Lucky us. After several rounds of submitting resumes, cost sheets, and forms, were invited to make a presentation of our work to Sandia National Labs in Livermore. I love science as much as I love design, and this could be a great opportunity to work on making nerdy projects accessible. But with short notice, my loathing at making anything look good in Powerpoint, and the idea that we’d be compared with megashops in the bay area, it was a fun soul-searching process to think about who we are… just the right amount of: creative, smart, nimble, and fun.
Especially considering the notion that most in-house creative staff have to crank things out and sometimes forget when to stretch the boundaries to create a more effective result, the fact that we can stretch ‘just the right amount’ while still being fast and service-minded is a nice quality to bring to the relationship. I also realized that with them having designers on staff, our bringing ‘a vision’ and ‘art direction’ might be welcomed as a unique piece of the puzzle, beyond the regular design, production and project management.
If all goes well, we’ll be designing brochures, report covers and exhibit panels for some new smart transportation technology and other cool things that scientists are researching; things that need to be explained to policymakers, funders and the public. Wish us luck!