Thinking

The Decline and Fall of Product Placement

Jonah Sachs predicts three distinct changes that might drive the emerging practice of story placement over product placement.

Designer as Journalist: The Case for Creating Content

A young doctor with a goatee and small hoop earrings quickly ushered me into the examination room of a bustling clinic in Oakland. If it were not for the white coat and the stethoscope around his neck, he could have been any urban hipster who frequents the latest happening watering hole. There was barely enough room to focus my camera lens in the cramped yellow cubicle where he asked a middle aged woman questions about her personal health that made me blush. She clearly had a tough life. The deep lines etched into her face said more than words ever could.

In that moment, I realized I was no longer merely a designer. Documenting lives on the edges of our society, and the heroes who care for them, had put me squarely in the role of visual storyteller for a client who provides grants to community clinics. The experience touched me profoundly.

25 Years of Social Venture Network

What happens when 250 of the most innovative, passionate, resourceful social entrepreneurs get together for four days, at Skamania Lodge in the awesome Pacific Northwest? Stimulating conversations. Inspiring presentations. Actionable advice. And a lot of laughter.



Not much sleep.

Instagram to the Rescue!

Instagram may have saved my sanity.

A lifelong fear of flying and my spirit of adventure found me traveling cross country earlier this month by rail from DC to a Free Range retreat in Oakland. My 8-day-round-trip trek took me through sixteen states and all nine circles of Hell. I'm only mildly exaggerating when I say that Instagram salvaged my sanity. When the angry drunk with the knife was ranting, Instagram was there. When we crested the Sierra Nevadas, Instagram was there. When we rolled to a remote stop in Arizona at midnight and they led a few of my fellow passengers off the train in handcuffs, Instagram was there.

The Free Range Rebrand: Designing Our Story

These days everyone is talking about telling stories — which is great, because we’ve been refining our storytelling methodology for the last 13 years. But the sudden popularity has also challenged us to define what that really means, as our once-esoteric field has become more crowded. Nearly a year ago today, we recognized we needed to rebrand. 

We knew we couldn’t build a coherent brand without a deep understanding of how we do what we do, and why. We needed to unpack the magic and the science behind our work, and we needed a new story to define what it means to be makers of media that creates a more positive future. And each of our new brand expressions, from an updated logo to this website, needed to reinforce that story.

Tech Trends: 2012 the Year of the (Android) Tablet

2012 is going to be the year of the tablet, and more specifically, the Android tablet. Let me explain why this is the case, and why designers and developers who work on web projects should care.

From 19th Street to 19th Street

Last summer I represented Free Range as a judge in The American Institute of Graphic Arts' national design competition “365: Design Effectiveness." When I walked through the glass door of AIGA's storied headquarters on lower Fifth Avenue, in a sense it was like coming home.