This shift thats causing me to dig deeper into my basket of design tricks revolves around design efficiency. With every new web project I take on I find more and more that the content almost needs to speak louder than the design. The problem here is the more I strip back the design in an effort to highlight the content, the less unique character the design itself has. It’s times like this that I’ve found it handy to have a deeper understanding of “design” beyond just “web design”. The true challenge in creating an effective website is allowing the content to shine through the design rather than having design and content work independently. This is where efficiency plays a large role in the success of a project.

A good brand should be flexible and supportive while having a ton of character. Most importantly, in my opinion, an organizations brand should be thorough; every angle should be considered. Not surprisingly, I could use the same list of adjectives to describe a good website. In order for a website to be successful, the content and design need to support each other mutually. That means, the brand or design of a website needs to work on a level that will allow the content to shine when it’s necessary while not compromising aesthetic. This essentially comes down to designing more efficiently – thinking through every decision in an effort to use the best “type” of design to allow the content to stand on it’s own while retaining unique visual character. It’s a tall order, for sure.

It’s rare that I take on a full blown re-branding project for an organization because that just doesn’t really fit into our companies pipeline. The request does come in from time to time, however, and we occasionally make it work. Creating a new brand for an organization is a huge responsibility  – especially if your following project will be to create that same organizations website based off the direction of the brand you just created.

A few months ago I wrapped up a complete rebrand for Terra Nova Church. This wasn’t a minor task, but a complete overhaul. Everything from their logo, signage, announcement slides, general marketing materials, t-shirts, bulletins, etc had to be designed from the ground up. Shortly after all of the tangible materials were created it was time to re-work the website, which was something I had been wanting to do for years.

The day finally came when I was ready to start designing. We had a solid structural plan set up for the site, and a fresh new brand to work with. As I started to piece everything together, however, I quickly buried my face into my hands as the task of designing this site started to really unfold before my eyes. While I really loved the brand I had created, as well as the site structure, it became quickly evident that together, they didn’t easily support the main type of changing content that would be used on the site regularly. It’s common for a church these days to have graphics associated with almost every piece of content they create – whether it’s a new or current series they’re promoting, or some other sort of major announcement. A thriving church is, in a way, a multifaceted living organism. It contains multiple ministries that are all unique while working together towards the same mission. Long story short, there are a lot of different promotions that need to be accommodated simultaneously.

I was originally planning on having this site almost completely focused on the announcements and promotions, but after toying with that idea for awhile it dawned on me that I was letting the dynamic content speak way too loud which was causing the design and brand to be completely overshadowed. It was really important that the brand and core message of church was being displayed boldly so I had to take a few steps back in order to figure out the most efficient balance. I asked myself questions like, where does the brand have to speak loud and where can I afford to strip things back in order to accommodate the corporate promotions and unique changing content. Questions like these helped me re-think the use of typography, colors, textures and photography and general layout of the site. In turn, I was able to come up with a design that, I think, effectively and efficiently communicates a strong message focused around the brand while also creating a tool that will be useful for both congregation and non-congregation members alike.

Shown above are a few of my favorite screens from the site: The homepage, Navigation, Series Library, Sermon Listing, and Visit Troy.

I can’t even begin to explain how beneficial it’s been for my Web related work to have an understanding of how the brand of an organization can impact the outcome of a website. Depending on your perspective, things like typography, illustration and photography may either seem like they have everything to do with designing a website or very little to do with designing a website. In my opinion, have this understanding is what separates a template that was specifically designed to let it’s content stand alone from a truly effective, thorough website.

The problem here is that I not only co-operate a business, but I also co-operate a family and it just so happens that a mainstream routine helps both flourish best. My clients expect me to be available between 9:00 – 5:00 and my family expects me to be available between 5:00 – bedtime. As much as I’m tempted to regularly ditch a little extra sleep and get back to work once my family is fast asleep, I’ve come to learn that this does more harm than good.

A while back I learned that the worst possible thing I can do before bed is work. On average it takes me about 1- 2 hours to wind down after I stop working. So if I try to squeeze in a little extra work right before I hop into bed, I’ll inevitably find myself laying restless with my eyes open and my head spinning, which certainly doesn’t lend itself to good sleep.

