With the recent changes in a stagnant economy are designers the new catalysts of American Entrepreneurialism? According to Bruce Nussbaum Designers are merging their ways of thinking with startup culture. The result, writes Bruce Nussbaum, is greater innovation and astounding VC success rates.

If any of you are familiar with basic economics then you know that wealth is created by production not consumption. Wealth has to be created. “The people who create wealth are the farmers who grow the wheat for the dough and tomatoes for the paste; those who harvest the milk for the cheese; the food processors who turn raw commodities into pizza ingredients; the entrepreneur who comes up with idea to sell pizza; the bank that decides to invest capital in a pizza store; and the delivery guy who brings the pizza to your door. Each of those actors creates wealth. Consumers then destroy the wealth that was created (in this case by eating the pizza).” – brian Stow In order to grow America needs a catalyst of startups.

Designers are emerging steadfast and more companies are being created now than ever. The  advancing desire among designers to bring their user focus, specific expertise, and propositional thinking to the ancient techniques of startups promises to be a welcomed metamorphosis.</p><p> This is especially the case with IDEO. A design & consulting firm in CA who take a psychological personal approach to design.  “The emerging trend represents a headlong crash of creativity into capitalism.” Today’s most innovative start-ups are successful because they’ve learned to think differently & creative. More and more agencies are turning to user experience designers as they want to engage their audience in a more creative way.

Uncertainty and ambiguity are directly linked to the part of our brains where fear and anxiety are active.  This makes the creative process difficult and taking risks towards innovative ends frightening. Creatives need to become entrepreneurs to inspire greatness in others.  “All the great and inspiring leaders and organizations in the world, whether it is Apple or Martin Luther King or the Wright Brothers, they all think, act, and communicate in the same way and it is the complete opposite to everyone else…”  Simon Sinek explains his theory on how great leaders inspire action. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action The encouraging news is that we are seeing an emergence to capture the imagination and energy of a new generation of young designers & creators.  You don’t have to be a hero to feel invincible. Creativity Takes Courage!

For further reading: http://www.fastcodesign.com/1665120/designers-are-the-new-drivers-of-american-entrepreneurialism

http://capitalismtoday.blog.wku.edu/2010/03/15/production-not-consumption-creates-wealth/

For my monthly freebie I decided to do something different. I was listening to Enter The 36 Chambers and I suddenly felt inspired. With all the tumultuous talk of the economy and the U.S. being in such a massive debt I thought it would be unique to touch on the topic utilizing my creativity. I thought of the acronym C.R.E.A.M & then it hit me. Here I present to you Rich Uncle Pennybags (the Monopoly mascot) re-imagined. Enjoy!

Feel Free To Download Here: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=MPCHGI7Q | http://www.megaupload.com/?d=4WGB2FB9 | http://www.megaupload.com/?d=WS2VRYL0

I was searching for successful marketing campaigns online to get inspiration for what I wanted to do to reinvent myself.  I came across this ingenious article by Andrew Kelsall discussing how he came up with his marketing campaign to garner attention using SPAM. In today’s society, it is my conviction that in order to survive you have to get creative. Regardless of you work 9-5 or you are seeking employment it is vital to utilize your imagination. You must adapt to change. Hopefully, this article will inspire you as it did me . . .

This article is dedicated to the Blog Action Day Poverty Fund as part of the Jacob Cass Group Writing Project, together with a PayPal donation. The proceeds go directly to the fund to help stamp out World-wide Poverty. You can visit the official Blog Action Day site here.

Now, for the article…

Image copyright here

A few years ago, when I left the Coventry University School of Art and Design, England, I landed a freelancing contract just a few days after returning home. How? I quite literally spammed some design companies!

STAGE 1: POSTING TINS WITH NO EXPLANATION

The first stage of this marketing campaign was very simple. I posted out empty tins/cans of SPAM meat in the post. After eating the SPAM (it tastes OK on a sandwich — there’s millions of staving people out there, I wasn’t going to waste it), I targeted a few design companies that I would like to work for and stuck a stamp directly onto the cans with their addresses and posted them. Yes, that was it. Just an address with no explanation on the tins.

