When I think about what I’m thankful for this year, I think about the courage of those around me in the face of uncertainty. Courage to dive in, to face lingering doubts, to engage.

I think about the courage of our clients to risk change for the sake of accomplishing their vision & dreams. The courage to start something new in a struggling economy. The courage to understand themselves more deeply & communicate more clearly.

I think about the courage of several folks – Larry Bolden, Ross Gott, Melinda Hemphill, & many more we work with – who have the courage to speak up when others would be silent.

I think about Blake and Craig, who have the courage to make big changes with immediacy, whenever & wherever good ideas surface.

I think about my wife, who courageously came to Atlanta with me to follow a dream, even when it risked turning our world upside down.

I’m thankful that courage keeps showing up in the lives of those around me – impacting my world, their own, and many more.

As we continue our week of giving thanks, today I want to bring to light to a group of people that never get any credit for any success at Matchstic but play an integral part.

Andy Leonard and Collin Rector.  Andy and Collin are from Accel Financial Services and spend a lot of time and energy makings sure that the Matchstic finances are in order.  Knowing that they are looking out for us and keeping the foundation solid keeps me sleeping well at night.  Andy and Collin, thank you from all of us.

Scott Armstrong.  Scott is the pastor at City Church Eastside and acts as office chaplain for us.  When business gets busy, Scott is always there to remind us that we’re not just here to have a job, but we’re a part of a much larger story. Scott, thank you from all of us.

Jim Doggett.  Jim (or just “Doggett” as we call him) founded Avalaunch.  Doggett works with us to assess a potential employee’s fit into our culture as well as takes us through training to make sure that we’re maximizing our effectiveness as a group.  Jim, thank you from all of us.

Alina Wheeler. Alina is the author of Designing Brand Identity and has been a generous advisor to us as we continue to improve our processes and overall vision of branding.  Alina, thank you from all of us.

Accelerators.  I’m a part of an entrepreneur group called Accelerator facilitated by David Cummings and the folks at EO.  We have quarterly learning days and monthly accountability groups and it’s so wonderful to walk through this journey with fellow entrepreneurs at my side constantly sharing wisdom and advice. Thank you to all of my Accelerator buddies and mentors, you know who you are.

Spike Jones.  Spike works at Brains on Fire, a fellow Identity company that also works in word of mouth marketing. Spike is a kindred spirit, and always doing what he can to further success at Matchstic.  Spike, thank you from all of us.

Brittany Thoms. Brittany runs See.Spark.Go. and handles public relations for the Matchstic brand.  She is always learning new ways to tell the Matchstic story and push us to create more magic.  Without her, our story is not the same.  Brittany, thank you from all of us.

Jeff Nelson.  Jeff runs New Images Janitorial and has the ever-important job of keeping the Matchstic house clean week to week.  Jeff, you have one of the most important jobs of all and we know that a clean house means a clean reputation when folks visit us. Jeff, thank you from all of us.

Life is complicated. But at least it doesn’t have to look that way. Such is the beauty of graphic design — specifically information graphics. Wikipedia tells us:

Information graphics or infographics are visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics are used where complex information needs to be explained quickly and clearly.

It seems that there’s been somewhat of an infographics renaissance lately, headed by popular sites like Information is Beautiful, innovative publications such as GOOD, and even online tools to track your own life.

The weather’s been really nice, so I’ve enjoyed riding my bike to work as much as possible. I could go on and on about the saving the earth, well-shaped calves and a healthy heart amongst the many benefits of biking, but chances are you’ll either be confused, bored, or asleep by the end. Instead, let’s see how biking a short distance just three days a week can get me a bunch of free beer.

So there you have it. Something that can be difficult or boring to explain through words can oftentimes be simple and clear when set in a pretty graphic. It can even show how to turn a few miles of peddling into a delicious free beverage. Cheers.

We’re a short-sighted people. We like to consume, and we want our goods in nice packages — oftentimes individually wrapped. But where do these things end up? Who cares — out of sight, out of mind, right? (If you care to know what happens to those plastic Coke bottles tossed away without a second thought, it’s not pretty).

You can throw research, facts, figures, and disturbing images at people all day but it’s still unlikely they’ll kick their habits. So what can be done between now and actual catastrophe? (Or: how can we continue to sell more stuff while making people feel better about consuming?) Most companies are touting all-new “green” initiatives.. and most of it is marketing gimmick.

