{"id":321,"date":"2006-06-03T17:45:34","date_gmt":"2006-06-03T17:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jeffwerner.ca\/wp\/?p=321"},"modified":"2013-03-07T18:01:26","modified_gmt":"2013-03-08T02:01:26","slug":"the_gdc_coudal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jeffwerner.ca\/testa\/the_gdc_coudal\/","title":{"rendered":"The GDC Coudal Lock"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jim Coudal spoke at the GDC\/BC Salazar Student Awards on June 1. It was pretty good. His design firm, Coudal Partners<\/a>, has this new philosophy: to do less work-for-hire and more work for themselves.
\nAn example of work-for-hire is creating a brand identity for a major corporation. You get paid for the work\u2014once–and you’re not involved in its process (or revenues) again while the corporation may benefit from the identity for decades. Jim said he wanted to stop that, or at least reduce his firm’s dependency on it.
\nTwo examples he gave of working for themselves were creating Jewelboxing<\/a> and The Show<\/a>. In the former they saw a market for a better DVD package design so they started selling their own. In the latter they saw a need for better live performance CDs, so they created a company that masters, designs and packages that, too.
\nPart of the process behind his company’s evolution (which has proven successful for them) as I understand it was to work on, buy and sell projects and products they liked as individuals. Then the question in 2002 or so–Jim asked aloud to the 50-odd crowd of students and designers\u2014was where could he find an audience that’s into the same things? The answer had been there for years at his company’s website \/ blog \/ art-and-design link-up centre. There were thousands of people visiting everyday because they\u2014dang yo\u2014obviously like the same things Coudal do.
\nHe didn’t actually say dang yo. But Jim presented everything super down-to-earth, open and clear. Not a PowerPoint slide in sight. What I really respected was the way, when he would start answering questions about a design he’d done as a metaphor for process, or insert a Web 2.0 buzz word, he’d catch himself and say Nah, it’s not about that.
\nIn between quarter-jokingly telling us to fire our clients and start working for ourselves, Jim stressed something else I tend to hear from a lot designers these days: the importance of good writing. Man, I love hearing that, not just because I have a minor in the subject…well no, mostly because of that. He said it’s the \u201csign of an organized mind\u201d and I must agree it’s pretty scary some of the writing levels I see among my contemporaries. Jim has a background in Art History, too. Man, my five years at UVic feels more justified than ever.
\nSome other points I took home from Jim:<\/p>\n