As designers we first must choose this point of reference then look off into the distance and determine how far it will go, how much of the scene must be explored. We do this through a wonderful little document called a creative brief. The brief is our point of reference and ALL exploration must relate to that point. Without this starting point (or points) the remainder of the drawing will simply not make sense and will most certainly not provide a desired result for the client. Successful design solutions are just that -solutions. They must follow a path, lines that radiate from the reference point. This does not negate the importance of creativity and uniqueness rather it encourages it and provides a place for infinite interpretation.

As people our thoughts and feelings radiate from a very specific vantage point. Understanding where that point lies is critical. Without knowing the location of this point, perspective is literally lost. All human contact with animate or inanimate objects is based on relationships – how it is we relate to a given person, situation or thing. The relationship has a point of point of reference. If you are a manager or a wife or a father, your style and reactions comes from somewhere. It is based on innate personality traits you posses through no fault of your own and your experiences, some of which you control and others you do not. Add these together with a splash of environment and there is your unique perspective.

Regardless of whether you are creating design or interacting with your life and the people in it, perspective best starts with a point of view that is seen through a wide-angle lens. Too often we find that point of reference (applause inserted here), create relationship between our design, our employees, and our loved ones (standing ovation), but narrow our focus so far that we miss the beauty and the opportunities of the scene before us (boo, throw a rotten tomato). The idea here is to avoid taking a step back to look at the situation because the point of reference often can’t be changed or simply shouldn’t be. Rather than step back or forwards or sideways, try changing what you see without moving your feet. Change your lens to reveal as wide of a perspective as possible seeing the peripheral and the forefront all at once.

Perspective is a way of adding tangibility to an intangible world. When you are asked to create a visual communication solution for a client, a point of reference allows you to plant your feet and perspective allows you to create. When a situation hits you in the face, be a designer. Find your point of view, open the lens as wide as you can, and design your own reality.

This post was inspired by my conversation with Scott Wadler of MTV Networks. As a guest on “Talk Story with Jeni”, Scott and I shared many of our thoughts and ideas on living life large and making your career and your home places you love to be. Click here for a full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni” and Scott.

Last week my guest on “Talk Story with Jeni” was the brilliant Bryn Mooth. As the editor for HOW Magazine for the past decade, Bryn has been an important part of the design industry and been responsible for promoting, reporting and affecting this field. During our conversation, we talked about the changing persona of designers and breaking down how it is they perform their jobs. We both agreed that we were seeing more ‘head and heart’ from designers than ever before. Not only that but a return to the use of their ‘hands’.

The ‘head’ of design refers to the strategy and thinking that has become increasingly important in the production of relevant design. We have all heard over and over the importance of looking at the business of design, of creating business solutions not just visually appealing campaigns. Whether graphic, informational, or environmental design must be more than logically connected to the service or product, it must be able to generate tangible results (i.e. revenue). The top design thinkers in the industry are forging the way towards design teams becoming partners in providing business solutions. Given this ‘heady’ approach, veteran designers are going to have to remain relevant and new designers are going to have to be a step ahead in embracing strategic thinking.

‘Heart’ refers to the passion with which designers approach their work. It seems this is an element that comes easily to most designers and is at least one reason they entered the field in the first place. But finding the motivation to stay inspired is often challenging and often discussed at length (that is another topic all together). You can’t help but admire, and rightfully so, those professionals that have a talent for ‘visual-ness’ and a zeal for taking on the challenge of creating recognizable business solutions.

For years now we have seen what I believe was a departure from true craftsmanship. It was apparent in the world of photography with the introduction of digital cameras and printing, and it was rampant in the design field with the technological advances in digital production and the Internet. It is so exciting to see a return to hands-on design or what Bryn referred to as ‘hands’. Manual binding, letterpress and so many other forms of old school design processes are making a return and it is wonderful to see the melding of the old and the new!

Over time we see the pendulum swing back and forth. We gain new abilities and see new priorities often losing sight of the old ways and the processes we know are tried and true. I always let out a sigh of relief when I see the pendulum swing back to a place of balance. In this case, seeing the renewed enthusiasm for the use of  ‘head, heart and hands’ is a great place for design to reside. Thanks to Bryn Mooth for taking time to talk story!

Click here for a full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni” and Bryn.

For more information see http://tetherinc.com/

Most designers know that creating a design brief and using it as a roadmap is critical to the success of a project or campaign. Asking the right questions such as, what is your business about and how does your product differ from you competitors, is a great start but what a design team does with those answers, in my humble opinion, is the difference between a strategist and a artist.

Responding to a design request without taking a hard fast look at the validity of the answers is a flat-out mistake. Don’t get me wrong, many a designer will gather the obligatory information from a client and turn out a gorgeous communication piece. But so often the client needs “a big fat reality check”, so says my friend, Matt ‘Pash’ Pashkow in our “Talk Story” yesterday. Pash recommended a brilliant step in approaching a project which I think is critically important to providing a longterm solution for a client. He says we must gather information, real information that digs deeper than the surface of what the client is telling you. Guiding them through a process of looking in the mirror and pushing through the “bullshit” and moving to a place where every stakeholder agrees on who and what they are. Pash says, “this requires a design team to fire up the jet, fly up to 30,000 feet and take a look from up there.”