As a result, this impromptu late night motivation is essentially wasted. If only I could bottle it and save it for the morning… While I occasionally indulge myself by working a late night just to scratch my creative itch, I know it’s not practical to work that into my routine. This conclusion has often left me throwing my frustrated hands in the air – feeling destined to never have my creative energy and work schedule aligned. Believe it or not, however, there is hope.

It turns out that motivation isn’t as mysterious as we like to think it is. I’m no psychologist but if I really think about the other common factors that surround my strokes of motivation I find a few other consistencies.

1. I’m typically feeling particularly thankful and optimistic
2. I’m feeling liberated – removed from stress and pressure
3. I’m surrounded by inspiration/creativity

After considering this list it was obvious to me that certain aspects of the 9 – 5 are inherently coupled with emotions that directly conflict with the theme of this list, which can be summarized in one word: Business. During the day I need to not only produce creative solutions but I also need to run a business. This means, I need to be answering emails, conversing with clients, scheduling, invoicing, managing, writing proposals, etc… Above all of this is the over-arching pressure to pull everything together successfully in an effort to provide for my family. All that to say, the weight of these tasks can quickly suffocate any sign of motivation. So it’s no wonder my most creative energy comes when these responsibilities are far off in the distance. Regardless, these tasks need to be taken care of as does the creative work.

At first I thought I needed to make more of a divide between my work day. Creative work in the morning, business work in the afternoon – or something like that. But then something dawned on me: The only person to blame for associating stress with the everyday tasks I mentioned above is myself. The pressure I put on myself and the business are brought on by me alone, not my to-do list. So harnessing this motivation is much more of an attitude adjustment rather than a particular time or place. Handling a business and all of the things that go along with it is honestly a privilege that doesn’t ever get the recognition it deserves. I’ve personally associated stress with emails, proposals, etc, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be that way. I think the two can and should live in harmony. Once that balance is struck, motivation is free to be utilized at your disposal.

Reflecting on everything that happened throughout this conference is really quite interesting. To be honest, I didn’t really expect to walk away from this conference learning a whole lot. Certainly not because I’ve figured it all out (especially in comparison to such an experienced speaker line up), but simply because I was so heavily focused on my own talk. Because my mind was so pre-occupied, I didn’t plan on really soaking up what others had to say. My main objective was to merely provide a good presentation, network with some old friends, and move on. In hindsight, that was admittedly an extremely close-minded attitude to have when entering such an event. However, it didn’t take long for my focus to shift and my attitude to change.

As the conference got started and the speakers began to present one by one, my mind started opening while my personal talk became less of a focus to me. I started to realize that my talk was only acting as a small piece of a larger, more important puzzle that we all seemed to unintentionally touch on.

Then, my original perceptions came crashing down after I bumped into Phil Coffman during one of the early breaks on day 1. We started talking and sharing stories about our respective businesses and families. It was really fun to hear what his company, Element, had been up to and see some of the parallels and common traits that we shared at Iron to Iron. When the conversation shifted to me asking him what he would be speaking about, however, I was actually a bit shocked. Once he told me I just laughed and said, “You’re literally speaking about the exact opposite life philosophy that I’ll be speaking about!” At first I thought, how could two guys with seemingly similar business and family outcomes have such different life philosophy and experiences? Then it dawned on me – my experience and journey is only my own. While I’m glad to share what worked for me it certainly is not the best or only way to operate.

This realization was something I consciously tried to keep in mind not only as I listened to the other speakers, but throughout all of the conversations I had for the next few days. There were a lot of talented designers and business owners at this conference and while they all seemed to share some parallel philosophies, there was surprisingly a lot of opposing views and thoughts. My final take away was simply this:

There is more than one way to skin a cat. What works best for you, might not work for someone else. We can certainly learn from one another and be inspired from each others experience, but at the end of the day we have to write our own book. There’s not an absolute perfect model to follow for operating business, giving back to the community or creating a ground breaking design…and honestly, that’s what makes the journey we’re all on so interesting and worthwhile. 

Life like a Movie

My talk in particular was focused on the correlation between living an adventurous life and maintaining a fulfilling career as a designer. I’ve personally found that having an adventurous spirt helps regularly condition me to take risks in my career and never stop growing as a designer and human. My presentation largely focused around some personal stories peppered with a few key take away points – specifically, “Be bold with your life & be bold with your career”.

