gruntmonkey News and Posts

The Golden Age Begins Today

Mon, 07 Jan 2013 12:13:59 -0600

“Last year we trained. This year we fight.”

One year ago those words hit like a bucket of ice water down my neck. I watched others effects of “training” and noted the why, how, and began to put into play the lessons learned from James, Mike, Jason, Aaron, Jim, and so many other peers and mentors that I hope to one day meet.

I started things based on nothing more than an idea. I made things for myself but made enough to share. I listened more than spoke. I traveled to spend time with complete strangers and dear friends. And because I saw the value of what I’d learned from my own mentors and advisors, I gave back to the next generation of our industry through guidance and conversation. It was quite a year.

But it wasn’t enough; it was merely training.

I want more.

I want to solve better problems. I want to instinctively answer questions with, “Yes, and….”. I want to get out of my own way. I want to fail faster.

These are my resolutions, and I’ve already started applying them.

What’s in store for 2013?

1) New stuff! The studio has started offering new items in our Society6 shop. I will keep adding to it over the next few weeks.

2) New classes. Last year I posted some potential courses on SkillShare, and as I work out the details, I’ll soon be announcing dates for the first of them. They will be hosted in-person, in Chicago.

3) More self-initialed projects. This has been a founding belief of gruntmonkey: to continue to grow one must continue to explore and build. As designers, we have a responsibility to offer up solutions to issues we encounter, regardless if they are presented by a client, or by our own discovery.

So get excited!

“This year? This year’s gonna be a goddamned golden age.”

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

State of the Union c. 2011

Tue, 18 Dec 2012 15:19:30 -0600

The following was written on January 26, 2011, the day after President Obama’s State of the Union Address and one year after I launched gruntmonkey LLC.

The state of things:

With the State of the Union address last night I felt that it was a good time to stop for a minute and take a look back at where things have been, as well and give some hints at where things are going with gruntmonkey LLC.

When I set up gruntmonkey LLC last January, there was a simple premise; officially create a business entity that would allow me to sell products and services. Granted I wasn’t exactly sure what those would be, but with my design background, and an interest in screen printed posters, I knew I had options.

Like any new business owner I can tell you that you run the gamut of emotions of stress, anxiety, doubt, and all out enlightenment when you take that dive. You know there are no guarantees, and things could fail miserably, but for some reason you just have to try. The main thing I kept telling myself was “It’s just the first year”, and know that nothing, success or failure, is instant. Especially in this economy and market.

So what’s happened in the first official year of gruntmonkey LLC.? Well in January 2010 I was part of a group of Chicago printmakers who had work inducted into the poster collection of the Museum für Gestaltung Zürich. One of, if not THE largest collection of posters in the world. In February I heard about a small independent film that took a look at the history of wood type, and the process of letter press printing. This sounded awesome and being a fan of Gary Huswits Helvetica, I knew that this was going to be received very well within the design community. A few weeks later, myself and cohort Zissou Tasseff-Elenkoff of Fugscreens Studios had a set of prints for the Chicago premiere of the film produced to benefit the film and it’s production.

I also contributed a print to the Haiti Poster Project that sales would benefit relief efforts in Haiti after the earthquake.

In March I had the opportunity to create 2 show posters for The Dead Weather for shows in Australia. Took a trip to Texas, saw some friends and went to SXSW to check out Flatstock and meet other poster designers. I called it networking, and also met Smokey Robinson.

After three months of keeping my head down and working non-stop on projects I loved, I finally took a moment to look up and started to look forward. I had just moved to Chicago 4 months before the start of all this and hadn’t had a chance to explore my new home. I got involved in with a local Meetup group for designers, met some educators, was asked to come in and offer critiques of their students work, made a bookshelf to give those students a place to discover books that will benefit their education, and participated in a few small exhibitions.

In between client work I started to evaluate what gruntmonkey really was. In short, I realized it was an enabler. It was a way to allow me to produce things I liked for myself and others. I had made a few posters, and made them available through a storefront, I had consulted with some individuals about projects they wanted to do, and started to get back into more traditional design work for clients, (mostly friends). Add another show poster to the list, and some prints for an awesome coffee shop, and 2010 had run it’s course.

