OpenInvo Studio. unexpected education.

Your Friend the Creative:
Thriving in the Realm Where Design and Business Collide

Instructor: Samantha Merley
(half day or full day)

We are living and doing business in the age of design. From top business schools to retail products and corporate life, "design thinking" is making its way into business arenas. But often there is still a communication gap between creatives and their corporate brethren, which can keep advantageous business relationships from flourishing. In this seminar, we will examine the differences between creative and corporate culture and learn how to bring the two together in a way that is good for business and for people. We will discuss design language; how designers think and work; what they're looking for in their clients or supervisors; and how to effectively collaborate with them.

We'll also discuss what you, the corporate counterpart in the relationship, would like to achieve in the design experience; how to better articulate your company's brand and marketing goals; and how to get what you want out of the process with minimal consternation and confusion.

Today's economy calls for businesses to display more competitive, innovative thinking than ever before. Meaningful alliances between businesspeople and creative professionals represent a critical front in this challenge. From basic brand positioning to core business development, these relationships will power the successes of twenty-first-century companies.

Tomorrow's strongest business leaders will need to know how to harness the power of good design and maximize their relationships with the people who create it, and this seminar will help achieve that goal.

Objectives and Skills Acquired:

• Maximizing productivity across departments/disciplines
• Learning how to better manage the experience of working with creative professionals
• Learning how to choose great designers, and the pros/cons of contracting an agency versus a freelancer
• Learning how to better decipher and evaluate "good" design
• Learning how to navigate the revision process with a designer and get what you want
• Learn how to develop an effective RFP that inspires great work
• Understanding "design-ese"
• The ability to evaluate and describe your own business
  (and your competitors) from a creative perspective
  
  

Samantha Merley

Samantha Merley is an art director, web designer, and writer living and working in Manhattan. The product of a musical family, Samantha was set on a creative path early in life and entered into the graphic design program at New York's School of Visual Arts in the late nineties. She quickly advanced in her early career from a design intern to an agency art director by age 24. From boutique studios to large corporate entities, Samantha found that she could produce the most effective and meaningful work as a free agent where one-on-one relationships with her clients allowed the strengths of each business to shine intuitively through its design.

Having applied her creative expertise to projects ranging from lifestyle branding to corporate marketing to catalog publishing to nonprofit organizations, Samantha has developed an acute ability to understand businesses and interpret their brands in a way that capitalizes on the power of human interactions – both with the people she works for and with their target markets. Current and past clients include Wiffle Ball, Trump Vodka, Newman's Own, Smalls Records, Gay Men's Health Crisis, A&E Television International, the Danbury Mint, Easton Press, Jenna Jameson, and OMEGA Engineering.

A New York native, Samantha currently resides in the East Village with her husband, a chef, composer, and big-band leader. She is also active in the downtown jazz scene as both an artist and business consultant.