I repeated this process over several days, until each company I targeted received about 5 tins through the post. Here in the UK, if you post something with a stamp on it, and it’s not hazardous, the ‘posty’ has to deliver it, so the SPAM got through okay.

My hope was for staff at the targeted design companies to ponder the meaning of the SPAM tins. I hoped it would create discussion between team members, with bemusement with each and every can posted to them. I anticipated reactions like this:

What the heck is this? Another tin of SPAM…this is the third one this week! What’s it all about?

Hay you guys, does anyone know who posting this SPAM? If someones playing a joke on me, which one of you is it?

Well, I found out later than I did promote discussions like this…read on…

STAGE 2: POSTING A SPAM-BRANDED FOLDER WITH MY CV

After I had finished posting of the SPAM cans, I waited a day or two, then sent out a folder showing a tin of SPAM on the cover stating “You’ve Been Spammed” (shown in the image below).

The folder was about A5 in size and opened up like a four-page brochure.

When opened, my covering letter and CV (printed on A4 paper) were folded in half and tucked inside the mock-up SPAM can, as shown in the three images below.

This folder was designed to put to rest all discussions and curiosities surrounding my “Spamming Campaign”. My covering letter contained this text:

Title in Spam-Shaped box at top simply said: What?

Dear Sir/Maddam

I am a recent graduate from the Coventry University School of Art and Design seeking employment. As a former student, I’m hard-up and living off SPAM — so your Post-Box has been Spammed rather than your In-box to let you know who I am!

Ok, I’m not really living off SPAM, but I am looking for a job in a company such as yours in this region. I believe that I could be a benefit to you and your clients…[and so on].

STAGE 3: THE JOB OFFER

Well, those curious reactions I was banking on to land me a job was a reality. I was invited to do various free-lancing work at Wobble Design Ltd in Leeds, UK. When I went to work there on the first day, the design team told me the reason I got the job was for my ingenious marketing campaign. They said they were curious to the reasons they was receiving my little empty cans of tin meat, and it promoted many discussions between them and the architecture firm next door!

So, if you’re wanting to stand out from the crowd, be different and do something unusual. If you want a Graphic Design or any other job, just be creative, be different and set yourself apart from the crowd. You never know where it will lead you.

But if you’re fed-up with hearing about SPAM, heres a lovely photo for you instead. Enjoy!

Image copyright here

Have you marketed yourself in an outreagous manner? If so, did it get you anywhere? I’d like to hear your stories…

This post is part of our ongoing series of posts highlighting the most inspiring images selected by not only myself but all of you. If you want to participate and share your graphic design inspiration, just send us, via email, the image with the link from where you found it, also use “Creativity Takes Courage” in the subject; or via Twitter sending to http://twitter.com/jdarko82

Via Twitter

Send your suggestions via Twitter to http://twitter.com/jdarko82 using #dmo in the end of the tweet.

Some people go their whole lives without considering the prospect of working for themselves. For many, it’s nothing more than a dream;
something to occupy their minds each time they find themselves unfulfilled in their current job. And then, there are the ones that actually go
out and start something: entrepreneurs. It’s an undertaking that’s glamorous and ugly; exhilarating and depleting; the path to wealth and ruin;
all at the same time. So, how about you? This issue, we’ll outline a few things to consider if you’re wrestling with the dilemma of finding a job or
starting business for yourself.

