What’s a Social Business? It’s a business alive with energy and big ideas. It’s collaborative, authentic, customer-centric, trusted, open and real-time.

Click to download the PDF.

And it’s about time. After decades of mechanistic, process-oriented management dogma, progressive organizations are waking up to the disturbing truth that they’ve squeezed all the creativity out of their business. But when companies embrace organic, passionate, socially-savvy initiatives, they blossom. That’s Social Business.

This XPLANATiON was produced in association with our colleagues at Dachis Group’s Social Business Council, a collection of practitioners from large businesses who are charting the course for Social Business. We interviewed Council members and turned their knowledge into a clean, clear visual that quickly helps everyone understand the benefits of Social Business.

You can view the XPLANATiON on Dachis Group’s Collaboratory blog or download a PDF here.

October 19, 2011: We posted a newer version today with updated artwork.

The fear of undertaking a project beyond your abilities is enough to stop you in your tracks while concepting. And it’s especially frustrating because the idea you have may be great. It may be inspired. You can see it, right there, clear as day in your head. But getting it out in the real world? That isn’t your forté. And that’s a bummer.

Knowing your limitations is important. I suppose it comes down to understanding why it’s important. Conventional wisdom would have us think it’s so our grasp doesn’t extend beyond our reach. There’s a reason you don’t hear the phrase “amateur tightrope walker” thrown around a lot. If we didn’t stay aware of our limitations the world’s population would most likely plummet.

But there’s an aspect to this we’re forgetting. Knowing your limits is another way of knowing where you can improve. A list of things you can’t do, conversely, is a list of things you can learn to do. Exploring ideas outside of your skill set may encourage you to acquire that skill set. And, okay, I know that doesn’t help you in the moment, but it’s a box you can tick for later. And you aren’t beaten just yet.

For the things just beyond your abilities, it doesn’t hurt to learn on the job. If your idea is only just outside of what you’re normally capable of, I say take it on. There’s nothing like a little pressure to get you going. And there are plenty of resources on the web that can point you in the right direction for whatever it is you’re trying to accomplish. Once you’ve completed it, BAM, now you’ve done that thing. And the next time you’re concepting, you have some experience with it. As with everything, you’ll get better with each subsequent attempt.

Now, about the things that fall outside of your usual arsenal.

“I’m a cartoonist but boy would this thing look great in sculpture.” Okay, I may not want to take that client work on as a “learning project.” But, hey, I know a few sculptors. I’ve got the brains, they’ve got the hands. Let’s make this work!

Combining forces with a fellow creative is always an option. And if you have the opportunity to work closely with them, odds are you’re going to learn something along the way. You’ll see your concept executed to its fullest potential and you’ll understand what did and didn’t work for the next time you try to tackle a project in the same arena.

Exploring ideas when you doubt your ability isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It can give you greater insight into what you CAN accomplish and what it will take to do so. It may lead you down a path you didn’t expect, into areas heretofore unknown to you. And once those areas become familiar, you can move on to the next thing you’re no good at. ;)

At XPLANE | Dachis Group we have some of those fun perks you often hear about at great workplaces — wine every Friday, free M&Ms, a pool table, and a duck pond to name a few. But we think the reason our workplace is so great runs a little deeper than that. For us, building a great workplace is a big commitment, and it’s all about building trust, pride, and camaraderie. We wanted to share a few of our practices with the hope that it might inspire you to think about how you could build a better workplace — wherever you work.

Our beloved X.

Building trust

At the core of every great workplace there are strong relationships built on trust between employees and managers, most often developed through open, two-way communication.

Open studios | At XPLANE, there are no doors, so we have the ultimate open-door policy. Every single one of our employees works out in the open. We have conference rooms if people need to have private meetings, but no one has a private office. In fact, our President’s and our Founder’s desk spaces are the exact same size as others and mixed right in with the rest of the team. This workspace plan sets the tone that everyone is equal and privy to essentially the same information.

Monday Morning Meetings | We know that lack of information can cause suspicion and assumption, so we maintain a culture of transparency in order to build trust. So each Monday, teams in every studio gather together to share news we want everyone to hear — business updates, project successes or challenges, company-wide changes, as well as personal news. The minutes from each meeting are posted on our intranet so that people in other studios can also read about what is happening across the company.

