creative briefing

Watch the opening sequence of Antitrust (sorry, the page has since been taken down). As typical programming cliches go, lines of syntax run down the screen, flashing complex functions and protocols, and alluding to, in this case, an advanced and scary language that supposedly sets the dark and diabolical tone of this movie’s premise.

… unless you pay attention to it and realize it’s just HTML. Well, everything but the <trust></trust> tags. Those are a bit scary.

I’ve been trying my best to keep up with my RSS reading lately, and I have to admit, my recent switch to Google Reader has made the process a bit more productive. Ironically, RSS reading can be anything but productive sometimes (thank you/curse you Satish). What Google Reader has done though, is let me “star” posts that are interesting so that I can reference them later. Brilliant. It’s like my Outlook inbox for RSS feeds (because who doesn’t need another Outlook inbox to live by?).

Anyway, here are a few posts that really stuck out this past week.

• Who remembers the periodic table of elements? Well for all those who thought you left it behind for a career in marketing, think again! The folks at Kolbrener have put together this awesome table of brand evolution terms. It’s time to love chemistry again. (Courtesy of Mish’s Playground and Satish, the RSS monster)
   
• For those racking up consultancy hours, Freelance Switch has posted a list of 6 cool online tools to track your time and help you figure out how many hours to bill. Shweeet.
   
• Starting your own design agency? Here are 20 questions to ask yourself first to ensure you’re ready. Hell, even if you already have a design agency, you should answer these questions. It’s never too late to change!
   
• Your pipeline is your business’ lifeline. How healthy is yours? Shane & Peter get intimate with math and show you how you can measure your sales pipeline in 15 minutes… or it’s free. Their blog post, that is.
   
• If you run a virtual office, check out the Notes from the virtual office series over at #comments. There are only 3 posts in the category, but they’re all worth a read!

I don’t plan on making this a regular thing, I just thought these links in particular were useful to share. Enjoy!

They’re here! TPH (our newly-found printer people) just delivered our new set of business cards. I’m really excited about them because they’re slick, they’re very well branded, and they’re rockin’ the increasingly popular 3.5″x1.5″ dimensions.

When I threw out the idea of getting new cards done a little over a month ago, my team rolled their eyes. “Again?” they sighed. It’s true, we got our first cards less than 3 years ago, and since then, we’ve gone through 3 design changes (the new one inclusive). But with good reason! As any entrepreneur would know, nothing is ever quite concrete in the first few years of a new business. Our agency is no different - and as we’ve evolved as a company, so has our business cards. And looking back at each of the cards, the evolution is pretty evident. Here’s what I see:

February 2005

Specs: 3.5″x2.0″, 12 pt card stock, backless, printed at Kinkos

• We started out as just a web agency so our retardation with print work shows through a bit on our early cards. 
• Amateur print work: the design for this card was done as a PSD, rather than a vector EPS file. 
• Our first lesson in branding: never cut off pieces of your logo, especially if it only appears once on the card.
• Friends don’t let friends print business cards at large printer chains. Their service sucks and they’re more concerned about turning around orders fast than about delivering quality.

September 2006

Specs: 3.5″x2.0″, 10 pt card stock, front & back, printed by a business contact (not sure who the printer was)

• We have a brand! Part of it is blue. And part of it is that geometric set of triangles that now has a home next to a company name written out in a consistent font that is not Arial. Score!
• We also started branching out into print and brand work so our cards are done properly this time around.
• Notice the change in my position title from Creative Director to Executive Director. I think at the time I was doing a lot more business development and the company needed a face to lead it. I was that face.
• Notice the change in email address format from firstname@ to firstname.lastname@. This was partly done to accomodate two Kevin’s on our team, and also in following a more ‘corporate’ vision we had at the time. What can I say, I worked at Microsoft at the time, and well, you don’t get more corporate influence than that.

October 2007

Specs: 3.5″x1.5″, 12 pt card stock, front & back, printed at The Printing House (highly recommended)

• As an indication of the establishment of our print business, we finally have a trusted printshop to rely on. 
• The brand strengthens: simplicity has been a prevalent element in our brand since the beginning. Only now does it finally show through on our business cards. The difference is simple… and a lot of white space.
• Notice the change in my position title from Executive Director back to Creative Director. This comes after a few years of running the business and realizing what I’m really passionate about (creative). It also comes from a strategic move to sway the public perspective away from the idea that one guy runs the business. In reality, the company is built on the blood, sweat, and tears of 5 Executive Directors.
• And of course, the new size! This is a clear reflection of our agency’s ability to stay on top of industry standards and all that is the latest and greatest. The new size also says that we’re cooler than you. Na-na-na-na-boo-boo. Just kidding.

So there you have it. The intimate journey of a growing agency and its business cards. How often do you refresh your design? What stories are embedded in your cards?

And just for kicks, I’m entering this post into YGG’s Business Card Contest that they’re running with Orange32. Sure, I don’t really need new business cards (given the subject of this post), but I like to support YGG’s initiatives. That or I like free stuff.

A friend and I always talk ideas. Not always big ideas, but certainly ideas that excite us. They’re usually business ideas, or ideas for businesses. It always starts with “you know what somebody should do…” or “this randomly came to me the other day…”. Then we start tossing thoughts back and forth. Then we get amped up about the idea. Really amped up. We even come up with the name for the business and pick out appropriate domain names. And if we could submit MSN conversations as business plans, we would.

Then at the end of the night, we get back to reality and realize we have no time. And even if we did, we acknowledge the fact that we already run a business.

Is it wrong to want to do something a little different sometimes?

Entrepreneurs are on the path they are on presumably because they desire a lifestyle that lets them do what they want to do – free of restrictions. But as an entrepreneur, how restricted are you from diverting your attention to other ventures? Is it a formal duty or a personal judgment call that holds you back? Do you create policies that govern these scenarios for you, your partners and your employees? Does that make things a bit hypocritical? Does that make you hypocritical?

Enough questions, back to work. I love what I do. We just have great ideas, that’s all.

Unlike the Johnny Nash song, it’s still raining here in Toronto. BUT I just picked up a new 21.6″ LG widescreen LCD monitor from Future Shop for a cool $249.99 which makes the world of a difference. Hello eye-burning large resolution.

It kind of makes the rest of my room look like crap.

The first step in my home office plans and some new motivation to take more steps.

PS: FS also had a 22″ Samsung LCD for $299 that had a glossy shell and a 2ms response time (compared to my 5ms). Should I have shelled out the extra $50 for an additional 0.4″ and 3ms? My tech advisor Ben confidently says no. And I trust him. What do you think?