SMART/MODELS: Business Principles for Design Principals

Five design firms. Five business models. Five departures from the expected. This one-day conference examines the overlap between smart design and smart business.

Crossing the business divide requires designers to grow from steadfast practitioner to streetwise business person. And SMART/MODELS looks at design-minded businesses through the eyes of five firms who represent business models from the standard to the far-flung. Learn how each of them have cut through bottom-line pressures: Jason Fried from 37signals went from studio to product developer with wildly popular web-based business tools such as Basecamp, Matt Owens from The Athletics with their studio-as-collective model, Joe Duffy and Eric Block from Duffy & Partners in their creative-plus-business partnership, Sylvia Harris from Sylvia Harris, LLC, who has gone from partner to solo, pursuing new kinds of projects with a new model, and Douglas Riccardi from Memo Productions who runs a small design firm while singlehandedly tackling large projects.

Five presentations (followed by a cocktail hour) mean that everyone—from the design-inspired to the business-minded—will take away workable advice they can bring back to the office on Monday, or even sooner. The day will be moderated by Emily Ruth Cohen, a business consultant to creative firms world-wide. Join us Saturday 17 May, for a day of discussion and dialog that brings the secrets inside the studio out.