We are partnering with the AIGA to make this year’s Designspeaks the best yet. We look forward to bringing you the outstanding content, speakers and brew that you have come to expect from 52 and Designspeaks. Please join us this Thursday, September 17th as we kick off the series with, ‘An Evening with Jelly Helm’.

Designspeaks with Jelly Helm

What’s happening with the business of advertising? What will the post-consumer economy look like? What’s happening with sustainability? Jelly Helm is the first to admit that he doesn’t know. But that’s not going to stop him from speculating about it in public, to anyone willing to pay for it.

In the spirit of Designspeaks, Jelly’s presentation will be full of cockamamie theories, wishful thinking and poetry. He may also give us a sneak peek of the new work he’s done with the Oregon Council for the Humanities, and get all frothy about his newest client, Wikipedia. You’ll be anything but disappointed.
So be sure to join us, to engage with Jelly and others, and consider what has passed and what may come. Seating is limited, so please reserve your spot now.

Thursday September 17th 7p – 9p
The Cleaners at Ace Hotel Portland
403 SW 10th Ave and Stark
Register Now: http://portland.aiga.org/events

Laugh. Cry. Ask questions, please. But whatever you do, we hope you’ll join us!

Life is feeling a little closer to “normal.” And, lately, we at 52 Limited are buoyed.

Marketers cautiously are considering budgets for new projects. Clients and potential clients interested in our services are reaching out to us daily—something that fell off dramatically in the first half of the year.

In recent months, we’ve had more inquiries than we had much of early 2009. We’re hearing from all types of client-side marketers and they are working in diverse business categories.

We’re finding, incidentally, that small agencies tend to be busy. Especially those focused on sustaining the reputations of brands online.

We’re not suggesting that the economy is on the verge of an uptick or even that the recession has ended, mind you.

An economic report from University of Oregon suggests the downturn in the state could be near to running its course.

The report, released early September from UO’s Oregon Economic Forum, indicates that Oregon will “exit” the recession in the second half of 2009.
The path however, is likely to be a bit bumpy: The UO Index of Economic IndicatorsTM, fell in July by .4 of a percentage point to 84.0.

Job losses, according to UO, crept up after a bit of a lull in previous months. In July, 700 jobs were lost from nonfarm payrolls.

Further afield, the situation bears a few similarities to Oregon, according to Brooks Gilley, 52 Limited President. Brooks traveled on a business junket to NYC.

The city has lost upwards of 73,000 jobs since August 2008, according to www.crainsnewyork.com. Many of those have been in the financial services sector and with traditional print media outlets.

Brooks, however, noted one interesting difference. In spite of those losses, that the business climate in some circles there is less dour than in Portland, he says. For instance, creative practitioners repeatedly told Brooks that the workload for interactive content and design outstrips available talent at some shops.

Brooks talked to someone with a motion graphics shop that recently completed a project that in and of itself is encouraging: A marketing piece for none other than Nasdaq.

Nationally, the news is all over the charts. But the frequency of good news is increasing. And it is becoming increasingly better news.

For instance, a firm that is expert in forecasting advertising demand has said that the worst part of the worst advertising slump since the Great Depression is over.

As press time neared, we had more bright spots. The major indices are up since they bottomed out six months ago. The Dow Jones Industrial average is up 45 percent; Standard & Poor’s 500 is up 51 percent and Nasdaq is up 61 percent. Not to mention that the first week of the month the Fed announced it is seeing signs of a fragile recovery, citing improvements in manufacturing and residential real estate.

Which brings us back to 52 Limited’s reason for being: We can help, especially during times of day-to-day uncertainty.

Consider the ways 52 Ltd. can deliver flexibility to your organization:
- Avoid staff burn out. 52 Ltd. delivers freelancers who ease some of the extra burden placed on staff during times like these;
- Tap into world-class talent. We have at our fingertips world-class freelancers in Portland and places beyond who can take your brand not only to the next level but who also can work at the highest levels of your organization to make it work better.
- Delegate risk. We serve as the employer and mitigate all risk associated with employment. We take care of resume verification and the rest of the hiring process, in addition to providing worker’s compensation, premium benefits (including health insurance, 401k and supplemental disability) and more.

One thing is certain. Economic vitality will return.

Meantime, we’re happy to show how we can help clients, to tout the staggering level of Portland’s creative talent and to look forward to the few days of summer that still lie ahead.

In addition, Sara has a decade of experience working for two of San Francisco’s top boutique staffing firms.

“Staffing is all about finding the right fit, which amounts to much more than matching a job description with a resume. A desire to understand both the culture and business needs within the hiring organization and the true qualities and abilities of a candidate must be paramount,” Sara says.
“I am able to assess a candidate in a way that allows me to determine whether they wholly meet the needs of a client,” she says.

Sara holds a Master of Arts in Dramatic Theory and Criticism. She volunteers on the publicity committee for Portland Open Studios, an annual two-weekend event during which a diverse group of 100 artists open their studios.

