Have a Nice Idea Grady Britton

Hello self-awareness: How can an industry built on newer/fresher/bolder still be so blind to biases of diversity, equality, and inclusion within its own walls? What keeps agencies from reflecting the society they’re in business to connect with in the first place? Derek Walker of brown and browner, together with Sally and David Morrow of Sally Morrow Creative, hold up the mirror in this candid conversation.

These personal perspectives will stick with you — and hopefully lead to real, lasting change in us all. Check it out and share it with everyone you know, especially upper management ;-)

Special thanks to fab guest host Marie Murphy for taking over on this episode.

Meet Josh. Meet Colby. Together you have the sunshiney design duo behind one of the happiest, most chill crews of creative do-gooders out there: Jolby & Friends.

Theirs is a design studio where lines, forms, and colors go to get funky. Get loose. To move and dance and give shape to causes and clients – big and small – the world needs to know about. In this episode, you get to meet the two lucky humans who put it all in motion, still incredulous that it's all really happening. And wow, is it ever happening.

Enjoy!

Recorded in-studio, March 2019.

Creativity, meet diversity. Ideas, meet inclusion. Meet two of the creative world’s brightest who are making that spectacular collision of creativity and culture work on their own terms, in their own ways: Donna Lamar and David F. Walker.

These two might not ever sleep; they for sure never settle. Donna Lamar, Group Creative Director at VICE Media, and David F. Walker, award-winning comic book writer (DC, Marvel), filmmaker, co-founder & curator of the Portland Black Film Festival. We caught up with them during a live panel discussion during DesignWeek Portland 2018.

Recorded 4/19/18.

She might need to update her resume: When Anne Elisco-Lemme first joined agency Duncan Channon as an Art Director (employee #7!), she probably didn't see her experience one day becoming creative boss of the whole show. In an industry famous for people who [cough] ooze entitlement, precious few throw down and earn a role like ECD (and the respect of her agency, clients and peers) like Anne has.

Anne joined us for a live recording of our podcast for Design Week Portland 2017. After too-long of not doing this podcast, she certainly inspired us to find and share more stories; hers is one you do not want to miss. Listen, learn, LOVE. http://www.duncanchannon.com/

Recorded in front of a L*I*V*E audience at Grady Britton, 4/27/17. https://gradybritton.com/

You probably owe this man a drink. Bill Borders and early creative opportunists like him literally defined the golden age of creative advertising. When ads moved from something that filled media space to something worth people's time. Rewarding attention with a thought, a twist, a chuckle. And lo and behold, it paid off for clients, too.

So thanks to their work, we're free to care and obsess and sweat over the details and craft like we do. To take clever turns of phrase and cool design for granted. Our business may have its hard parts, but finding ways to get an audience engaged, making them laugh, making them think, and doing that for a living? We can throw a lot of nights and weekends at that, for sure.

Recorded at Digital One's Portland office, 12/20/15.

Glenn Cole, chief creative officer, founder, and ball of light & energy at 72andSunny sat down with us over a couple beers recently as part of Design Week Portland 2016. And when you get the chance to chat up someone known not only for creating great work but also responsible for creating a great agency, you take it. Even if means doing it in front of a live audience.

Glenn approaches work with a relentless sense of optimism, a practice our industry could stand more of. "The nature of what we do involves business problems, but pessimism and cynicism aren't where you will find your advantage." You could say optimism is not only a part of his personal brand, it's also what's fueled his company, its culture, even its name.

Read more about his 7 steps to practicing optimism: https://www.fastcompany.com/40483893/this-founders-top-7-tips-for-using-optimism-to-solve-any-problem

Recorded live at Grady Britton's office, 4/20/16.