What can we do next?

[FFH Mark]

With this new year, it is time for another campaign or membership action. 2010’s summer postcard/letter blitz was both effective and highly creative for raising Adobe management’s awareness of us and while they did not willingly release FreeHand (no surprise there) those hundreds and hundreds of letters had them realize that we are not going away peacefully.

We need your ideas for the next project in these areas:
- Helping to raise our membership
- Extolling the virtues of FreeHand
- Another powerful reminder to Adobe.

What can we do next?

[Thornysarus]

Two words: Social Media. Make it easier to post and repost.

Make badges available from your site for posting on ours.

[SkwareWeel]

The first step is to increase membership. I've discussed FreeFreehand with other dedicated Freehand users, but I haven't emailed everyone I know with a direct request that they join. It's time for every current member to make sure they're spreading the word and assuring those sitting on the sideline that this is an effort that's well worth their time. I'm making my Freehand fan contact list today. An effort should also be considered to solicit new members who may have never used Freehand themselves, but continue to benefit from its continued use and viability. My customers know that unless Freehand or a reasonable alternative is available, they will pay a price. Those who understand the value of Freehand as demonstrated by the work product they've been enjoying for years, may well join the fight.

[art101]

Social media and direct appeals to friends and colleagues are excellent suggestions. Here's another: Help get the Free FreeHand story into the media. Contact technology and business news editors at your local newspapers, radio and TV affiliates to pitch the story. It has legs on so many levels... a 'David and Goliath' effort, fighting corporate indifference and greed, consumer choice and rights, the list goes on and on. It's bigger than our efforts to save an artistic tool, so pitch the story with that in mind.

If you have a dedicated web page with samples of your FreeHand work, point your contacts to those examples. If you don't have samples of your own, feel free to point contacts to my Real World FreeHand page: http://www.art101.com/freehand

Stories presented in the media have a certain editorial authority that other avenues sometimes lack. If you know a publicist who can help place stories about Free FreeHand in the media, be sure to contact them. And while you're at it, consider contacting other online sources... Wired.com and CNET.com come to mind.

Let's get to work and hope that 2011 is an auspicious year for saving FH11!

[alexgab]

I agree, social media are quite important as well as scoping stories into diverse media like tech and design blogs. The twitter account, for what I have saw, was linked to any replies made in the former FF site (yousaidit). I think Twitter could be more active and useful if managed wisely. I remember seeing a person from Macromedia or Aldus, who was involved in the text modules development for Freehand. Perhaps he can give an interview for this new forum and post it on Twitter, facebook. Posting interviews or stories of talented designers could do the trick, for example world famous Neville Brody is a FreeHand user, at least he was (http://www.apple.com/pro/profiles/brody/index3.html)

I would like to see a "tips and Tricks" blog or something. I think we have several very talented graphic illustrators in the database who might be able to pull off a gallery of tutorials.

[KipiKaPopo]

How about an exhibition of all the best work from last year that was done in Freehand? And then some prints available to buy as well as badges, mugs ect.
kipi

[FFH Mark]

Excellent ideas so far!!
Social Media, Membership Drive, Gallery of art, and PR in major tech outlets... keep these ideas flowing. Want to hear more and/or embellish on what has been said.

— Mark

[FFH Bez]

This is all very interesting stuff. I'd love to see all of the above ideas get traction. My first thought is, aside from the "low hanging fruit" that people can do on their own, like evangelizing FreeHand and the efforts or our organization (the Freeing of FreeHand!), we don't currently have the means to project manage some of these efforts in a coordinated way. Yes, we can launch an effort from within and push that to the membership via newsletters, etc.; but I'd love to see the Free FreeHand membership have more autonomy than that. We can do better wrt Social and some other efforts managed internally, but it doesn't necessarily empower members to be part of the central action.

To that end, I'll add one more idea: add the organizational capability needed to involve members in elaborate campaigns. Some other technology we're not using today? I'm not sure. But I'm pretty sure some of these great ideas, excepting the self-initiated one-person and the FFH-centralized ones, would be better served by some good project management support. Members are scattered all over the globe! Very cool, but also a challenge. Something to mull on....

[FFH Mark]

I’m glad to hear all the comments to reach out for more users is a key goal as was mentioned several times. As active members of FFH there is a lot you can do to get the word out on social networks, emails to groups and individuals, comments on forums and sites, and your own company web pages. AND I want to point to FreeFreehand tools you can use...

Look at this page of publicity materials? http://www.freefreehand.org/spread.html There are multiple sizes of the FFH logo/badges that you can attach to your website, online comments and on emails to potential members, just as I have as my signature below. This adds a sense of legitimacy to your comments and queries. Also see the added artwork created by Thü to enhance your own website section on Free FreeHand or whatever else. Please use the info in our Mission Statement, which was sent to each Adobe executive, as it contains the nuts and bolts of our timeline and suggestions to Adobe. http://freefreehand.wordpress.com/2010/ ... statement/
Outside of our website, look at the wealth of FreeHand logos available here to enhance your projects:
http://www.google.com/images?um=1&hl=en ... =&gs_rfai= (just be sure the one you like is free for online use.)

There are media stories that can be cited about FreeHand: http://www.macworld.co.uk/procreative/n ... llchandate and http://www.pcadvisor.co.uk/blogs/index. ... 8&blogid=4 and http://news.techworld.com/applications/ ... -by-apple/ And what about this? http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/0 ... tnerships/

Finally, we would LOVE to see independent FreeHand web sites that can be affiliates to what our aim is here. Cross linking with each other will increase saturation and search results. I can envision 3 categories members could create but there are probably more:
- FreeHand In The News. A complete collection of online articles, blogs, and tutorials that is a library of all online FreeHand material. I have a ton of sites collected that I can contribute.

- FreeHand Tips & Tricks. Gathering of members ideas on how to create and work with FH. Somewhat like the old FreeHandSource.com but better and more community based.

- FreeHand Español. Our membership is big with users in Spain, Mexico, South America and with U.S. Latino, so a community site in spanish would be great. Look at how many spanish FH videos are on YouTube!

FFH Staff can only do so much and right now that time is devoted to Adobe efforts, so anyone who wants to step out independently GO FOR IT!
We will support you all we can.

[johnantoni]

Right then, I'll see what I can do and start supporting this great tool. Doesn't seem like you need much more in the way of donations & members to make the dream a reality.