I was lucky enough to grow up in an environment where everything did not revolve around us and all the material things we could afford to buy for ourselves. My parents led by example and felt strongly about giving back by volunteering time as well as financially to the community and those in need. They gave to causes that we felt a connection to, or were important to a friend or a family member. My sister and I used to walk around the neighborhood with our UNICEF can asking neighbors for money (thankfully, they could not say NO to us, so that helped). We always had a Tzedakah (charity) box. The giving of Tzedakah is a fundamental Mitzvah in Jewish life. And I remember putting my change, or a portion of gift money into the box . . . and it felt good!
This all became a part of my life growing up and then as an adult, and I could make my own choices and decisions as to where I wanted to contribute by volunteering time and money to causes that are important to me. I have always felt that I am lucky to have so much, and I want to (and am supposed to) give back to those that need help in our community and all over the world. I think it is in our family blood . . . the philanthropic mind-set continues with my sister, brother-in-law, nieces and nephew, who all have either volunteered, donated and/or worked in the non-profit world for decades.
OK, so that is a lot of back-story, but now, you might be wondering, how does this relate to my employer, Phinney Bischoff Design House? When I (or anyone) is looking for a place to work, I look for all the usual benefits . . . good healthcare coverage, great people, culture, compensation, etc. All good things to have. But one even more truth telling quality about your employer and what kind of people they are, is how they give back to the community. Are they profitable (or maybe, not even so profitable at times) and still think about others in their community and give back in a meaningful way? I am happy to say that is the employer I work for. From the very beginning, I was so impressed by Leslie Phinney and Karl Bischoff’s passion and empathy for so many different causes . . . for children and families in need, cancer research, animals in need, etc.
This philanthropic culture is a part of the entire house. I am amazed by how many people I work with have that same compassion for their own causes as well as ones that we all take on as a team . . . which has been rewarding and fun.
This past year, Phinney Bischoff Design House team volunteered to help pack 1,616 lbs. of cereal, which translated to 1,263 meals, at the Food Lifeline in Shoreline, Washington. The PBDH Bike Team rode in the 2009 Bike MS Ride to help raise money for The National Multiple Sclerosis Society. The team rode 150 miles during the two-day journey through Skagit, Whatcom and Island Counties and raised over $2,000. AND, not only the humans are involved in the community, but so are the dogs. The PBDH Woody & Scout team participated in the 2009 Seattle Humane Society’s Walk for the Animals. PBDH has “adopted a family” through Childhaven and raised money from employees that was then matched by Karl and Leslie. As a group we went shopping for Christmas presents for our adopted family. You just know that those kids were so happy to have presents to open on Christmas, and we helped make that happen.
The causes that PBDH employees personally participate in are also quite varied. City of Hope’s 2009 Seattle Walk for Hope to Cure Breast Cancer, ArtsFund, Jewish Family Service, College Success Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, Childhaven, St. Clouds Monthly Homeless Cooking Project, The Jewish Federation, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and so many more. Not only do Leslie and Karl and the PBDH team donate their personal time and money, but we also work with various non-profit organizations to help with their marketing needs. It’s just another way to give back.
The Phinney Bischoff Design House benefit for me is knowing that my employer cares as much about their own business success as they do about giving back to the community in a variety of meaningful ways.
Even though we do our best here at PBDH to conserve and only print and make copies when necessary, we inevitably get that pile of perfectly good, one-sided scrap paper.
So after about a year of accumulating 8.5 x 11 and 11 x 17 copies and printouts, we finally turned them into 5.5 x 8.5 notepads. It was the easiest, most cost-effective way to re-use paper for something we do anyway. Take notes.
And while we’re at it, the bits and pieces of visual randomness could help inspire something big…or just take us down memory lane.
I came across this video via psfk.com and thought, what a perfect way to wrap up 2009 and enter 2010.
(Yes, I know. The decade is not over yet since technically, a full decade is from year 1 to 10. But there is something special about wrapping up the 00’s and entering the 10’s.)
This 6-minute video gives you a moment to pause, reflect and appreciate the innocence of youth and how they see the world (it may also make you feel a little old). My favorite part is at 2:56, if you need to jump ahead.
There is much to be thankful for in 2009, but also much to look forward to in 2010. Happy New Year.
OK, let’s settle this right now. I get a lot of incredulous looks from my friends. You’re on Twitter?? Who cares what I’m eating for breakfast? Sounds like a waste of time.
