We get alot of questions about our biannual retreats, What do you guys do? Is it really worth it? What do you talk about?

Well, This year we spent the first day in an in-office all day session with talks from Alina Wheeler, Scott Armstrong, and Jim Doggett with Avalaunch. After that we traveled to Maggie Valley, NC for two days in the mountains. Some of the session titles included "Design, Form, and Choas" a look at work by Paul Rand, Values Discovery Session, The Road to Innovation, Creativity is NOT Chapstick, and Our Brand Essence Fire Drill.

The rest is all captured in the video. Enjoy!

Matchstic Spring Retreat 2009 from matchstic on Vimeo.

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Last week's retreat really raised the bar.  Nothing could top having the brilliant and ever-generous Alina Wheeler in the house. As I mentioned last week, we've used her book, Designing Brand Identity, as a text book, but let me tell you there is no substitute for having her talk with us in person.

First of all, she is flat out one of the nicest ladies ever.  From the moment I picked her up from her hotel, she was so engaging, so interested in us, and so encouraging.  I was embarrased when she saw the mess that is the library in the back of my car, but she loved it and just had to take a photo for inspiration.

She was a deep well of knowledge and inspiration, but I thought I'd just share a few quick quotes I took away.

"Demonstrate what you Declare." – Many companies forget this.  It's one thing to declare something, but unless it's demonstrated you're brand is merely a facade.

"Trust turns to Dust." - This was her comment on the current state of most large businesses in our economy.  No longer does the big company automatically have our trust.  It has to be earned.  The trust we once had has now turned to dust.

"Business is no longer about Big and Small, it's about Fast and Slow." – This was the most paradigm shifting things for me.  We've definitely seen a big move in our economy away from the large companies.  People no longer care about how big you are, they care about the size of your impact and how fast you move.  As a small team, we can move very quickly, efficiently, and powerfully.  She gave us more confidence in who we are.

"A logo is a gateway to a much bigger conversation." - I've witnessed this personally, but will more than likely focus more on it.  Whenever we work with an organization to develop a brand identity, 90% of our conversations are not about the specific identity, but about who the organization is, what their hopes and dreams are, and what roadblocks are in the way.  A brand identity is merely a summary of all those hopes and dreams in one form that can be as small as a favicon.

"We are on the verge of one of the most innovative eras in our nation's history." – Let's all just let that soak in a little bit and start each day remembering that we are all shaping our nation for it's next generation.  We are a part of world change.  World change comes not from people following the same rules, but from people willing to wake up each morning and charge forward, making this world a better, more sustainable place.

"You guys don't have any holes in your team and you do really good work…and I'm an expert." - Little horn tootin here, but I couldn't help myself.  Always great to get this kind of confirmation.

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As I mentioned a few weeks ago, our retreats are without a doubt my favorite time of the Matchstic year.

For the next few days we're going to take Matchstic apart and put it back together for the better of all of our clients, employees and partners.

Today is our day in the office before we head to the mountains and we're extremely excited about an amazing speaker we're bringing in.

Alina Wheeler wrote the book on designing brand identity.  Literally.  She is the author of Designing Brand Identity, which we have used as a text book over the years.  We're privileged to have her in the house today to share her wisdom with us.  Just yesterday she delivered the 3rd edition to Designing Brand Identity, which will come out in July.  Go ahead and pre-order it now and we'll try and share some of her thoughts with you next week once we're back in the saddle.

We're gonna turn off the blog for the rest of the week along with computers, phones, and everything else.  All we'll have in the mountains are whiteboards, paper, pens, and an all-star branding team figuring out how to get better.

See you all next week.

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A photo's worth a 1,000 words, but this photo is worth just a few, "An Experience of Lifetime".

A few weeks ago I had the privilege to cruise aboard the Norwegian Dawn on the 2009 Cayamo Cruise produced by our friends Sixthman. Cayamo is a singer/ songwriter experience for 7 days and nights sailing to remote destinations in the Caribbean with intimate performances by Patty Griffin, The Indigo Girls, Brandie Carlile, Lyle Lovett, and lots more.

Besides wind sailing, my highlights were smoking cigars with Over The Rhine, playing black jack with Brandie Carlile, swimming on the same beach as Patty Griffin, and getting a "Hello Young Man" from Lyle Lovett (just before I snapped the Holga above). The random encounters between artist and fan truly are unmatched. It's not just a cruise, it really is "An experience of a lifetime".

Oh yeah, we developed the brand identity for Cayamo '09, and stay tuned for 2010!

Check out all my Holga's from the trip click here

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A snappy new Snapple. So what do we think of the new design? I'm not too wild about it myself for one reason. For years Ive scanned the shelves for that slanted Snapple typeface and now its gone. Its been my street-sign telling me this is road. Like the green circle for Starbucks or the "waffley" type of Waffle House. Yes, it may have been around a while and ran the risk of being outdated but it was also that mnemonic element that stuck with me. Its uniqueness made it distinctive, memorable and clear. Design, good or bad, is a vehicle of memory. Logos shouldn't have an expiration date.

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Its the last big push before the On the House application period comes to a close. We've all heard about the economic hit that non-profits have taken in the last several months. I'm sure you know of a worthy 501(c)3 in the Atlanta area that not only needs a boost right now, but also needs some assistance with their brand strategy and brand presence.

