On February 21, 2012 I posted a blog that celebrated the people I am lucky to work with day-to-day. I was reminded of it last autumn because I’d been interviewing designers and realize we are not looking for someone who only has a design-skills resume.
“… to build out from the intangible, our designers must have developed their minds, souls — and their consciousness. This is what brings depth, joy and profundity to an identity design.”
I am pleased to say that Alan Lawrence, who joined our studio late last year, is a multi-talented man who epitomizes my belief that memorable design comes from the soul of a human being who embraces a broad array of interests.
Alan is well-versed in the arts and the art of learning. For a time, he was a teacher in the public schools. Perhaps that is where he honed his research skills, which have proven invaluable to us. He is also an excellent jazz pianist and writer, and he comes from a family of educators who cherish new and challenging ideas.
His kind and gentle spirit make him an ideal collaborator. He subsumes ego for the sake of our team-oriented philosophy, always thrilled to make a contribution without having to take absolute ownership of his assignments. We do work as a team, and although in the end it is ownership by all of us, it is also by each of us, and Alan can proudly say he is a very important part of the successful end result.
No matter what task, he has a “spark” that imbues everything he does with creativity and zeal. Things get done, and with style.
I first met Alan several years ago when his class at UCLA joined me at the Andaz West Hollywood for a tour of our brand work. Also on that tour was a young talented woman, Pelin from Istanbul, who impressed me much, and we kept in touch as she decided to return home to her birth nation. I asked her for a referral and she named Alan. She knew, of course, that I wasn’t searching for someone who was only a designer.
“Rigor, originality and accessibility with an aura of mystery are the hallmarks of enduring design, in my opinion. To achieve such results, don’t go looking for just a designer.”
Welcome, Alan.