Photo taken by Ambert Rodriguez

Phil’s presentation, on the other hand, talked about how success isn’t necessarily coupled with regularly facing and conquering risks. I won’t go into too much detail because he can obviously speak to his points best.

My reasoning for mentioning it again, however, is to point out the stark difference between our philosophies, while oddly, we as individuals are quite similar in many respects. I suppose this just reinforces the final take-away that I mentioned above: We’re all created equally while remaining mysteriously unique at the same time. It’s a beautiful paradox that inspires me to continually share my story but with the final benediction being, “now go write your own book”.

Coming Full “Circle” (get it?)

The conference came to, what can only be described as, an epic resolve when Cameron Moll headlined and closed out the conference. Through his obvious comfort on stage he reminded all of us that we’re here (on this Earth) for much more than operating a successful business or becoming famous designers. We’re here to  give back, put ourselves aside and see that we put our neighbors first. I’ll be honest in telling you that I got teary-eyed not once but twice during his presentation.

Through his company, Authentic Jobs, Cameron is able to have a large impact on the Charity:Water organization – which clearly needs no introduction. The thing about this particular organization is that it’s hard not to have your heart strings tugged when hearing about it. Anything that deals with life and death has an immediate attraction to all of us. In our purest nature, we all want to help humanity; it’s in our DNA. Unfortunately, after this initial heart tug we can sometimes be left with a feeling of guilt in thinking that haven’t done enough and that the needs of this world are too far beyond anything that we as individuals can handle…but I don’t think that was Cameron’s purpose at all. Rather, I think that perhaps his concept fell right in line with what I found to be the over-arching conference theme: We’re all unique and can serve and give using the gifts and talents we’ve individually been blessed with – regardless of the urgency or “life & death” nature that our avenue may or may not possess.

Bottom line (not to beat a dead horse), we’re all unique but share a common desire to grow, move forward  and help our brothers and sisters in the process. Often times, however, this desire can be masked when falling into the routine of making ourselves comfortable. This conference reminded me to reboot, be open-minded, make less of myself and never place enough value on being genuine with friends near and far.

Conference Highlights

• Having some quality quiet time by the hotel pool before everything got started.
• Meeting some and re-aquatinting with others at the speakers dinner on the first night. Sitting at this table with the likes of some of our industry leaders felt really quite surreal.
• The talk I had with Phil which sparked the whole realization mentioned above.
• Briefly speaking with Cameron regarding the possibilities and benefits to home schooling.
• Meeting and having lunch with the dudes from from Steadfast Creative (Brad, Tanner and friends).
• Discussing the concept of prototyping your business with Dan Mall.
• Walking all around Dallas with Micah Davis and discussing the in’s and out’s of business and faith.
• Talking to Jonathan Moore about selling products versus client services.
• Of course, having the opportunity to speak on Friday morning and talk about my journey.
• Getting a thumbs up from Kyle Steed as I exited the stage after my talk.
• Seeing both Sean Wes and Joshua Blankenship’s show notes from my talk.
• Meeting Matthew Spiel and Austin Eidson while bonding over the music we listened to in high school (and now).
• Getting a chance to have all sorts of quick, casual conversations with, what feels like, almost everyone at the conference.
• Meeting both Promise Tangeman and Brian Wurzell for the first time while realizing how small the world is through a close mutual friend – regardless of that fact that we live on opposite sides of the country.
• Reflecting on the conference, sharing business & family stories and bonding over our mutual intolerance for giving blood with Noah Stokes and Shawn Blanc.
• Getting one last Texas style BBQ dinner with a whole bunch of awesome people who I hope to see again soon.
• The best part of all: Coming back home to my family.

Towards the end of the conference everyone was already starting to talk about the excitement over the possibility of a Circles 2013. I’m sure plenty of time will pass before we hear any details regarding whether or not this will become an annual tradition, but I sure hope it does.

To Ismael, Wendy, all volunteers, speakers and everyone else involved: You did an absolutely amazing job. One of the highlights of my year, for sure. It was an honor to be a part of the first ever Circles Conference and I look forward to seeing how it will grow over the years!

P.S. Here are a few of my favorite slides from my deck.