Produce More / Sleep Less.

With new years come new resolutions. I told myself that the first year was going to be a learning experience, and was it ever. There’s things to improve upon, of course, but the key is to keep moving forward. Don’t stand still, keep producing and recognize opportunities when they present themselves.

There’s a number of things already in the works for this year, and I can’t wait to unveil what’s behind the curtain. Site redesigns are starting to come together, new prints are currently in the works, there’s a new project we hope to release in the spring that we think students and professional creatives will enjoy, and I am accepting more design clients through gruntmonkey’s as-of-yet unnamed design practice.

To everyone who follows, reads, and purchases; Thank you for the first year.

And here’s to another one.

-Jason Early, founder/designer gruntmonkey LLC.

"The key to a system’s success is, at its core, people willing to create and alter a system..."

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 10:03:00 -0500

“The key to a system’s success is, at its core, people willing to create and alter a system that delivers a shared goal. If the goal isn’t the focus the system won’t matter.”

- Inspired by Aaron Silvers

On NDAs

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 14:02:00 -0500

Over the years, I’ve worked with, or spoken about working with, a number of clients that have required signing a nondisclosure agreement. Some are established organizations, while others are founders within Chicago’s startup community. In the last six months, however, there seems to have been a shift in the tone of many NDAs.

Like many legal documents, the NDA is slanted to the benefit of the client. I get that; it’s always been this way. Recently, though, it feels like the benefits to the client are so one-sided as to be of no benefit to me and the studio.

So going forward I’ve decided to share the studio’s new policy on nondisclosure agreements: Your NDA will most likely not be signed.

Now I’m not naive enough to say “will never be signed”, because I know, and have been in, certain situations where it is perfectly acceptable to agree to nondisclosure terms. Most of those situations involve working with licensed properties, working in (established) competitive product markets, Clients that have proprietary technology systems, and businesses that utilize and have developed their own trade secrets.

And don’t get me wrong: I absolutely understand why you have an NDA. I do. But some simply have unacceptable terms. Including:

-Never disclosing the work done for, or displaying who a client is.
What were the first things you asked me? “Who do you work for?”, Can you tell me more about what you do?”, “Can I see some samples of your work?”. Part of the tool kit I use to generate new clients, and income, is being able to explain the work I do by displaying previous work and being able to discuss the process, issues, and revelations, that lead to the presented solution, just as I did with you when we first met. If I’m unable to do that I have nothing tangible to show that supports my presented solutions.

-Signing an NDA to protect a client’s “Idea”.
Ideas, by themselves, are worthless. Yes, even yours. (No offense.) The value of an idea only comes into fruition based on the execution of that idea. Just look at all the similar businesses that exist in the same space. For example the options for errand running services: TaskRabbit, Zaarly, Blastboard, and countless other variations. They all provide essentially the same service, but each are executed in different ways. The idea isn’t what’s novel. It’s your execution that makes the difference.

-Asking for a NDA prior to even speaking to a client/Signing an NDA as an act of “good faith”.
It may be implied as a sign of good faith, but I see it as the first sign of distrust. Client relationships must be built on trust and respect. If you don’t trust me, then how can we work together? I want you to understand that the entire professional reputation of any service provider — studio or individual — is one based on trust. If I were to go around discussing my clients and their secrets, I can guarantee that I would be out of business.

So those are stipulations I will absolutely no longer be agreeing to. In addition to those, there are a number of other reasons to not agree to an NDA. Why?

-It puts all the obligation on me and none on the client
I have to take precaution and make sure I never share what is revealed or I’m (potentially) liable. But where’s the client’s obligation to me and the information that I provide?

-I’m not signing a legal document without a lawyer.
No fucking way. Period. NDA’s are legally binding contracts, often covering a wide number of situations, and written by a lawyer. So shouldn’t I have one read it? You disagree? Then we won’t be working together.