Allowing the design process to begin at 30,000 feet is an awesome way of looking at any design project, big or small. I’ve heard it called ‘the big picture’ but all that does is make a problem look bigger than it is. But check this out; observing from 30,000 feet allows you to remain focused on your target and affords you the freedom to search the surrounding areas and see how they will affect the target and how it is the target will affect the surrounding area.

I love this idea! It takes design to a strategic level that gives designers, whether working on inhouse design teams or agency teams, a critical seat at the table. To make this happen, it requires you to have a desire for a strong connection. You have to know what your talking about, you have to have flown high above as to provide a broad and well thought out perspective of the course the project should take. Lastly, you have to be willing to listen, comment and lead your clients through the process, not just paint them a pretty picture.

Click here for a full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni” and Pash at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jeniherberger or directly from my site at http://jeniherberger.com

We often talk of the importance of ‘loving’ what you do.  If you really think about it, isn’t this stating the obvious? I mean no one is going to tell you to be sure you do something that you dislike terribly.

It is always a pleasure to ‘Talk Story’ with my ‘conference husband’, Jeff Fisher at LogoMotives in Portland. Jeff is one of those people that approaches life with no apologies and looks to find the joy in all he does, professionally and personally. For some reason this seems to be a challenge for many. I think we try and I think we want to, but I also think we get mixed up as the world around us squelches the fire.

It seems to start with the pursuit of a livelihood at the ripe old age of 18. Most of us are influenced by parents and school counselors to look for a career in which we show aptitude. What the hell is ‘aptitude’ anyways? I have a high aptitude for mechanics and math, so I should be an engineer? I’d be miserable. Oh, but it’s a good living and you can make good money. That is a formula for misery!

If you are a parent and looking to have your kids be happy in their successes (notice I said ‘their successes’) then do this. By the time they are 14 or 15 years old, ask them what it is they want to learn more about, what interests them, what they could see themselves really getting into and studying. Don’t ask them what they want to be when they grow up. I don’t even know at 43 what I want to be when I grow up! I asked my now 18-year-old senior these very questions. She answered me, saying  “You know, mom. I love archaeology and rocks and ancient Egypt and the Celts.” So that was it. From that moment on we formed her secondary education around the desire to study archaeology. She got a waiver for languages at her school and took on-line Latin. She volunteered at the Museum of History and Industry. She joined the Darfur Project at her school. When it came time to look at colleges, we had a direction. Will she become an archaeologist Indiana Jones style? I doubt it. But she will study what she loves and find her way from there.

So what do you do if you got off to a bad start? Well, I’d say switch it up. I’m not saying you need to quit your job, go back to school, start all over and foreclose on your house as a result. That’s ridiculous. Instead take a clue from Jeff, myself and others like us. Find the joy in what you are doing now and begin altering your pathway to lead down the road that truly brings you joy. Try these steps:

• What did you always love when you were a kid and what have you done in the past that made you truly happy? Chances are you knew then more about your passions then than you do now.
• What do you enjoy most about what you do now? Look past the obvious, possibly to the mundane.
• What do you wish you could do more of? Think of your favorite hobby or something you’ve never tried and always wanted to.
• Write each of these on a separate piece of paper, free form with doodles or words or whatever. Now lay these three pieces of paper in front of you, grab a highlighter and circle key words that jump out at you. Do you see a pattern?

The pattern you see is your unique roadmap to giving your existing career path a push in the right direction. Maybe even the direction you should have taken all along or maybe it just a new way to pursue an old dream. For me, it is touching lives through communicating and teaching. For Jeff, it was taking a broad-based career in design and narrowing down to creating identities for the types of organizations he loves and pushing his fears aside, tapping into his happy nature and graduating from clown school. Thanks ‘Toots Caboose’ for spreading just a little more joy and showing us that there is a clown deep down inside of each of us!

Click here for a full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni” and Jeff at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jeniherberger or directly from my site at http://jeniherberger.com

When asked ‘how did you get to this place?’, my friend Michael Lejeune responded with, ‘I just kept making left turns’. The more time I spent thinking about this as we talked story last week, the more I loved all the implications hidden within those words. Undeniably, we westerners live in a world of ‘right’. The hands of the clock circle to the right, we read from the left to the right, we drive on the right side of the road, even refer to our biggest advocate as our  ‘right-hand man’. Studies show 70%-95% of the human population (regardless of race or culture) is right-handed. So what did Michael mean by making left turns?

As a proud and often misunderstood member of the small percentage of our population that is left-handed, I see turning left as natural. I remember be considered slow in school because I wanted to turn left. Whether it was with scissors or dance moves or swinging a baseball bat, it always took me longer and seldom was there anyone to teach me. In order to fit in I had to convert a left turn to a right turn then back to left again. When you are 7 years old, this takes a few seconds to do. As I grew older, it came faster and faster to a point when it was all but seamless. I graduated in the top 1% of my class, earned a college degree in 3 ½ years, and built a multi-million dollar company in 12 years with seed money equaling $4000. I’m not slow, I just like to take left turns.

