The challenge leaders face
At some point, leaders sense that something in the organization is no longer working as it once did. Projects slow. Decisions feel heavier. Teams appear busy, yet progress is inconsistent. Friction increases in places that previously ran smoothly. The instinct is to focus on performance or capability. Leaders search for gaps. They consider adding headcount.

What is often overlooked is a more foundational issue. The team structure itself has stopped serving the organization. Structures built for one phase of growth rarely sustain the next. What worked when the team was smaller or the mandate simpler may not withstand scale and complexity.

This is not a failure of leadership effort. It is a failure of structural evolution.

Why structures quietly fail
Most structures are created during moments of urgency. A company launches a new initiative. Growth accelerates. A function is brought in-house. Roles are defined quickly. Early wins reinforce the design. What rarely happens is a disciplined reassessment as the organization evolves. Responsibilities expand. Priorities multiply. Expectations rise. Reporting lines and decision rights remain static.

Patterns begin to surface:

• Roles accumulate responsibility without clarity
• Decision-making slows as stakeholders multiply
• Overlap increases in some areas while gaps appear in others
• Accountability becomes diffuse

These symptoms are often misdiagnosed as performance issues. In reality, they are design issues.

What strong leaders recognize
Effective leaders understand that structure is a living system. They ask:

• Is our structure aligned to current strategy
• Are decision rights clearly defined
• Do leaders know what they own
• Are we organized for the future, not the past

They treat structural review as leadership discipline, not crisis response. Structure shapes behavior. When structure is misaligned, even strong teams struggle. When aligned, friction decreases and momentum builds.

The cost of ignoring misalignment
When structural problems persist, teams compensate. Workarounds form. Escalations increase. High performers absorb excess load. Others disengage. Over time this results in:

• Burnout
• Slower execution
• Declining trust in leadership
• Tension between functions

The longer leaders wait, the more credibility erodes. Structure, when ignored, quietly undermines strategy.

Team structures fail not because leaders are ineffective, but because structures are rarely redesigned as organizations evolve.

How structure should evolve
As organizations grow, complexity demands clearer systems. Effective evolution includes:

• Defined decision ownership
• Clear separation of strategy and execution
• Accountability tied to outcomes
• Processes that support clarity without bureaucracy

This is not about hierarchy. It is about alignment. Leaders who proactively evolve structure preserve trust, speed and focus.

The post Why Team Structures Break as Organizations Grow appeared first on UpSource.

Organizations today are in constant motion. New leadership, evolving strategies, restructures, acquisitions and rebrands can quickly shift priorities and expectations. For many teams, that pace of change creates uncertainty. When change is not led with intention, uncertainty turns into distraction and disengagement.

Rebrands in particular can create confusion and frustration if they are not rolled out with clear direction and supported from the top down with strong communication. Teams are left wondering what is changing, why it matters and what it means for them. When leaders underestimate this moment, trust erodes quietly.

At UpSource, we work with leaders who are navigating exactly this kind of transition. The challenge is rarely the strategy itself. The challenge is leading people through it.

Why Resistance Is Often Misunderstood
Resistance is frequently labeled as negativity. In reality, it is usually uncertainty and nervousness. When priorities shift, teams are asking practical questions:

• What does this change mean for my role
• Are expectations shifting
• Is my performance being evaluated differently
• Is my job secure

These are not unreasonable concerns. They are human reactions to ambiguity. When leaders ignore these questions or dismiss them too quickly, stress increases and trust decreases.

Effective change leadership recognizes that resistance is often a request for clarity.

What Effective Change Leadership Looks Like
Strong leaders understand that change is not a one-time announcement. It is a process that unfolds over time. They focus on communication, consistency and follow-through. They can also:

• Communicate early and often
• Explain what is known and what is still evolving
• Maintain consistency in tone and direction
• Lead by example
• Invite feedback and respond thoughtfully

Leaders do not need to have every answer on day one. What they need is credibility. Credibility is built when actions align with words and when commitments are honored.

Calm, steady communication helps teams regain their footing. When leaders stay composed and transparent, teams are more likely to stay engaged.

Effective change leadership builds trust by communicating clearly, acknowledging uncertainty and staying consistent throughout transitions.

The Role of Clarity
Clarity does not require certainty. It requires honesty about the process and how decisions will be made.

Trust is built through consistency, not perfection. Leaders who are comfortable explaining the why and the why not create a culture where people feel informed rather than sidelined. Even when outcomes are difficult, clarity reduces unnecessary speculation.

Organizations that move through change successfully are guided by leaders who are willing to communicate frequently, acknowledge uncertainty and stay aligned in message and behavior.

Change should not erode trust. When led well, it can strengthen it.
For executives, marketing leaders and HR partners, the question is not whether change will occur. It is how it will be led. Teams take their cue from leadership. When leaders show clarity, consistency and confidence, teams are far more likely to move forward with them.