Here's your chance…send ‘em to www.matchstic.com/onthehouse to apply before EOD this upcoming Mon, March 23. You'll be giving them the opportunity for a chance to make an even larger impact.

Its the next best thing to giving them actual cash (meaning that doesn't excuse you from still supporting them financially…come on).

Do it. Right Now.

www.matchstic.com/onthehouse

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One of our partners for On the House is the focused marketing consultants of Ries & Ries.  We are incredibly honored that they wanted to join us and can't wait to work together with them.

Last week, I attended the Atlanta Ad Club‘s event, where Laura Ries was discussing her and Al's new book, War in the Boardroom.  Take my word for it and go ahead and get your own copy and enjoy.

I was kinda going nuts on Twitter during the event, trying to keep up with all the great insights.  Here is a quick sampling of my tweets:

• Sony 1.8% profit margin. Nintendo 15.5% profit margin. Focus wins

• Narrow focus wins. Motorolla 1.6% profit margin. Nokia 11.9% profit margin.

• Mgmt thinks verbally. Mktg thinks visually.

• Boston Chicken wanted to diversify to grow so they changed to Boston Market & went bankrupt. No longer owning anything in the mind.

• Kodak profit margin went from 7% to 0.4% when they failed to adjust to the digital revolution by launching a NEW brand.

• Truly revolutionary ideas with strong brands take time to get to the point where they take off. Patience is key.

If you're interested in seeing the whole presentation, here you go.

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This past Monday we decided to invite five of our front runners for "On The House" down to the house for an in-office interview and share a bit of their story. Check out some of the footage below.

Hold your horses and don't freak out just yet…

If you've sent in an application and didn't get a call- don't fret! This was just a preliminary interview to help expedite the process. We are still accepting applications until this upcoming Monday March 23rd, after that we will have another round of interviews and narrow the field (over 50 applicants thus far) down to 3 finalist. Stay tuned to the blog for more updates!

On The House- Round 1 – First 5 Interviews from matchstic on Vimeo.

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A recent article in the New York Times highlighted an emerging culinary movement in Brooklyn — one that mirrors the formation of bands and artist collectives. A community of picklers, cheese makers, chocolatiers, butchers, specialty knife makers share a common thread: talent, ambition and an appreciation for tradtional methods. The prevailing attitude of this new-old way of thinking is doing-it-yourself, getting your hands dirty. It's essentially the opposite of how most Americans view and consume food today.

Oftentimes, the processes are difficult, complicated and slow, which is to be expected with pre-industrial techniques. Rick and Michael Mast of Mast Brothers Chocolate taught themselves to make chocolate by hand. The butchers at Prime Meats are setting aside months to do their own curing. Cut Brooklyn, a specialty knife maker, takes 10 to 12 hours to fashion a single chef's knife.

What I find inspiring (and surprising) is the huge community and following that not only keeps business like these open, but actually busy (a local store can't keep Cut Brooklyn knives in stock). Like the producers who've banded together in this movement, more and more consumers seem to be tired of the low-quality, high-consumption lifestyle we've been accustomed to for so long.

There's a newfound appreciation for craftsmanship. For handmade, local, organic products that are created by talented, hard-working people. It's exciting to see bits and pieces of this in our own city (I recently posted an article highlighting local businesses such as Cakes & Ale and Octane Coffee that operate with similar vision, talent and pride).

And I've seen it extend beyond restaurants and food products. There's been a rise of designers who are embracing traditional methods such as hand-lettering, letterpressing and silkscreening. Companies are rediscovering the importance of art, aesthetics and design in their business models (The Designful Company).

The PC revolution of the late 90s and the dot-com bubble that followed it has lead to an oversaturation of "designers". These things made it easy for anyone's computer-saavy cousin to do "graphic design". In a sense, it's very simliar to automation of food and the emergence of fast food and chain restaurants — instant, low-quality satisfaction.

I have a feeling consumers are getting smarter. They're seeking authenticity and quality, and are willing to pay more and wait a little bit longer for it. Because in the end, it makes everyone happier. If anything, this recession will only strengthen the movement because we will come out of it realizing that our previous level of consumption was not sustainable. History has dictated that the world works in cycles, and this time, the human element is making a comeback.

Photo by G. Paul Burnett/The New York Times.

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I was referred to THE Button again the other day. If you're a designer you know the one.

In a sea of website navigational mystery, THE button has been a beacon of hope. So pure…so right…so beautiful. It's the key to unlocking the ever elusive quantifiable return on design investment. It seems to give people the assurance that upon a visit to our website, no one shall ever ask the question "who am I…what do I do". What were we designing, where were we going before THE button?

THE Button employed simple principles of design; proper hierarchy of space, color and scale. Its wasnt because the color was red and not because the size was huge. It was about its relationship to everything else. Because of the balance of light and dark on the page, the button stood out. Because it had a good amount of space around it, it seemed clear. Visit thewhitehouse.gov and you will see no big red button. Yet it does not lack in clarity. Good design cannot be achieved by grouping pieces of good design. Gestalt theory applies; the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Its about how everything works together.

It also helped to be the button for Barack Obama.

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