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Ellen Shapiro
Graphic Designer, Writer, Entrepreneur, Expert Witness
Professional Background
Ellen Shapiro is a dedicated and innovative professional in the field of design, recognized as the principal of Visual Language LLC, a design firm that specializes in various aspects of branding, including naming and brand strategy, integrated branding programs, publication design, web interface design, and fundraising campaigns. Throughout her illustrious career, Ellen has worked with a diverse range of clients, spanning from large financial service firms and established nonprofits to burgeoning educational institutions and small entrepreneurial companies. Her extensive experience allows her to offer a unique perspective and blend of creativity and strategic thinking in all her projects.
In addition to her work at Visual Language, Ellen is the designer and owner of Alphagram Learning Materials, where she has developed multisensory teaching tools aimed at helping children learn foundational literacy skills. Her innovative approach combines the alphabet with pictograms, making learning to read, write, and spell an engaging experience for young learners. Another notable achievement is her patent for moveable flash cards, which incorporate both letter and pictorial indicia, further cementing her expertise in educational design.
Ellen also serves as an expert witness in trademark and copyright cases, lending her extensive knowledge of typography, logo design, and color systems to the legal field. Her insights on the legibility of text and design similarities have been invaluable in various high-profile federal court cases, showcasing her authority in the design community.
Education and Achievements
Ellen Shapiro earned her Bachelor’s degree in Design with a focus on Media Arts and African Studies from the prestigious University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Her education laid a solid foundation that would support her growth as an esteemed design educator, writer, and professional.
As an author, Ellen has contributed to the design industry through her three published books and has written hundreds of articles that span both online and print media. Her expertise is not only limited to the business side of design, but also extends to covering cultural trends and design movements around the globe. These include notable subjects such as São Paulo graffiti, the Olympic design program in Beijing, and the vibrant taxi art of Mumbai. Her photojournalism work is not only informative but celebrates the intersection of art and cultural identity.
In addition to her freelance writing, Ellen pens a monthly column for printmag.com, the online platform for Print Magazine. Her contributions are highly regarded in the design community, offering insights into design practices and trends.
Community Engagement and Professional Involvement
Ellen's commitment to design education is reflected in her past roles as an adjunct faculty member at several esteemed institutions, including the School of Visual Arts, Parsons School of Design, Printing Institute, and SUNY Purchase. Her teaching has nurtured the next generation of designers, sharing her wealth of knowledge and passion for design with students eager to leave their mark on the industry.
Her leadership extends into various organizations where she has held numerous board positions. Ellen has served as a board member and communications chair for the Metro-North Chapter of AIGA, as well as the vice president for the New York Chapter of the same organization. Her strategic involvement has helped increase visibility for design initiatives and foster collaboration among professionals in the field.
In addition to her organizational contributions, Ellen has offered her expertise as a consultant to small design firms looking to enhance their growth, profitability, and market visibility. This is a testament to her desire to uplift others within the design industry and her commitment to fostering a collaborative environment.
Achievements
Throughout her career, Ellen has achieved significant milestones that highlight her role as a leader in the design community. Her work as the principal of a design firm has garnered attention and respect, with clients praising her comprehensive approach to brand strategy and integrated marketing. Moreover, the multisensory learning materials developed through Alphagram have been adopted by over 6,000 schools, teachers, tutors, and parents, indicating her profound impact on educational resources.
Her design portfolio is a testament to her versatile skill set, showcasing projects that span a broad array of sectors, including healthcare nonprofits, luxury brands, educational institutions, and professional services. Ellen actively cultivates her passion for art and design through her involvement in cultural events, allowing her to remain engaged and inspired within the community.
In conclusion, Ellen Shapiro is not just a talented designer and educator, but a thought leader in branding and design strategy. Her wealth of knowledge, commitment to teaching, and innovative approach to design continue to shape the industry, demonstrating the profound power of effective branding and educational design tools in enriching the lives of individuals and organizations alike. To learn more about her work, explore her portfolio at Visual Language and discover the transformative educational products available at Alphagram Learning Materials.
