Level Orange

When looking for work late last year, I recently got in touch with a former employer of mine, Bob Lamons, and we discussed building out a site for his new B2B marketing venture, Industribrand (as in “industry brand”). Now, I’d worked for Bob for nearly six years at his ad agency, Robert Lamons & Associates and when that operation closed its doors, I moved on to publishing for several years. Still, I jumped at the chance to both rebuild a working relationship with Bob as well as flex some more of my skills in web design. As I’m sure often happens in the design industry, I was once again working for a former employer, albeit in a slightly different capacity.

Back in 1998 or so, I’d built the RL&A site (ads2biz.com) entirely by hand, one page at a time. Eventually, I retooled the site using one of the early versions of Movable Type mostly out of a need to make adding and editing content a breeze. Similarly, the Industribrand site would need to be just as easy to use, while still being powerful and flexible. Enter WordPress.

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GET TO WORK.

That’s right. If you have work to do and are super-concerned about getting it done, that’s the only practical piece of advice I can offer.

Lately, I’ve been catching up with sites that claim to offer tips and tricks to stay productive and make your workload a bit easier and less stressful. You know, the kind of stuff that falls into the Getting Things Done mantra (you do know GTD, don’t you?). Sites like Merlin Mann’s 43Folders provide some excellent insights and perspective on what it means to be a responsible, highly-productive worker. Designer types like myself can go to Fuel Your Creativity or Smashing Magazine and find out how to get better at this or easier ways to do that. The tech-savvy can hop over to LifeHacker or TechieBuzz and find all kinds of ways to get the most out of their computers and technology.

These sites offer some really great advice and can be a big help whenever you’re in a pinch, but it seems like everyone’s got tips on how to do stuff. Even when I try to skim my way through a lot of it, I’ve found myself more enthralled by reading about how to be productive than actually being productive.

And so that’s where my three magic words come into play. I still like to find ways to make my computer faster or some nifty Photoshop tutorials as much as the next guy, but as far as getting things done, I come from the school of “Don’t talk about it. Be about it.” So the next time you find yourself being not-so-productive, try not to look to others for ways to do your work. Just get to work. You pansy. You’re welcome.

A few months ago, I took on a logo project and was tasked with designing an identity for a new venture into “green” upscale housing development. The biggest selling point of these new communities was that they would be constructed in parts of the country that were not necessarily conducive to “eco-friendly” housing, due to climate and/or economical factors.

Since these projects revolved around energy-efficient construction using the latest technologies and building materials, and were to be marketed to young, savvy professional types, two fundamental qualities had to be conveyed: 1) the environmentally sound design and 2) a sense of youthful, almost-nurturing practicality.

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1. You don’t spend as much time developing quality ideas.
2. You don’t consider what might happen if you don’t have all the details.
3. You don’t stay late to get that extra little bit of work done.
4. You don’t bother to understand everything about the business you work in.
5. You don’t really care about the work you produce, despite your best intentions.
6. You don’t find anything in your company to get behind and throw your energy into.
7. You do take home an exceptional amount of money to not do all of the above.

Of course, these criteria aren’t exactly all-encompassing and don’t always apply to every situation, but if you’ve managed to hit all of these, then yes–YOU’VE SOLD OUT. It’s cool. We can dig it. Don’t be ashamed about it (not that you would be), and whenever you think about the choices you’ve made or the reasons why, you can kick back and just think about all the bank you’re making! Fantastic!

Yup, that’s where I’m working these days. Yowza!