Bran Dougherty-Johnson from growdesignwork.com, founder of psstpassiton.com, and an author at motionographer.com wrote a terrific letter to Sesame Street addressing their well intentioned but misguided foray into mass speculative work via a design contest with Aniboom. This is probably the most reasonable and diplomatic argument I’ve read on the topic. You can read the letter over at motionographer.com. Just follow the link below. If you’re a designer, animator or artist, please consider adding your name to the list. I did. If you’re a business or organization considering a design contest to meet your communication design needs, whether it be a poster, animation, logo, etc., please read the letter for a thoughtful explanation as to why professional designers should be paid for their work and why professional designers should be used to meet your business’ communication design needs.

Note to designers, animators and artists: The letter also provides a terrific template on how to answer a client request for spec work both in argument and tone.

click here to read Dear Sesame St.

Filed under: FYI, What They Don't Teach by Nathan
February 25th, 2010
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Welcome to the official blog of Rittenhouse Communication Design where we will attempt to inspire, inform and converse with you, the business owner, soon-to-be business owner or design student.

We will have four main sections:

Branded for Success – This series of articles will focus on the basics and benefits of building a strong brand for your business.

Inspired – These articles will showcase great branding, advertising, design and storytelling. In addition to showing the work, we’ll explore the real benefits the work can have on your business.

What They Don’t Teach – This series of articles will focus on helping design students successfully make the transition from the ivory towers of academia to the trenches of the professional world.

News – Yep, you guessed it–news and updates about us, our work and our clients.

If at some point you would like to hear our two cents on a topic that we haven’t yet covered, let us know by emailing us at info@rittenhousedesign.com

Filed under: News by Nathan
December 9th, 2009
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