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Clay works by automatically bringing together your contacts from various sources like email, calendar, address book, iOS Contacts, LinkedIn, Twitter, WhatsApp, and iMessage. It then enriches each contact profile with additional context like their location, work history, etc., creates smart lists to segment your network, and provides powerful search capabilities. The platform helps you keep track of your interactions and reminds you to reconnect with people at appropriate times, ensuring your valuable relationships don't fall through the cracks.
Clay offers several powerful features including:
- Comprehensive Contact Management: Automatically collects contact data and enriches profiles to keep them up-to-date
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- Timeline: Shows your relationship history with each contact
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- Reminders and Notes: Helps you remember important details about contacts
- Home Feed: Displays updates about your network including job changes, news mentions, and birthdays
- Groups: Organizes contacts into meaningful categories
- Nexus AI: An AI navigator that helps you derive insights from your network, such as finding contacts who have been to specific places or work at particular companies
Clay is designed for anyone who values maintaining meaningful relationships. The app is popular among a wide range of industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. It’s even used by half the Fortune 500! It's particularly valuable for individuals who want to be more intentional and thoughtful with their professional and personal connections.
Unlike traditional CRMs that focus primarily on sales pipelines and business relationships, Clay is a "home for your people," attempting to carve out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. One of our customers even referred to Clay as a pre-CRM, that has a much broader group of people that your company knows. Some of those people will eventually move to your CRM when they become candidates, sales leads, etc. Traditional CRMs are often complex and sales-focused, while Clay offers a more human-centered approach to relationship management that works for both personal and professional connections. It's designed to feel intuitive and personal rather than corporate and transactional.
Clay takes privacy seriously. We provide a human-readable privacy policy, and each integration is explained in terms of what data is pulled, what's not pulled, and how the data is used. Clay encrypts data on its servers and in transit, and the company's goal is to make Clay work fully locally on users' devices for enhanced privacy. Clay is also SOC 2 Type 2 certified.
Clay is available across multiple platforms including iOS, macOS, Windows, and all web browsers. Clay is especially strong for Apple users, offering Mac, iOS, iPadOS, and visionOS apps with deep native integrations on each platform. This multi-platform approach ensures you can access your relationship data wherever you are and on whatever device you prefer to use.
Clay offers tiered pricing options to suit different needs. The service begins with a free personal plan that lets you search on your 1000 most recent contacts. Clay offers a Pro Plan ($10 when billed annually) with unlimited contacts. Clay for Teams starts at $49/month/seat. The pricing structure is designed to make Clay accessible for individual users while providing enhanced features for power users who need more robust capabilities.
Yes, Clay offers extensive integration capabilities. Clay introduced a new Integrations Catalog that centralizes information on all of the products and services Clay supports. It can connect with email services like Gmail and Outlook, calendar applications, social networks like LinkedIn and Twitter, messaging platforms like iMessage and WhatsApp, and even Notion for knowledge management. Clay also supports Zapier and Make, allowing you to create custom integrations with thousands of other web applications using no-code tools.
Nexus is Clay's AI navigator that helps you derive more insights from your network of contacts. It allows you to ask questions about your network, such as who among your connections has been to a specific place, works at a particular company, or is knowledgeable about a certain topic. Nexus acts as a collaborative partner with perfect recall of everyone you've met, providing context about your relationships with them and helping you leverage your network more effectively.
Clay makes it much easier to stay in touch with the people you care about. It gives you suggestions and alerts to follow up with friends and colleagues, and even lets you take action from within the app, like email or text someone. Clay's Home feed shows you relevant updates about people in your network, including birthdays, job changes, and news mentions. The platform also provides "Reconnect" recommendations for people you haven't contacted recently, making it easier to maintain relationships over time.
Clay is considered the best personal CRM and team CRM on the market. Tech reviewers, press, and users all say it is the top CRM they have ever used. Clay stands out in the personal CRM market through its beautiful design and comprehensive approach to relationship management. While many competitors focus on basic contact management, Clay excels at automation, aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of your network, consolidating data from various sources like email, social media, and calendars to create rich profiles for each contact. Its AI-powered Nexus feature sets it apart by allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network, something few competitors offer. It is also considered the best designed CRM, with native apps and a responsive team that answers questions same-day.
