DS Blog
At the beginning of the new year, we at Designsensory, like to share some forward-thinking design, content and technology insights that, hopefully, you can utilize within your branding, business and marketing efforts. This post showcases the multidisciplinary nature of our firm with insights from several Designsensory team members. Names are included within the post so that you can get to know a bit more about them and our collective thoughts on what’s next in branding, technology and design for 2012 and beyond.
Joseph Nother | creative director, principal, cofounder
Overall:
- Physical and digital lines are blurring and converging. Bringing digital/social information into a physical world will be a growth point. For example, in NYC, a collaborative meeting space key fob is tied in with the individual’s social information and work. Swipe a key fob to enter, then wall screens and settings change to showcase that person’s work, websites of interest, tweets and ambient settings.
- Distinct work/life modes are disappearing. For example, people will increasingly work personal content access, such as Facebook, into their professional lives, leveraging their own “avatar brand” in their work.
- An appetite for access to content, anytime, anywhere, will increase as well as the ability to discriminate between good, bad and trustworthy content.
- Dialogue vs. monologue across all touchpoints enabled by mobile devices will have greater implications for brands. Brands will need to identify and/or plant firm, deep, authentic roots in their positioning, legacy, social advocacy, perspective and mission. These values will, more than ever, need to be clearly express by their culture, people, designed objects and touchpoint experiences to convey a differentiated advantage to consumers.
- Context + Content are king because devices make consumption instant. This cycle will also be self-reinforcing and have lasting impact on our ability to discriminate, focus and make decisions in our daily lives.
- For technology, experience and meaning trump productivity as we are focused on adding meaning to life beyond material wealth and being.
- Across all brands, the novelty of digital gives way to delivery of relevant content, conversations and digitally-enhanced experiences. Brands should now have a greater understanding of what works for them in the digital space. This self-awareness should enhance how they use digital to engage and augment.
- Shopping and commerce becomes less isolated and segmented, more integrated into the stream of consumer lives. Thus, the concept of “store” is being redefined.
- Social media continues to democratize societal and cultural influence. Media celebrities stand toe to toe with the “influencers of niche and micro groups” (i.e., the normal individual).
Medium:
- Print, particularly well-curated and well-designed items will trump digital communication as authentic, real and influential, as digital has become ubiquitous and cheap (i.e., if someone prints something, the individual must believe in it because of the cost of publishing inherent to the medium).
- Vintage and tangible objects increasing in meaning and/or become luxury items in an increasingly tactile-less digital world.
- Video becomes more accessible, more easily created and distributed. Since video mirrors the experience of real life, people hunger for more moving images and content creators will continue to satisfy while looking for ways to monetize or capitalize on viewership.
- HTML5 adoption, the proliferation of gadets of varied screen sizes and the notion of responsive, adaptive and liquid layouts will continue to push digital design in directions focused on sustainabile, flexible content delivery.
Culture:
- Olympics in London might spawn newfound interest in UK and Old World heritage as well as contemporary European culture, styles and lifestyles.
- A desire to leave the economic and societal negativity of the last few years gives way to a projection of more positively oriented themes.
- Elections in the fall of 2012 will see a renewed emphasis on personal responsibility, sustainability, economic viability and personal lifestyle choices, as these themes will serve as sub-current to the explicit themes of the election: taxes, economic prosperity in a global world, global competition and cost-reduction.
- Will 2012 be the end, as the Mayans predict? What would that portend? Regardless, a contemplation of where we’ve been, where we are going and the metaphysical value in our desires, fears and aspirations will be on our minds.
Susan Hamilton | content developer, editor
Among the larger trends I hear frequently discussed are:
- Fully connect with the community you serve, whether that community is geographic or interest-based. Be an outlet that people in that community trust and rely on for information that serves them and matters to them.
- Be transparent in all things. That may mean, for some types of information outlet, shedding the cloak of objectivity and showing your passion and concern. It also means being transparent about who you are, where and when you get your information, how you allow a story to develop (in its own time), and what the responses are.
Alison Ashe | senior designer
There are the things we do, and there is the purpose behind the things we do.
