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

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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

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"Clients expect us to answer their problems with creativity that's on-brand, on-strategy, and on-message."

—Douglas Davis

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"Success has many fathers but failure is an orphan."

—Russian proverb (or maybe Tacitus c. 98 AD)

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"Do it right or do it thrice."

—Douglas Davis

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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

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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

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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

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RIP Flash, Actionscript

"We're here to inject art into commerce."

—Tibor Kalman

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Unknown Unknowns

"It's almost a rite of passge to make every mistake in the book."

—Prescott Perez-Fox

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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

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"Think like they think to do what we do."

—Douglas Davis

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Litmus Test

"The short hand comes later; first you have to use the long hand."

—Prescott Perez-Fox

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"I've seen ideas die on the table because creatives weren't able to set the context."

—Douglas Davis

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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

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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