Going against the grain (or making left turns) for the attention of your peers or superiors will quickly earn you the title of ‘poser’. Some of us are right-handed and it is how we function best. Following the flow and doing it better and more authentically than your counterparts will get you far in this world. Being someone who moves differently has its set of challenges and risks. But if you feel compelled to move in a direction different from most AND can overcome the fear of doing so, truly great things can happen.

Most all of the amazing folks I talk to such as LA Metro’s Michael Lejeune have succeeded in their careers by following their heart and their gut overcoming any fear of failure. If you are looking for change or growth in your career, organization, even your personal life, you might what to try a new route. Try turning left the next time you come to a fork in the road.

Click here the full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni’ and Michael at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jeniherberger or directly from my site at http://jeniherberger.com

Last week I had the opportunity to Talk Story with my dear friend, Steve Gordon. Our conversation ran the gamut but one thought stood out for me. Can you count the number of times you’ve attended a gathering, been introduced to someone new and asked the question, “what do you do for a living”? The question, in and of it’s self, is not offensive but the expectation of the answer could be. Think about it. A living. What do you DO for a living? Normally a verb (meaning the act of being alive), the word ‘living’ has been transformed to be about what we do for work. Our automatic response is to regurgitate our chosen profession or current job title. Don’t misunderstand me, what we do for work is an important part of who we are but we can’t forget we are so much more.

Living is about taking every moment and being present in what it has to offer. All of your experiences can make you a better designer, parent, significant other; flat out a better person. Because when you pull from who you are and what you love to do, everything about you is better and more authentic. This is especially true as a member of the creative community. We know that our work is personal and we allow ourselves to take it personally when someone doesn’t like the design solution we have provided. But so often we do not bring ourselves to our work. Putting our experiences as well as our training and design know-how into our daily workday and our projects literally transforms the end result and our effectiveness as professionals.

It’s this immersion in doing what you love that transforms how you go about your work and removes the line that our society draws between work and life. It’s a line that doesn’t need to be drawn if you have truly found work that you enjoy doing and you keep yourself engaged. I’m not saying not to make some differentiations between working and not working. It really comes down to BEING PRESENT. If you are talking with your kids, put your iphone down. If you are working with a client, give them the best of what you have to offer looking past your feelings and looking to your abilities to provide business solutions.

Next time someone asks you “what you do for a living”, give an answer that embodies ALL that you are and move past defining yourself by what it says on your business card. You belong to YOU. The company you work for, the clients you design for, and the family you provide for all benefit from YOU. Steve said it so well during our Talk Story time, “I live for a living and that’s what I hope people see.” Those of you who know Steve understand that this philosophy is deeply infused into his work and his persona. Whether riding BMX, breaking records on the track or creating an identity for a client, we should be living for a living.

Click here for a full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni” and Steve at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jeniherberger or directly from my site at http://jeniherberger.com

On my newly created series, ‘Talk Story with Jeni’, I had the opportunity to share with my listeners the story and thoughts of this rare and talented individual. There is, of course, the fact sheet. For the past 9 years, riCardo has been the Executive Group Creative Director for Mattel Inc overseeing brands such as Hot Wheels and effectively earning the creative team at Mattel a place at the table amongst the decision makers. More interesting is the backstory of how riCardo got to the place he is and what those experiences have done to shape how he takes on the world.

What truly impresses me most about people like riCardo is the manner in which they question the protocol around them and then find whys to make things work. This is particularly important in the field of design whether graphic, interior, industrial or product. Designers don’t learn to be creative. As creatures of God, every one of us is creative. Artists express that creativity in forms that touch the senses; sight, smell, hearing, tasting, and touching. Designers use these creative expressions to add form and function to the world around us. The difference between an artist and a designer is obvious. The difference between a designer and a design thinker is subtle but HUGE!

Design thinkers take the elements of creative expression and use them to solve problems, entice growth and ignite change. Thinkers don’t design for the sake of art but use art for the sake of design. Design is purposeful with a starting point and an ending point. Those who can think this way, looking beyond the limits of the tools within their reach, are those who literally have the power to change the world.

I asked riCardo offline to tell me where he saw design going in the future and how it was that he thought we as an industry could prepare for it. He told me, ‘We, as designers, will continue to be a huge factor in how brand becomes a choice in people’s lives. With this being the case, design will continue to prove its merits as a valued business component towards delivering against a brand’s promise.’ riCardo also believes, as do I, that we will see more and more collaboration between the experts in the fields of deign, utilizing specialty disciplines and minimizing the ‘jack of all trades’ methodology we have seen over the past decade.

Long and short of it, great design thinkers like riCardo crespo bring a philosophy to design, work and life that we can all learn from. The idea that there is always something out there to invent, to strive for; and greatness comes through pursuit and perseverance. One is simply useless without the other.

Here the full hour of “Talk Story with Jeni’ and riCardo at http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jeniherberger or directly from my site at http://jeniherberger.com