The original re-brand seed was planted when Jon and I started feeling the need to fully re-structure and re-design Terra’s site. All of the elders agreed that it was time to make this update, but it seemed like it would be a bit anti-climactic without a new brand as the backbone. From a timing perspective, it also made more sense to reveal the brand on the first day of the new campus launch. So we threw out the play book and started from scratch. The main objectives were to create a logo that would feel mature and polished while maintaining the core value that Terra holds fast to: Express the ancient truths in a culturally meaningful way.

Beyond this, my own personal objectives were to stray away from a logo that would require texture, grunge or any other “supportive” elements in order to be effective. I wanted to create a logo that would stand proudly on it’s own while making a statement.

It took a few attempts to get it right (attempt 1 & attempt 2), but after some more focused discussions with the elders we came up with a concept that made sense. We wanted to place emphasis on the “T” (for Terra). The “T” not only resembles a cross, but it also contains a strong and symmetrical shape that can potentially work well across multiple platforms. The styling of the “T” is a modern take on embellishments commonly found in the 19th century. This particular era was important to passively identify ourselves with because of the two particular locations that the church currently meets (Troy & Saratoga, NY). Both of these geographic locations have strong roots that were born in the 19th century so we felt it was important to pay some sort of respect to this in order to really ingrain ourselves in the culture of the area.

With that said, along with the launch of Terra’s new location, we also revealed the new logo as well as a bunch of supporting materials. There is still a lot of work to be done – including the completion of the full site re-design – but for now we have a strong foundation to work from.

We’ve created a temporary splash page to help unify their web presence while we work through the full site redesign. Stay tuned.

This has been an inevitable pattern for me up until about 10 months ago (give or take). Though I’ve always seemed to end up producing a design I was proud of in the end, this troublesome mental state was something I just couldn’t seem to shake, regardless of how much I enjoyed the project’s subject matter.

In a moment of passing reflection I recently realized that it’s been awhile since I’ve experienced this feeling. It then dawned on me that my workflow process has also changed a bit as of late in order to better accommodate some of the lager scale projects I have been working on. After some contemplation I could only conclude that there is a direct correlation between these two factors.

So what is this new alteration to my process that has helped rid me of design rut anxiety? Planning. That’s it… planning. I know, I wish it was more climactic as well. Regardless, the common trait that’s been shared with my last few projects is that they’ve all required their fair share of planning (more so than usual, that is). These projects have been less about their visual appearance (though it was still an important factor) but more focused on how they functioned; the complete user experience, if you will.

Though I’ve really enjoyed planning out some larger scale websites, there’s certainly less instant gratification. It takes quite a bit longer to pull all the moving pieces together, but the trade off definitely comes in the design phase. By the time all of the planning is complete and I’m actually ready to start adding legitimate style, I’ve not only had a ton of time to subconsciously (and consciously) come up with ideas, but the initial planning has essentially done a lot of the work for me.

My finished wireframes have become more detailed than they ever have. I still start very simply with gray boxes labeled appropriately, but as I make revisions I start to subtly add more distinguished styles. This, in particular, has become noticably helpful. While I’m still technically in the planning/wireframing phase, I have much more freedom to explore options and gain momentum without feeling over committed to anything. Once I’ve got a full set of streamlined wireframes and I’m ready to start adding real styles, the transition is extremely smooth. I’m able to really hit the ground running because I’ve already got some solid direction ready to go.

Long gone are my days of staring at blank canvases while cursing the approved wireframe structure that I am just now realizing won’t transition well to a visually pleasing design. I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with design for this very reason. Lately, however, the love portion has heavily outweighed the hate. That alone has added years to my life; I’m certain of it.

I’m excited to take this more exhaustive planning approach and apply it to some smaller size projects. Though the logical train of thought would suggest that the planning phase should shrink at the same rate that the project size shrinks, I will continue to utilize this process for the sake of keeping my sanity in tact. It might take up some more time in the beginning, but if it saves me time and headaches in the final stages then it will arguably always come out on top in the end.

With that in mind, the design of the latest Iron to Iron project launch – Society of the Honor Guard, Tomb of the Unknown Soldier – should have been an easy project. Without a doubt, the Tomb Guards have not only earned their prestigious reputation through the fruit of their service but also through the visual appearance they uphold while on duty. So it was essentially all laid out for us; create a site which represents the Unknowns, the Guards and the Society that preserves the same level of quality and honor they have earned as their brand. The hard part, however, was the pressure to live up to that.