The post Leading Teams Through Change appeared first on UpSource.

I’ve written about some lessons learned while working in-house that made me a better consultant and business owner. Now, I’m turning the tables and following up with some ideas for what I think helped shape my success when I was an in-house, corporate, creative.

I have been fortunate to work for some name-brand organizations as an in-house creative. But my career didn’t begin in-house. I started freelancing early, before even attending design school, and for a year after graduating from The School of Visual Arts (SVA) in New York. During these formative years of my career, I learned the difference between merely freelancing as a graphic designer and consulting with clients to solve their most significant design challenges.

Design students at SVA learn how to be creative problem-solvers, developing original solutions to communications and design challenges. That meant not just designing something that merely looked good but also solved a strategic need. We learned that you first needed to define the real challenge to be addressed. This often required some digging and prodding from clients who typically ask for what they thought the problem was when what they needed was something else much more specific and measurable.

This consulting mindset is something I brought to every in-house cubicle and office I inhabited. Here are the elements of a consulting mindset that I think will take you and your department from order-takers to creative problem-solving rock-stars!

Does it need to be a light-bulb?

You have undoubtedly heard a few “light bulb” jokes before. If none come to mind, let me entertain you for a moment:

Q: How many Psychiatrists does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Only one, but the bulb has got to really WANT to change.

And here’s one related to the creative profession that stuck with me:

Q: How many Graphic Designers does it take to change a light bulb?

A: Does it need to be a light bulb? 

Sure it’s just a joke, but when you think about it, the best creative work comes out of being curious and not assuming that what the client wants is what they need. And our superpower is seeing things uniquely different from other (dare I say normal) people. 

Don’t accept that the idea (AKA deliverable) the client asked for is the right solution to the problem. Just because someone said, “we need a photo of a sunset,” doesn’t mean that a photo of a sunset will communicate the right message. Maybe an icon would be better because it’s going to be a 2-color print job, or it’s going to be so small that an image would be unrecognizable. Or maybe it’s not even a sunset at all, because what the client wants to convey is “a day at the beach with family.” In which case, you might suggest sandcastles, a beach ball, sunscreen, and a towel, or kids with sunburned shoulders.

Determine a shared measurement of success.

If you don’t want to be treated like an order-taker, then start behaving like a partner in the process. Partners work towards shared goals. Those goals should be discussed, negotiated, and understood by everyone at the onset of the project. The creative solutions your team dreams up should help your client achieve those goals.

I will assume that you use some form of project or creative brief at the onset of any project. If you don’t, you should begin immediately with the very next project request that comes into your department.

A brief is like a roadmap for the project and the solutions your team needs to develop. The client typically provides you with basic project information in a kick-off meeting, and you should follow up with lots of questions to make sure you understand their needs and goals.

Knowing their strategic business goals is essential to know if the resulting deliverable was successful after the project. Include this line in your brief:

“The success of this project will be measured by [insert a non-subjective, qualitative or quantitative, form of measurement that aligns with business goals].”

For example: “The success of this project will be measured by a 15% increase in new subscriptions to our newsletter over a 60-day period.” would be a great goal and measurement metric for a pop-up graphic on a website to get visitors to subscribe. 

It will also affect how your team approaches copywriting, image selection, design, and more. I can almost guarantee that “design something cool that will win an award” isn’t going to be a shared goal. So don’t worry about your department’s creative portfolio, as much as how well you are helping your internal clients to achieve business goals.

Detours, not roadblocks.

In-house teams tend to be very protective of brand assets. Especially when clients make requests that require pushing the limits of what’s acceptable according to the brand guide.

While it’s easy to say “no” to potentially brand-damaging or short-turnaround requests, you need to be mindful of appearing like you’re putting up roadblocks to solving their problem.

When someone asks for something you know you can’t produce because it’s off-brand, you can’t do it in the time they need it, or it’s just a bad idea, try this approach instead:

“No, we can’t do that. But what if we… [insert a better idea here]”

Then brainstorm an alternate approach with your client. Use their suggestion as a launching point for new ideas and even team building. Strive to make flexibility and creativity the hallmark of your teams’ reputation.

It’s going to take small wins over time.

Working in-house means you don’t get to choose your projects the way an outside agency might. So this shift from order-taker (whether real or perceived) is going to take some time. Look for the small wins with each project, and the big winds will come too. Try following up with your client after a project has been delivered to see how it was received and if they met their business goals. Talk about the positive results and opportunities for improvement next time. You’re going to appear to be a partner, solutions provider, and creative rock-star for it.

The post How A Consulting Mindset Will Take Your Department From Order-Takers To Creative Problem-Solving Rock-Stars! appeared first on UpSource.

The stereotypes associated with in-house creative groups are abundant. Most are more annoying than true. But hold on, there’s one that may have a touch of truth behind it. And some of the most cherished benefits of landing an in-house gig may be the key cause of it.

