You have probably found yourself in a bit of a fix before – you have a great idea but are faced with many questions or obstacles. It’s time to look up, take stock of the situation, start connecting the dots and bring your design to life. The team at Evolve Collaborative will walk you through a few rules of creative play that combine tips, tools and tricks with knowing when to run away at the right times – whatever it takes to get the job done properly. Yippee ki-yay, Portland.

An Englishman, a Scotsman and a German walk into a bar… and come out with a design consultancy.  Say hello to the recently founded Evolve Collaborative, a Portland based insight, design and innovation agency who strive for better, not more.

Notes:

in the design industry, most work doesn’t actually make into real world product.

Ideas are cheap. Bringing them to life is the expensive part.

Rules

• Learn extreme empathy
• Know your enemies (your clients, their competitions, deadlines)
• Know your allies (your team, the end users)
• We make stuff for people
• Collect obsessively
• Look for meaning
• Don’t design for friends
• Learn to love someone unfamiliar
• Find something to love
• Always have an ace up your sleeve
• Beg, borrow and steal good games (rules and props)
• Embrace uncertainty (trust your process)
• Prototype often and early (course correct)
• Harness the power of your team (design is a team sport)
• Share your ideas (speak up, argue)
• Get to know the people in the room
• Think with your hands
• Tell stories (the preview, the final scene, the directories commentary)