The site had to reflect the upright integrity of all three branches (the Unknowns, the Guards and the Society) while also falling in line with the identity that is associated with the guard’s uniforms and the monument itself. Besides the heart of what they’re known for, their uniforms are their trademark – their logo, if you will.

From a logistics standpoint, navigation was a factor which played a large role in shaping this design as well. The site is filled with valuable information from the start to the finish and it all had to be treated in such a way that gave proper emphasis to the heart of the matter – the Unknowns. With all these things considered, the design of the site started to take shape in my head early into the planning phases of the project. The colors, photo treatments and typography almost became obvious choices after really learning and understanding what the Society of the Honor Guard was all about. It was just a matter of polishing them until they were perfectly refined.

Shown above are a few of my favorite screens from the site: The homepage, the Badge Board, a Tomb Guard profile and a particular War/Unknown content page.

This project not only taught me a lot about taking the time to truly understand your clients needs but also the importance of investing yourself into the brand that you’re working with. When you’re working on a client project that you’re excited and honored to be a part of, it’s amazing how things start to take shape.

If you’ve ever visited the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or the Arlington National Cemetery (and you should if you haven’t yet) you’re familiar with the feeling and emotion that resonates around you as you quietly observe the surroundings. History, loss, pride and honor fill the atmosphere. Our ultimate effort was to translate this experience to the web by capturing it’s essence. It was a tall order to fulfill but we’re satisfied with the outcome and hope you can find this website to be an effective and educational resource that also pays proper tribute to those who have sacrificed their lives for our nations freedom.

Believe it or not a year has already passed since the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan causing the major nuclear plant disaster. I remember hearing the news a year ago and feeling devastated. Shortly after, however, it felt distant. The tsunami headlines were soon overridden by problems and issues that were more tangible and realistic to me. The fact is, regardless of my ignorance, the problems in Japan were still in place – as they are today.

One Year Ago

Once the initial news of the disaster went public, the leaders at my church decided we needed to do something to help – in our small way. Like many others in the design community had determined, it made sense to design a poster for awareness and sell it with all the proceeds benefiting a relief fund. The idea wasn’t new or ground breaking by any means, but it made sense to utilize the resources we had. Just like that I dropped everything I was working on and started designing the poster. The concept was simple: Remind people that we’re all neighbors and it’s our responsibility to help each other.

I decided that this would best be communicated by illustrating a globe that was completely empty – except for Japan – as if they truly didn’t have any neighbors. This felt appropriate because I’m assuming this feeling was fairly accurate for the residents at the moment. The illustration (which also doubled as a representation of their flag) was coupled with the message “Unite & Rebuild”.

I was happy with the results, but unfortunately the trigger was never fully pulled on the other logistics surrounding the project. So there the design sat on my digital shelf…

Fast Forward: One Year Later

I received an email from one of the pastors reminding me that a year had passed since disaster struck Japan. He thought that since the headlines of recovery were now few and far between it would be a good time to redeem our project and make another effort to spread awareness and raise some funds. So here we are. A week later, we had the posters printed, a purchasing website made and article being written to promote the cause. Every thing came together quite nicely. I was excited to be able to dust off an old project and actually see it out in the wild, but I’m even more excited about helping to put another spot light on an issue that’s worthy of attention.

There’s a lot more to this story, which I would encourage all of you to read about here. Beyond that I want to take one more opportunity to emphasize how small this world really is. It would be awesome if we are able to sell hundreds of posters in order to help this cause, but the heart of the issue is that there are needs to be met all around us. Whether it’s your neighbor across the street, or your neighbor across the globe, people need to be served and proximity should never be an obstacle.

My new favorite site to read is The Great Discontent – a site which features industry leading creatives and asks them real questions in every sense of the word. I find this site notably intriguing for two main reasons. The first being that almost every person they interview I’ve found myself previously interested in for one reason or another. The second reason is because of the questions they ask. Particularly this one: “Are you satisfied creatively?”

This question resonates with me on a number of different levels. Primarily because you can ask this question to just about anyone and they’ll typically answer “no” regardless of how creatively accomplished they really are. It’s a truly personal question that forces you to humbly look at your life and wonder, “am I really the best I can be?”

