openbox9 » michael

5 Reasons Spec Design Work is Not Considered

michael — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 21:13:30 +0000

For some the term spec work is foreign slang that may lead to guessing its about sweaty people exercising their spec muscles. Actually it is designers exercising their sweaty mouse fingers — its short for “speculative” work — free work in hopes of getting paid for it.

I understand the motivation for potential clients to ask for it; especially if they have been less than thrilled with previous designers they contracted with. I can name a dentist, an auto mechanic and a tax-preparer that I wish I had gotten spec work from. It’s frustrating to spend money on bad service.

However there are good reasons professions like graphic design should not provide spec work:

Sleeze factor

It puts creative services in the realm of drug dealers who give samples of their Acapulco Gold, bennies, barbs or charlie (yes, I had to google drug slang words). I have heard the opposing case that it’s like test-driving a car – test-drives should be free. But, a car is a reproducible product, whereas a creative process is not repeatable no matter how similar projects appear to be.

Joy-buster

I have done spec work once… maybe twice for an employer. I equate the experience like flying a kite in the dark. Not that getting paid makes the sun come out, but rather the experience lacks the collaboration between client and designer. Everyone is trying to limit the time investment so the general direction is “just make it pretty”. What is loss is the strategy or the understandings – the two things that make design a tool to problem solve.

Stink bombs

Because little energy and thought typically go into speculative work, the work is not a good example of a designer’s ability. Remember the test drive a car analogy I spoke 30 seconds ago about? Imagine going into a BMW dealer and they give you a goat in a wheelchair to test drive. You may say: “I love goat cheese especially free goat cheese” but your project deserves a high performance vehicle.

Fairness

Simply put, Clients who are paying for design services should not have their projects interrupted by spec work.

Economic Recovery

Wanna see our economy spring back faster? Designers are known for their spending, not their saving. Feeding a designer, feeds the marketplace. Brightly colored plastic Louis XV furniture you say? Where’s my credit card.

Have a counter point? Would love to hear from you.

openbox9 takes Manhattan

michael — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:22:40 +0000

Outside of Washington DC there is the nice (lesser known) city of New York that hosted the recent Global Leadership Awards Dinner. openbox9 had the pleasure AND honor to attend. We primarily traveled to celebrate the host, AICGS, but an added perk was the chance to check out the design work we did for the event and the rebranding work we did for the non-profit. Below is an account of our expedition to the Wall Street neighborhood.

Hannah and Nathan in front of the other Brookland called Brooklyn

Hannah does a new yorker impersonation - nailed it.

Calling it a dinner was slightly misleading as they fed us the programs we designed. tasty.

The openbox9 representatives, Nathan, Michael and Hannah

Hannah leads a packed room of empty chairs to a rousing rendition of "danke schön"

Michael stirs the crowd to sitting applause and accepts the dented punch bowl award for cheesy photos

Making of the Baking the Cookies

michael — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 02:29:55 +0000

This time, tasty design became edible for a recent Christmas card design for our friends at 9Marks… for those out there that want a July 4th card I have an idea using deviled eggs!

Hannah gets to rolling the dough - no Adobe software used

Yeah, that's a Bens Chili Bowl apron.

The hand carved shapes before the fire

Finished photo used on the cover of the card. Photography by the Baker Designer Contra-dancing Hannah

AIGA’s Lightning Strikes… strikes Nov 17

michael — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 02:38:01 +0000

We were honored to help-out our local chapter of AIGA with a visual campaign for an upcoming “night that will awaken your mind with inspiration and creativity.” Imagine what mischief could happen if your mind was woke up… with volts of pecha kucha (20 slides in 20 seconds) Registration is open – check it out creatives!

The ideal chair for humanity

michael — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 13:22:24 +0000

A few weeks back Hannah had fun designing her ideal city bicycle. My passion is sitting. I do a lot of it, so I wanted to design my ideal chair. Some would consider this post “epic” and paramount to the survival of the sedentary human. I would not, but others will argue.

Be cool.

A chair is something you’ll be seen a lot in, so look good sitting in one. When thinking ideal, one has to suspend reality that one can afford these chairs…

Be cool some more.

Nothing irritates a human more that an uncomfortable chair. Make sure the lower back feels your love for it – prove it with cushions made of twinkies (added benefit – warmed snacks for the team after about an hour of sitting)

Swivel n Roll

Getting up from a chair to talk with folks should never happen. My chair will swivel and if needed, roll over to a person despite the terrain — I’m talking Tonka truck wheels.

Refreshments

Hydrating is important to staying alive and a chair should not jeopardize my life. My chair will house a tub of watercooler quality liquid.

Stay fresh

Some might want to roll their chairs to you — a chair should help you smell your best and spare you from bathing. The fabric of my chair would be made of wet-wipes.

Reduce number of seats

Why do we need so many personal chairs? Parents know that their baby’s car seat also makes for a great carrier and rocker. My cool-guy chair would have a dual function by latching into my car.

Weather Controls

I barely have to write anything here – everybody knows your back gets hot while your limbs go frigid. Temperature control is a must. While I’m at it, I want a chair that recreates the feeling of being outside during a crisp Autumn day.

