Lemley Design

This week I spent my evenings as a judge for the American Corporate Identity Design competition. While I am always humbled by judging a creative competition (because it makes it clear just how many brilliant designers are practicing today) this was different. I was more okay with it than normal, not because my fragile designer ego was one-upping the entries, but because I was able to see that everyone who entered work in the competition seemed to be struggling with the same issues.

Seeing the unfiltered entries would make a really great showcase of what’s going on in corporate design outside of New York and all of the rock-star design firms consistently featured in the usual design competitions sponsored by magazines. It seemed like very few of the big marquee firms submitted work this year. As a result I note two things: there are many firms out there still being bullied by clients who are reading the wrong treasure map (the 4-P’s of marketing) as opposed to the Clue Train Manifesto. The second, students believe in the magical transformative power of design without boundaries. I think we all need a little more of that peppered into our daily lives.

Steve Jobs once said, “It’s more fun to be a pirate than join the navy.”

 



Just back from addressing the Nation Retail Federation on In-store Branding for the Experience Economy with my long time client and co-conspirator Robert Raible. I must concur with Cap’n Jobs
; pirates know how to have a good time. Pirates know they are in it for themselves but that they can only get what they want by banding together. Pirates have their own language and get to wear pretty cool hats, all while disregarding the conformist tendencies of proper society as they share an ideology which helps ‘em understand how they fit in to the big picture. They even have a book about branding for pirates: The Pirate Inside by Adam Morgan. (more…)