The times I feel most creatively satisfied is when I first see something I’ve created out in the wild. Whether it’s launching a site, getting a print piece hot off the press, or publishing an article – those are the moments that I feel most fulfilled in my career. It’s really the culmination of seeing my work fully come together rather than the act of actually creating the work (though that certainly provides a lot of satisfaction as well). Unfortunately, these moments don’t last too long. It’s only a matter of hours until I see someone else’s work that makes me think “I wish I made that”, or “I wish I was that good”. Being able to easily see others work that inspires you is a great thing. Sadly, it seems as though our brains are programed to turn that inspiration into comparison, which often leads to that unfulfilled, creatively unsatisfied feeling.

To be completely honest, I take comfort in the fact that most answers given on The Great Discontent interviews surrounding this question are simply (and sometimes not-so-simply), “no”. It reminds me that fulfillment of this concept, in the traditional sense, is likely unattainable. The fact is, there are many practical reasons why many of us are continually feeling unsatisfied creatively. I think the root, however, goes much deeper than those reasons. My personal opinion is that many of us feel this way due to a constant comparison to others. Though some people say that the feeling of being unsatisfied creatively drives them to become smarter, faster and stronger, I think that most of us would agree that it’s actually quite daunting. It’s this daunting feeling that pushes us to measure ourselves against our peers and covet their talents and project opportunities. Surely nothing good can come from that.

As someone who struggles with never feeling consistently satisfied from a creative stand point, I’ve finally decided that my perspective on this concept needs to change. The fact is, my life can’t fully revolve around being “creative”, or my work in general. I’ve got a family and other responsibilities outside of my career that, quite frankly, take much higher priority than achieving this ultimate artistic goal. So I’ve decided it’s time to look at my current creative rankings from a different point of view. My goal in this is to never define my standards of creative satisfaction by the work of someone else, but rather, to look at my life as a whole and reflect on how I’m doing with all things considered.

The danger that lies within comparison to others is the inevitable trap that it comes with. When you’re motive is simply an effort to keep up with everyone else, you start to lose the personal character within your work that only you can create. You cheat yourself and end up becoming yet another clone who has followed a trend down it’s rabbit hole. I assure you, there is very little satisfaction found here.

I think that an important part of life should be personal growth and maturity in everything you do. If we lose our desire to grow, and stop maturing all together, then there’s really no reason to get out of bed in the morning. However, the idea of chasing after this ideology that leaves us feeling empty, is simply futile. Especially, when in reality, if we’re doing what we love and pouring our hearts into our work, then we’re likely a lot closer to this fulfillment then we even realize.

One year ago today, I woke up feeling equal parts excitement and anxiety. That pattern continued for quite some time. The good thing about experiencing patterns like this is that you can start to analyze them if you’re able to acknowledge their existence. So I did just that. I considered the path I was allowing myself to go down if I continued to let anxiety be a daily part of my life. So I made a conscious effort to change that.

This morning, exactly one year later, I woke up with my continued feeling of excitement being complimented with confidence and motivation rather than anxiety and stress. Anxiety still creeps in from time to time, but for the most part I feel like I’m standing on solid ground and I would not trade that for anything.

This, of course, all rooted from the decision that Jon and I made a while back to open our own business, Iron to Iron. The planning of the business itself took the better half of a year, but the official start date was just one year ago today; November 1, 2010.

Throughout the course of this past year my faith has been tested on a daily basis. I’m actually starting to get used to it. Now, however, I can tell you with confidence that all the time I spent worrying and being filled with anxiety was nothing short of waste. Once I finally began to hold an optimistic’s point of view and truly surrender my trust to God, things went smoother. That’s certainly not because God simply made my path perfectly straight, but rather, my perception began to be more flexible. As obstacles presented themselves, solutions became much more visible.

I realize that a typical year in review article might look slightly different than what I’m getting at here. I originally considered reviewing very specific things that I’ve learned over the year that related to business and design, but Jon already did a great job doing that in his personal recap. So I wanted to take a slightly different approach and cover a topic that’s a bit more personal to me.