Sara also is an accomplished public speaker, presenting to clients and user groups on hiring, interviewing, job hunting, and networking.

Ashley received the promotion to Account Manager after working since 2007 for 52 Ltd., which has given her a 360 degree view of the business and ideally prepared her for this promotion.

She joined 52 as a temp and has performed almost every position in the company, including marketing coordinator, office manager and talent coordinator. Most recently, Ashley held the title of Talent Operations Manager.

That breadth of experience also has provided Ashley a high understanding of service.

“I’ve learned the ropes in staffing for creative services and I’ve also come to know many of the people who constitute our bank of talent,” she says.

Ashley is able to connect with talent and clients. She has the rare ability to make both parties see their common needs—an essential skill in staffing, where ultimately two clients are served.

Ashley is a graduate of Oklahoma State University, where she obtained a bachelor’s degree in Sociology.

This article originally appeared in Design Observer, 1-04-09

It actually doesn’t seem that long ago that the only problem was getting all the work done and finding people places to sit. Back in the middle of that seemingly endless string of 60-hour-work-weeks, not one, not two, but (um) several clients called to ask if I wouldn’t mind billing them in full, in advance, for work we hadn’t yet begun, just so they could commit their budgets and get the money off their books. And then at least one of them just seemed to forget about the project altogether.I mentioned to this at the time to a friend who’s been a hedge fund manager from before the time when anyone had ever heard of hedge funds. “Yeah, that’s the kind of shit that happens just before everything goes horribly wrong,” he said, looking pained. “That’s why I’m getting out.”

Even if you don’t know much about the economy, you’ve probably noticed that something went horribly wrong in 2008. And 2009 doesn’t look much better. I’ve been working as a designer for over 28 years, and depending on how you count, this is either my fourth or fifth recession. Here’s what happens, and a few things you can do about it.

What happens in a recession

1 Everything slows down.
On October 19, 1987, I was talking on the phone to a client about a potential project. Suddenly she went silent and then said, “Wow. The stock market just went down 700 points. Let me get back to you.” It was a long time before she got back to me. In a recession, it takes forever to get things off the ground. Clients take their time gathering (lots of brutally competitive) proposals, interviewing (lots of hungrier-than-usual) prospective design firms, calling back and forth with minute (and trivial) revisions to the proposals, and finally selecting the (perhaps-not-so-lucky) design firm to get the assignment. Then they go back and renegotiate all the terms of the proposal. Then they delay the start of work several times, put the project on hold several more times once it’s underway, and generally take lots of time to brood over every decision every step of the way. Once the project is delivered, they wait longer to launch, print, or build it. And then when you submit the invoice…well, you get the idea.

2 Everyone acts busy.
Yet, in the midst of all this molasses-like slow motion, everyone acts busier than ever. One reason is is because of layoffs, fewer people are around, and those left behind have to do the work of their fallen colleagues. But another reason is that everyone knows that it’s idle people who get laid off, so looking busy is the best defense. Things that used to be settled with an email need a phone call, what used to be a phone call is now a meeting, a 30-minute meeting now takes four hours, and so forth. If you’re afraid of losing your job, asking your design firm to visit with three dozen iterations of a brochure cover to spread out on a conference room table certainly seems like a way to signal to the powers-that-be that you’ve got way too much on your plate to be axed.

3 Nothing is certain.
Even if you’ve just presented three dozen iterations, your client can still get fired, and your project can still be put on hold. This makes planning anything completely maddening. I remember back in the 1991 recession going to a meeting in suburban Washington DC with one of my partners for a new business presentation to a senior marketing person at a client company with a name you’d recognize today. We presented ourselves all bright and cheerful to the receptionist and said, “We’re here for our 10 o’clock meeting with Ms. Magillicutty [not her real name].” The receptionist looked blankly at us for a minute, then looked vaguely terrified, then asked to to sit down in the lobby, then moved us to a small conference room. After a long time, a young fellow came in and said, “Hello, I’m Joe Blow [not his real name]. Ms. Magillicutty can’t be here, and she asked me to help you.” We showed this polite but baffled guy our wares and left. What everyone knew, and no one wanted to say, was that Ms. Magillicutty had been fired sometime between making the appointment and our arrival. Needless to say, we didn’t get the assignment, which had probably been eliminated along with Ms. Magillicutty. Joe, however, was quite skillful in the situation, and, if he’s still there, is probably busier than ever.

What you can do

1 Be frugal.
Whether you’re a freelancer at a kitchen table or a principal in a big consultancy, you’ve got overhead, not the work you do, but the other stuff you need (or think you need) to do the work: the printer paper, the rent, the $120,000-a-year business development consultant. This is a chance to get back to basics. Ask yourself: what do I really need to do my work? Then get rid of everything else.

2 Be careful.
In your desperation to compete for work, you’ll be tempted to do things that you might not do when times are good: take on work for a shady client, start a project without a contract, ship a finished job to someone who’s fallen behind on an agreed payment schedule. Do not do these things. Not only will they not help, they will almost certainly end in tears, probably your own.