Recognition cards | What better way to build a trusting relationship than to recognize employees for their efforts? We have a very simple way that any Xplaner can give a co-worker a shout out. One of our designers created 3×5 cards that say, “Exceeding expectations, thanks for going above and beyond.” The cards include blank spots to fill in who it’s for, who it’s from, and the purpose of the recognition. We have a corkboard where people post these cards. Then once a month we take them all down and draw out one person in each studio who receives a $25 gift certificate to their favorite store.

The PDX studio.

Building pride

When people love their jobs, it shows. They’re more loyal, productive, and creative. XPLANE takes measures to ensure the relationship between the employee and the workplace is strong because if they feel pride in their work, they’ll share that sentiment with others.

Inspiration walls | One way to build pride is through inspiration. In our industry, being observant of our world is necessary, and being inspired by what we see every day is even more critical. So each studio has dedicated wall space for employees to display what inspires them. Inspiration Walls have evolved over time and currently in the Portland studio, the responsibility to inspire rotates amongst the employees. One person has a two-week period to post on the wall anything that s/he finds inspirational and could inspire others. At any given time, the Inspiration Walls could feature photos, sketches, illustrations, designs, books, newspaper clippings, web sites, you name it.

Annual Vizzie Awards | We also want people to take pride in what they produce. In order to do so, our Creative Directors organize an annual award program to recognize our very best work from the year. They ask all employees to nominate the best work — their own or others — from the past year. The CDs then decide on the best 3-4 pieces for the categories of Innovator, Client Impact, and Best in Show. All employees can cast votes to determine the winners. At our January All-Hands meeting, we show all the final contestants and announce the winners. Each winning team is given a trophy for their desk and a cash award to use however the team wishes.

Breakfast at the all-hands meeting in STL.

Building camaraderie

A great workplace is one in which the employees feel like they are part of a greater whole but are also free to be individuals.

Visual directory | The first step in building a team is ensuring everyone knows each other, so one of our designers helped create a visual directory that includes photos and a few fun facts about each of our team members. As our team grows across different locations, this is just one of the little ways we can help people get to know their team members and ensure they can put a face with a name.

Ministry of Fun | To inspire camaraderie amongst employees, we have a team-building committee at XPLANE known as the Ministry of Fun in which we plan and prepare activities to create more cultural alignment and build a great work environment. Led by our Employee Experience Assistant, the Ministry of Fun is a committee of employees from all locations who gather in the interest of planning fun events and activities in efforts to make our workplaces even more enjoyable.

Because of our focus on building a great workplace, XPLANE has established a strong culture. We recognize that each workplace culture is unique, so we offer these ideas as inspiration. As we continue to grow and transform, our efforts to maintain a great workplace will also shift and morph, but we’ll never lose sight of the goal to build trust, pride, and camaraderie.

You have stumbled into a zone in which we’ve all found ourselves: Coming up with a design concept for your new project.

I’m here to talk you through some of the common roadblocks you may encounter when generating concepts. Previously, we discussed unoriginality. Today, let’s dig into bad ideas. Or at least what to do when you have them.

There’s a common sequence of thoughts that runs through my head when I’m working on what I’ve realized is a poor concept or a bad idea…

1. This isn’t working.
2. This really isn’t working.
3. Why am I still bothering with this?
4. This is stupid.
5. I’m stupid.
6. I’m hungry.
7. I’m getting a sandwich.

These are negative thoughts. Except the sandwich thing — that’s perfectly delicious. Maybe you run through this same thought process while hashing out concepts. You’ll come up with something, but won’t play it out to its end because you’re sure some aspect of it will fail. But is that such a bad thing? I think there’s much to be said for learning from what doesn’t work. Sure, you shouldn’t set out to explore the bad ideas, but when one pops into your head, why not give it a try? And why not push that idea, tweak it and pound it and twist it — until you make it into something good — or at least until you can set it aside knowing that it led you in the direction of a good idea?

Why not? Well, because devoting effort to what seems like a bad idea is counter-intuitive and, not surprisingly, feels like a waste of time and energy.

But in the long view — I’m talking about your career here — it can be just as important to work through bad ideas as it is to come up with good ones. Many believe that one learns more from failure than from success (warning — link may contain strong language). Whether you believe that or not, the knowledge gained through failure often can be applied in later endeavors and will allow you to more efficiently filter out bad ideas from good ones.