Well, I could argue the benefits of sharing the details of your life with friends and family, but that’s another topic - and I use Facebook for that. For now let’s just say that I agree with you. I don’t use Twitter that way, and I wouldn’t follow anyone who did - friend, family or favorite deity. For me, Twitter is a business and learning tool. I use it to stay abreast of what’s new in my profession, and likewise to share with other interested parties. And I get a LOT out of it. Twitter is a realtime live feed of all the best tips, tricks and discoveries made by people with similar interests as myself, pre-filtered and delivered straight to my hungry brain in a tidy, little package. Awesome.
I said that the feed is “pre-filtered” - What does that mean and how does it work? With Twitter you can “follow” anyone you want. It’s up to you. Simply put: I don’t follow people who tweet about breakfast, movies, moods, concerts, or any number of other uninteresting, “teenagery” topics. I am strictly interested in finding the little gems that make my work better, faster, more relevant, etc. It’s a learning tool. I follow people who post useful, interesting or educational things. If you start talking about Will Smith - you’re dumped in a heartbeat. Don’t waste my time.
About that - Isn’t weeding through all the “bad” feeds to find the good ones time-consuming? This is the beauty of Twitter. First of all, this isn’t really a problem, if you only follow people who say interesting things, as stated above. Second, every post is limited in length to 140 characters, so I can tell in 5 seconds or less if a post interests me. In 1 minute, I can scan all the morning’s updates and move on. Most useful posts include a link to an outside article, blog, etc. If there is something worth following, you can chase it down. If not, you don’t follow the link, and you’ve lost very little of your precious time.
What kind of “gems” do you really get out of this? As a graphic designer and aspiring web developer, I get all kinds of useful content. A link to an artist’s blog can be inspiring for days or weeks. Maybe it’s a link to a website full of free fonts, plugins, or texture files. Maybe it’s a how-to page about using a feature of my favorite Adobe software product. I get a lot of useful information for educating my clients and language for communicating expertly about my profession. Sometimes it’s a link to an industry event that I might like to attend. Web developers find and share snippets of code, online resources, the latest technology trends, updates and how-tos. I’m telling you. It’s a goldmine - if you follow the right people.
So how do you find the right people? Start with people you know, in the business. Look for Twitter links at the bottom of your favorite blogs. Filter the Twitter feed for relevant topics with a tool like Tweet Grid (highly recommended). Publish your Twitter username on your website/blog/Facebook profile, and start tweeting valuable content yourself. When you start gaining followers who are interested in what you are saying, they are likely worth following back. As they say, if you want a friend, you have to be a friend. Network, share, inspire, learn. Go forth and tweet!
Ever notice how useless and negative the news often is? Well, as long as we are keeping abreast of all kinds of silly things that are going on out there, we might as well brighten our day at the same time. Here are two sites that report only positive news. Seriously… it’s pretty refreshing.
Scott McCloud gave an amazing talk at TED. I spent many hours of my youth reading, collecting, discussing, and waiting for comics. The biggest kudo you could get from my group of friends was to get your letter published in Marvel Comics (Stan Lee published select letters in each comic). DC was for the indiscriminate… and unwashed.
Whether he knows it or not, Bryan Zug and his fellow geeks at IgniteSeattle, have introduced me to the concept of “life-hacking”. Sometimes all it takes is a new term to open you mind to an idea that was lurking there the whole time. Like a mischievous computer programmer who can “hack” into the bank and steal your money, each of us has our own unorthodox ways of getting things done. Once we recognize these self-made tools, we can better use them to our advantage, and avoid our weaknesses. Sometimes that’s just what you have to do: Hack it.
Like myself, my wife, Nikki, is a graphic designer. She is talented, creative, and truly smart - but she gets a case of the nerves when speaking to new clients, especially on the phone, at initial interviews, etc. She forgets what she wants to say, can’t process new information thoughtfully, and basically just wants to exit the situation as quickly as possible. After years of trying to overcome this through all the recommended techniques, we have gained little ground. But if you ever get an email from her, you’d think - correctly so - that she is one of the smartest, most articulate designers you have ever met. Her ability to see the problem for what it really is, break it down into manageable chunks, and clearly express complex ideas is nothing short of impressive. Her vocabulary and manner of writing, are at the highest level of professionalism and mastery of the language. How she speaks (publicly) and how she writes… it’s like two different people. Email is her hack.
