In-house reimagined.

The process of being a top-notch in-house design department is never ending. The same is certainly true for outside design firms but it’s the pressure of proximity and attitude that makes it more difficult for in-housers.

Working for the same company, where clients have access to you any time they want, is not the easiest environment for fostering brilliant work. One reason is it makes dumping rush jobs on you easier, generally speaking. I call it “drive-by” design. But it’s not just about working unproductively-close.

It’s also about wanting an identity or personality that’s all your own. I’ve worked for both agencies and in-house and there’s something special about working in a space that’s “yours”. But that’s difficult to do in most corporations. But it’s worth fighting for if you can.

The second half of the equation is attitude, or better yet, gratitude. Business units and in-house design departments tend to take each other for granted. But in this scenario, the design department loses because most business units can “go outside” to get work done. Unfortunately, the work falls mostly on us. So what’s an inhouser to do?

Marty Neumeier’s article, The Power of In-house, part 1: Unleashing Design offers up some words of wisdom:

As the drumbeat of innovation grows louder, corporate leaders are feeling the need for stronger internal design. But before a company can even think about building an in-house design capability, it will need to address the problem that has plagued in-house designers since the days of the cave painters. This can be reduced to seven letters: R—E—S—P—E—C—T. As soon as the department is established, its value starts to depreciate. Within months the new group is inundated with low-level tasks and excluded from high-level conversations.

What’s the cure for vanishing value? To reimagine the internal design department as an independent studio. Since respect comes from a combination of performance and proactivity, mimicking a successful design studio can trigger the same level of respect usually reserved for external firms.

How? Instead of expecting work to come in automatically, the internal team can adopt a more Darwinistic model by acquiring skills that rival those of external firms. It can develop its own engagement processes, seek interesting problems to solve, and make “pitches” to internal “clients.” Like an external firm, it can prove its competence through performance metrics and design competitions. It can even institute a charge-back system to attach a dollar value to the work it does.

Here’s a slide from the article you share:

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My wife is Canadian and when we started dating, she sent me a “declaration”(below). Turned out, this declaration is from Molson’s I Am Canadian beer campaign that was huge in Canada at the time. I fully admit to being an ignorant American before I met her–knowing very little about Canada or other counties & cultures. That’s no longer the case, I hope. I love visting other countries, learning about other cultures and enjoy working with my peers in London, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore & Tokyo.

But I have a great fondness for Canada for their smart, sophisticated & considerate ways. We’re headed to the great north to visit my wife’s family and I’ll be back in early September (one of the great perks of working in-house design department).

On an unrelated note, The Inhouse Creative is 2 weeks old today and I’ve gotten really great feedback and support for the site. Thank you and keep coming back, the best is yet to come.

Enjoy, I Am Canadian.

Hey, I’m not a lumberjack, or a fur trader….
I don’t live in an igloo or eat blubber, or own a dogsled….
and I don’t know Jimmy, Sally or Suzy from Canada,
although I’m certain they’re really really nice.

I have a Prime Minister, not a president.
I speak English and French, not American.
And I pronounce it ‘about’, not ‘a boot’.

I can proudly sew my country’s flag on my backpack.
I believe in peace keeping, not policing,
diversity, not assimilation,
and that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal.
A toque is a hat, a chesterfield is a couch,
and it is pronounced ‘zed’ not ‘zee’, ‘zed’ !!!!

Canada is the second largest landmass!
The first nation of hockey!
and the best part of North America

My name is Joe!!
And I am Canadian!!!

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Drawing from Bruce Mau Design.

I want to start Monday with a little perspective.

While online last night, I re-read An Incomplete Manifesto For Growth by design icon Bruce Mau. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend it. And if you have, I recommend re-reading it. It’s a quick read and very good.

His site describes it like this:

Written in 1998, the Incomplete Manifesto is an articulation of statements exemplifying Bruce Mau’s beliefs, strategies and motivations. Collectively, they are how we approach every project.

I’m personally working on Number 32.

Listen carefully. Every collaborator who enters our orbit brings with him or her a world more strange and complex than any we could ever hope to imagine. By listening to the details and the subtlety of their needs, desires, or ambitions, we fold their world onto our own. Neither party will ever be the same.

When I was younger I was very good listener. I would listen to my friends’ or coworkers’ ideas on a subject, stew on them a bit, and then usually form a competent opinion on the matter. Now that I’m older (not old,older), I feel like I’ve lost that skill. So much of my day is spent answering questions, giving instructions or following direction that I rarely, honestly listen to anyone or their ideas. When I’m “listening” I’m really just pausing, waiting for my turn to talk. I’m trying to change that.

So lately, I’ve been listening more. Like when my wife read the first draft of this post and told me she was bored, I listened. She was right. Like when my youngest son wanted to fix the workbench in our garage a certain way, I listened. He was right. Or when my Creative Director pushed back on my crappy ideas around brochure project, I listened. He was right.

I’m finding when I genuinely listen to my family and friends, I almost always learn something new. When I genuinely listen to our clients, I almost always do better work. When I genuinely listen to my coworkers, I hear the whispers of new ideas–and I love new ideas.

Winston Churchill said, “It takes courage to stand up and speak; it also takes courage to sit down and listen.” With this blog I’m trying to do a little of both.

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