The Secret Handshake

Date: April 28th
Location: Coor Hall, on Arizona State University’s Tempe Campus
Time: 6:00-8:00 pm

Sponsored by GDSA & AIGA!

Please note: As the lecture topic is not yet set in stone, if you are a student at Arizona State University and have any questions you would like me to address, PLEASE contact me. Or even better… hit me up on Twitter @jaycrimes.

Businessweek published an excellent article discussing the impact of design on business. Design: Impact on Business

Their 6 article series focuses on the following:
The Value of Design
Why Design Matters
The Value of Design to Startups
How To Redesign Health Care
The Role of Design in Business
Slideshow: The Worlds Most Influential Designers.

Even though I didn’t make that that list… yet, it’s still a good read.

These articles are extremely important for people BESIDES designers to read. Designers already understand how their craft is valuable, but more often than not I find myself explaining the value of design to clients.

Design is creative problem solving. If the only thing we did was make pretty pictures, we’d be in trouble. Good design facilitates amazing marketing initiatives. Good design improves conversion. Good design makes interactive sites usable and functional. There is a reason why people pay a premium for premium design.

These articles might just enlighten.

Here’s what we had to say.

Unplggd Tech Tour Survey Apartment Therapy

Name: The Sweetness / Bright Bright Great

Location: 4131 W Belmont Ave, Chicago IL , USA

Size: 1200 sq. ft.

Years lived in: 3.5

1. Our style:

Sexy modern urban soft loft.

2. The inspiration for our home office:
Jocelyn: Simple and pretty: shiny whites, bold accent colors & fun accessories. Museum and design shrine.

We wanted to keep the walls as large white canvases that we could decorate with art as we went. The big pink wall is a throwback to Mexican pink as well as a shrine to the work of Jon Burgerman.

Jason: I like toys.

3. Favorite element in our space:

Jocelyn: Our pink wall. I love standing next to it and take pictures. Also, cement walls and ceiling, you don’t hear a thing and can sleep like you mean it.

Jason: The bed. It’s a Vera Wang Pink Ribbon edition. I know I should totally be pitching our awesome studio space, but the bed makes all the hard work worth it. When I was shopping for mattresses I went into the store and slept for 30 minutes on every mattress. Once I sat down I knew it was the one.

4. Biggest challenge in designing our space:

The lack of space. We live in a 1200 sq. ft. soft loft that needs to share space with a design company. It’s a bit loud and crazy, but we manage.

Because we dedicated our second bedroom to our office, there’s no room for overnight guests. Sorry, family.

5. What friends say about our space:

Heard at BBG: “This is like a museum.”

Also: “I’m afraid to touch the walls.” Right after: “Uh-oh I just touched the wall.”

Latest: “I’m going to bring my girlfriend over to show her how cool your place is.”

6. Area where there is room for improvement/future projects:

Is trying to fit a second bed somewhere too ambitious?

7. Proudest DIY (do it yourself) project:

Putting together the Elfa system and painting the pink/grey room.

Actually, putting that room together was hard because it isn’t huge (that’s what… never mind.)

Because of the layout of the room, it was a little hard to fit two desks, all of our books, some guitars and a couch, and we were very picky about styling it right and only once so we searched endlessly until we found the perfect fit.

Now we have a place to put a lot of books, toys and papers away, long pretty desks, lots of drawers to keep post its and sharpies away, and that massive Elfa shelving unit that saved our life. Our couch is a comfortable plus.

8. Biggest indulgence with respect to my space:

We wanted to do something with the wall behind our TV in the main room, but didn’t really want to just paint it, so we went to the Merchandise Mart looking for interesting tiles to cover that wall up, floor to ceiling.

After much looking, we decided on a light/dusty grey Italian tile meant to be used on floors. After reassurance from the store that the wall wasn’t going to collapse on our DVR/Wii, we went for it.

We found a great contractor and got to it. Those things were so heavy that the first night all the work the guy did came down because of their weight. He had to start over the next day. In the end we had a cleaning celebration party.

9. Best advice about organizing or incorporating tech into the home:

Invest in a good organization system. The Elfa system from The Container Store saved our  pack rat souls. It’s not even that expensive or hard to assemble and it’ll stop your Dwight Schrute/Jim Halpert fights about space once and for all. Cleaning up every once in a while doesn’t hurt either.

Also, go wireless as much as you can. Cords don’t only make things look ugly and are a pain when moving things around, but you can also trip on them a lot.

10. Dream source for stuff:

Jason: Anything Herman Miller, or 1960 Charles Eames.