The one in-house stereotype I hate hearing about is a client not believing
inspirational results are possible from an in-house creative team. This makes the
hair on the back of my neck stand up.

The perception is based on the assumption that the in-house creative path provides
a steady gig, a regular paycheck, health benefits, and regular dinners with the family.
This is what makes in-house careers so attractive to many designers. However, does
that mean it also breeds a complacent stagnation of creativity? Personally, I’ve
experienced many nights of nuked food at the dinner table alone. But honestly, I
have seen complacency and what it can do to the work overtime. Who is
accountable for this?

First, let’s understand the nature of the design industry. Our status as professionals
is based on a combination of innate talent, our specialized education, the
development of our skills and our recognized mindset as a group—not unlike other
professions.

Before working anywhere, it’s the commitment to develop these

attributes that define us personally. And a certain amount of that development is our own
professional responsibility. It drives our personal brand.

A key component of this is inspiration. Creative people know what inspires them.
They should reach for that inspiration at every opportunity.

In hiring us, the employer owns a certain amount of responsibility to develop us as
well. It’s an investment toward better quality, production, and ultimately their
bottom line. Employers want to increase our value, not necessarily personally, but
to the company. If that sounds like making us a commodity, well, we’ll need to get
over it. In fact, take advantage of that.

As creative leaders, part of our job is to inspire our people.
Most creative leaders didn’t become leaders because they suck. We have experience. If you’ve been there–done–that and bought the shirt, share your experiences. It’s a way to give back to the profession and enhance the value of your people to the company. Lead by example. When you’re inspired, spread the love. Create a repository of creative inspiration available to your entire team. Have each of them contribute. Maybe schedule occasional review sessions to talk about the latest additions. Be involved in your team’s work to the point of frequent critique sessions with other teammates—with the intent to review project progress and to gain immediate feedback from other creatives. However, teach others not to rip into what’s wrong with a project right away, like many of our professors did to some of us back in the day. Remember?

We’ve all had those heartbreaking moments when our favorite concepts were
rejected by a client. In fact, easily 65 percent of the best work I’ve done never saw
the light of day. Each of our team members is sure to have experienced that same
heartbreak. Give your creative staff a chance to bring those projects back to life.
Hold scheduled “Living Dead” share sessions with your teams. The team will have an
appreciation for the work well beyond what the client could ever articulate.
Mentoring is another inspiration tickler. Have interns and new hires shadow your
top talent for a time. Don’t rely on them merely observing. The experienced talent
should have the next generation do the work, just under their meticulous eye. That usually makes learnings easier to remember—and in my experience, the mentors learn almost as much as the mentees.

I am a huge fan of road trips. Be involved in the local creative scene. Look for
opportunities (e.g., gallery showings, studio tours, speaker events) that your team
can attend together. In fact, encourage your team to come up with their own road
trip suggestions.

As an attendee of many design conferences, I know how inspiring they can be.
Developing a plan to get your team to design conferences is a huge shot in an
inspirational vein.

These are just a few suggestions to kill complacent stagnation and drive inspired
creativity into your clients’ projects. Kill that stereotype!

I know what you’re thinking … the organization has a budget. Budgets truly can be inspiration killers. Try and work as much of the above ideas into your budget, or at least as much as you can get away with. Argue that the return is the increased value of your team to the company. True, that value is intangible, but the ROI will show when your team’s work directly affects company sales in positive ways—but that’s another story.

The post Lead with inspiration—A few ideas on inspiring creative teams appeared first on UpSource.