But Apple is one company that has actually put their promises in practice. I was in need of a mouse a few weeks ago, and noticed a very lightly-packaged product amidst rows of oversized blister packs (you know, those annoying, molded plastic containers that require nothing short of a box cutter to open).

It was the new Magic Mouse, and the packaging — or lack thereof — was simply refreshing.

This philosophy doesn’t end with the mouse. Apple claims a reduction in notebook packaging with almost every new generation and has consistently moved up the ladder on both EPEAT and Greenpeace guides.

“Except for the small amount that’s been incinerated—and it’s a very small amount—every bit of plastic ever made still exists”  — Our Oceans Are Turning Into Plastic

It’s time to realize that sustainability is not extra credit. It’s not marketing buzz nor some government conspiracy to steal away profits. It’s the cost of doing business, period. And as more and more companies are discovering, it’s good business.

This month’s Fast Company was laying around yesterday and caught me by surprise. A local design hero & innovator, David Butler, VP of Global Design for Coca-Cola, was featured on the cover.

David has taken one of the most intimidating and daunting tasks a designer could embark, the visual management of a billion dollar brand. Coke has over 450 brands operating in 200 countries, and 20,000 retailers selling 1.6 Billion servings of Coke products per day (that’s 1/6th of the world’s population)- which is 18,000 servings per second, is that daunting enough?

After reading the article, I’m most impressed with David’s persona of humility, straight talk, and quest for value. It’s very easy for designers (even legends) to fall into the trap of designer talk. David’s goal is simple, “Here, it’s about creating more value. How do we sell more of something?”

Butler inherited the Coke brand when turmoil was on the horizon for the behemoth organization. Global brands like Coke face the challenge of globalization and the temptation for a decentralized brand system. Just a few years ago, If a local distributor wanted to add local flair (ie- clovers and cloudy days for wee ole’ Ireland), Coke’s philosophy was “so be it”. This quickly translated into a system malfunction nightmare, even reaching here in the states.

Thus, enter the knight in shinning armor, David Butler. “When I came,” Butler says, “people recognized that they had a business problem. They just didn’t know it was a design problem.” After a few days on the job he wrote a three-page manifesto, titled “Designing on Purpose”. “I wanted to show how you could create value for the business through design. I had no organization, no influence, nothing to point to, but now we had that statement out there — a flag in the ground.”

He has indeed proven the value of design. In-fact case volume was up 4% for the second quarter and profits exceeded expectations. Coke’s market share has increased to 42.7% compared to Pepsi’s 30.8%. All of the credit isn’t to his domain, with the “open happiness” campaign and the acquired giant Vitamin Water, but Joe Tripodi, Coke’s global marketing chief, was quoted as saying “Butler happens to be one of the most visible and biggest facilitators of how we will win in the marketplace.”

What I admire most about David is his presentation of design as a business device and the value it drives all the way down to the end user. Buying anything is emotional, and great design connects and allures those emotions to our fullest realization.

David ended the articles with a quote:

“This is not a design story,” he tells me yet again. “I understand there are some people who would like to hear the words ‘design-driven’ come out of our CEO’s mouth. Honestly, I don’t care. We’re leveraging design to drive innovation and to win at the point of sale, which is fundamental to our business. Full stop.”

With summer coming to an end, I’ve dedicated this blog post to our very own Dustin “Dumpy” Britt. (Not sure where the name came from, but you’ll see how it relates in a minute).

As we all know, there’s this little thing called recycling. A little thing that’s often difficult to follow through with consistently. Sometimes the “Three R’s” can be a real snooze fest. But what if…

you recycled some thing awesome — like a dumpster. This is where design comes in to play. Design, in its entirety, is more than what people normally think about (logos, business cards, etc.) To quote important-person Herbert Simon: “Everyone designs who devises courses of action aimed at changing existing situations into preferred ones.” For more insight, take a look at The Designful Company.

And as British designer Oliver Bishop Young shows, there are a great many possibilities, including:

Gardens

Living Spaces

And the one best suited for our Southern summers, pools.

Luckily we still have a couple months left of toasty weather, and rumor has it, resident intern, pâtissier extraordinaire, and hip individual Meg (& co.) just might have something in the works..