excellence

Jul
19/
08

Eames: the attitude of design

by Michael Buckingham

A great clip from a 1956 interview with Charles Eames as he debuts the lounge chair. *don’t miss their version of the lapel mic.

Eames designed some of the most beautiful, even by today’s standards, creations and this clip brings a number…

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Jun
17/
08

Is it enough?

by Michael Buckingham

Once again Seth says it well as he asks the question: Is this the best I can do?

Pastors, church communicators…please ask that question daily.

We’ve found people to greet guests at the door. We’ve found a person to schedule those…

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May
15/
08

The trouble with friendly

by Michael Buckingham
The trouble with friendly

We are working with a church on a new identity/logo, as part of our process “friendly” and “welcoming” came back consistently as feedback inside and outside of the church. As we talked back and forth the pastor emailed me back…

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Apr
16/
08

Seriously…that sucks.

by Michael Buckingham
Seriously…that sucks.

How do you say that, give the honest truth, and do so without upsetting someone, losing your job, etc?

Phill Cooke wrote a post about losing a potential client because they new he would be honest

…he ultimately decided not to invite us…

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Mar
13/
08

Excellent (vs. mediocre) resources

by Michael Buckingham
Excellent (vs. mediocre) resources

Here are the resources from the Excellence vs. Perfection Mediocrity session at NRB.

Purple Cow

The Big Moo

Made to Stick

A Technique for Producing Ideas

Church Marketing Lab

Design.Alltop

FaveUp

Enjoy…and please, if you have resources that you can’t live without, let us know!

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Mar
08/
08

Excellence vs. Perfection at NRB

by Michael Buckingham

I’m heading to the NRB convention on Saturday. They’ve asked me to speak as a part of a “panel of experts” (yikes. no pressure there) on the topic of Excellence vs. Perfection.

I’m going to touch on perfection, but I’m going…

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Feb
14/
08

Move over Hallmark

by Michael Buckingham
Move over Hallmark

Life Clever points us to greeting cards that actually don’t suck. Maybe it’s just because I see everything through a designer’s eye, but it really is hard to find a greeting card that I can actually put my name on…they’re usually…

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Feb
13/
08

“It’s Better To Be Down By Four, Than By Three”

by Michael Buckingham
“It’s Better To Be Down By Four, Than By Three”

That’s a quote from Eli Manning in an interview after winning Super Bowl XLII. At first glance it seems that he must have gotten hit too hard, after all a field goal wouldn’t be too hard to tie the game…

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Jan
08/
08

Should you copy Xerox?

by Michael Buckingham
Should you copy Xerox?

Interesting topic of conversation over at the lab sparked by the Xerox rebrand. Here’s my take:

Xerox decided to launch the rebranding effort to change their image. Good start. The real test though is in substance. Just because they don’t want to…

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Jan
04/
08

Ever had a Meatball Sundae?

by Michael Buckingham
Ever had a Meatball Sundae?

A meatball sundae is the unfortunate result of mixing two good ideas, and Meatball Sundae: Is Your Marketing out of Sync? is Seth Godin’s latest book.

I haven’t dug into it deeply yet, but I will be on January 23rd at…

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