“Don’t be a boss, be a coach” is one of the best pieces of advice I ever received about managing people. I took that advice to heart when I was leading in-house teams, and it has always paid off in regards to loyalty, team cohesiveness, and performance. I’ve got proof to show it too in my 360 reviews, upward feedback, and enterprise-wide client satisfaction surveys (tools that I’m sure only in-house leaders have even heard of, let alone been lucky enough to take part of).
I have worked with many creatives who have no desire to lead teams and plenty who do want that responsibility but don’t realize that being “The Boss” requires more than just having experience as a practitioner at your craft. Being the boss means balancing the fine line between representing the best interests of the organization, and getting the best performance from your people. It is about knowing the difference between managing and leading (you manage information, budgets, and systems, you lead people). As any people-manager knows; leading people is not easy. Leading creative people can be like herding kittens chasing butterflies on a windy day.
Be happy when they leave.
One of the great things about in-house creative teams is the longevity and relatively low attrition rates of staff, compared to agencies. The benefit of having people around that have a long memory of what campaigns ran when, or what collateral printed and when, is immeasurable. And it always seems that just when you’re team was finally getting to the “performing” stage that Bruce Tuckman described in his forming–storming–norming–performing model of group development… one of your top people decides to leave.
Staff turnover can be a problem for some managers, but not me. I’ve had good creatives leave, and I’m OK with that. It means they have grown as a professional while working on my team, and have skills another employer needs or that they can use to do something else like go out on their own. After all, part of my job was to help them learn and grow and stretch some new muscles. Personal and professional development will keep people interested in their work of course, but it also provides them with the necessary skills and experience to move up – or to move on.
See the opportunity for what it’s worth.
When someone moves on, you as a leader now have a great opportunity ahead of you. You can bring in someone who has the skills that are needed to balance out current needs of your workflow. You could promote a junior person to a senior role, and then hire for the junior position. And then train both people in any skills lacking to get the job done.
You could also evaluate your department processes, and change things in a way that will best serve the organization. For example; maybe you need more project management expertise because you are outsourcing so much overflow work. You also need to keep headcount flat, so instead of hiring for the same creative role that was vacated you instead develop a new position and hire for that role.
Learning vs. Training.
Coaching is about developing people to perform at their best, and there are two ways as a department leader that you can do this for yourself and others; training and learning.
Training activities are instructor/facilitator-led classes, seminars, and conferences where there is a specific learning objective or outcome. In other words, a course on HOW U, going to HOW Design Live, or taking a class with a live instructor is all training. If you don’t have a budget set aside for training, then you should consider some learning activities that will help you develop your staff.
Learning activities do not have an instructor or specific learning objective per se. But the outcome can still be as valuable. For example; have a junior designer shadow a senior designer on a press check to learn how to do it. You could also give someone a project they have never tried before, but they would enjoy working on something new. At the end of the project, they’ll have a new bonafide skill and demonstrated experience that you’ll benefit from by being able to say your department can do that kind of work.
So if you want your team to say “I’ve got a great boss,” then make sure you’ve got these developmental activities in your managerial and leadership toolbox. Take it from me; your staff will thank you for it.

The post Be the best boss, by not being a boss at all appeared first on UpSource.

In my last piece I discussed the traditional path of a creative career that we learn in school of first being an apprentice to a master to learn your craft, mastering your skills on your own, and finally becoming a master in your own right which often includes taking on apprentices of your own (typically in the form of staff, but you could do so by teaching a class too).
But it is what comes after managing people (being a Master) that has occupied my thoughts for a few years now. I always thought that being the boss was the golden ring. That having a team to manage, coach, and mentor was the pinnacle, or end goal, of a career. But having managed several teams, I’ve realized that that is not necessarily true. Yes, managing people does come with perks such as better compensation and even training. But in terms of the career path, that role is really about training the next generation of Masters. You’re a coach, not a boss, and you are guiding the team for great work and the next big “win”.
What’s next? Influencing others, not managing them.
As a manager, you need to split your time between managing and doing creative work. I can tell you from experience, that managing is hard work. Really hard, time-consuming work. And to do it right you need to give up a lot of the doing creative work in lieu of managing the process of how the work gets done, and ensuring a high level of quality. It’s not just “move it up, move it over, and change the color” of art direction. It’s performance reviews, budget allocation, air traffic control, meetings…lots of meetings.
But at some point, you can choose to pass the torch of management to someone else (perhaps even your own apprentice). remember, no-one is suggesting this means hanging up your coat and hat or throwing in the towel. What I’m talking about is taking back the reins and doing creative work of some kind. Now it’s time to lead, without managing.
Consider a path where you’re taking all of your experience and expertise and using them in the most influential ways possible, without necessarily managing a team. You get to do what you really do well, which is to be creative. You get to influence others (people, business, clients) through your creativity and passion for your craft, using all of the expertise and knowledge accumulated over the course of your career.
What’s Next for Creative Leaders
In my role as President of InSource, I have had the opportunity to speak with several in-house creative leaders about the “what’s next” question. While there is a lot more to still be discovered, here are some of the big ideas I’ve learned so far from experiences of in-house leaders who have found their own version of what’s next.
Hang out your shingle. For many in-house (and agency) creative leaders the next step is going out on their own as a consultant or starting your own agency. You’re ready to give up the stability of a paycheck and benefits for the exhilaration of serving your own clients, and working on a diverse variety of projects.
Teaching, full-time. What better way to influence others, than by doing it full-time as a college professor? When you teach full-time you often are required to perform some kind of work that maintains your status as an industry expert. This includes limited client work, writing, speaking, etc.
Change your corporate role. For some in-house leaders staying in-house is preferred, and in fact, the loyalty and desire to influence the brand is still very high. Those of us who have seen the corporate role and pay range sheets know that high-level individual contributor positions can earn as much as department leaders. So instead of leaving, maybe there is a way to influence from within. Consider becoming an individual contributor again, performing at a very high level as a creative strategist or similar role.
One industry leader I know even switched departments altogether to Human Resources of all places. Vanessa Dewey was recently profiled by InSource where she described how she has shifted her career within Mattel:
“Until recently, I was an art director for Packaging and Branding. I’ve transitioned into a new role. where I inspire, educate, connect, and celebrate creative at Mattel. Overall, I’m supporting a creations company that instills the wonder of childhood. One project that I’m working on right now is a podcast based on the idea that, everyone at Mattel can be a creative. Ultimately, I want to connect with these inspiring peers and to celebrate them.”
Vanessa’s story is a great example of someone who has found a way to utilize her passion, experience, and expertise in a way that continues to be valuable for Mattel. She’s done that within the company she’s been working at for a number of years already as well.
So when it comes to creative leadership, your “what’s next” is really limited only by your own imagination. Take some time to develop your own ideas of what that might look like, and start planning for the day when you’re ready to take that big leap.