What makes people act? Decide? Commit? Exchange their time, effort and attention for the thing that you’re offering, when there are so many other choices available?
Not just the immediate and obvious need. There is always another purpose underlying that need. In the backs of people’s minds, often unknown even to themselves, hiding behind “Will this antiperspirant keep me from sweating?” is “Will this help me live the life I want?” Right beside “Who am I?” and “What do I want to be?”
The strongest brands will make people realize why they get out of bed in the morning and position themselves in harmony with that purpose. Either we have some deeper reason driving every tiny thing we do, or we’re all automatons. Our job and that of our clients is to define the human purpose and inspire action in pursuit of it. Wake people up and engage them on that deeper level. There are probably as many ways to define purpose as there are people. It’s not an easy job, but it’s why we get out of bed in the morning.
Justin Hudson | designer
Back to the basics. Know your brand, but more importantly know what your customers say your brand is. In just the past few months, we’ve seen large companies such as Netflix, GoDaddy.com and Bank of America, to name a few, lose sight of their most important asset, their customers, and their brands have paid the price in customer loyalty.
Matt Montgomery | designer
Look for the popularity of internet-connected TVs to grow as developers continue to build on Android’s SDK (software development kit) for Google TV, and Apple will undoubtedly release a new version of its Apple TV with Siri-inspired voice control and other added functionality. As these products gain traction, a new wave of developers will scramble to build apps and TV-optimized sites for this new platform.
Human Centered Design will be seen as more and more of a competitive advantage as companies seek to offer useful services in the digital age. Services like Simple and Flight Card that utilize technology to help make users’ lives easier by making sense of complex information will outpace clunkier, less transparent services.
Ian Fitz | web developer
Browsers automatically and silently update themselves.
Many of the browsers have always prompted that an update was available, and new versions of Internet Explorer and Safari show up in the list of system updates, but both of those things are easy to dismiss. This has kept many web users on older versions of browsers, making it more difficult for us as web developers to use new techniques and features. When Google Chrome was released, it included a silent auto-updater. The browser would update itself automatically without ever asking the user. Recently, Firefox has included a similar feature, and Microsoft has announced that it will turn on silent updates for Internet Explorer with a Windows update coming this year. This will hopefully lead to more users utilizing the most recent versions of their browsers, giving us as web developers more options when building sites for our clients.
Susan Napier-Sewell | content developer, editor
A business blog can provide very beneficial returns for SEO efforts because of the ease in optimizing posts for keywords. Adding links to pages within a site seems more natural when they are part of the text within your posts. Blog posts establish an ongoing conversation, a relationship beyond the usual. Put yourself out there in thought leadership and differentiate your company from the competition.
Anne Brogdon | designer
My 2012 trend is the end of QR codes and similar tags which offer an inelegant solution for connecting the physical to the online. Better solutions will be found and integrated.
Josh Loebner | strategist
Be Real. Understand and utilize real, meaningful content. Know what real content is. Know how to create real content, and know how to share real content. Most importantly, know that you aren’t the only one creating content. The people who both love and hate your brand create content every day with what they share and do.
Transparency, accountability and trust will continue to shape communication efforts. In other words, branding that builds worthwhile, lifelong relationships will rise above more compartmentalized, on-off campaigns. We are in the midst of an increasingly data-driven culture (whether it’s for personal apps or your company’s website) which pushes analytics and metrics to the forefront of success measurements. Make sure those data points are tied to emotional well-being and trust. Simply ask yourself, how can your brand be more transparent, accountable and trustworthy in 2012.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Josh Loebner, 23 January 2012 at 3:07pm
The start of the school year signals a new season of amazing cheer and dance competitions, but our work with Varsity Knoxville begins long before August. For weeks, we've collaborated on ideas for the upcoming season. It's exciting to design for kids and teenagers but, make no mistake, these cheerleaders and dancers are dedicated young athletes. We had to fuel our inner Sasha Fierce with a few 5-hour Energies, but we were able to get our creative ideas rolling.
The challenge was to develop new ad creative for 5 brands--giving each its own unique style and personality. Here's the process that helped us get it all done:
1. Select themes that differentiate each brand
We started by focusing our creative ideas to one key theme per brand: Futuristic, All-American, Hero, Dreamlike and World Innovators.
