“What Matters Now”: Seth Godin’s Book of Big Ideas Motivates Even Bigger Ideas

From his bio as presented at TED Conferences, Seth Godin is “an entrepreneur and blogger who thinks about the marketing of ideas in the digital age.” The key phrase is “marketing of ideas.” Last December, the business thinker-and-doer released an e-book called What Matters Now. The title refers to 77 ideas—issued by people who believe not only in the importance of those ideas, but also putting them into practice. In marketing this book, Godin gave it away for free. But there is also a printed version for purchase, with proceeds going to Room to Read.

Two of the people who participated in What Matters Now were 37signals’ Jason Fried (who wrote about why apologies matter) and Wine Library TV’s Gary Vaynerchuk (who wrote about why saying “thank you” matters). Joe and I reviewed their business books, which we also recommend. Here’s our review of Godin’s compilation of ideas—all of which aim to help make this year, the next and the ones thereafter, meaningful ones. We had fun making it, and hope you enjoy it, too:

Total time: 22:05



The setting for this audio review was a vacant room in an office building. Though sad it was empty, an obvious sign of the economic times, its reminder was to consider What Matters Now and “to focus energy on turning the game around”.

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Listen to previous audio reviews of 37signals’ latest book REWORK and Gary Vaynerhuck’s Crush It!

Marketing Strategist Seijen Takamura’s Take on PSFK Conference 2010

Trends research and innovation company PSFK held their fourth conference on April 9, 2010, in New York. My colleague, Marketing Strategist Seijen Takamura, shared his experience of Behance’s Action Notebook in a previous post. Here is his experience of a one-day event packed with creativity:

How did you discover PSFK?
As an intern at Fallon, part of my role entailed supporting the agency’s foray into social media and trends, which meant that I actually had to start staying on top of that stuff! I’m not sure exactly how I ended up following PSFK.com’s feed, but I do remember that it was one of the most interesting of all the feeds that I was reading.

Why did you decide to go to its conference?
Right now I have upwards of 200 feeds that I follow via RSS, but I still make it a point to pay special attention to PSFK because of its interesting content. In line with this, PSFK’s conferences always have great speaker line-ups, but I was always too poor to attend on my own dime. I was lucky enough that SapientNitro helped support me for this trip as means to expand my thinking and perspective on creativity and cultural trends.



Was there anything in the conference’s communication
and branding that appealed to you in a very direct way?
I don’t think it was necessarily anything special about the promotions that gripped me. I think it was a combination of the fact that we had been in talks with PSFK to potentially partner with them for a project, in addition to the fact that I was familiar with a few of the speakers’ work. Specifically, I had recently been to a screening of Eric Proulx’s film Lemonade (which is awesome BTW) where I got to meet him briefly. I had also seen Colin Beavan’s documentary No Impact Man and was familiar with both Nick Felton’s Feltron Report and Tina Roth Eisenberg’s blog SwissMiss. All of these influences really caused me to book the trip.



What was the venue and what did you think of it?
The venue was the Museum of Jewish Heritage near Battery Park in NYC and was really great. The main conference room was beautiful and was big enough to provide space while also keeping us close to the speakers. Plus, despite having been to NYC a few times, I had never been to that district before. The waterfront is very nice, though a little quiet. Overall, very nice.

How was the “conference brand” experience like on site,
from the welcome materials to the staff?
Not really sure what this means… but everything was very smooth. PSFK doesn’t make a huge push (at least from my POV) to really inundate its readers with promotion for the conference. Leading up to it, Piers Fawkes (the co-founder) sent a few personal emails to attendees keeping us up to date on the agenda and whatnot, and the gameday operations went very smoothly. We got a nice little booklet with space for notes next to each speaker bio, as well as some neat little pins to help self-associate ourselves with the various roles who might be attending. Food was good. All in all, everything was very smooth.

What were some of the best thoughts you heard?
Unfortunately, I don’t have a lot of exact quotes, but there were a few ideas that resonated personally with me.

Ouigi Theodore talked about his long journey of not really knowing what he would be to eventually running the Brooklyn Circus. It was interesting for me, as someone who still doesn’t really know what he wants to be when he grows up, to hear how long his journey was before he finally found his passion. I think the key takeaway here was not only to be patient, but also to be open-minded, to explore, and to follow your passions. Kind of a cliché response from me, but it was nice to hear a success story from someone personally.



Partners & Spade’s presentation was excellent, and the key idea that I took away was “The bigger a brand becomes, the smaller it should act.” They used a case study of J.Crew to explore this idea, the result of which was a boutique shop in Tribeca called The Liquor Store which is small, and lightly branded, but highly experiential and personal. I think this idea is spot on, especially in this day and age. Everyone is talking about the potential behind social media and how brands can interact more directly with customers and blah blah blah. But really, this opportunity has always been there, and I would argue that in reality, most big brands still aren’t acting on a personal level and social media has actually resulted in more mass messaging with the hopes that these messages “go viral.”