Paycheck to Paycheck vs. Project to Project
One of the most important factors in your decision will be the issue
of money. In most cases, working for someone else means getting a
steady paycheck. While the size of that check may be another issue
entirely, the biggest advantage is its dependability — a consistent
stream of cash you can organize your budget around.
Working for yourself can be a whole different story — especially in
the beginning of your endeavors. Depending on how many clients you
secure, how well their business does, and how much they rely on your
services, you may find yourself in a “feast or famine” cycle of income,
with your bottom line varying quite a bit from month to month.
In the end, the biggest difference from a financial standpoint
is that as a business owner, your financial success, rather than
being dictated by a set salary, is directly tied to the success of the
business. In banking terms, it’s much like the difference between the
old reliable savings account and the thrill ride of the stock market.
And just the same, the latter is not for the impatient, the weak of
heart, or the poor planner.
Each issue, we’ll be analyzing a point of consideration in the world of
the creative professional. We’ll look at numerous factors of everyday
dilemmas, try to see what makes the two sides tick, and offer
some insight on how to best approach issues in your own life.
We are two highly-informed, creative
professionals with strong opinions and
a sincere interest in helping others grow.

Punch-clock vs. Internal Clock
For tax purposes, the distinction between a salaried employee and
a “1099” or freelance worker is the degree to which the employer
dictates their work time and location. While not every employer
will expect you to check in with a punch-clock at 9 am, the
majority will expect you to work on a regular schedule — both in
terms of number of hours and the time of the day.
As your own boss, your hours are only as regular as you choose
to make them. If you’re the type whose creative juices start
percolating sometime in the late night and flow until 3 am, you’ll be in
a prime position to take advantage of your unique bio-rhythms. Of
course, it’s not a total free-for-all. When your client wants you on call,
or needs to meet during their business hours, that’s a request you’ll
have to take seriously. To some extent, as long as someone is paying
for your service, you have a boss to answer to.
Conscious reminders of the way you’re managing your time are
prevalent in the workplace because, as a salaried worker, someone
else has a vested interest in helping you do so. On your own, it’ll
be 100% up to you to develop a routine, track your hours, and
maximize your productivity to ensure you’re earning a living.
Mentorship vs. Control
Control may be hard to come by in the early stages of your
career. If you’re working as a paid employee, chances are the
organization you’re working with will be filled with people who
bring more knowledge, more clout and most importantly, more
experience to the table. It should come as no surprise then, that
these people get a lot of control over what you do on a day-today
basis.
In exchange, giving up control early in your career can bring
opportunities that would be rare, if not impossible, to score on
your own. However, it gets to a point for a lot of us free-spirited
creatives where we just have to try things our way. Call it ego;
call it drive — whatever you label it; you’re not going to want to
be second (or third, or fourth) in command forever. You’ll want
to do it smarter, differently and better than the people you’ve
been groomed by. And if this point comes before you’ve been
able to climb the creative ladder, breaking off and starting
your own thing will be the natural way to quell that hunger.
The impending journey will be filled with growth, a different
kind than you learn from day-to-day mentorship, but arguably
beyond what you’ll ever get working for someone else.
Leadership Learning vs. Business Burdens
A lot of that “different” kind of growth and experience that you
only learn when running a business is just that—how to run a
business. If you’re a creative working for someone else, there’s
a good chance you have very little to do with the business
operations of that organization. Someone else keeps the books,
files the taxes, pays you, pulls in the new business, manages the
projects/clients and takes the financial risks. When you’re running
a business, it’s up to you to do all the administrative things you
might otherwise take for granted — plus your creative work.
Sadly, some great creatives fail when they set out to start a
business simply because, by nature, they’re not savvy business
people. The extra business-related responsibilities can be very
time consuming and seriously eat away at your free time.
Of course there are still significant freedoms involved in running
a business. As the owner or partner, you get to call the shots—
exactly what type of work you do, where you physically work,
who you will (and sometimes more importantly won’t) work
with. To the right personality type, this kind of power makes the
sacrifices well worth the investment.

Morpheus:

This is your last chance. After this, there is no turning back. You take the blue pill – the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill – you stay in Wonderland and I show you how deep the rabbit-hole goes. [to Neo who is choosing the red pill] Remember… all I’m offering is the truth. Nothing more.