Rarely do I get excited about the idea of logging time. But as negative a task as it is, one rising star of a site has made it a delightful experience. Say hello to Freckle.

Continue Reading

Meet Hiu Lee, the other recent addition to our team. Aside from design muscle, he brings with him a geographically diverse upbringing, several spoken languages, a penchant for fast cars, homemade Korean barbecue, and Katy Perry's discography.

Continue Reading

Companies and organizations are often thinking about new products and/or services they can offer their customers. The tough question is not asking what CAN we do, but what fits our brand.

The main questions to ask yourself and your team before choosing to launch a new product or service is…

**Will this reinforce what we want our customers to say about us or does it change how they see us?**

If you don't know what you want your customers to say about you, then that's the first hurdle to get over.

Once you know what you want them to say about your brand, decide whether this new product or service fits.

If it doesn't fit, you can still consider launching it under another brand name that either is a partner brand or sits underneath the main brand.

Continue Reading

Announcing Matchstic's new home, The Jane.

The Jane – The New Matchstic Home from matchstic on Vimeo.

Continue Reading

Today marks the beginning of the 10th Matchstic retreat. Twice a year we pack up and take our team up to the mountains to spend a few days talking about how to get better.

If I had to define the best decision we ever made, the first would obviously be the people we have, but second would be the discipline to take retreats.  It's our time to take the company apart and put it back together again.

Without a doubt we have always made the most advances as a company during this time.  When we're in the normal flow of work, it's nearly impossible to back away and look at it all with an objective eye.

We never know exactly what we're going to take away from it, but that's part of the beauty.  Lock up a group of smart, innovative, and fun people for a few days and just get out of the way and let the magic happen.

Do you have any advice for us or things for us to consider during this time?  If so, please comment on this blog and we'll use it as a part of our process.

Thanks!

Continue Reading

For me, beyond the good design, well written copy, and clever ideas - the ultimate proof of significance for every brand I interact with is service. Can an organization pull off the simple, yet amazingly complex task of connecting well with other human beings.

Continue Reading

Alana is Matchstic's Fall intern. She's made good use of our kitchen in her first month here, cooking up some great lunches. Today she writes about her discoveries as a lover of food and design.

Continue Reading

One week after revealing their new logo, Gap announced yesterday that it will go back to it's original logo. It's been a roller-coaster of a week watching this all go down, but there are a few things we can learn from the Gap.

Continue Reading

Next June I'll be speeking at the 2011 HOW Design Conference in Chicago about our On The House program... and I need your help!

Four years ago, myself and some of our team members (pictured above) sat in Boston with 3,000 fellow designers at the 2007 HOW Design conference listening to some of the world's best. As I sat there I decided a goal of mine would be to be on that stage in five years.

This year I am very honored and incredibly excited to be presenting on "The High Cost of Giving- Solving the pro-bono problem", and more specifically about our On The House program. I'm not 100% sure of the talks outline yet (Shh… don't tell HOW), but here's where you come in. In preparations for this talk I'd love to know some of your thoughts on two questions:

Why is it important to be generous with your work (in any industry)?

What are the biggest problems with giving your work away (in any industry)?

(Specific examples would be great)

Continue Reading

The realm of music exists much in the same way that consumer product brands do. Bands are brands. The same rules apply, and the same types of attributes drive loyalty and success -- quality, focus, personality, and the perhaps the simplest, common-sense hospitality.

Continue Reading