2. Develop our themes into concepts
Each theme had an associated look and feel, sketches, photo shoot direction with poses and props, headline ideas and notes documenting the personality of the ads.
3. Get client approval
We took our themes, concepts and sketches to the idea paint wall, charting the course for all ad creative for the upcoming year.
4. Acquire assets needed to create the ads
Varsity Knoxville recruited active cheerleaders and dancers from across the country to join us for three days of a strategically planned photo shoot extravaganza at Jean-Philippe's studio.
5. Deliver finalized ads
The final ads prove our process pays off! We're looking forward to extending these themes throughout the year.
Design or cheer, it takes a team working together to be competitive.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Lindsay Miller, 18 August 2011 at 12:01pm
Unveiling their new website with fanfare and friends, the Knoxville Tourism & Sports Corporation hosted a launch party in the Sunsphere. Media, city and county officials, area business leaders and the Designsensory team helped celebrate the site as a new way to connect with Knoxville and all that it has to offer. A short video supplementing the launch party’s in-person walk-through highlighted all the robust features and visitor interactions offered by the new site.
Momentum for the site continues to grow with media coverage and interviews of top KTSC officials.
Check it out at Knoxville.org.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Josh Loebner, 28 January 2011 at 1:03pm
Case Study: Athletic Championships
Updating the Logo
One brand that we've had the pleasure to work with for a number of years is Athletic Championships. Athletic Championships is a brand of cheer and dance competitions that are as high-energy as they are full of fun.
Each year brings a new season for Athletic Championships, and each year we become involved in producing banners, ads, forms – you name it – to set the look and feel for the year. As a part of last year's efforts, we also refreshed the Athletic Championships logo.
The previous logo (shown below), while well intentioned, wasn't communicating the premium experience provided by Athletic Championships. In addition, it was hard to read and couldn't be easily reproduced in 1-color. By simply rearranging and tweaking some of the elements, we were able to fix these problems and align the logo with the premium quality of their brand.
Also, by moving the "A" symbol above the words instead of behind, the "A" is empowered to stand on its own and become a true symbol of the brand. Although a seemingly small change, it has laid the groundwork for allowing this brand to expand and blossom in the past two years.
Expanding Applications
Below are a few samples of the early applications of the new Athletic logo. In the year the logo was changed, it was applied it to banners, large event displays, registration forms, name tags and a myriad of other things.
The ability of the logo to be rendered in white on top of colorful and vibrant imagery has been taken advantage of in the pieces we created.
Going Big Time
For this year's season, Athletic Championships asked us to create a new backdrop for their live events. As you can see below, the backdrops they were using still featured the old logo and lacked the visual punch and energy of the performances going on in front of it. Bouncing ideas back and for with Athletic Championships, we pushed the logo even farther, adding dimensionality to allow it to come alive in a futuristic space scene radiating with energy beams.
To top it off, the finished background was 120 feet wide – talk about visual punch! We couldn't be happier with the way it turned out and there is even talk of adding LED lighting to it in the future. All of this would not have been possible without the improvements we made last year to the logo. It just goes to show the importance and value of building your brand on a strong visual foundation.
As a parting shot, check out this video of the backdrop in action:
Comments (0)|Posted by: Mark Schafer, 21 January 2011 at 6:34pm
If we’ve learned nothing else over the course of 2010, design, advertising and technology is in a continual state of flux, and we believe the changes that have taken place, and those yet to come are important to our profession, clients and most importantly, to our client-partners’ many customers.
Here at Designsensory, we’ve asked our team to gaze into the future and share some predictions for 2011. Here’s what a few people have to say:
Technology Sync
Start a checkout or plan on your phone, finish it on the regular website or app later, share your experience with a video from your phone while your friends stalk you with geoawareness.
– Brandon Rochelle
Mobile Contexts
According to an article I read in their in-flight magazine; Someone from Google was quoted as saying 2011 is going to be the year of “mobile” applications. Using your smart phone to decide what can I do right here right now at this moment in this location. Using your phone as a boarding pass is one example.