Behold the Schafer BoBimBap-Seat 3000…

Summer of Launches

michael — Tue, 27 Sep 2011 14:41:51 +0000

As summer officially ended last week, a summer where we received news of NASA never launching a shuttle again… I thought I’d cheer us up about celebrating our launches this summer. There were many for us astronausigners to float on about (in no particular order)

Ethnotraveler
Experience the crossroads of culture from your livingroom. www.ethnotraveler.com

East Africa Ventures
A wonderful group of bighearts working to relieve Sudan through micro-enterprise strategies. eastafricaventures.org

GraceDC Downtown
An outstanding church with a new look and dynamite custom built features. www.gracedc.net

Mckinley Marketing Partners
Partnered with our friends at Design Army to develop a crafty recruiting tool for marketing geniuses. mckinleymarketingpartners.com

Atlas Theatre
We love the arts here, so we loved developing this WordPress site with our friends at The General Design Company. atlasarts.org

Cause Placement
Heard of ‘product placement’? Now wouldn’t it be great if non-profits could promote their causes in the media? www.causeplacement.com

Revive Your Heart also revived their website with our design and the crafty development work of Five Q. www.reviveourhearts.com

Razoo’s Live PC Give PC
24 hour barnburner event raising money for the causes of Park City Utah. livepcgivepc.razoo.com

Razoo’s Give to the Max Day DC
24 hour hootenanny event raising money for the causes of the Wasington DC area. give2max.razoo.com

Public Religion Research Institute
At the intersection of Religion and the Public square you’ll find this content rich gem of a site www.publicreligion.org

AICGS’s Global Leadership Awards Dinner
I love RunDMC, which means I love adidas. What great joy to design a site for the CEO of adidas who is being being honored. www.aicgsglad.org

Kathy Worek Group
Homes need a champion like Kathy to sell them, that’s why she needed a team like the designers General Design Company and developers openbox9 to build her a superhero website. www.kathyworekgroup.com

Printed projects can’t launch but people can now physically hand this to someone:

National Wildlife Federation’s 2010 annual report covering their work in the Gulf

What can openbox9 launch for you?!

Favorite Flag Designs

michael — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 15:24:26 +0000

Happy Flag Day. With much respect to the stars and stripes I wanted to honor those other well designed flags out there – here are a few of my favorite well designed flags:

Chicago with your baby blue and twinkling stars – this is a cutie pie design.

Can you see the stars square dancing in Tennessee? Nice use of a blue stripe.

Bold stripes with an inviting bird makes me want to visit Uganda.

Butt kicking machine for a symbol – I’ll not invade this island.

Passion. Love of Nature. Oh Canada you are huggable.

I can not think of any better simple use of stripes that create such energy.

Stars over the Potomac and Anacostia – brilliant.

openbox9 is looking for a designer!

michael — Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:09:20 +0000

Ready to use your design talent for good? Ready to work in an environment that will challenge you with exciting responsibilities? Ready to have fun designing comprehensive solutions?

We would like to hear from you.

Designers at openbox9 are:

Well versed in designing positive user-experiences for online projects
Understand the importance of function before form
Committed to seeing our clients succeed
Able to bring in visually compelling expressions
Students of branding organizations and campaigns
Passionate about the influence of design in society

The design position we are looking to fill will require a high level of design skill, creativity, time management, a good sense of humor, and dedication. You must be both independent as well as collaborative, thus being able to discuss your ideas and work under art direction.

Requirements for the position:

Currently we are open to senior designers and designers with 2-3 years experience
Fluent in Photoshop, Illustrator, Mac environments (InDesign experience a plus)
HTML/CSS knowledge key
Ability to self-manage time and collaborate with team

Don’t apply if:

You are looking for a ticket to wealth – we are cost-considerate for our non-profit clients.
Working in a home-office turns you off – you don’t like the idea of little cute kids talking to you about butterflies
You don’t like music

What about us you say?
We are a small but mighty studio with our office in Brookland, DC. Our work ranges from identity development, branding, web design, print media, online marketing, search engine optimization, and programing. Take some time to look around our site…

How to apply:
Send your cover letter, resume and link to your online portfolio to info@openbox9.com

Year of the Rabot : 2011

michael — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 15:49:43 +0000

We have a new enemy

We hope your 2011 is a safe one… the army of detached rabbit heads being mounted to robots might make it a challenge. Only after the Chinese New Year celebration will we know what they want — my guess is either better pay at petting zoos or an end to the campaign to eat rabbits on Easter

idea: saving street water

michael — Wed, 26 Jan 2011 16:52:43 +0000

Water enters water tanks during rainstorms and is pumped out during dry spells

Water problems solved:

Conserves water during times when processed water should be used for humans/animal types not plants
Prevents rainstorm runoff from getting into our waterways (what’s wrong with that?)
Gives slacking rabbits a job

Should be cost effective and uses time proven technology – the hand pump. What would hold this idea back are city utilities (install it for them!) and the fear people would drink this water… and rabbits that would want to get paid.