"In order to create the best environment for successful designs, we need to be in direct contact with key decision makers / key stakeholders at all phases of the design process: research and information gathering, strategy proposal + approval, and final design approval."

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"The fewer decision makers / stakeholders involved in the design process (a CEO and a Marketing Director vs. a Development Committee of 9 members), the more efficient and more effective the finished results will be."

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(Directly to our clients:) "You are not our client, YOUR customers are our clients. By serving and delighting them, we will serve and delight you."

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"Look at your competition, how are you different? To gain advantage in the marketplace, you must clearly communicate your point(s) of differentiation. Why would someone choose your product or service over the competition's?"

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"Unless you are the best or the cheapest in your field, the only way to differentiate from the competition is through design. This can be as elaborate as product design or the design of your corporate structure, or more simply as the identity or packaging or advertising design."

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To colleagues and young designers:

"You get more of what you do, so be careful what work you take. If you do low-creative high paying-jobs, you will get more of them. The opposite is true as well. Work toward getting high-paying, high-creative jobs and more will come."

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"Tibor Kalman said, 'Always work for someone smarter than you.' We carry that further, work for someone more inspiring than you."

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"When working with clients in the business sector, be very careful to establish achievable and measurable objectives for the designs. These objectives provide the groundwork for good design -- they reassure the client that you understand their business needs. It also allows you to have authority over the 'subjective' aspects of the design, eg. it doesn't matter if the client is not so fond of the typeface you propose, as long as it achieves the business objectives. It becomes a tool to allow the most effective designs to be implemented."

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"Milton Glaser said, 'work with your friends, or with people you could become friends with. Your work will be much better and more fulfilling.' We can't say it any better."