The post What’s Next For In-House Leaders? Part two: Influence without management. appeared first on UpSource.

As is my tradition before an InSource event, I like to take the featured speakers out to dinner the evening before as a way of thanking them for their time and insights. I try to find a higher-end restaurant where we can enjoy a great meal (not just a good one) and an ambiance that would support great conversation. Such is the case the night before our Seattle event, back in March when I broke bread with Hafiz Huda (creative director at Amazon.com), Erik Davidson (director, brand and design at Vulcan Inc.) and Kevin Mau (brand and creative strategist at Boeing) over seafood and cocktails down by the wharf.
The four of us sat down at the table and started talking about everything from work, family, and naturally design and managing people. The conversation was lively, funny, thoughtful, and engaging, as you would expect from a group of people who are passionate about what we do. But the dinner conversation also left me thinking even more deeply about the career path of a designer than I had before. During the course of the conversation we each talked about our careers, where we started, and how we got to where we are, that included musings on getting into—whether by choice or not – the management of creative teams. And then we started discussing the fact that we are each at a certain age and experience-level, and may perhaps be ready for something…else. No, “something else” wasn’t right we agreed, it was more about “What’s next?”
As the discussion of our careers and experiences continued, we began formulating a metaphor for the phases of a creative career that naturally follow ancient paths of many trades: Apprenticing, Mastering, and Master. Apprenticing is when you’re just starting out, learning as much as you can from a Master at the craft (like the department creative director) to get better at what you do. Mastering is the when where you’re approaching the 10,000 hours of practicing your craft, and on your way to becoming a Master yourself. Master then, is when you’ve now got apprentices of your own to coach and grow (this is when you’re managing people). Trust me, when I say that its taking all I have to refrain myself from Star Wars and Jedi references right now!
But what comes after managing people (being a Master) took up the bulk of our dinner conversation. What’s next for design leaders when they’ve reached that sought-after pinnacle of creative leadership—Director of Creative Services—and held it for a number of years? When you’re ready to move on to a new challenge, is it simply getting a new job and doing the same thing for another company? At this point of being a Master is it just simply “rinse-and-repeat” for the rest of our careers? Or is there a fourth leg of the career journey? We pondered that and decided perhaps it’s simply the “Post-Mastery” phase.
Considering it takes 10,000 hours (that’s almost 5 years if you work at it every single day) to become a Master, then for those of us at this for 20+ years, Post-Mastery comes after a long successful career … but we’re ready to move on. Not retirement mind you, but maybe not managing others anymore either. You may also have reached a point in your life where the reasons for working (I discussed the reasons creative people choose to work for a living: stability, money, advancement, and passion in a previous article) have changed too.
So, what’s next for the creative leader? What is the Post-Mastery phase of our craft comprised of? Well, my standing answer is of course—it depends. Maybe for you it is yet more advancement up the corporate ladder to super-executive-chief-creative-grand-poo-bah. Or maybe it’s not leading people at all, yet still finding a way to influence creativity in the company you work for. Or maybe it’s time to hang out your shingle and start your own agency (or be a freelancer if you don’t want employees). It really depends on what you want to do with the mastery and experience you’ve earned over the years. How do you want to influence others with your talent and expertise?
In part two of this article, I plan to explore some of those options based on conversations I’ve had with several in-house design leaders over the past year. Some of whom have figured out “What’s next” and some who are still working on it, but have ideas.

The post What’s Next For In-House Leaders? Part 1: Post-Mastery appeared first on UpSource.