-The biggest value to your project I could offer is that I would talk about it.
I completely agree with Anil Dash on this one. If I’m silenced by an NDA and I meet a great investor/sponsor/partner for the project, I wouldn’t be able to tell them about it .

As a service provider I do understand that there are levels of confidentiality that go along with the job so in the name of transparency here is how gruntmonkey handles those confidential situations outside of those already listed acceptable situations.

1) Conversations with clients are held in confidence unless permission is granted to share for the sake of the project.

2) Final Deliverables produced are held in confidence until the client releases the project to the public.

3) Once the Final Deliverables have been released by the client to the public the studio retains the right to display/share/write about/discuss the work as outlined in the studio’s Terms of Agreement.

That’s it.

If you are at a stage where revealing an idea could be damaging to its success, then only disclose that information to those whom you know and trust. Ideas traditionally gain value from cross-pollination, and this only comes when they are talked about.

But the fundamental issue is this: if we don’t have a basic level of mutual trust and respect, then we shouldn’t be working together at all. I’m ok with that.
What about you?

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

Opportunity earned. Not given.

Wed, 25 Jul 2012 16:13:59 -0500

A few times a year, mostly during the summer, the studio gets a number of random, unsolicited emails containing resumes and generic cover letter .PDFs from people who want to work here.

I’d like to issue an open letter in reply.

First off, thank you for your interest in what the studio does, and for wanting to be a part of it. It really means a lot to me.

Secondly, I’d like to confess something to you. I don’t care about your resume.
It’s true: I don’t read them. Your resume tells me two things:

1. Your attention to detail
2. Your ability to organize content.

Now, both are important qualities, but are only parts of a bigger whole. Showing me that on screen, for a piece that is meant to be printed is already one strike against you. Thinking that I may actually print it out is another. Two strikes against you and I haven’t even seen your work yet. The odds are not in your favor.

We are in the creative services industry. If you can’t devise a creative way to get my attention, then that’s another conversation we can have at a later time.

So why do I not read resumes? In the hierarchy of things I need to know to consider offering someone an opportunity to work with me, a resume is probably third or fourth on the scale of importance. What are numbers one and two?
The work presented, and the person presenting. In that order.

Nothing else matters. Really.

Your work is what will get you in my door, but actually speaking to you will convince me to grant you an opportunity.

Did you catch that? Speaking with you — conversing — is the key. If you have the chance to talk with me about an opportunity, it is yours and yours alone to attain or to lose.

Now since I am writing about opportunities at gruntmonkey I’ll just go ahead and close with this:

Are there currently opportunities to work with gruntmonkey? There are ALWAYS opportunities to work with gruntmonkey. It’s up to you, the applicant, to convince me that you have earned it.

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

We did it to ourselves.

Sun, 08 Jul 2012 14:29:00 -0500

Spec work. No two words can put me on the defensive faster. Personally I feel that it’s the practice that does more damage to our industry then anything else. It advocates and encourages a misrepresentation of value and misunderstanding of what the Design industry is, and it needs to stop.

So when I was pointed to Matt Mickiewicz speaking on disruptive innovation and speaking of his own co-founded venture 99designs, which crowdsources design projects (a form of working on Spec), I was, to put it lightly, ‘bothered’ by what was being communicated.

After calming down and watching the presentation for myself, the reasoning for wanting to disrupt the model of hiring a designer felt based on naiveté and misunderstanding.

“We realized the old process of hiring a graphic designer was fundamentally broken. Everyone would begin by asking their friend for recommendations searching the Yellow Pages or do a Google search looking for agencies or freelancers in their local area. They would reach out to those designers, review portfolios, obtain quotes and proposals, go in for pitch meetings, negotiate a timeline, so by the time you decide that you needed a logo and the time you actually sign a contract to get a logo, as much as a month of time could have elapsed, which quite frankly is absolute bullshit for the average small-business owner who’s better off investing their time and effort in sales and marketing and customer service and looking after the core competency building of the business.”

Mr. Mickiewicz continues,

“As well many of the customers that were talked to were frustrated with designers even after they hired them. Not only were they committing to pay $2,000, $5,000, $10,000 for a logo, but often times designers didn’t deliver on time, a better client would come along, the designer would get sick, go on vacation in the middle of the project, and their project would be stuck in limbo.

