Design on the Run
How Not to Fail in the Business of Design, An Illustrated Memoir
$23.95
Design on the Run is a lively, charming, and provocative business book that identifies invaluable insights to ensure business success, illustrated with the designer’s award-winning work from over 40 years. While designers are trained in design theory and software, they are rarely taught the business of design. No other book delivers crisp insights about the daily challenges in the business of design in sections titled succeeding, marketing and selling, managing, and brand design.
This 184-page book contains more than 110 insights into creating business and design excellence. There are 171 illustrations and more than 40 checklists you can use to improve your business performance. This book is written for designers in their first 15 years in the profession.Will older professionals find it valuable? Of course, but the sooner you get this information in your hands and into action, the bigger launch your career will enjoy.
Books are available at Amazon.com.
Why this book?
SUCCEEDING
What accounts for success? 16
The way you do anything is
the way you do everything 17
Pick up the phone 18
10,000 hours 19
When you ain’t got nothin’ 20
Spend money to make money 21
The only route to excellence 22
“Just make it pretty.” 23
The only sustainable client relationship 24
Take two steps forward for each step back 25
Demand clients have skin in the game 26
Lean into negotiations 27
Adding value to keep selling after the sale 28
Give away everything you know 29
The secret to recruiting 30
Hire people who are not like you 31
Hire people who are better than you 32
When is a partner a good idea? 33
Your mission is everyone’s lodestar 34
Compromise neither your own artistic
integrity nor your client’s goals 35
Read. Study. Be curious and more informed
than your competitors. 36
Search for fundamentals.
Persist until you have the one right answer 37
Keep up with business trends 38
There is a best way to do everything 39
Writing is editing 40
How we lie to ourselves 41
Why firms fail 42
The best risk everything all the time 43
Be all you can be 44
Start fast, dream big 45
MARKETING & SELLING
Everyone’s biggest problem 48
Ready. Fire. Aim. 49
The marketing funnel 50
The marketing flywheel 51
How people make decisions 52
Productize services 54
Learn to talk about money 55
Finding v. Choosing 56
Do the minimum 57
The challenger sale 58
If you don’t want it, don’t bid on it 60
Track wins and losses 61
Debrief losses 62
The remarkable power of “I don’t know” 63
Teach something you love 64
Marketing’s three-year rule 65
Reduce uncertainty 66
Keep clients smart 67
Fuel sales with custom-made “Big Ideas” 68
Master the art of conversational branding 69
What you need to know about public relations 70
Respect the media 71
Market maniacally 72
Create a “touch plan” 73
Naturally appealing 74
Build a searchable visual library of your work 75
You can be a dynamic speaker 76
Sellers focus on what they have to sell, buyers
on what they want to buy 77
We expect our experience to match
the best-in-class experience 78
Stand out at the show 79
Steal this holiday gift idea 80
Double down in recessions 81
MANAGING
That damned org chart 84
Manage clients first 85
Manage time second 86
How to talk so people will listen,
how to listen so people will talk. 87
Wash windows 88
Tech will never be more than half the answer 89
Effective requests, effective responses 90
The six hats theory for creative thinking 91
“Oh, I just assumed…” 92
2-to-go 93
Your presentation skills are your party ticket 94
Don’t ignore copyrights 95
You hire employees, then people show up 96
“It’s not in her nature” 97
A creative space, a recruiting magnet 98
Love the ones you love…and love HR 99
Celebrate everyone all the time 100
Practice an escape plan 101
BRAND DESIGN
What’s a brand and why should I care? 104
What is positioning? 105
Clients arrive either naked or badly dressed 106
Raise Brands 107
The market is like an enormous cocktail party 108
Your style or mine? 109
What’s in a name? 110
No letterhead was ever sent out
without a letter on it 111
A logo is only the cornerstone of a brand 112
To understand type, draw a font 114
Quick! You’ve got three seconds.
What’s your takeaway? 115
Think of content as a salad bar 116
Design for the scanning reader 117
What types of images arrest a buyer’s attention? 118
The image completes the message 119
Every design product has its own set of rules 120
Fess up to mistakes 121
Who is the creator, really? 122
The creative well is bottomless 123
Information design Is harder than you think 124
OMG, a career in label design 126
Okay, hell, run with it 127
Style is personality 128
Demand a purpose for every page 129
Directing non-actors 130
Interviewing skills \131
Mergers are always on a fast track 132
No courage, no results 133
CHECKLISTS
The mother of all checklists 136
Marketing responsibilities 138
Pre-pitch phone call 140
Sales call 141
Media planning 142
Mergers 143
Contract cover letter 144
Client interviews request process 145
Ideal Interview schedule 146
Internal interview request letter 147
Client “shopping list” of marketing materials 148
Creative brief 149
Brand platform 150
How to prepare for, participate in
and follow-up a creative meeting 151
Creative kickstarters 152
Share this ad pitch. Make it your own. 153
Managing budgets 154
Project budget 155
Client status update 156
Proofreading 157
Letterhead design 158
A detailed process for brochures 159
Print procedures 160
Pre-printing 161
Final mechanical cover memo 162 Presscheck 163
Go here now 164
Brand standards contents 165
Brand maintenance 166
Entering/tracking awards contests 167
Celebrating awards 168
Speeches 169
SEO when I left it 170
Holiday greetings 171
Organizing a video shoot 172
Directing-non-actors 173
Dressing for television 174
Dealing with the media 175
Body language on television 176
Television interviews 177
Mailing & shipping 178
Emergency evacuation 179