In our final interview with Michael Beirut he shared some solid advice: “You don’t learn anything by talking; you learn by listening”.
Robin: “You’ve been managing design staff for the bulk of your career. Any management advice or tips for the design managers and leaders out there trying to hone their skills?”
Michael: “The advice I tend to give people at any age is what made me more effective as a designer, design leader or even a manager: You don’t learn anything by talking; you learn by listening, and that’s the only way you learn anything actually. When I used to hear about something that’s going wrong, I would get scared and think, I’ve got to go on the defense and figure out a way to fix this thing through sheer force of will. But now I know about the idea of simply calling the person up and saying, “I hear you don’t like that thing or I’m sorry they got messed up. I still can’t figure out how it happened, can we talk it through?” You know, it’s just that it’s amazing once you do that. If they’re not happy with something or they like everything except that one thing, that one thing, most of the time, is the thing that I knew wasn’t 100 percent there anyway.
So part of what makes managing design much easier is that you don’t view it as sort of a competitive game that has winners and losers but a fun game. It’s really one of those things where everyone could win if everyone’s collaborating and if you’re patient enough to figure out what everyone’s agenda is and how you can help them achieve it.
You guys think a lot at InSource about the specific challenges that in-house designers face and what creative people face. So you know better than me what those are. But it always strikes me that a consulting designer seems to have the luxury of parachuting in, coming up with a bunch of ideas and not having to take the responsibility for following through on them. It’s a matter of not having to take the day-to-day—sometimes the hour-by-hour—responses that in-house designers get from the frontline. So I can have the option of simply persuading a few powerful people at the top of our organization to do something, and then a million other people have to sort through the repercussions of that, right? The reason people admire that work is, in part, because I really had talented people on the client side who were supporting the ideas, who were authoring the ideas, who made sure that we are all following through on the ideas so we were able to use the depth of their knowledge about their situation, their company and their institution.
Paula Scher talks about this a lot more; she said she’d opt to do nothing but set up effective in‑house design departments. She thinks that anything you see and admire is almost always because there are really talented people on the inside who are supporting the work, making it happen and taking it forward.
There’s also some thinking that I’ve just started to see this year where there’s this obsession with innovation as a goal and as an ideal and as the one and only true purpose of anyone’s work is to be innovative, and that’s great. Who doesn’t want to be known for their innovative and design innovation, which are really linked both in the popular mind and I think in the minds of a lot of designers and minds who work with designers?

But there have been a couple of articles—and I think there’s a conference—about if we spent less on innovation and more on maintenance, the world would be a better place. The reason things work isn’t just because of an amazing idea at the very beginning. They work because there was an amazing idea that was sustainable so people are able to contribute to it and make it stronger over time rather than just watch the slow and inevitable degradation of it, right?
A lot of times when I’m doing work for bigger organizations, I try to figure out how few elements to provide that would give the people on the inside enough to work with if they could really make connections that I couldn’t think of and make connections they can’t think of today because they get a different challenge tomorrow. I’m not favored to be there tomorrow or the day after that but they will be, and how can they figure out to do that. And I think that goes against what designers tend to do. I think all of us—whether in-house or out-house—just love the idea of something that’s complete and finished and fully developed; it’s the perfectly frosted cake with the cherry on top, you know. I think so much of the work you see in the world that’s actually worthwhile and admired in terms of design, particularly in terms of large-scale, complex design problems, is because really talented people didn’t take it on as a project that had a phase 1, phase 2, phase 3, phase 4, invoiced it and then done with it. Instead, they owned it and committed to it, and part of this commitment involves knowing it so well, inside and out, that they know all they can do and they know what people needed to do but they are able to retain within themselves the ability to push it forward so it does unexpected things that no one imagined when it was born.”
Robin: “It’s a full circle process in that all these different types of people and their expertise are involved to make it work. In my experience, it does seem as if you need both sides of the fence that you didn’t see concepting and design taking and maybe some fresh perspectives. And it’s all about that in-house group that loves their brand, knows their organization and wants to take it forward and make it explode.”
Michael: “Yeah! And boy, you know, there’s nothing that I like more—and it’s true for my whole team—that we are working with people on the inside of the organization who know it well and who are able to navigate the organization with confidence, who are really ambitious on behalf of the people they work for. I think there’s so much to work in that sort of situation, and that’s tough because I don’t think it’s just sheer force of will. There are places where the management confidence isn’t there in the group so they don’t value it. Usually there are a lot of problems above and beyond, and that’s what the poor in-house designers are putting up with. I think if they are treated that way, God only knows what else is happening to people there. And so not every place has an unlimited potential, not every project has unlimited potential and not every designer has unlimited potential; it’s just the way the world is. But a lot of times it’s just a matter of people, and it’s just understanding what people are trying to get out of their jobs from day to day and what their ambitions are overall. It’s not always true but a lot of times you can figure out a way to make design play into those desires.”
Robin: “So what’s next in design?”
Michael: “I just agreed with Jessica Helfand to teach a course in Design Management at Yale, and this is a big, serious commitment. It’s not just like a little lecture for a few times. We are going to put together some serious coursework and start to figure on a way to introduce or reinforce a design culture at this great business school for the MBA program.
Jessica received both her BA in graphic design and architectural theory and her MFA in graphic design from Yale University, and she and I both taught in the School of Art. I taught a little bit in the School of Management before so we know the place, and I think there’s an interesting opportunity to figure out what managers, future clients, future in-house managers, future CEOs, CFOs and CMOs need to be exposed to in terms of design to understand what its potential is.
One of its strengths is the walls between departments and schools are more porous than permeable. So one of the opportunities, I think, is what happens if there are architects or design students taking this class alongside the business students? Also, not just that, but what if there are medical students, or forestry students or law students taking the class? One of the great things about design is it’s a field of knowledge on one hand but it’s also a way to synthesize different fields of knowledge; it’s a way of thinking as well as stuff to think about, and I think that’s one of the fun things. It reaches right in the middle of all these really brilliant academics centered within Yale who can really all have so much potential in making contributions to what we know about design and what makes it so cool.”
Robin: “That’s amazing. I don’t know how you have time for all of this. Thank you for everything you do for the creative community!”
 