Even when a designer did deliver a project, many times the customers were unhappy. They’d be presented with an invoice, a design, and be told they would be charged $75, $100, $150, an hour or more if they want additional changes or revisions.”

So let me see if I can understand this: His view that the design process is “fundamentally broken” is based on a process that takes too long; designers not taking responsibility for their job; designers not being unaccountable to their ‘customers’; and ‘customers’ being unhappy that they would be charged if they wanted changes made once a project was completed and delivered.

He’s right. It sounds awful.

We only have ourselves to blame.

Spec work exists because designers and clients don’t value the work they do, and somewhere in the history of design services, designers stopped caring and believing that what they do is valuable. Design is a service industry. We as professional designers provide solutions to our clients.
That’s right kids: clients. Not customers.

This is a misrepresentation that get passed around. Design customers don’t buy a logo like a new dishwasher. They can’t browse the shelves for one that fits their needs, price and aesthetic. Design clients hire a designer to craft a logo that solves a specific need to that client. It’s custom. It’s tailored to specifications, and is ideally more valuable to the client because of what it communicates or represents.

Design is a process. It takes time. How much time is a variable that relies on participation, the relationship between the Designer and the Client. If a Designer is scheduling a project that requires Client contributions and feedback on specific dates, the project schedule is immediately affected if the Client has to reschedule. If a Designer fails to deliver work for an in progress review, and has to be pushed back, the schedule is similarly affected. Time is a sliding and shifting variable in client relationships. It’s up to the party making the schedule to explain how participation or lack of can affect things, and It’s up to both parties involved to understand this and know how to handle the situation if something is affected.

Can getting a contract signed for a project take a month? Sure. Hell, it could take six. It could also take 2 weeks, 1 day, or hours. It just depends on how much both parties are participating in the process.
Joint participation. (Are you sensing a theme?)

Are your clients unhappy? Why? Did you ask them?
Did you know you can?

The interactions between a Designer and a Client are based on a relationship. And like any relationship it involves communication and occasionally some cultivation. If your clients are unhappy with something you did, ask what it is they are unhappy with! If they are down right pissed-off, apologize! Then ask what it is they are unhappy with.

It’s about being accountable for the work we deliver.

We are expected to be responsible people. If you are working on a project, get sick and can’t work on it for a couple days, inform your client the schedule is going to shift. It happens. Put in some extra hours to get things back on track once you’ve recovered, and the Client will most likely understand.

They understand illness, sure, but vacations? Those take planning. If you are going to be going on vacation and you’re in the middle of a project you have a few options.

A) work your ass off to get things completed before you leave
B) inform your client of the situation and that the schedule will shift
C) work on it while on vacation (not my favorite option, but it is an option)
D) not schedule the project for while you’re on vacation.

Vacations don’t just pop up out of thin air. Pretending otherwise is insulting to the Client and the relationship that you’re trying to cultivate.

When Designers got scared — scared of losing clients, scared to ask for what a project was worth — the relationship balance between Designer and Client shifted into the Client’s favor.

But it can be shifted back into balance. The answer is education. First, we need to educate ourselves about effective client management, about the value of our work, and about our rights as professionals. Only then can we educate our clients.

It takes communication. It takes the ability to stand up for the decisions that went into producing a solution. It takes being able to present a solution with confidence. But most of all, it takes professionalism.

Design is most certainly a job. It’s about time we all start treating it like one again.

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

Viewport and updates

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 17:01:59 -0500

So far Viewport has done it’s job quite well by providing a simple way to carry and display your portfolio of work. It’s ultra portable and by being built on a foundation of web standards, can be customized quite a bit.

It’s been over a year since Viewport was first released and with the latest update to Apple’s iPad it’s time to re-visit our little framework and makes some updates.

Over the coming months the plan is to update some of the code, and provide new image templates to make use of the iPad’s insanely sharp display. And for those of you with an Android tablet, the plan is to see if an acceptable experience can be generated for you too.

