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.

Sara comes to 52 Ltd. from UTStarcom, a $3 billion international IP telecom firm where she held the title of Corporate Recruiter. In that capacity, Sara led development of hiring strategy and recruiting processes for the company’s Global HR teams. She also served as sole recruiter for UTStarcom’s hiring in the United States and Canada.

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.

Long term this bodes well for the Portland creative job scene, but for now, we just have to hope this young talent does indeed stay put and enrich our city. Article posted:

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124242099361525009.html

Join a panel discussion about the world of social media—Where do advertising, design and marketing fit? Do they fit at all? What are the consequences and potential of engaging in social media? How can you manage a brand in an online environment? And… why is my mom commenting on my Facebook status?

In the 4+ years 52 has pounded the pavement for designers, we have been consistently amazed at the quality of the talent here and the quality that wants to be here. Graphic design Portland. Says it all.

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.

As I watched the inaugural address a few weeks ago, I was stoked, but equally freaked-out by the constant warning of tougher economic times ahead. I was inspired by Obama’s words, but when he paraphrased the bible, saying we must “do away with childish things,” I got a little fidgety. No doubt, he was referring to the last eight years of shenanigans by the cartoon character sitting sheepishly to his left, but the quote hit home for a guy who makes a living doing “childish things.” I mean, the artist in me says that children draw pretty pictures, and the writer in me knows that kids love flowery prose. As a creative looking for work, it made me think of worst-case-scenarios and reflect on other times in my life when I had to cinch my belt up a few notches, dial back my artistic integrity and swallow my pride.

At the beginning of this exciting path I’ve chosen as a creative professional, when I was just out of university, it took me a while to get my bearings. Was I a fine artist? A budding music director? A copywriter? Fresh-faced and willing to do anything for a paycheck, I explored my options. Along the way, I worked the swing-shift at a factory painting Harley Davidson belt buckles (artiste), moved crowds with the “Crazy Chicken” as a wedding turntablist (music impresario), attempted to execute an illustrated novel of David and Goliath for a religious organization for a few hundred dollars and some drawing supplies (indie comic illustrator), and penned a series of “wacky” scripts for a fake disc jockey in a nationwide department store (music journalist/advertising whiz). During the same year, one job I took that helped me fine-tune my goals and set some boundaries as to what I could live with every day-I was a deejay for one night at a nudie bar in Medford, Oregon called “Le Dolls.”

I half-heartedly interviewed for the gig on my way to pick up an application for seasonal work at a fruit basket company (art director/merchandiser). Inside the club, the work environment-from the dark, carcinogenic ambience to the surreal stage shows to the bald, seven-foot-tall owner-was one that appealed to the Charles Bukowski-lover in me. I looked at it as an opportunity to add to the “life experiences” I’d draw from later in my writing and considered it a chance to finally finish a series of paintings I’d started on the subject. Plus, I’d be spinning records for pretty girls (vibe selecta!). But I never thought I’d actually get the job, so I was shocked when I got a call later the same afternoon asking if I was free to work that night. The Boss called it a “baptism by fire” and told me to show up in a few hours.

From the moment I walked in the door I realized that the baptismal waters would at a boiling point all night. I stepped behind the elevated podium that served as the DJ booth and assessed the situation: There were the shaded eyes of the clientele, peering up at this fantasy-crashing stranger, the old computer filled with MP3’s like “Pour Some Sugar on Me” and “Don’t Want No Short Dick Man,” the microphone aimed at my face like a gun (if you think your voice sounds funny on an answering machine, try saying “Get out your money and give it to Bunny” over a hissing PA), and of course there were the dancers. With names like Savannah, Cheyenne, Crystal and Amber I was having a hard time keeping my precious metals/southern cities straight. The culmination of my stress came when I couldn’t find the dancer who was “on deck” and had to run into the dressing room to search for her (The first notes of “Cherry Pie” were already playing!). A girl who was changing inside shrieked and told me to get out, then went to find The Big Man. I guess she didn’t want me to see her naked.

I didn’t get in trouble, but at the end of my shift I knew I was done. I couldn’t sleep that night and the next day, when The Boss called me in for my second night in a row, telling me I did great, I declined, explaining that I was considering taking a high school tutoring job and that there were obvious conflicts of interest.

A few weeks later, I decided to move to San Francisco and within a year I was surfing the dotcom wave, writing about music. In another two years, I’d be unemployed again-then Bush would happen and 9/11 would happen-but I’d find another job, with renewed focus and a healthy respect for the impermanence of “the good life,” and most importantly a willingness to try anything in the name of “art,” even if only for one night.

What’s the wildest thing you done for a buck? Join the dialogue at the 52 LTD blog…