– Kelly Raines
Web Standards Evolve
From a technical point of view (albeit technology that will eventually effect function of sites in a profound way), HTML 5 and CSS 3 are looking closer to becoming a reality. They still probably won’t become commonplace in 2011, but with the launch of Internet Explorer 9 we’ll get closer to that, and hopefully see an end to wasting countless hours of development time for IE 6.
Something I’m particularly excited about too is the melding of ecommerce and social media platforms. That JC Penny has their entire inventory on offer on Facebook, without the need for the shopper to ever leave the Facebook environment, is astonishing. We’ll see much more of this, I’m sure.
This is a major company apparently talking about how one day they won’t see a need for a website at all, they’ll conduct all their online business via social networks – while I don’t agree quite to that extent, I think this is something we need to keep a particular eye towards: http://vimeo.com/15632643
– Samuel Clarke
Web Design Evolves
This article from Webdesign tuts+ has some great predictions for 2011.
– Sarah Mills
HTML5
More HTML5 use, especially around geo-positioning and video playing
– Michael Pryfogle
Pervasive Tablet Support
As this Mashable article pointed out at the end of 2010, “more and more web developers are designing their web apps with the tablet form factor and features, like multi-touch, in mind.” This trend will gain more ground in 2011 and will likely bleed into general website design as well. The importance of providing users with custom-tailored mobile experiences will also grow this year, both web and apps.
– Mark Schafer
Don’t Be Evil
So companies are going to be less evil in 2011? Trust me. Google’s unofficial motto “Don’t Be Evil” is something many companies are embracing and sharing. Corporate citizenship and relationships between brands and their communities will continue to grow as an important element in sharing company and brand stories. Communication has long ago moved beyond product differentiators to a world where transparency and immediacy of dialogue can take place between brands, their customers and the community at large.
– Josh Loebner
Innovative, Designed Experiences Lead The Way
Consumers continue to crave and demand well-designed and not only functional but pleasant experiences. These experiences are blurred and pervasive now too:
An engaging conceptual print ad with a QR code leads to a easy-to-use mobile website that facilities an ecommerce order. The user can track on an easy to use website or phone app. The product comes with elevated, easy-to-open packaging. The product is tactile, and pleasant to use. The manual is small and environmentally sustainable deferring to usage videos on the website and Youtube. An email confirms successful delivery and cements the pleasant open-box experience with a human touch. The email also links to Facebook and Twitter to allow the user to open a dialogue not only with the company but other buyers of the product. And onward…
Technology and thoughtful design power this but what remains important is business planning that puts human-centered, empathic experiences first.
– Joseph Nother
By the way, we’d also like to hear from you on upcoming trends, predictions and forecasts.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 20 January 2011 at 10:28am
The Intersection of Design & Business
In his latest book, Design Is How It Works: How the Smartest Companies Turn Products into Icons, author Jay Greene shares insights from designers, CEOs and strategists. Case studies of Porsche, Nike, LEGO, OXO, REI, Clif Bar, Ace Hotels and Virgin Atlantic provide separate yet similar looks into design cultures of the companies and their customers.
A key element of these successful design approaches is for the company to truly listen and empathize with their customers, to understand their needs and how the products and/or services fit into the context of their lifestyles.
Rather than stay inside safe and conservative parameters, company leaders were also willing to take risks that might result in failure, and were able to accept, admit and grow from those failures when they happened. In other words, they employed Design Thinking.
Design Thinking is a way to solve any problem.
A hallmark takeaway from the book is the rise of Design Thinking as an approach to overall business strategy and consumer engagement that extends well beyond traditional ideas of where design is supposed to fit within the model.
Design Thinking combines empathy, creativity and rationality to solve problems in a balanced way.
Most folks think of design as an applied art, as an action or expression that occurs after someone else analyzes, deduces and solves a problem. The issue with this approach is that analytical thinking does not bear much innovative fruit. The act of design is then reduced to simply translating and expressing a derivative idea, product or experience.
Last year, Roger Martin, dean of the Rotman School of Management, presented on this very subject at the annual AIGA Design Conference. His presentation (watch the video, download a presentation PDF) delved into contrasts between two dominant styles of thinking: Analytical and Intuitive. He argues that the process of design (Design Thinking) balances the two approaches and confers competitive advantages to businesses.