The bottom line: When you get better at knowing why something doesn’t work you’re actually getting better knowing what will work.

And that’s no waste of time.

Cut to Spirit Week at XPLANE, a week where we do fun, silly things to raise money for local charities. We needed a name for our Top Chef-style quickfire competition and Top Jeff felt right. Instead of Jeff vs. Jeff it became XPLANEr vs. XPLANEr. Events were devised which tested an XPLANE employee’s most basic skills: Scheduling, live sketching, rendering and more! The St. Louis staff was split into two teams and we gathered in our main conference room. What followed was an hour of teeth-clenching trepidation and gut-wrenching tension! The defeated were downtrodden. The victors, proud. Here follows an account of the events that took place that fateful April day in St. Louis…

✪ ROUND 1: SCHEDULING
The competition kicked off with Ashley Rath, seasoned Project Manager taking on plucky upstart, Susanne LeBlanc. Susanne the designer faced quite a challenge, given her total lack of experience in the competitive field of Project Management. Each was given a set of cards that detailed several calls, timelines, and deadlines for a specific designer. The challenge: Schedule that designer’s week! Ashley and Susanne stared down an oversized, week-long calendar and at the word “go!” launched themselves into a world of meeting times, conference calls and iteration cycles. Against all odds, relative amateur Susanne came out on top, edging Ashley out for the win!

“Nervous for the first challenge! I wasn’t sure what we’d have to do, but it seemed pretty familiar once I got into it.” –Susanne LeBlanc

✪ ROUND 2: AFFINITY MAPPING
Client-session staple James Macanufo eyed down long-time XPLANEr Bill Keaggy with a cool confidence. The contestants were each presented with twenty-five individual items on sticky notes and were required to sort them into five categories. A flurry of arms, Post-Its and curses followed as James and Bill moved at lightning speed. Stickies were grouped and ungrouped. Arranged and rearranged. When the smoke cleared, James stood victorious.

“I love finding patterns and the affinity mapping challenge was a fun way to mix work and play. Then I lost.” –Bill Keaggy

✪ ROUND 3: LIVE SKETCHING
Ashley saw her chance for revenge as her fellow teammate and known whiteboard wizard Ted May went up against Susanne. Susanne, having to compete in a second event given her team’s smaller number of members, found herself in more comfortable territory with Live Sketching. But with a win already under her belt, was she too comfortable? The event presented Ted and Susanne with 10 vignettes, described on index cards. Both would have to draw the vignettes as quickly and accurately as possible. The felt tips flew as they knocked out each vignette one by one. Amidst flashbacks of sessions past and the rabid screaming of his team, Ted won the round.

“Up against Ted. Yikes. Good thing we’d both practiced drawing the U.S. map before.” –Susanne LeBlanc

✪ ROUND 4: CONCEPTING:
XPLANE intern Zoë Scharf was faced with an Everest-like challenge when going up against concepting juggernaut Chris Roettger. In front of each contestant were fifteen words. Zoë and Chris were to concept an icon for each word, and each had to be unique. Zoë surprised everyone as she danced toe to toe with Chris on icon after icon. But experience won out over spirit in the end, and Chris took the “W.”

“Under pressure you start to realize that as far as icons go, clichés might just be the best bet for quick recognition.” –Chris Roettger

✪ ROUND 5: STORYBOARDING
Motion master Jacob Heberlie went up against XPLANE founder Dave Gray in what was sure to be a fight to remember. Jacob had plenty of storyboarding arrows in his quiver but he was up against an intimidating competitor. Tall both in stature and wisdom, Dave loomed above Jacob as the round began. The challenge? Storyboard, in ten frames, the children’s rhyme “Itsy Bitsy Spider.” Pan up! Zoom in! Jump cut! After a tense bout of camera moves and stage direction, Dave won gracefully.

“I was shaking like a leaf, the pressure was on and I felt compelled to deliver for my team.” –Dave Gray

✪ ROUND 6: PRODUCTION
The gloves came off and the MacBooks powered on for the final round. David “Hotkeys” Vordtriede took on Jeff “The only actual Jeff in Top Jeff” Wilson. The contestants were given five sketches of icons and a color palette and told to digitally render them as fast as possible. The keys clacked and the mice clicked amidst the roar of both teams. Jeff closed one final path and with it, closed David and team’s chance at victory.