Once the new version is released, existing orders will be reopened to accommodate for updates and again a free version will be made available for students.

-J

Classes via gruntmonkey

Sun, 19 Feb 2012 13:54:41 -0600

I’m exploring the idea of offering some design related classes through the studio. They would be one or two hour sessions and focus on topics related to the craftsmanship of the design process.

The first two ideas I’m exploring are

1. Digital typesetting and
2. The transition from being a designer focused on printed media, to being a a designer who can work with any media, printed or electronic.

I’ve posted outlines to both classes through Skillshare which has recently rolled out support for us here in Chicago and linked to them below.

Introduction to Digital Typesetting

Introduction to Web Design for Print Designers

If you’re interested you can watch the classes and you will be notified as the details get worked out and dates get posted.

Interview #5 - Jason Early

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:08:00 -0600

My interview with David for his Ethics for Starving Designers project has been posted.

starvingforethics:

Jason Early - a designer with a decade of experience - is the founder of gruntmonkey, a collective that works to produce the sort of creative projects that normally would not see fruition in the professional field. According to their “About” page: “gruntmonkey (gruhnt muhng-kee), n. a creative individual who does routine unglamorous work - often used attributively.” Their work is far from unglamorous though – Be sure to pay a visit to them!

Jason Early also serves as an educator in the design field - as such, he has some very interesting things to say about design education!

Read More

Indv. is now (officially) launched

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 09:32:09 -0600

Yesterday our latest endeavor through the studio was launched. Indv., pronounced “Individual”, is a quarterly publication focusing on personal expressions of creativity. Our initial list of contributors are each amazing in their own right and we’re lucky to have them participate. It would mean the world to us involved if you could help spread the word about our campaign and help us reach our goal.

Thanks in advance,
-J

http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1981343877/indv-a-new-quarterly-publication-from-gruntmonkey

"Design has been with us since the creation of the universe. Be aware of it, explore it, take from it..."

Sat, 07 Jan 2012 18:03:12 -0600

“Design has been with us since the creation of the universe. Be aware of it, explore it, take from it and put something new into the timeline once in a while for someone else to steal. Trying to re-solve a problem that has been solved by millions of other designers without the awareness of what they did isn’t just a sin of ignorance; it’s a sin of ego.”

- Mike Monteiro

Neenah Paper delivers excitement and resources to our designers.

Fri, 06 Jan 2012 12:29:35 -0600

This was originally posted on the Creative Go-Round website.

With a growing digital workflow being established in the design industry we’ve found that our design students are less familiar with the production process of design then in the past. So before the holidays we had an inter-office session with our emerging designers about the importance and possibilities of paper choice. It’s just one of many topics we discuss with them over the course of their internship. We weren’t surprised that they were unaware of the amount of paper options out there, but we certainly wanted to educate and inform them of the subtle (but effective) tool that is proper paper choice.

We pulled out the office swatch books and encouraged them to flip through and feel the differences between a 65lb sheet of text stock and a beefy 140lb sheet of cover stock, and explore the numerous differences in texture, weight, and color that vary between paper types. We explained that decisions regarding *how* solutions would be produced are just as important as to *what* was going to be produced and how paper stock plays a part in those decisions.

In an effort to expand the resources available to our designers, our friends at Neenah Paper were generous enough to send us some goodies to help consider possibilities. It was an early Christmas at Creative Go-Round the day the boxes showed up.

”Just got a ton of @NeenahPaper samples in at work today. It’s amazing to think how exciting paper can be!!” -Alex Gilbert

It was great to see our design students as well as our design professionals nerd-out over something as important but often overlooked as paper.

A huge amount of thanks go to Neenah Paper for the goodies. You delivered above and beyond our expectations and our designers will benefit greatly for it.

Introducing Indv.

Tue, 01 Nov 2011 12:13:03 -0500

Today we’re excited to announce our newest project Indv.

Indv. is going to be a quarterly publication showcasing the work of creatives with an emphasis on collectibility and the quality of keepsake. We hope you’ll consider signing up to receive more information via the official site. We have a number of announcements lined up for the coming weeks that will go to our subscribers first and we wouldn’t want you to miss out.