The post “HOW TO” – Exclusive interview with Michael Bierut – Part 3 appeared first on UpSource.

Check out part two of our exclusive interview with Michael Beirut and learn what frustrates him most in the design industry.
Robin: “One of the things that made me smile at the very end of the book was the statement: ‘And Paula Scher is the person that I’m endlessly trying to impress.’ You guys sound like brother and sister.”
Michael: “A little bit, yeah. We started at Pentagram at the same time although we are very different people and had very different backgrounds. She had worked in Corporate America at CBS Records and Atlantic Records for the first part of her career but at that point had been running an independent office for 7 or 8 years, and she did work that I thought was famous. As a music enthusiast I knew her album covers already. She has a poster she did for Elvis Costello that was described in detail in the book “Less than Zero” by Bret Easton Ellis, and I was thinking, WOW!
She’s extremely honest to the point of being blunt. If you show her something just fishing for a compliment, chances are she’ll maybe compliment you but also probably tell you how to improve it. On the other hand, I’m always afraid to offend people. I never want to make them feel bad so even constructive advice, which is something that I give so delicately that sometimes people can’t tell that I actually think something is horrible and you need to fix that now, please! I’m getting better as I’m getting older, but she was always blunt that way. And so I would show her things and ask her questions, and she could just give me really fast answers. I had nothing but questions because when I joined Pentagram I’d never run my own business before. I’d really been in this protective environment working for Massimo where he was the one whose charisma basically sold the work. I was implementing things according to his vision. I felt really inexperienced from the first day I joined Pentagram. I looked up to Paula as a slightly older sister who sort of knew all kinds of stuff; it was as if she was kind of like a year ahead of me at school and knew all the teachers, knew what would happen if you got in trouble, knew how to get ahead and just had all of this advice. So I think we ended up having a close working relationship, which has been going on now for 26 years.”

Robin: “What frustrates you the most in the design industry?”
Michael: “I remember when I was in my 30s and started being in a room with people talking business. It’s just so easy to get infatuated with what designers think after they graduate from school; their heads are full, not only of creative ideas but also with design jargon, a language that only other designers and design teachers and design students use. Then you discover that regular people don’t talk that way; you’ll be describing the merit of something to someone and they won’t understand what you’re talking about because you’re not using any words that they understand.
So then people say, “Oh shoot! No one cares about design jargon,” they switch into business jargon, and my business jargon is awful. I’ll take design jargon any day but you hear people doing presentations that are empty and monotone; they say silly things that take the juice out of what’s exciting and interesting and magical about design as a desperate attempt to make it understandable and palpable to what they think is business people.
They try to reduce it down to this long string of platitudes and clichés—whatever the platitudes and clichés of the moment are, whatever the last thing you’ve heard at the last conference you attended or the last all hands meeting you went to, the last memo you got or whatever. If you’re lucky you sort of realize no, people actually do find design exciting. You can’t use it as a way to make people feel stupid but a magic trick doesn’t make people feel stupid. They don’t understand how it works but they are pleased it gives them the moment of delight.
I don’t think what we do is magical all the time. But if you do a magic trick for someone and they don’t seem to appreciate it, I suspect you’re not doing the trick exactly right. Or you haven’t set it up the right way. You’re missing it somehow but the solution isn’t to show people how the trick is done or to make them learn how to do the trick. The solution is to figure out how you can manage to give them the sense of how the trick is supposedly engineered. I think you need to acknowledge people’s eagerness to believe in magic, right? And just because you sort of know what happens behind the curtain, what the actual tricks are to produce the effect doesn’t make it any less potentially magical for people.”
Check back next week for the final part of our three-part interview

The post “HOW TO” – Exclusive interview with Michael Bierut – Part 2 appeared first on UpSource.