3 Be creative.
The modern design studio can’t help but subscribe to the cult of asap. But while working at full speed is great for profit margins, it’s not so good for quality control. A design solution almost always benefits from a second, third or fourth look. Take advantage of the slower pace of a recession by remembering what it was like in design school to spend a full semester on a single project. What seemed then like torture may now feel like a luxury, and your work will benefit. And don’t forget that recessions are a great time for the kind of research and development that manifests itself in self-initiated projects, work that takes a longer view than the next deadline. As Michael Cannell writes in today’s New York Times, “However dark the economic picture, it will most likely cause designers to shift their attention from consumer products to the more pressing needs of infrastructure, housing, city planning, transit and energy. Designers are good at coming up with new ways of looking at complex problems.” In the same article,Cranbrook’s Reed Kroloff agrees, saying we could be “standing on the brink of one of the most productive periods of design ever.”

4 Be sociable.
In boom times, no one has time to talk. “Let’s have lunch” can be an empty pleasantry, and even if you make a date with a friend, it will be rescheduled three times before you both silently agree to forget about it altogether. Congratulations! You now have time for lunch. (Somewherecheap, of course.) Use the gift of time to reconnect with others. But don’t, if you can help it, think of this as merely something as deliberate and goal-oriented as networking. This takes the fun out of it for both you and your date. If you make time for people you like with no agenda except the simple joys of human companionship, trust me, something good will come of it.

5 Be patient.
My friend the ex-hedge fund guy (he did get out in time) told me recently, “In the middle of every boom, people say, ‘This one is different, it’s never going to come down.’ But it always does.” This was true with dot-coms, and it was true with real estate. “In recessions, they fear the same thing: this one is different. But it will eventually turn around after all the crap gets worked out.” And it will, eventually. Just hold on tight.

You may have noticed something interesting: all of these tips for what to do in a recession will work just as well in good times. Or even better. So the final lesson is to use this downturn as a learning experience. If you’ve got this discipline to survive, or even thrive, in the next year or so, you’ll be mastering skills that will serve you well forever. Good luck.

If you build it they will come. When trying to hire staff for your company, this is the mantra to have. If you build a positive work culture, and focus your efforts in maintaining a healthy environment for people to grow and develop their careers you will have an easier time hiring top talent. It also helps to do good work and serve your clients. Paying people well is part of what makes a positive work culture, but it’s not the only thing. Resist the temptation to throw money at people to get them to join your firm. Don’t make it about money. If you have other positive factors in place, paying competitively will get people over the hump and wanting to work for you. Securing the top talent is more about your overall package, which includes your company’s culture and environment.

When searching for a new opportunity, a vice-president of marketing states,

“As a job seeker I pay close attention to a company’s culture and how it’s sustained. This is key to how well I’ll be able to thrive in the company and how my contributions will be received. A significant amount of my waking hours will be spent in a workplace; a good culture will provide me a healthy, challenging and enjoyable experience. While a good salary is an important consideration it’s not my first priority or even second. If the culture is right, I know the salary negotiation process will be a positive one.”

When salary becomes the focus of an employment equation it is generally a bad sign. Of course, people want to be paid what they are worth, but job offers should be approached by looking at the big picture. If the focus is more on salary, chances are employees will leave again when someone else throws more money at them.

According to Rich Connor, senior vice president at Portland marketing firm, PMSI, “we encourage new candidates to think long term. What type of company do you want to be working for in five years? If someone is interested in stopping to build their resume or to get their salary increased, we are clearly the wrong fit and we have a pretty good nose for that. We like to see where candidates take the conversation…. Money, Culture, Responsibilities, Future Goals. We want to know their motivations for wanting to join our team. For existing employees, we find this issue to be a red warning light. When a valued team member wants more money to stay happy or leverages another offer, that it is a bad sign for us. We hate to lose any employee for any reason but, if their base level of satisfaction has fallen to money, the important parts have fallen away.”

Salary discussions are often an employer/candidate game of cat and mouse. What are your salary requirements? How much are you looking for? What does the position pay? Questions like these are used to strategize the employment offers being extended (and those accepted or declined). I advise employers and candidates to discuss salary history but to also factor in other criteria (culture, opportunity for growth, doing good work) when determining a fair salary. Removing the cat and mouse dialogue and opening an honest discussion for both employer and candidate is the best way to start a rewarding and healthy employer/employee relationship.

Hiring top talent should be more about attraction than about enticement. You can entice someone with more money, but you want to attract them with competitive pay and back it up with the larger package of what your firm has to offer. If you consistently hire in this manner you attract talent that is looking to further their career and make an impact in a positive environment, rather than the job shoppers who are looking for the next great offer to come along. You will also build loyalty and make it more difficult for others to entice your talent away.

Build the culture. Provide opportunity for growth. Support and mentor your employees. Provide competitive compensation and benefits. Do good work. Respect your staff and clients. And you will attract and retain talent. If it’s built, they will come.