Thank you Steve, for being you. Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011  (via...

Wed, 05 Oct 2011 21:26:00 -0500

Thank you Steve, for being you.

Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011



(via zeebeefreebee)

google+ and contacts.

Sat, 10 Sep 2011 17:55:00 -0500

Seems we found ~~a big bug~~ an issue in google+ this weekend. Adding people to your circles automatically adds them to your gmail contacts. If you use google’s active sync feature to keep you mac address book and calendars in sync it adds them to your contacts. By deleting those google+contacts from your mac address book they are REMOVED from your google+ circles. Seriously?

Ever since google+ rolled out I’ve been noticing a few other inconsistencies with contacts getting updated correctly.

Does anyone know a way to keep google+ from adding people to your contacts? That would be a great start.

anthonymenecola: Amazing traditional ornamental glass artist,...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 20:05:23 -0500

anthonymenecola:

Amazing traditional ornamental glass artist, David A. Smith.

(Via Neusblog)

Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka speaks about the typography and...

Fri, 02 Sep 2011 11:59:55 -0500

Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka speaks about the typography and optimism of Disneyland.

One For You, One For Me

Fri, 29 Jul 2011 11:45:46 -0500

That sums up the work schedule around here. And with another round of client work getting wrapped in the next week or two, it’s time to start focusing on the next studio initiated project.

In the meantime there’s some housecleaning on the website in the works that will include showcasing some new(ish) work.

Another bit of news that I mentioned over on my personal twitter stream is that I’ve begun working with a great organization called Creative Go-Round in a mentorship capacity.

Creative Go-Round is a creative nonprofit that offers design students an internship opportunity to work directly with real clients to produce real work. As a mentor to the students I’m available to offer feedback, advice and insights to the design profession that will build upon their studies at their respective higher learning institutions.

Well that’s it for now, till the next emergence from #molemode.
-J

At some point we’ll all stop calling these...

Tue, 12 Jul 2011 08:49:34 -0500

At some point we’ll all stop calling these “books” or “apps” right? How about we just call them what they are? “Totally badass and immersive interactive stories that can blow your mind…(for kids and adults)”.

via Moonbot Studios

The future of mobile.

Sat, 09 Jul 2011 13:29:00 -0500

With social networks like facebook, and now google+, competing to be your source to keep in contact with friends and family I wonder how it will effect the mobile communication landscape. Right now, smart phones provide multiple ways to communicate, (talk, email, sms, video) all through different channels (or apps). With Skype integration into facebook and google+’s “hangout” feature allowing users to see and talk to friends through their systems, one has to wonder if the current cellular communication system is on it’s way out. Could the next stage of mobile communication be a 3g/4g/wifi device that’s always connected to the internet and have google+/facebook/skype as the OS?

Are social networks poised to replace cellular service?

gruntmonkey News and Posts

The Golden Age Begins Today

“Last year we trained. This year we fight.”

What’s in store for 2013?

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

State of the Union c. 2011

"The key to a system’s success is, at its core, people willing to create and alter a system..."

On NDAs

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

Opportunity earned. Not given.

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

We did it to ourselves.

We only have ourselves to blame.

Are your clients unhappy? Why? Did you ask them?Did you know you can?

Written by Jason Early, Edited by Alisa Bonsignore

Viewport and updates

Classes via gruntmonkey

Introduction to Digital Typesetting

Introduction to Web Design for Print Designers

Interview #5 - Jason Early

Indv. is now (officially) launched

"Design has been with us since the creation of the universe. Be aware of it, explore it, take from it..."

Neenah Paper delivers excitement and resources to our designers.

Introducing Indv.

Thank you Steve, for being you. Steve Jobs 1955 - 2011  (via...

google+ and contacts.

anthonymenecola: Amazing traditional ornamental glass artist,...

Sean Adams of AdamsMorioka speaks about the typography and...

One For You, One For Me

At some point we’ll all stop calling these...

The future of mobile.

Are your clients unhappy? Why? Did you ask them?
Did you know you can?