In case you missed it, Michael Hendrix was back in town last week and offered an evening presentation about the inside culture of IDEO. Although it was nice to peer inside the walls of the Boston office and watch a few videos that team members have posted, the main theme I pulled from the night was the role of "playfulness" in design thinking. We should all embrace more experimentation in our work and above all, make failure just part of the process.

In the spirit of collaboration and experimentation check out this site:
http://imissmypencil.com/

Welcome to Chattanooga. On behalf of the Chattanooga Chapter we hope you enjoy your time here in Chattanooga. We are proud of our student group that did a fabulous job on branding and assisting National get everything in order for the retreat. They have also produced a tumblr account with a tips on things to check out or ways to navigate the city. Enjoy.

http://aigaleadershipretreat2010.tumblr.com/

I write this as we are still dealing with the effects of an economic recession. Many in our profession have seen business decline by as much as 25-35% in the past year or year and a half. In 2009 our own small studio actually had a higher total in estimates for new work that did not translate into paying jobs, than we did in our actual total billing.

While the recession no doubt has helped to exacerbate this issue for us, it is certainly not the cause.