“I was filled with excitement, competitiveness and sheer panic.” –David Vordtriede

At the end of six rounds the times of each contestant were added together to determine a total team score. The winning team: Susanne, James, Chris, Dave and Jeff. The runners up: Ashley, Bill, Ted, Zoë, Jacob and David. A mere two minutes separated the winners from the not winners.

They entered as enemies but left as friends on that fateful day. Hands were shook and backs patted as XPLANErs congratulated one another on a job well done. Both teams played their hearts out on that tough playing field known as the whiteboard. All that was left to do was to begin planning for Top Jeff 2012.

WARM-UP

Everyone took dry erase marker in hand as I read through the following sequence, one line at a time. Remember — no one knew what was coming next.

1. A little girl has just woken up, dizzy, cold and crying.
2. She had a nightmare that she threw up…
3. all over her cat…
4. and the cat died…
5. and now the cat’s ghost haunts her.

What can I say, I like dark humor.

For the main exercise we took Brunetti’s video exercise linked above and changed it slightly. We had 14 people so we paired up into seven groups to create a few Wordless Stories.

PART 1 (30 minutes)

1. Think of a character, any character.
2. Now think of a location, some place or setting for your character.
3. Take four index cards and draw a four-panel strip of your character without using words.
4. Draw the character in the location that you chose facing a challenge.

PART 2 (20 minutes)

1. Go back to the beginning of the sequence and draw 2 more panels to make the motivation behind the character’s action more clear.
2. Then go to the end of the sequence and draw 2 more panels to show some consequence of the action depicted.

One of the characters.

A full panel. Click to view larger.

Rapid creation (and beer — VTS runs 4-6 p.m.) always leads to very lively and unexpected results. Visit our VTS Flickr Set to see more examples.

FINALE

After going round the room and reviewing each other’s work, we sat back and enjoyed Matthias Hoegg’s beautiful animated short, “Thursday.” We marveled at how much story and emotion he was able to create without using a single word.

Although I always say I very much need music to do creative work, it’s scary how many times I catch myself, headphones on, cranking away… even though the music stopped playing an hour ago.

That’s because for the most part I am an album purist — I like to listen to every song in the order the band chose. But sometimes I really need to crank on a project — so I put one amazing song on repeat and get into the zone. Here’s what have turned out to be my top get-things-done tracks (each of these show hundreds of listen in my iTunes):

1. ‘Rifles’ by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
2. ‘Snowden’ by Doves
3. ‘In Mind’ by Do Make Say Think
4. ‘Duress’ by Swervedriver
5. ‘Chemical Wire’ by fIREHOSE
6. ‘All Her Favorite Fruit (Orchestral)’ by Camper Van Beethoven

Unfortunately Amazon didn’t have an embeddable clip of the version of the CVB song I like best but you can listen to it here. Also, I have a lot of bands I think are really good for getting work done (The Album Leaf, Air, Explosions In The Sky, Couch, Carter Burwell, Drive-By Truckers, Gomez, Mogwai, Slint, South, Pinback) but just don’t have that one song that I can listen to over and over.

And here are a few other interesting music/visual things:

• designers.mx | I’ve made lots of themed mixes over the years so it’s neat to see that designers finally have their very own music mix site.
• stereomood | “Behind every song there’s always an emotion. we don’t know why but maybe that’s why we love music. So we’ve created a way to suggest songs that follow your feelings: stereomood is the emotional internet radio, providing music that best suits your mood and your activities.”
• Birds on the Wires | “Reading a newspaper, I saw a picture of birds on the electric wires. I cut out the photo and decided to make a song, using the exact location of the birds as notes…”
• Charting The Beatles | “These visualizations are part of an extensive study of the music of the Beatles. Many of the diagrams and charts are based on secondary sources, including but not limited to sales statistics, biographies, recording session notes, sheet music, and raw audio readings.”
• And finally, The Steely Dan Infographic Project | In which they “create a chart, diagram, graph or other visual aid inspired by each and every Steely Dan song.”

So what are your favorite songs to play on repeat and get things done?

