Exploring Business Issues Faced by Creative Pros with Author & Professor Douglas Davis

Douglas Davis (@DouglasQDavis) is a graphic designer, professor, consultant, and author of the new book Creative Strategy and the Business of Design. The book, which follows his recent talks and workshops, explores business issues that face creative professionals, especially those which may not even seem apparent. In this conversation, we explore the business culture exposed creatives, the shortcomings of our design education system, and how Brooklyn is becoming the home for creative thought. Check out Douglas’s book, Creative Strategy and the Business of Design, now available where fine books are sold. Show Notes & Links Douglas joins Prescott at his home-studio in Brooklyn. Douglas too is a Brooklyn resident and former neighbour. Douglas describes himself as a Professor, among other things New York College of Technology, Communication Design City College, Branding & Integrated Communication graduate course Nancy Tag The Davis Group “In The Arena” DCRIT – MFA in Design Criticsm at the School of Visual Arts, now MA in Design Research "Everyone has that story of when they were first taken advantage of." —Douglas Davis Tweet This Creative Strategy and the Business of Design by Douglas Davis on Amazon Pratt, Communication Design MA Creative pros spend the first ten years of their careers “face down at the desk” NYU, MS in Integrated Marketing “In The Trenches” "Design school doesn't teach business, and Business school doesn't teach how to inspire designers." —Douglas Davis Tweet This "Clients expect us to answer their problems with creativity that's on-brand, on-strategy, and on-message." —Douglas Davis Tweet This "Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan." —Russian proverb (or maybe Tacitus c. 98 AD) Tweet This "Do it right or do it thrice." —Douglas Davis Tweet This The in-house design team of yesteryear was almost like a Kinko’s "Business is annexing design. Our design jobs are more important because of that." —Douglas Davis Tweet This McKinsey & Co. “Building a Design-Driven Culture” article IBM has been acquiring digital advertising, marketing, design The New York Times also has been acquiring Deloitte, other consulting companies GoPro is becoming a content/media company "Design is the spoonful of sugar that makes marketing & business palatable to the public." —Douglas Davis Tweet This Apple’s invested in design and beat Sony. Sony did that previously to beat Panasonic. Dr. Marjorie Kalter, NYU  Direct Marketing Hall of Fame "'I love it' is not a compelling business rationale." —Dr. Marjorie Kalter Tweet This RIP Flash, Actionscript "We're here to inject art into commerce." —Tibor Kalman Tweet This Unknown Unknowns "It's almost a rite of passge to make every mistake in the book." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This Bryce Bladon, editor of Clients From Hell, was on The Busy Creator Podcast, ep. 78 “Trial By Frying Pan” Fred Nickols, Strategy Is Execution (PDF download) "Begin with the end in mind." —adage Tweet This "Think like they think to do what we do." —Douglas Davis Tweet This Litmus Test "The short hand comes later; first you have to use the long hand." —Prescott Perez-Fox Tweet This "I've seen ideas die on the table because creatives weren't able to set the context." —Douglas Davis Tweet This Adams Media/HOW Books HOW Design University Creative Strategy began as an online course. It earned $17,000 in 9 offerings Tony DiSpigna, typographic illustrator How to Be a Graphic Designer Without Losing Your Soul by Adrian Shaughnessy on Amazon "Some people are better at other things than I am." —Douglas Davis Tweet This Applesaucing Art Director can mean many different things General Assembly The Narcissicm of Minor Differences September/October 2016 issue of HOW Magazine  DouglasDavis.com  ThinkHowTheyThink.com Revision Path with Maurice Cherry Obsessed With Design with Josh Miles  Douglas Davis on Twitter  Douglas Davis on Facebook  Douglas Davis on LinkedIn Tools AdWeek  HOW Magazine Laptop Evernote Techniques Learn what keeps your client up at night so you can speak the same language Divide a project into smaller pieces so your clients can see the process unfold Consider how you “Frame” your solution. Often that’s the point of differentiation.  Banish words like “right” or “wrong”, in favour of “it works” or “it doesn’t work” Practice with co-workers to use better, more instructive language Start with the story, then teach the lesson. This helps you write chapters in a book, for example. Keep a desktop folder called “desktop dump” where pretty much everything goes. Habits Work to maximise the “trust in the room” Take a moment at the beginning to write a “problem statement” Add a physical activity to your routine, such as boxing Take time to travel, perahps 2x per year Try Audible.com Free for 30-Days Visit BusyCreatorBook.com for your free trial Get Inside the Business of Graphic Design by Catharine Fishel as a free audiobook