There are times where a phone call is more appropriate than an email - but there are times where a good result is more important then impeccable etiquette. Judge the situation. Assess your strengths and weaknesses, and if you need to, hack it. Once you are enlightened to your own little hacks, you can use them consciously when you need them. Just identifying them helps, and recognizing the whole concept is the first step. Thanks, Bryan for a consciousness-raising word/concept.
Before dashing off to the beach Wednesday night, I stopped by this Ignite event that our own Bryan Zug has been promoting. Pretty cool. Anybody who has anything worth sharing takes 5 minutes of their life, and gives a sort of mini presentation - could be about anything. There were about 20 short talks on topics ranging from networking tips to an insider’s view on a personal addiction to Legos (yeah, the kid’s toy).
The networking was as its best, and with Bryan’s kind introductions, I handed out an entire stack of business cards and made quite a few new connections.
Who wants to hear a bunch of random people talk about random things? Well, that’s exactly the beauty of the event to me. Our brains work like filter feeders, they need to be exposed to new ideas to grow. Ignite offers a perfectly random stream of fresh content, that is guaranteed to give you something to think about, probably something to write down, look up, look into or try out - whether personal or professional (note pad highly recommended). At only 5 minutes per talk, if you’re really not interested in a particular topic, it’s over quickly.
Here’s a great example of one of the presentations that I found valuable, which just happens to reinforce why you might want to attend an event like Ignite.
Phinney Bischoff was a proud sponsor. I’m not sure the nature of the sponsorship, but I’m sure it was worth it on both ends of the deal.
Thanks, Bryan for sharing. Thanks, Matt for the beer. I hope to attend again and probably give my own 5-minute talk one of these days.
We’re happy to announce that Phinney Bischoff Design House is a proud sponsor of Ignite Seattle, which is happening tonight over near Belltown. Details can be found on this post by Brady Forrest over on the O’Reilly Radar Blog.
What is Ignite you ask? Picture a quick succession of 5 minute powerpoint presentations on a wide range of interesting topics. Speakers get 20 slides which automatically advance every 15 seconds.
Lively to say the least.
Doors open at 7:00, Paper Tower Competition begins at 7:30, and presentations start at 8:30.
Here’s a video of one of Ignite’s most popular past talks - “How to Buy Car (without getting screwed)” by Rob Gruhl:
PresentationCamp is an ad-hoc gathering of passionate folks who want to share, interact and spread the love around the topic of presentation design and delivery. It’s for anyone interested in public speaking, pitching and presenting. Come to learn, come to share: everyone walks away knowing a little bit more.
Sign up now over on the Eventbrite page for the event. It’s $15 until the day of, then it’s $20.
It’s an unconference which, if you’ve never been to one, is a blast. The main idea is that the best thing about most conferences are the hallway conversations, so why not make up a conference on the fly that has that feel to it.
So participants gather in the first hours of the conference and propose session ideas, then the popular ones are assigned slots. Looks from the schedule that this camp will have some good pre-planned sessions and some slots for real time session creation.
I’m proposing a session tentatively titled “Telling Ain’t Persuading (or teaching, selling, or training)!!: Case studies in conversational/Socratic presentation methods“.
It will be a discussion of presentation examples / methods that don’t just give an answer, but that invite people into dialogue / experience — and how that often has much more staying power that just passing along information.
Will be touching on:
The structure of the attention economy unconference talk I’ve presented a few times — “Starbuck vs. Samwise in a Fight (and what does that have to do with the Attention Economy?)” — and how the form of the talk is an effective design for learning.
How the unstructured and question driven nature of the classic video game Myst is arguably more involving (and compelling) that most present day games.
Every year around this time I consult various chromatic prognosticators, gather my divining beams, and plot the celestial activity of our benign spectral overlords. At some point, usually after much wine, I determine which colors will take center stage for the upcoming year and in turn, guarantee ultimate success in all of your design and decorating projects. These colors are for you. Take them. Be fruitful. And we’ll meet back here again next year.
Since the new year started, I feel like I’ve been sprinting to catch up and stay ahead of the latest consumer trends and breakthrough ideas. It’s an unsatiable appetite that at times can actually feel very draining and endless. Just the other day, my creative director patiently listened and provided his insight as I grappled with questions on design and technology, what can we do to get better and will it ever be enough?
Then just today, as I took a moment to scan through the endless stream of technology and design news, trying to keep track of it all and stay current in our constantly changing industry, I came across this article that just stopped me in my tracks.
