Good design comes from research, a fair amount of complex thinking, and the practical application of design principles. But, great design comes from collaboration, testing your assumptions, and having your team ask the tough question; "Why?"
My City Lives, one of our longest standing clients, launched the second version of its location-based video platform yesterday, adding another significant stripe to its sleeve since its inception (and since we first started working with them) in late 2009.
One of the joys of working with talented startups is that we often get to watch products graduate through their various stages of maturity. The relationships we build and retain with a product (and its team) through that growth provides a backbone of consistent feedback and other inputs that allow us to better understand the vision, position and users over time. This inevitably enables us to deliver even better work round after round, phase after phase.
The days of working in silos and emphasizing competition over collaboration are far behind us. Sharing knowledge, learning from the experiences of others, and discussing challenges with peers leads to positive results. Or, at the very least, it minimizes waste from trying to find solutions to problems already solved.
And let’s face it, since we all prescribe to the church of “do what you love”, not only is our career fulfillment on the line, but our overall happiness.
It's been one helluva ride over the last 22 months and if there's one thing I regret, it's not sufficiently celebrating the amazing work that we've had the pleasure to send out our door. I'm proud to say that we have some of this city's finest creatives, and it's inspiring to be surrounded by their wizardry each and every day.
Char gone done it again. This time in preparation for Valentine's Day. If you get in the good books, you can thank her here.