Design not only concerns itself with the expression of things but can and should play a central role in actually defining them (that's the "thinking" part). What's required is:
• a skilled designer/strategist that can understand the language of business,
• a willingness to engage in an exploratory design process,
• an openness by business managers to challenge deep-seated conventions with insightful questioning.
Here at Designsensory, Design Thinking is something we are very passionate about. It is our design process and something we advocate to prospects and deliver to customers. Design Thinking infuses creative ideas seamlessly into all aspects of our process---business planning, visual communications, technology, strategy and content development---allowing us to deliver greater value to our customers and their end-users.
Comments (0)|Posted by: Josh Loebner, 27 October 2010 at 9:51am
After months of work, we completed one of the largest, more interesting internal projects to date. Determined to hang something meaningful on the walls of our new office, we embarked on a journey to create an 8-by-4-foot wall art composed of ordinary golf tees and a modified piece of pegboard. Check out the end result. . . .
The Process
In line with how these things seem to go, the process was neither as easy nor as brief as first anticipated. We needed a high enough resolution to clearly display letters of this size, so we began by doubling the number of holes found in an ordinary sheet of pegboard. Put simply, we drilled about 4,000 holes. For the geeks out there, the resolution of our board ended up being about 1.9 hpi (holes per inch).
We also sanded, framed and painted the board to achieve a finished look. After moving the board to our office, we soon discovered that the 10,000 golf tees we had ordered to fill the holes were too large. Actually, Brandon discovered this in an afternoon of epic frustration as he attempted to hammer the ill-fitting tees in the board.
After ordering appropriately sized tees, the tedious process of creating the design ensued. A full-size template of the design was created on the computer, and then tile printed onto letter-sized sheets of copy paper to create a full-size template. After several weeks of team effort—pushing tees into the board—and with Lindsay’s motivational mantra of “at least 5 tees a day,” we’re finally done!
The Design
One of the underlying virtues of this piece is in its ability to be changed. The tees can be rearranged to create a new design. That said, as we put a lot of thought into what we wanted the “first” design to be, it won’t be changed anytime soon.
You’ll find the same design on the back of our business card. It says it all: we help our clients connect with their audiences by combining world-class design and technology across a variety of outlets. Not only that, we provide the strategy to integrate a client’s message across all touchpoints.
If you haven’t seen the golf tees yet, be sure to drop by and check it out.
Comments (1)|Posted by: Mark Schafer, 11 October 2010 at 1:05pm
Inside out & outside in, part one
Creativity effects creativity.
Regarding Designsensory's latest digital launches and our ongoing decorating-our-new-space fervor, one could ponder a conundrum worthier than the proverbial chicken and egg: Are we so inspired along the pathway to fulfill our clients' dreams that original ideas billow over into our personal space, or is it the other way around? Riddle you not, we will leave the question where it lives, between furrowed brows, and initiate a reveal of those client pathways we've traversed of late.
Fall 2010, for Tennessee Dept. of Tourist Development (TDTD), aptly themed Fall Into Adventure, is an enticing riot of colorful images and myriad pursuits for Tennessee travelers.
That Evening Sun, shot in East Tennessee and starring Hal Holbrook, met with critical acclaim, the site evocative of the brilliant production.
Nature & Outdoors (TDTD) presents Tennessee au naturel, ethereally yet earthily, covering parks, recreation, waterways and sports, plants and wildlife, natural wonders and the "Discover Tennessee Trails & Byways" initiative.
Down-home, Maryville’s Foothills Fall Festival floats like a butterfly, alive with concerts, art, and adventures.
Summer 2010 (TDTD) colorfully embraces the Sunny Side of Life, offering up lighthearted summer sojourns, tasty Tennessee fresh edibles and contemporary events.
Further south, Premier Properties of Southwest Florida can now kick back and bask with MarcoIsland.com, BonitaSprings.com and Naples.com.
The new Attractions (TDTD) section packs a wallop, as it explores the fast, fun, quirky, amusing and naturally appealing in the Volunteer State.
