Culture and Habits for a Three-Person Design Studio with Designer and Agency Boss Kristine Neil — The Busy Creator Podcast 77

Kristine Neil (@TheKNeil) is head of branding and design company Markon Brand Design. She purchased Markon when it was an old-fashion sign company, and has since transformed it into a small creative studio, now boasting a team of three.

In our conversation, we cover the quirks and rituals used by the team at Markon, Kristine's personal productivity habits, and the general challenges that face all busy design teams nowadays.

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Show Notes & Links

Kristine describe her work as "varied"

Markon is a small agency focusing on branding for small- to medium-sized businesses

Kristine purchased Markon rather than founded it. Previously, it was a sign company.

The Markon team is now three strong — Kristine, Mike, and Jenna

"It's a scary thing to say 'I need some Help'."

—Kristine Neil

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Kristine started by adding contractors/freelancers before bringing in full-time employees

Prepare to Share — an article and podcast episode about bringing additional people into your workflow

Kristine is a systems person, admits to being slightly ADD

"Get ideas out of your head. People aren't mind-readers."

—Prescott Perez-Fox

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"Always organize things for how they'll work in your absense."

—Kristine Neil

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Single Point of Failure — a bottleneck for decisions or skills

Many freelancers/solo practitioners struggle to stay organised

Kristine previously worked as a GM for a manufacturing company. This taught her systems and regimented behaviours.

"Have a system. It doesn't have to be fancy."

—Kristine Neil

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"Meta-work" the work surrounding work such as scheduling meetings, checking email, managing your software

Ben Elijah, previous guest on TBCP, described "Productivity Pornography"

United We Brand by Mike Moser on Amazon

"We don't always have the time to treat ourselves as a client."

—Kristine Neil

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"We don't just make the things. We make the ideas that make the things great."

—Kristine Neil

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Space150, design firm who redesigns their identity every 150 days

"It's no longer acceptable to set a brand identity and let it ride for 20 years."

—Kristine Neil

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The Sunk-Cost Fallacy

Sweat Equity

Phase-In a brand vs. "Shadow Op" to replace everything

Esso became Exxon seemingly overnight[av_video src='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4lZkX01wFbE' format='16-9' width='16' height='9']

Todd Henry, twice a guest on The Busy Creator Podcast

 Kristine Neil on Twitter

 Kristine Neil on LinkedIn

 Markon Brands on Twitter

 Markon Brands on Facebook

 Markon Brands on Instagram

 Markon Brands on Pinterest

Tools

Whiteboard

Scrum and Agile development

Remember The Milk for iPhone

Google Drive

Swiffer Duster

Slack

Dropbox

Basecamp

Jira

Freedcamp

Techniques

Divide your whiteboard by category and by day. Slot tasks accordingly.

Create a file-naming system that makes sense — plan ahead for others reading in the future.

Don't become a Single Point of Failure

Pomodoro Technique

Only keep the immediate future on the Board, save long-term stuff elsewhere

Test systems to find what works best

Get outside opinions on your brand/company, at least annually

Use Slack to post videos and gifs — especially after a tough day at the desk

Habits

Host "Board Meetings" with your team every morning

Build starting documents ("templates") when you have repetitive projects/tasks

Audit your own brand. Be willing to walk away from your previous website.

Create a routine strong enough so you don't need an alarm clock

Shut down between Christmas and New Year

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