Ponder these:

Quotes and metaphors can sometimes spark more thoughtful explorations of themes. Here are a few of my favorites:

"If a leaf falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it does it make a sound?" I am pretty sure it makes a sound but, more interestingly, the point is it doesn't much matter if no one is there to hear it. Such is with building web sites that no one sees (because they weren't designed for visibility). The site exists. But all the time, effort, and money spent developing it simply doesn't matter if it can't be found. At iCrossing, we bake-in 'showing up' in the search engines as a matter of course. Designing for visibility is just what we do. I find it flabbergasting how any company can devote all that it takes to launch a site and miss the fundamentals of search engine optimization. As a creative--I'd find it heartbreaking to go through all the battles it takes to see a vision come to life only to see it cloaked in invisibility, in the 'webesphere', just for lack of following solid principles. 

"Make a friend before you make a sale" --Leo Burnett. Leo was so far ahead of his time. Little did he know, when he said this, that he was really defining the beauty of this medium called interactive. His vision for marketing is best fulfilled in digital spaces and with today's dynamics of customer control, social, user participation, etc. These days, all brand success is dependent on building relational experiences--where brands focus on establishing connections vs. pushing messages. Branded interactions work when they enable dialog and build trust, not when they play by the old rules of intrusive push-messaging. Brands are now better served by being transparent, open, enabling, involving, etc. We all know brands are not what they say they are but what customers say they are--so making friends, first, is the best way to grow sales. I so wish Leo was here to guide this medium.

"In the 1800's, if you asked any farmer what they wanted to make their lives easier they'd have told you they wanted a bigger horse that ate half as many oats and worked twice as long. They'd never have asked you for a tractor--it hadn't been invented yet." I adore this old story. It's all about the idea that one cannot simply think within the boundaries of 'requirement's, and established beliefs. It proves you have to go beyond the norms and consider breakthrough alternatives. Sure, it's paramount that the objective stays at the center of all ideation but it illustrates the importance of pushing, taking chances, asking crazy questions like "Why?" and "Why not?", trying and trying again, rapid prototyping, on and on. And most importantly--not taking the laundry list of  client demands so seriously that you get stuck in the traps conventional thinking.

"Better work works better." One of my first CD's used to say this and I've repeated it ever since. It's more than a clever play on words--it's a solid principle that, when followed, always leads to success. It's so hard to keep things simple and focus only on the work but at the and of any day it's only the end result, the work, that matters. Being clever in a meeting, or impressing ones' boss or client, being political, sounding profound, challenging everyone, being judgmental, etc. may get you short term results but when building a solid career this is the best advice. Focus on making better work. Work that works better. And you will be better--and get better opportunities. Because your client and their brand will be more successful. It's as simple as that.

Happy pondering.

Posted via email from Stephen Speaks's posterous