OpenRoad + Mod7
Two pioneering organizations, together at last.
OpenRoad is pleased to announce the acquisition of creative agency Mod7.
Read the letter from our PrincipalWhy Our Design Process Rocks Harder Than The Rest
Posted on May 11, 2010 in Our Thinking by Mod7
OK, there is no Secret Sauce. Hate to disappoint you, but our process isn't anything that special. In fact, when it comes down to it, every creative agency worth their salt has a great process. Or some process. Otherwise, they wouldn't be around very long. Most likely, that process is pretty darn close to everyone else's process. In fact, when you break it down, everyone's Secret Sauce is kind of made of the same stuff, just in different proportions. Kind of like the taste difference between Coke and Pepsi. (Errr, bad analogy.)
So what makes us different?
Well, I tend to think that--just like rock & roll, fashion, and yo mama jokes--it comes down to attitude. And a little bit of work ethic. We've got eight attitudes (not only eight, mind you, but here are eight of them) that help make us what we are. These are kind of principles for doing it the mod7 way.
- Ask the right questions. We aren't afraid to ask stupid questions, if they're the right questions. And we don't ask questions that just try to make us look smart, because then it becomes about "us", not the work.
- Keep it real. Why fabricate when you can innovate? Why try to make "something" out of complete nothingness? Doing that sounds phony. It is phony. Look at what's really there, not what you wish was there. Find that something that's authentic and notable and amplify that.
- Collaborate with experts. Find the best and work with them, whether it's the people on your team, your partners, or your clients. Look for clients that are leaders. Work with people that get it.
- Work at the edge of comfort. Push yourself to that fine line between maintaining control and losing everything in a blaze of flaming chaos. That's freshness. That's bottled energy. That's rock & roll, man! It's risky, it's scary, and it's prone to failure. But if video games have taught us anything, it's that there's knowledge in failure. (That, and also the princess is usually in another castle. Grrrr!)
- Think laterally. Get out of your industry. Look outside of your daily routine. Shake it up. Talk to someone who has no idea what the hell it is you do and figure out how that can relate. Try to find insight in seemingly unrelated places and lift that for your own craft.
- Empathize. People aren't "users". People have motives. People want to be respected. People have to live with what you design for them. Actually, that's not true. People won't live with what you design for them. If you don't get it right the first time, they're going to go somewhere less painful. So stand outside your role... look in from their perspective.
- Think and work in different scales of detail and scope. Zoom in, zoom out. Sweat the small stuff, then shape the strategy and the big picture. That's how you get cohesion, perspective, and, hopefully, meaning.
- Have fun. Humour deflates tension. Humility builds trust. Informality leads to efficiency if done respectfully. That's how we roll, and the kind of clients we like to work with understand, accept, and embrace that.