pinch of salt

It’s not easy being account manager in any size firm.  It is a delicate balancing act of client approval and expectation management mixed with in-house loyalty and honesty.  In other words, account managers work all day not to tick anyone off.

at long last, the acoustic guitars (and my bass) from the first two harlan guitarworks lutherie classes have been completed (end of last year) and photographed (a special thanks to videobred: jamie, kara, chad and kirk, thanks for the use of the studio; and brian for letting me break his D100). looking back at the last year-and-a-half and the photographs of everyone’s hard work, i’m beiginning to realize the significance of our efforts.

we started shortly after the newport guitar festival almost two years ago. after seeing some of the crazy stuff independent makers were trying (and after a beer or three), ted harlan (www.tedharlan.com) and i came back to the shop in louisville with an amplified entusiasm and few crazy ideas. after extensive designwork, tons of jig-building (my favorite part) and a little trial and error, we got under way.

learning (and tap tuning) every step of the way, we prepared tops and backs; bent sides; cut bracing; kerfed, bound and built the boxes; hand built the necks, bridges and tailpieces; inlayed, detailed and finished everything in clear laquer; strung and tuned them up and – what-do-you-know, they all sound great.

now we have two enthusiastic new classes, a much improved process in place and a new body/neck design. we’re sending files out this week to have very precise plexi-glas pattern parts made in the hopes that we can continue improving the efficiency of the classes and, we’ve been looking at the work of lloyd loar so that we might gain a better grasp of acoustics.

can’t imagine how guitar-building/woodworking relates to graphic design? as far as i’m concerned, they’re identical in every way. they both require an ability to understand complex ideas, to pay attention to detail, to recognize process efficiencies and, most importantly, it requires an innate understanding of the visual language of design. are we there yet? maybe not, but we get a little closer and we improve every day.

my thanks to ted. working in the woodshop has always been good for providing useful knowledge and valuable perspective.

Mike and I participated today in an event today that is part of our beliefs at mindsalt – taking care of the world we live in. We spent the morning cleaning up trash along the Ohio river. The event was started by Living Lands and Waters and was sponsored by Athens Paper and Sappi.

We were boated to a spot in which 22 volunteers, some college students on spring break, packed garbage bags full of soda bottles, tobacco containers, shoes, styrofoam, plastic oil cartons. Plastic, plastic and more plastic.

Our thanks go out to Living Lands and Waters for their efforts and dedication to an overwhelming task.

An appreciation for great design goes far beyond the office walls. Rely on a computer for a corporate identity and you’ll take your client down the all-too-common-cookie-cutter path to bad design. Great design exists in the head, hands and gut.

Take Casto. One of the most intuitive designers around. When it comes to thinking outside the box…well, he’s never been in it, can’t even fathom it. He listens. He understands. He blows clients’ minds. But after the 9-to-5 (more like 7 or 8 in his case), Casto shuts down his computer and picks up a chisel and a spokeshave.

And Brian. When the need arose for a new conference table at the office, the notion of typical business furniture never crossed his mind. He went home and made one himself from pressed plywood pieced together end-to-end. That was just after he crafted their guest bathroom sink. And a while before that project, he designed beautiful, letter-pressed birth announcements for the arrival of his tiny new daughter. For Brian, typical is unheard of.

So when we think about design at mindsalt (which is all the time), we’re not just thinking logos. Don’t get me wrong. We think a lot about logos. But we eat, breathe and yes, even sleep design. Most of all, we practice design.

We live in a world of design…a rather cluttered world, but one we intend to improve one client at a time. And that world extends to our homes, our hobbies and everything we touch.