The blog for in-house creatives.

Yummy, sounds sexy when Wikipedia says it. In truth, it can be a wonderful experience and I’ve had a great career as an ‘in-houser’.

I started this blog to connect with other designers, illustrators, photographers and writers who make their living within the walls of a corporation, government, or school. There are thousands of us! But because of the isolating nature of corporates, we rarely connect with other in-house departments. I have great connections, and even good friends, who work at “outside” design agencies but I can count on one-hand the number of inhouse designers I know. And here’s the embarrassing part—I’ve been a designer for 17 years—13 of those years as an in-house art director.

So to make up for my pathetic behavior as a sheltered in-house designer, I created this blog. And I intend to meet, talk with and connect with others like me in my field. And I hope to bring others out of their inhouse caves who are living the same sheltered in-house designer’s life I did.

I also have some real goals for this blog.
I intend to interview the prominent leaders in our in-house world. People like:

• Phyllis Aragaki, Creative Director for Target
• Jon Ives, Design Director for Apple, Inc.
• Gael Towey, Chief Creative Officer, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
• Stanley Hainsworth, Creative Director of Starbucks (update: Stanley started his own firm; Tether)
• Chris Hacker, Chief Design Officer for Johnson & Johnson
• Khoi Vinh, Design Director of NYTimes.com

I’ll share good thinking (from me or someone else) on issues specific to inhouse groups:

• The dreaded “consultant”
• Charge back systems
• Feeling valued
• Doing great work
• Working with outside firms
• Working with contractors or inhouse vendors
• Reading references
• Software highlights
• Presentation skills
• Team building with creatives–we’re a tough, pessimistic, fickle bunch.
• Webinars, videos and tutorials
• Featured inhouse work
• Featured inhouse processes
• Music, art and other inspirations

This feels like a really ambitious list but it’s something I feel passionately about. And hopefully my enthusiasm for ‘in-house world’ will come though in this blog.

For now.

-Kevin