In 2016 Michael Beirut launched his new book How To. Check out this exclusive interview capturing book details and career tips.
Robin: “There were a couple things that really stood out to me when I read How To. I loved hearing about the pile of notebooks, a career deep, that you keep. Tell me a little bit about that.”
Michael: “I’ve never had a great memory, or maybe I have a very selective memory. Like a lot of creative people I tend to remember things visually. Way back nearly 35 years ago, I started carrying around inexpensive marble covered notebooks. I’ve never really tried to make them into works of art—you know, jam-packed full of inspirational sketches. But I take them to meetings or carry them throughout the day and just make notes for myself. Sometimes I’d make a little diagram to help me understand how things fall into place, and every once in a while I would actually start to work out a design problem.
Sometimes I’ll come back from my meetings and one of my partners or one of my designers will say, “Well, what happened?” Then I’ll take out my notebook and talk them through. These visual notes that I took sometimes form a little treasure map of how we are going to proceed; sometimes these notes I make end up being visual recipes for things that turn out to have some significance later on.”
Robin: “I loved the Robin Hood Foundation project, which must have had some serious impact on the community.”
Michael: “Yes, it’s one of the reasons I put it last in the book. Because of its nature it’s been seen by generations of elementary school children at this point. The original kids must be in college or graduates from college by now.
We were asked to do murals inside libraries by the Robin Hood Foundation, which is a philanthropy based here in New York. They were installing them in different at-risk public schools throughout New York City, and I resisted a little bit just because I think to do a mural requires a certain kind of skill, like an artist with a capital A. We were there to provide graphic design support, more like problem solving. But then we realized there was something special there. We were able to work with the librarians, with the principals, sometimes with the local talents, sometimes with the kids, in order to customize solutions for each one of these things. There was also an opportunity to invite other people to come in because I ran out of ideas very quickly. So we started collaborating with everyone from Stefan Sagmeister to Maira Kalman to Christoph Neimann. I can take credit for sort of art directing them but not really. I helped identify the right talent and just let them loose basically.”

Robin: “It looks like it was a fun project. What caught my eye were the strong colors painted on the bookshelves, which complemented the whimsical and vibrant murals.”
Michael: “It was really fun to see them in use. It certainly did not occur to me right away but when I saw the first libraries completed, I realized that if you provide a special environment for not only children but staff too, an unbelievable sense of pride can happen. The people who were affected the most were the librarians because they felt that they were given a very special place to work. It demonstrated to them that they were valued, that they deserved a stage to perform on, a store where they could really be the stewards in a way. It was inspiring people to do their best work.”
Robin: “How To has been referred to as the ‘greatest hits voyage’ of your career. Do you have advice to share based on your career journey?”
Michael: “I can’t give you advice but I can tell you how I did it. I think this is actually something that I became conscious of when I was working for Massimo. It was my first job out of school—I was in my early 20s and he was in his late 40s and then turned 50 I think the first year I was working for him. I remember I was thinking then that he was the oldest guy in the world to me. So old! And now, of course, I’m older than 50 but I don’t feel that old.
I think when you’re young, you’re perceived as being energetic, hardworking and maybe naïve and unexperienced. When you’re older, you have wisdom but you could be out of touch or tired or grumpy—whatever happens to old people like me. You’re treated differently in all those ages; you know the kind of presence you have in a room with other people and the difference comes with pluses and minuses.
In my 20s, I just remember I worked really hard and not because I sort of vowed to do that. I just loved working. I was almost intoxicated with the ability to make things, and I just couldn’t stop doing it. When I finally had a real job and access to the whole toy box full of tools, it was like a playground to make things all day. I’d get to work early, I’d stay late, go home, eat dinner, then I’d come back after dinner. I didn’t distinguish stuff I was doing for work versus stuff I was doing for my own fun. I was doing freebies for friends, posters, invitations for people’s parties, one-off birthday cards for people. I didn’t care what I was making as long as I was making something. And I also seem to remember that I didn’t need that much sleep back then. I don’t remember ever feeling tired; I just felt very energetic the whole time.
But when you start getting into your 30s it’s possible you’re working with people that are closer to your own age. Certainly that happens when you get into your 40s and you start understanding. I think it makes you more prone and sympathetic to their concerns when you see someone and think, Oh, this person is afraid to be fired. This person really needs a victory so that she can show her boss that she’s worthy of the charge she was given. And that puts pressure on you to help those people. It’s not just you but you’re improvising with someone else, right?
I don’t want to say responsibilities because that makes it sound “onerous” but I think you sort of realize that as you start to learn things you have an opportunity to kind of give things back. So I’ve noticed that a lot of times when people get involved with professional organizations, whether it’s AIGA, InSource or whatever it is. You start seeing earlier versions of yourself and you want to stop those people from making the mistakes you made, and then you’re in a position to be a mentor as you were a protégé in your earlier ages.
All I remember is a few times when I was coming up—you know, when you’re first looking for a job— a few times anyone acknowledged that I was actually occupying space on planet Earth I was just so thrilled, you know! A confirmation to my existence was so exciting to me.”
Check back next week for the second part of this three-part interview.

The post “HOW TO” – Exclusive interview with Michael Bierut – Part 1 appeared first on UpSource.