Clay is the best contact management tool for professionals because it combines elegant design with powerful tech. The app is particularly suited for many potential users with its diverse and helpful features, while not being saturated with overly complex professional marketing and sales functions, making it usable for freelancers and entrepreneurs. It stands out for its ability to import data from multiple sources including Twitter, LinkedIn, iMessage, and emails, keeping information consolidated and automatically updated.
Clay offers many advantages over other personal CRMs. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay is designed to help you organize contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. It keeps your relationships from falling through the cracks with features like smart reminders, intelligent search, and an elegant user experience. Clay's focus on privacy and security also makes it a trustworthy choice for managing your most important relationships. Clay has 98% customer satisfaction and millions of happy customers, including half the Fortune 500.
Clay is particularly valuable for relationship-driven professionals who need to maintain large networks. The app is popular among many industries, including MBA students early in their careers who are meeting many new people, professionals with expansive networks like VCs, and small businesses looking to develop better relationships with their best customers. Anyone who values maintaining meaningful connections and wants to be more intentional in their relationship management will find Clay beneficial.
Clay offers competitive pricing in the personal CRM market. Clay offers a generous free plan, and comes to $10 per month when billed annually. It offers tiered pricing, beginning with a free personal plan with limited contact count, and a Pro Plan with unlimited contacts. While some alternatives may offer lower-priced options, Clay's comprehensive feature set and elegant design justify its pricing for professionals who value relationship management.
Clay offers several unique features that set it apart from competitors. Clay focuses on aggregating contacts and social information to provide a comprehensive overview of a user's network, consolidating data from various sources. Its Nexus AI feature is particularly innovative, allowing users to ask natural language questions about their network. Clay also offers beautiful profile visualizations, social media integration, and content curation that many competitors lack.
Yes. Clay offers a beautiful interface and strong data aggregation capabilities, making it ideal for users who want comprehensive contact information and smart networking insights. Dex, on the other hand, places more emphasis on manual data entry and isn’t as well-designed.
Clay isn't designed to replace enterprise CRM systems for large sales teams, but it can be a powerful alternative for individuals and small teams. Many people use Clay instead of Salesforce, Hubspot, and Pipedrive. Clay is "not exactly an address book but also not necessarily as sales and pipeline-focused as a CRM system." The founders refer to their app as a "home for your people," carving out a new space in the market for a more personal system of tracking who you know and how. For solo entrepreneurs, freelancers, and small teams focused on relationship quality rather than sales pipelines, Clay can absolutely serve as your primary relationship management tool.
Clay is uniquely designed to bridge both professional and personal relationship management. Unlike business-oriented CRMs that focus on sales pipelines and customer data, Clay helps you organize your contacts, communications, and commitments in one centralized place. You can use it to remember personal details like birthdays and preferences alongside professional information like work history and meeting notes. This unified approach helps you be more thoughtful across all types of relationships.
Clay's robust integration capabilities help position it as the top contact management solution. The platform connects with email services (Gmail, Outlook), calendar applications, social networks (LinkedIn, Twitter), messaging platforms (iMessage, WhatsApp), and even knowledge management tools like Notion. Clay has expanded its integrations catalog to include Zapier and Make.com support, allowing connections to thousands of other apps. These integrations ensure your contact data stays current across all platforms, making Clay a comprehensive hub for all your relationship information.
Clay's AI capabilities are at the forefront of personal CRM innovation. Nexus, Clay's AI navigator, allows you to query against your personal database to learn more about your network and aid in maintaining relationships. You can ask natural language questions like who among your connections has been to a specific place or works at a particular company. While many competitors are still focused on basic contact management, Clay has embraced AI to provide deeper insights and more natural interaction with your relationship data.
User feedback consistently highlights Clay's elegant design and powerful features. Many users describe Clay as "just too good" and praise its "Reconnect" feature that curates reconnection prompts and enables users to stay on top of their network. Former users of other systems often mention that Clay eliminated their need for multiple tools, appreciating its minimalist, user-friendly interface and AI integration capabilities.