This past year has been one that I’ll honestly never forget. Iron to Iron will continue to grow and produce good fruit; that I’m sure of. However, this first year will always hold a special place in my heart beyond any future success. I’ve witnessed both Jon and his wife along with my wife and I overcome many trials. Some individually and some directly related to business. I’m proud to report that while we’ve each had our low moments, we’ve collectively come out with our heads high and our faith strengthened. That’s really a great feeling and it gets me excited for our future as a team.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this past year, it’s this: No matter where you are in this life, you’ll be presented with challenges and obstacles. The way in which you handle yourself during these trials is what will dictate the outcome. Your character follows you in these instances. If you go in faithful, then you come out on top – every time. In contrast, you’ll likely also be blessed with experiences, relationships and conversations that will inspire you to think in ways that you never considered before. Hold fast to those and become accountable to them. Then, after a generous period of time, reflect on those moments to see how they’ve shaped you. Metal is only refined after it’s spent sufficient time in the fire. Human’s are the same way. You’re not defined by one single instance, but rather, a collection of experiences. If you’re able to continually withstand the fire you’ll come out more refined than you’d ever imagine.

All that to say I couldn’t be more proud of where Iron to Iron is as a company in this very moment. More importantly, I couldn’t be more proud of my personal relationship with both Jon and my wife. Each have been refined over this past year through the enduring of tests as well as the celebration of victories. Seeing those relationships prevail are more valuable than most things in this world and I feel like a lucky man for that alone.

I honestly cannot wait to see what happens in year two. Stand by.

At first, this made sense. After all, the majority of company websites in our industry open up by featuring their best client work. While I can understand the initial logic behind that approach, I actually believe that we’ve all tricked ourselves into thinking that’s what the end user wants to see. In reality, if the end user is really looking to invest in our services, they’ll likely care much more about who we are, rather than what we’ve done.

Think about it this way: If you show up on your first date with someone and instantly start talking about the past relationships you’ve been in, the date probably won’t go so well. On the other hand, if you show up looking your best, being attentive and polite, you’ll have a much better chance of turning that date into an actual relationship.

Our Brand Comes First

A client’s brand is likely one of their most valued assets. They’ve spent years trying to associate positive feelings and emotions to it. So making sure their brand is left in the hands of someone who understands this is a huge must. If that’s true, it makes complete sense to focus your site completely around your brand – not someone else’s. The notion of promoting someone else’s work before your own actually feels ridiculous to me. I’m not quite sure how that trend got started, but it’s flawed… big time.

After realizing all of this, Jon and I decided that we didn’t even want our portfolio on our site when we launched. We really wanted our reputations to be derived from who we are rather than what we’ve done in the past. However, we knew there would still be many potential clients and colleagues who would want to see our work. So we did create a private portfolio, but it could only be seen by request. This protected our philosophy, but also felt accommodating when necessary.

This approach worked really great – especially in the beginning. I’m sure it bothered some people that they couldn’t see our work right away, but it helped us feel more engaged with visitors right from the get-go. It also gave us a really good understanding of how significant or necessary a portfolio really is. To prove a point: it’s been over 10 months since we opened our doors and launched our portfolio-less website and we’ve yet to be without a client project to work on. Some of those clients requested to see our private portfolio before working with us, but many did not.

Things have changed a bit though. We’ve grown as a company (through experience, not size) and the bulk of our time in the office is focused on actual client work rather than business development. Our reputations seem to be carrying a bit more weight, so a locked down portfolio was starting to feel like a barrier to entry rather than a good ice-breaker.

Iron to Iron, Evolved.

So now, as of this morning, a public portfolio is included on our site. We still feel as though it needed to remain somewhat secondary, because we firmly believe in our philosophy that a client should get to know us, before they get to know our work. Regardless, our site has in-fact grown to accommodate our growth.

With that said, updating our site to include the new portfolio was quite fun. Our concept was simple: The bigger, the better. No crops, just fully displayed work and quick access to launch the actual site. There’s a time and place for cropping your work; it’s called dribbble. Beyond that, there’s no reason to hide any detail. Every single design element on one of our sites was put there for a reason, and we want to show it all off – and as close to full size as we can.

We also wanted to exhibit close attention to detail in our portfolio. This includes subtle (and not-so-subtle) animations when appropriate, as well as unique arrangements of work for each project.

So please, take a moment to browse through our latest addition. Above all, we’re really just excited to have a place to show off all of our hard work. We’ve got work in the pipeline that’s inches away from launching and we plan on keep this portfolio as fresh as possible.

The final step to all of this goodness will be making the whole site responsive… But, we’ll save that for a rainy day.