Onward and upward to Destination Jersey City, where the site literally sparkles with nightlife sizzle when viewing after the sun is completely down.
And, coming soon to this blog near you: what we've been up to in the world of print and our spirited decorating projects in the Designsensory batcave.
Comments (2)|Posted by: Susan Sewell, 3 September 2010 at 12:34pm
Into High (Tech) Gear: Launching a New Financial Web-App
The beginning of March brought us to the end—really the beginning—of a long but satisfying journey. For nearly nine months, we have been hard at work developing a competing product with the likes of Mint and Wesabe. Both products are good at what they promise to do, but for many people who need more "personal attention" they leave much to be desired. Enter Solutions web app found at actfinancially.com.
Late last summer, two women entrepreneurs approached us with a detailed concept for a new financial tracking web application. Drawing on decades of corporate and financial experience, Jo Bittof and Nancy Lowery articulated a vision of a robust, user-friendly financial tracker surrounded and supported by educational materials, coaching and a personal rewards program. Their goal was to create a platform that would allow individuals and families to address bad financial habits the same way people learn to lose weight and get healthy: with an emphasis on education, accountability, habit formation, reinforcement and conditioning.
What is Solutions?
Solutions contains a full-featured set of budget planning and reporting tools. The transaction register is based on manual entry to force the user to maintain top-of-mind awareness of each and every transaction. For convenience, transfers between multiple accounts, cash withdrawals, reconciliation tags and commenting areas are supported under the register. At any time, the user can run reports on their spending and saving patterns as well as comparisons against their ideal budget.
Those interested in learning more about the whys and hows of financial planning and management can turn to two main areas for education and personal growth: the community and coaching sections. Community features forums, where people can ask questions, get opinions, be inspired by others’ successes, and learn from mistakes. A rich knowledge base is made available, easily accessed in the coaching section. There, the user can find skillfully written articles--sorted by topic—as well as quizzes, videos and a blog published by Jo and Nancy.
Finally, Solutions features a rewards system, to reinforce learning and good financial behavior. Each time the user completes a task in Solutions—such as reading an informative article or completing a step toward financial independence--they receive a reward in the form of "Golden Eggs." The eggs can then be redeemed for prizes.
It Takes a Village
As Designsensory moves from project development to release, our role transitions to one of promotion and refinement. We launched a beta-testing program to capture early adopters and early bugs, and now we provide an integrated online-marketing strategy.
Of particular note and pride to me is the sheer breadth and scope Designsensory played in the creation of this product. Starting with the brand identity and positioning we moved through architecture and feature planning, usability and interface prototyping, and design and technical development of the web-application itself. We deployed E-commerce to fulfill the user transactions and wrote the logic behind the rewards tracking. On the marketing side, we have concept, strategy and artwork in place for display, social and email campaigns to get the word out.
To sum it up, our entire team did a bang-up job on this application. The interface is magic, and the logic behind the number tracking, reporting and rewards programs is particularly amazing (woot to our tech team!). Also noteworthy is the detailed and inspired work Mark put into the construction of the user interface. We both worked hard to identify the values of the brand and to structure the flow of an elegant user-interface experience, but Mark stayed on tactical point throughout the whole development. His stamp of diligence stretches across every page, grouping and button, resulting in something cohesively articulated and pleasurable to use.
So, if you are a parent looking to find the money for braces or a recent grad with a new job looking to save for a home check out Solutions today. You bring the goals and it'll help get you there.
Comments (2)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 17 March 2010 at 3:38pm
DISH: A Hearty Helping of Design
Today's post comes from our beloved design intern Erin Slattery. A writer by education but now pursuing a design career, Erin elegantly captures her recent experience at the DISH Conference in Nashville.
***
Last Thursday, I packed up my portfolio and headed off to the DISH conference hosted at Lipscomb University by AIGA Nashville. I figured it would be a nice opportunity to get some feedback on my work and maybe hear a few good words from industry professionals. Little did I know, I was headed for two amazing days of candid advice, industry insights and inspiring words from the creative minds leading the world of design.
