When I was at McKim & Creed, I couldn’t stand the gray walls we had, so I painted them using a light yellow and orange colorwash (it was tasteful and not intense) and people around the office started stopping by to just sit and feel good. Then other offices started getting some color as their occupants saw the difference a color could make to their work environment.

I’ve seen some really neat office spaces, and some rather drab ones. I love color and twists and creative approaches to connecting people within a space. Ultimately, the design of a work space can determine how successfully people can interact and move the company forward. If the space is uninspiring, the people will be uninspired as well. I now have a whiteboard wall in my home office, which I fill with all sorts of big ideas.Just having it there beckoning me makes me fill up the white space – encouraging creativity.

Product design is often done by the technical wonks or a committee of people who don’t understand design. Look at Google and Apple. Both have found ways to keep simplicity at the heart of their products. Lots of power behind the screen, but both epitomize the term “simple elegance.” Of course, they both rake in lots of dough to boot…

One of the great icons (staples) of my way of thinking is the Staples EASY button. It embodies the concepts of simplicity for customers. When you make it easy for customers, you make it profitable for your company. I often bring my Easy button with me to meetings to keep people focused on what matters. It’s also a great marketing tool when talking about our solutions.

The design of a business is also a representation of creative thought. Has the business been designed with an eye to client care, coordinated systems and processes, effective production, employee retention and development, and consistent quality output? A business is the ultimate design project because it requires knowledge and skills in many areas to create a cohesive design product. And then the design has to change to meet new needs without dissolving into a disjointed mess. The collaborative, messy nature of business is what makes it such a fun expression of creativity. It’s never perfect, but can be optimized. Business is a living organism with heart, soul, and personality. You get to choose what those will be and then convince others to help you build it. How cool.

If you look hard enough, you may also see some of my art, photography, pottery, logos, and websites floating around the world. I’ve done a lot of work for various companies in developing corporate identities, helping them with graphic design, websites, and even multimedia kiosks. This is fun stuff. When I reinvent myself again, it will definitely be in the creative design area – designing spaces, products, ideas.

Have fun with your ideas!