Jocelyn: Someone’s old house to turn doors into tables and such (much to Jason’s hate), Sergio Bustamante bronze, the MCA store, Zara Home, IKEA, Roche Bobois, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, Unica Home, Sur la Table, Luminaire, Etsy.

Resources

We have been branded and we have it all:

Zara, Apple, Nike, Puma, Print, Beautiful Decay, Adidas, Asics, New Balance, HTC, Samsung, Kidrobot, Chuck Anderson, Jon Burgerman, Domo, Tiffany & Co., IKEA, Department of the Treasury, HP, Western Digital, Logitech, Hello Kitty, Mighty Muggs, Dwell, Adobe, Threadless, Express, Mexican street vendors, H&M, Dania, The Container Store, Gap, The MCA, The Land of Nod, Canon, DKNY, Sergio Bustamante, Tokyo Flash, Paper Source, Mango, Bershka, Viktor & Rolf, Amazon, Lolita Lempicka, Zara Home, Sur La Table, KitchenAid, Banana Republic, Rick Bayless, Coca-Cola, Nintendo Wii (Super Mario Bros. Wii, we’re thinking of you), Logitech, Agatha Ruiz de la Prada, San Miguel de Allende Mexico, The Painted Lady Chicago.

Tech Hardware:

Technology: Apple, HTC, Logitech, Samsung, Western Digital, HP, Canon.

Appliances: Kitchenaid, Sur La Table, Cuisinart, Hello Kitty, Frigidaire, Samsung.

Furniture: Dania, CB2, Crate & Barrel, Herman Miller.

Accessories: IKEA, The MCA Store, Marvel, Kidrobot, Zara Home, Mercado de Artesanias San Miguel de Allende Mexico.

Lighting: CB2, Crate & Barrel, IKEA.

Organizing Tools/Accessories: The Container Store, Elfa, IKEA, Target.

Art: Chuck Anderson, Jon Burgerman, Dania, Jason Schwartz, Department of the Treasury (really.)

We always like talking about living within design, if you want to keep chatting, contact us

Awesome pictures taken by Jacob Hand of Jacob Hand Photography and Jocelyn Ibarra of Bright Bright Great.

See every picture and read the full article here.

Have we mentioned how much we love Collins Design?

Collins Design is the editorial behind The Virtual Miscellaneum, a brill book BBG had the pleasure to review, love and obsess about last November.

This time Collins Design made our January by sending us a copy of Design for the Greater Good by Peleg Top and Jonathan Cleveland. A book showcasing the best, brightest, and most successful design campaigns in the nonprofit industry.

The message behind Designing for the Greater Good is that nonprofit campaigns shouldn’t merely share a message, but that they should serve as inspiration to encourage action.

The book includes 24 case studies, interviews with designers, cause-specific campaigns, logos and branding for nonprofits and tons of websites, posters, brochures, advertising, and marketing materials for different events and nonprofits. By the time you finish it, you should at least feel a little enlightened.

Go get this book before you’ve been left behind. On awesomeness!

Images by Jocelyn Ibarra for Bright Bright Great.

Get the book here!

Learn more about the book and its authors here:

http://www.designingforthegreatergood.com/

Thanks to all the ASU Visual Communications students who came out to our presentation. As we mentioned, stay in touch with us on Bright Bright Great’s Facebook, Jason Schwartz’s Twitter, & Bright Bright Great’s Twitter.

In what appears to be just the start (of the 3 person presentation this is slated to become Spring 2010, …more info on that later) Jason Schwartz presents to Arizona State University’s Junior and Senior Visual Communication students real world advice on finding a creative job in a tough market, finding the “right” job and most importantly, tips and tricks on smoothing out the transition from student to working creative professional.

Photos and recap after the event.

(This is a closed event only for ASU Visual Communication Students.)

The Knux nods to Jason Schwartz!

The Knux dropped their new EP titled The Fuck You EP via Facebook Jan 1 without any cover art, so I got this together for you. to download.

You can still grab the EP at http://www.mediafire.com/?y32jjj5uoxy

For the next few weeks, Bright Bright Great will be traveling the span of North America to work on some amazing new projects, drop a few international websites and to party like rockstars.

We are still available via email and via Tweet Jason Schwartz, Jocelyn Ibarra, and at Bright Bright Great.

We hope everyone has an amazing year end and we look forward to seeing you in 2010!

Today Coca-Cola showed Pepsi how to redesign packaging for a beverage line without major backlash from the design/consumer/every community.

If you remember, earlier in the year Pepsi rebranded and then debranded Tropicana, due to some serious backlash from the modern and minimalistic design, which was a bit much for the seasoned OJ drinker.

Take a peek, this is a pretty nice packaging update.
Via The Dieline.