart Oh Joy!, Dooce, and Brokelyn (a new site about affordable activities in Brooklyn, NY)

What tip would you give to new bloggers who are just starting out?
Find a niche that hasn't been filled yet. For me, the best blogs (or the ones most likely to build a quick and sizable audience) or those that represent a niche, a style, or a voice that hasn't already been covered online. There's obviously room for a million blogs that talk about the same one, but I think the ones that have a unique angle on a topic stand out.

Check out her blog and follow her on twitter @design_sponge