When I was combing through dusty hard drives and ancient project folders the other week looking for that old Robonaut XPLANATiON, I found an old text file (saved in BBEdit!) called “Core values: Things we believe in.”

It came from conversations and emails with Dave Gray, XPLANE’s founder. It was shared with all employees, even back when we were just five or six people working on desks made of doors and file cabinets. I’m pretty sure it dates to 1999…

Let’s jump into Chinese philosophy for a second: “Plan for what is difficult while it is easy, do what is great while it is small. The most difficult things in the world must be done while they are still easy, the greatest things in the world must be done while they are still small. For this reason sages never do what is great, and this is why they can achieve that greatness.”

We’re still a trickle at the top of a mountain. The more things we do right at the early stages in our growth, the fewer things we’ll have to correct later on. The key to success is for everyone at XPLANE to take responsibility for working intelligently and setting a good example so everyone can truly understand what it is that makes this place special. Our goal in all of this is to make sure we have a way to grow without losing our essence as a company and as a community.

And there’s this too. We published it on our web site for many years…

Everyone at XPLANE takes personal responsibility for embodying our core values:

• Know yourself | Know your strengths and weaknesses. Be forthright and proactive about communicating them to others.
• Openness | Communicate the feelings as well as the facts.
• Teamwork | Take responsibility for tasks as a team and work together to accomplish them. This means not only within your team but any time your efforts are coordinated with other teams.
• Ask why | If you don’t understand something, ask why. Keep asking until you get it. (The whole “There are no stupid questions” thing.)
• WOW | A good job or solution isn’t enough. It’s got to be WOW.
• Celebrate differences | We all process things, think, and communicate differently. The more we seek to understand each other, the more we learn and grow and the better our communication becomes.
• Share | Share your time. Share your resources. Share your work. Share yourself.
• Do it | If you see something that needs to be done, don’t call headquarters and wait for a response. Get off your butt and do it. If you make a mistake, you’ll learn from it. But remember — think about the consequences before you act. $50 mistakes, GOOD. $20,000 mistakes, BAD.

What I love about this is that we’ve never really changed any of these core values. They are part of who we have and who we hire. Actually, this stuff isn’t posted anywhere anymore — we don’t even have to talk about it now. They just are. And we just do.

We didn’t.

A love letter to Designers from XPLANE on Vimeo.

Dear future XPLANE Designer,

We may not have met yet, but I suspect you’ll receive this letter as if it’s a call from a wayward kindred spirit. See, we’ve got this magic chemistry that’s precious and rare. In short, I’m looking for you. More directly, the world needs you.

First, let me tell you that XPLANE is unlike anywhere you’ve worked before. We give respect to Design by using it as a proper noun. We’re neither an advertising agency nor a marketing group — we’re a consultative Design studio wherein Designers employ the arts of listening, strategizing, creating and presenting on a daily basis.

Now that I have your attention, please allow me a few moments to tell you why you’re so very special.

For starters, you have stunning visual chops. You have the talent, experience, and skill needed to deliver every time. Some of our best Designers on staff have advanced degrees, while others have no formal training at all. Wherever you land on the spectrum, you’re able to balance your academic credentials with an intuitive flair that leads to jaw-dropping and timeless visual Design.

This said, you know that great looking work isn’t everything; experience creation is your ultimate goal. Yes, you know the nuts and bolts of how to build interactive and print projects from the ground up, but the reason we’re interested in you is your ability to place yourself within the minds of your audience. You uncover what is interesting to them, mastermind what will surprise them, and formulate what will help them to best understand and retain what they experience.

You think like da Vinci. Everyone can draw, it’s true, but you can REALLY draw. Like, with a pencil. Or with a marker while standing in front of fifty people. You might even be able to draw with a tablet on your computer. What’s more, you can listen and draw at the same time. And chew gum. Kidding about the gum. Drawing is the start of every project we do and shepherding your Designs from inception to completion requires that you be a true renaissance man or woman to make the grade.

