Musings: Lawyer Up and Lose

These are short musings we’ve had on topics related to what we’re doing at Hexanine, in life, and beyond.

Lawyer Up and Lose

Scorching the landscape with C&Ds rarely wins you friends and probably hurts your brand image in the long run. Now that social media is maturing, we might even be able to measure how bad legal eagle actions affect the buzz around your organization. Maybe there’s a legal need to protect brand assets and preserve future profitability, but that needs to be weighed against the financial damage that turning brand fans into enemies can cause.

Musings: Authenticity

Because some insights are short and sweet, we’re adding something new to our writing. “Musings” will be some short thoughts we’ve had on topics related to what we’re doing at Hexanine, in life, and beyond.

Balancing Authenticity and Professionalism

It’s hard to be real and vulnerable, showing your mistakes and stepping out from behind the curtain of perceived perfection. This seems at odds with the cultural veneer of professionalism that we’ve come to expect from “the experts” in a field. But maybe showing a little bit of leg, revealing some of our humanity, doesn’t highlight our flaws as much as it reminds us of how much we are all alike.

Business Thoughts For Creative Minds

Business Thoughts For Creative People

Very few in our industry get into the design profession to run a business. For many creatives, business is the dirty word you have to use in order to keep doing the “fun” stuff — the creative and strategic acts of a design firm. But get far enough down the road, and you realize that managing a firm or business (whether you’re a designer, developer, marketer, or otherwise) is a great path to doing the kind of work you really love. Business stuff isn’t bad, and in fact, we’ve learned tons working closely with clients, managing teams, building relationships, and chasing down new projects. Along the way, we’ve found bits of hard-won wisdom that seem unrelated to design. But it’s crucial stuff — the kinds of knowledge that applies not only to design, but also to life in general. We have a lot of lessons to share (both good and bad), but here are a few worth repeating.

Read on…