CSCA had another great speaker last night, Jake Lefebure from Design Army. The work was conceptual, exciting and effective–they are a team that is clearly obsessed with the details. But beyond the incredible work there were a few things Jake said that really struck me.
- when looking for new talent to add to their team the most important thing is concepts and ideas–they can teach you how to execute
- everyone on their team has to be really strong with typography or illustration (although no one ever seems to be equally good at both)
- they look for an inherent sense for typography–they’ll help you refine, but can’t teach someone to have a sensitivity to type
- they are really productive–their team of about seven people handles a consistent workload of 50+ ongoing creative projects!
- how do they produce that much? they work hard, but are also efficient and systematic in their work
- the firm does a certain amount of corporate work to pay the bills, then a lot of non-profit, editorial and fashion work for fun (all their work is excellent, but some clients just lend themselves to more open creativity and pushing boundaries)
- nothing is ever good enough or just okay, they push the limits and sweat every single detail on every project
Regardless of the work you do, these principles stand true. Do good work that you believe in. Thanks for the inspiration, Design Army!