The event kicked off with studio tours of Bohan Advertising, Red Pepper, Advocate Printing, St8mnt Design, Lithographics and Anode. Students met at Plaza Artist Supplies, where we signed up for the tours we wanted to attend. I chose Bohan and St8mnt, Bohan being the first on the list.
Mr. David Bohan, CEO and founder of Bohan Advertising greeted us warmly and said he would be our tour guide. He led our small group of 8 through the walls of the renovated industrial building, stopping at each of the massive portfolio pieces adorning the walls. At each pause, he shared with us the concept behind the piece and the collaboration it took to bring the project to completion. We continued the tour, passing individual offices marked only with the work and whiteboard critique hung on the sliding barn door that guarded the busy designer inside. Finally, we stopped in front of a painting of individual colored squares. He explained that this painting was essentially their first office, where the designers were allowed to paint their spaces in any color they liked, allowing the designers to express themselves as they saw fit, helping the company save on redecorating fees. He shared with us the importance of being able to tell a story in every piece we create, a theme I would see repeated throughout the conference. The tour ended with his business card and a warm handshake, and a newfound appreciation on my part for this man who had started from the ground up and built something absolutely amazing.
Next, I headed to St8mnt, which proved a perfect complement to the large firm I had just left. They were a polar opposite, operating in an open office with just four people. They spoke about their former work at recording studios and displayed some of their current projects, offering great advice about keeping positive relations with the people for whom you work. It was nice to see another side of design in the real world, although I did find it ironic that they too had sliding barn doors. Maybe there was a sale.
Day gave way to night and the conference participants congregated back at the university, waiting on a speaker of which most of us only knew about his hair. The speaker was Stanley Hainsworth, well noted for his work at Nike, Lego and Starbucks, and of course for his hair. He spoke candidly with us about his background, and the ability to look at design outside traditional bounds. Design, he said, was a great combination of not only print, interactive and the like, but also industrial design. He spoke about the need to tell a story in every project, and to remember that designers, in the end, are there to sell. What I found most fascinating is that when asked where he got his inspiration he merely said, "Get out of the studio." Thank you Mr. Hainsworth. I will remember that for the next sunny day.
The next day began early, with breakfast and talks by Project M and Mohawk Paper. Industry professionals shared some great insight about getting a fantastic design job. After lunch, students split into two groups and gathered for the portfolio review. Area professionals donated their time and energy, offering some insightful advice on each student's portfolio. Critique, at least in my case, was limited to not only work, but extended into design environments that might be a good fit in the future, and tips on the importance of branding oneself. For this insight alone, the 3-hour drive was worth its weight in gold.
Creative Circus, a portfolio school from Georgia, and a panel discussion rounded out the afternoon. IO Studio donated a MacBook Pro to the Best of Show winner. Prizes were raffled off, and goodbyes were said.
Once again, I packed up my portfolio, heading home to Knoxville. This time I was not thinking about getting some helpful advice on my portfolio, but rather thinking how excited I am to work on that next piece.
And, possibly, to get some barn doors if things work out right.
Endless thanks to AIGA Nashville for hosting such an inspiring event, also to the volunteers and professionals that donated their time to make it so.
Comments (5)|Posted by: Joseph Nother, 15 March 2010 at 12:44pm
Category Tags
Authors
Alison Ashe
Alison solves visual communication problems through a process of research, concept exploration, and original thinking.
Josh Loebner
Josh combines research and strategic thinking as the foundation for powerful, goal-oriented marketing experiences.
Lindsay Miller
Lindsay is dedicated to the unrelenting pursuit of delivering unique, effective media solutions that bring a company's message to life.
Sarah Mills
Sarah worked for agencies in Ohio and Boston before coming to Knoxville seven years ago and burnishing her reputation as an innovative designer and fresh thinker. While inspiring design is her form of communication her passion lies in client partnerships,
Joseph Nother
As co-founder and creative director for Designsensory, Joseph oversees teams that deliver award-winning and compelling design.
Brandon Rochelle
Brandon, co-founder and technical director, oversees technology development spanning interactive work through online marketing.
Susan Sewell
Susan brings a background as a writer, senior editor, promotion specialist, and project manager.