Business
Entrepreneurs, investors, and designers alike will enjoy this conversation. It focuses on the missing link between the vague idea for a company and the ultimate cash flows it produces—namely, the execution of a design that makes customers want to pay. You might be surprised at some of their ideas about branding tactics. Have you ever considered the impact of typeface design in a company’s messaging? Today’s guests make a compelling case for re-thinking the media we use to reach our customers and prospects. Ryan Bugden is an old friend, and together with Michelle Ando, we had a fantastic discussion on their design education, their work, their approach to branding, and the way that design bridges the commercial and the artistic. Ryan and Michelle are both RISD-educated graphic designers based in Brooklyn. Both at one point made their way to Red Antler—a legendary branding design studio known for its work with clients like Casper, Allbirds, FourSquare, Square, Betterment, Zillow, Google, American Express, HBO, TripAdvisor, and General Electric, just to name a few. Michelle is still with Red Antler, and Ryan has moved on, working at Pentagram under Paula Scher before leaving to focus on his own work. Keep listening for their thoughts on design, branding, the creative process, learning, and much more. Guest Links Ryan Bugden: Instagram @ryanbugden https://www.instagram.com/ryanbugden/ | Website https://www.ryanbugden.com Michelle Ando: Website https://michelle-ando.com Time Stamps 0:05:05 – What it was like developing as artists 0:07:53 – Design bridges the artistic and commercial worlds 0:09:41 – Why Ryan and Michelle dislike being called “creatives” 0:10:59 – Viewing different verticals as learnable disciplines: Mastery by Robert Greene 0:14:47 – How they became interested in typeface design 0:20:39 – What typefaces can do for a brand 0:27:36 – Ryan and Michelle’s work with Getaway ( https://www.getaway.bar/ ) 0:34:16 – Design as the connection between the “numbers” and the “reality” of business 0:38:30 – Branding and the “spectrum of consistency” 0:40:28 – Nike: “consistently inconsistent in a beautiful way” 0:41:58 – Shick Toikka’s “Nike Unlaced” typeface ( https://www.schick-toikka.com/custom-fonts/nike-unlaced ) 0:43:52 – Discussion of building a heritage brand and brand equity 0:48:55 – Watching the development of Allbirds’s branding at Red Antler 0:50:17 – Emily Heyward’s top 3 questions about brand identity 0:51:45 – Ryan and Michelle’s process & design approach 1:13:47 – Growth & recovery: connection to Katina Mountanos, Dupi Singh, and Daydreamers 1:16:07 – The connection between play and recovery 1:19:55 – Managing emotions in the creative process 1:25:32 – Their approach to marketing and cold outreach 1:33:33 – Truthfully, much in design (as in investing) is a leap of faith 1:39:29 – Observations on what clients and end customers really want 1:42:21 – Genuineness—the brand needs to be congruent with the company 1:44:25 – The spectrum of “brand importance” (from B2B to Fashion) 1:47:48 – Influential books: Roland Barthes, Walter Benjamin, Susan Sontag, Alan Watts 1:54:16 – Documentaries: Adam Curtis (HyperNormalisation) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AUiqaFIONPQ 1:57:36 – Skills: coding in Python, animation 2:04:31 – Beliefs: “brand systems can be chaotic” and “work smart; not hard” 2:08:33 – Learning strategies: make learning purpose-driven 2:17:11 – Whisper to themselves: (paraphrasing) “a career in the arts is possible,” “don’t overtrust others or undertrust yourself,” and “make the process your own.” Support Links Rate and review the podcast at https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/strategy-chain/id1492935567 Find Amazon affiliate links at http://strategychainpodcast.com/support Send me questions at http://strategychainpodcast.com/contact Sign up for the email list at http://strategychainpodcast.com/ Social Media @strategychain (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Medium)