Who is Joe Ades? He was a man who perfected the art of selling a simple $5 peeler on the corner of Union Square market in New York. Just watching him in the video, with his British accent and ease in demonstrating what he loved doing just hit me. The simplicity, craft and passion…I was reminded of what design has always been about for me. If we just have those things, it should be enough.
Sadly, it took Joe Ades’ passing for me to even learn about him. I wish I had the opportunity to see him enjoying the craft of selling in person. May Ades truly rest in peace. (The peeler really does look pretty amazing.)
Now and then I come across a product like this genteel pendant light set that makes me happy. It’s the eureka moment that speaks to me, even if I don’t necessarily want to rush out and buy it (although I probably would if I had a place in my house for these guys). I love the two disparate objects combined to make something different. It just works.
For me, having a great idea like this that clicks into place is enormously satisfying and what drives me to be creative in the first place. The “click” happens not when the idea is just interesting and different, but when it meets a multitude of criteria — does it say something unique? does it have longevity? will people connect with it? does it communicate the brand?
Learning to put unlike things together is key to making great ideas that work, and I believe it is learnable. In fact, honing this skill was one component of our company retreat earlier this year. And the more we use skills like this the better we get. Part of that is looking for the great ideas out there, especially those outside your everyday experience. Will knowing about lamps made out of hats lead to a smashing idea in our next ideation lab? Maybe not, but keeping our brains primed for creative thinking will.
Growing up I loved being part of a team. I made fantastic friends, challenged myself to achieve new goals and celebrated shared victories. Being part of a team was always better than going it alone. The same is true now, in my worklife.
Teamwork and collaboration are principles we pride ourselves on at PBDH and when you really get to put that collaboration into action, great things can happen.
Take for example our client, BECU. We’re part of a group of creative agencies and firms that work on various segments of BECU’s marketing efforts. Together with 5ive Creative, we develop environmental graphics and help design the new Neighborhood Financial Centers (NFCs) that BECU is constructing. Once or twice a year, all of the agencies come together for a Creative Summit where we discuss what’s working and what’s not and brainstorm new ways to achieve our goals. Participants include creative directors, designers, writers and account leads from DNA Brand Mechanics, Zaaz, 5ive Creative, PBDH and BECU’s inhouse team. The results are always eye-opening and the perspectives that are shared are invaluable.
Recently BECU hosted a brainstorm session with all of the agencies and we developed strategies and tactics for reaching out to new markets. The ideas opened new possibilities for both the internal and external teams and we’ll be executing some of them at their newest NFC in the University District (opening on the 1st of the year).
There’s a lot to be said for BECU’s willingness to bring all of their vendors together. Perhaps that’s why their brand is so successful. There really is success in numbers.
Noko Jeans is a fascinating start-up founded by three Swedes attempting to produce and import jeans from North Korea. Through Noko Jeans, they’ve somehow been able to capture and share with us images, sounds and taste that I thought were impossible to do from the world’s most secretive and isolated country.
They state on their web site that this is “our attempt to approach and get closer to North Korea.” Hopefully, it can do much more than that. I’m still blown away by how much they’ve been able to document. Their journey doesn’t capture the poverty and social crisis that plagues North Korea as revealed in the Seoul Train documentary, but I’m excited and hopeful for their unique approach to entering and learning more about a country so isolated and where ironically, wearing jeans is forbidden.
As a designer, I am reminded of the endless possibilities there are to being more engaged in the world around us. These three young Swedes have a background in advertising and PR. It inspired me to think, what can I do as a designer to reach out and do something so impossible–and so effective?
Last week J.K. Rowling gave an inspiring speech at the Harvard Commencement titled “The Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” The entire address is somewhat lengthy but worth the read. Below are a few paragraphs that stood out to me.
“Failure gave me an inner security that I had never attained by passing examinations. Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way. I discovered that I had a strong will, and more discipline than I had suspected; I also found out that I had friends whose value was truly above rubies.”
“The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that it is painfully won, and it has been worth more to me than any qualification I ever earned.”
“You might think that I chose my second theme, the importance of imagination, because of the part it played in rebuilding my life, but that is not wholly so. Though I will defend the value of bedtime stories to my last gasp, I have learned to value imagination in a much broader sense. Imagination is not only the uniquely human capacity to envision that which is not, and therefore the fount of all invention and innovation. In its arguably most transformative and revelatory capacity, it is the power that enables us to empathise with humans whose experiences we have never shared.”