While I know you can find fulfillment in nearly every Design challenge, you can afford to expect a great variety. At XPLANE, you’ll work sometimes from a directional void and sometimes within strict guidelines. You won’t be making web banners because you’re an industry-agnostic multimedia ninja who is constantly asked to stretch into illustration, writing, motion, sound Design and much more. You’ll Design for varied industries and for some of the most exciting companies in the world, including many of the Fortune 100. Some currently active studio projects include mobile apps, interactive sites, touchscreen experiences, process maps, training courses, print campaigns, visual languages and animated movies. Diverse, right? Here are some examples: http://xplane.com/portfolio. Here are some more: http://youtube.com/user/xplanevisualthinking.

You’re not just a studio Designer — you travel well. We won’t keep you locked in some tower. In fact, you might be in Portland your first week, off to San Francisco for a few days, then straight to Vegas, then back to the studio. Maybe even a jaunt to Brussels. We have clients all over the world and guess what — we send our Designers to meet them at the beginning of almost every project, so make sure your passport is up to date.

You can appreciate sky-high limits. We’ll encourage you to try new things and you’ll have the freedom to be as creative as your project (and budget) allows. This means you’re a natural learner. You’re curious, even nosey. You’ll act autonomously but won’t feel alone in your endeavors. But be warned – with such freedoms, come great responsibilities. This job isn’t for the faint of heart.

Now in closing, I must ask, did you know that XPLANE was voted by our employees as one of Oregon Business Journal’s 100 best Places to Work? Yup. We’ve been working really hard to earn that title. We know that at the end of the day, it’s all about our people. They’re our most valuable asset. One more DYK — we’re also one of Oregon Business Journal’s Fastest Growing Companies for five years running. When you have great people with great talent, you attract great clients and create great work.

Now you know what we’re looking for. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.

Much love,
XPLANE

PS: If you feel that you’re right for us, please send your résumé, portfolio and references.

How to apply

• Portland studio: http://xplane.catchthebest.com/apply/7d3e/25b2
• Amsterdam studio: http://xplane.catchthebest.com/apply/5b59/25b2
• St. Louis studio: http://xplane.catchthebest.com/apply/61d6/25b2

And good luck. We can’t wait to meet you! <3

We’ve all been there.

The struggle for that first idea, the breakthrough concept, is often a hard-fought battle. It’s an uphill slog through uncertainty and self-doubt. There’s a hesitance to put pen to paper for fear that your initial ideas won’t work out. A worry that a friend or colleague may walk by, glance at your work and quietly judge your (in)abilities, forever changing the tenor of your relationship.

Okay, maybe it’s not so bad as all that, but lack of ideas is a common occurrence in any field involving creativity. And this isn’t going to be a list of ways to find inspiration. Enough of those exist in the world, and you don’t need my help finding them. I’m more interested in what’s getting in our way once we’ve been inspired. What stops us from putting those ideas down on paper?

In this, and subsequent posts, I present to you some common roadblocks that we might be looking at the wrong way. Maybe they’re not roadblocks at all, if we give them a chance. Let’s explore further, shall we?

Number one: Unoriginality

Wouldn’t it be nice to be the first person to do something? The first to design a grid system. The first to put type over a photograph or on a slant. Or the first to notice that an accidental ink splatter actually looks pretty cool on the layout. Yes, that’d be nice, but too often fear of unoriginality becomes a show-stopper and our initial ideas — ones with potential — are abandoned because of one powerful, progress-killing thought, “This has been done before.”

Should we leave these ideas out to dry because there is, indeed, precedent for them? Maybe not. In fact, I say exploring and mimicking (dare I say, copying?) things is a great way to lead you into new lands!

When I was a kid, I used to redraw my favorite comic book panels. At the time I didn’t realize I was indirectly teaching myself how to draw, but I was creating muscle memory in my hands and brain (is the brain a muscle?)* and I was giving myself the ability to experience a bit of what it’s like to be another artist.

And isn’t that what copying is all about? Putting yourself in the shoes of another creator. Experiencing, for yourself, what it was like to be the first person to do “X.” That experience, that feeling is important. And it’s inspiring. And inspiration is exactly what you need when you sit down in front of a blank slate. Obviously you can’t claim those copied designs as your own, but it’s good private practice.

So if you find yourself at a creative standstill, pick some of your favorite design conventions and ideas and copy them. Then tweak them. It’s good practice and it may lead you to something new. And even if it doesn’t, at least you’re exercising your mind rather than stewing on a problem.

My next post? Bad Ideas, and the minds that have them.

*The internet says “no.”