Zach Lieberman’s presentation was probably of the coolest of all of them. I think it really vividly demonstrated how technology can really be used to amplify and improve human experiences, particularly as it relates to art. It’s really hard to sum up his presentation in a sentence, so instead, I will redirect and say go to YouTube and search Eyewriter. It’s just a really amazing combination of art + technology and illustrates the impact that this type of innovation and creativity can make on someone’s life.

Were there any surprises, good or bad,
from what you experienced?
The only surprise to me was how difficult it was to find a bar to get a drink on a Thursday night in the financial district around 11pm.


What tools did you use to capture the event?
Just a Moleskine notebook and a pen. I tried pretty hard to focus my attention on listening to the speakers as opposed to capturing everything they said. I knew that there were probably 50 people in the room live-tweeting and while that is great, I question how much one can really multi-task in that type of situation without losing something.

How would you make the conference better?
Maybe I’m bad at networking, but I think it could be fun to have a little interactive element somewhere during the conference. Force people to get into small groups for 10 minutes and brainstorm about something. A lot attendees came to the conference with colleagues or are already well-networked. But for us newbies, it’s a little intimidating. One of the key points that PSFK made was the need to bring creative minds together to interact. I agree, this would be invaluable, but sometimes we just need a little help.

Who would be interested in the PSFK Conference?
Seriously, the content and the messages of the speakers were pretty universally inspiring. It was definitely not a conference just for marketing professionals or just for artists or just for entrepreneurs or just for anybody. It was for people looking for inspiration… which is pretty much everyone, no?

One of the big improbable challenges of conferences
is sustaining the takeaways once you left the conference.
How do you plan to do this?
Good question: I need to decrypt my notes (ugh) but beyond that I’m haven’t really thought about it. That’s terrible. Let me think and get back to you.

Would you attend another PSFK Conference?
Absolutely.

Other than PSFK, what would be your next conference
to attend?
I really want to attend the 99% Conference hosted by Behance.

Tether Responsibly: An Ongoing Observation about “Being Digital”

My friend and designer-colleague Adam Kallish gave a lecture at the DePaul Museum of Art in Chicago. As noted in the announcement, he discussed “technology trends and how design can be at the table to shape the development of user interaction models.” His information technology tour went from the “rabbit-eared” television sets and rotary-dialed telephones of his younger years, up to the newest evolution, the iPad.

His tour hit upon the buzz phrases of our current information landscape like “device-to-device communication,” “dynamic data,” “integration,” “data gateways,” “data banks” and “user-generated content.” These realities will keep on buzzing.

Adam’s kids are also living the buzz. He sprinkled his talk with references to his daughters who are growing with “smart devices” and adept of their affordances. No learning curve, just immediate ease into present-day technology like hand into glove.


Fast Company magazine, April 2010—Not Adam’s daughters on the cover

The term Adam used to describe not only his daughters’ use of digital technology but society’s was “tethered”—as in, tethered to technology. The dictionary definition is “to fasten or restrain by or as if by a tether,” for example, “she felt tethered to her desk until the work was done.”

The dictionary’s example is one that most people can relate to. It also speaks to technology’s pluses and minuses. Living the buzz phrase of “being digital”, a lift of Nicholas Negroponte’s 1995 book, can turn the benefits of digital tools and systems into obstacles. The benefit of productivity, “enabled” by technology, can turn into counter-productivity. The benefit of connectivity can turn into isolation. The benefit of independence can turn into dependence. And so on.

Echoes of what Adam presented were observed the next day at work. One of my co-workers brought along his kids, who were noticeably “plugged in”:



They were reaping the benefits of digital technology, which is an actual plus when the engagement is reciprocal. Keeping the digital “tether” loose in the stare of off-line, off-screen living is the so-called symmetry that people try to manage, when “being digital” is made boundless on human terms. Ultimately, digital tools help those who help themselves.

Blogger’s Quest(ionnaire): SaneMoms.com’s Bethany Rule Vedder, To Motherhood and Beyond!

Not only does Bethany Rule Vedder run her design studio Thin Line Design, she also runs SaneMoms.com. I knew her as a designer first and was impressed to discover later that she also became a life and parenting coach, then the force of an “online community to facilitate the discussion about what momhood does to womanhood.” SaneMoms.com “shares stories to read, tools for survival and help for the hard changes when women become moms.” Being a mother of two sons, SaneMoms.com is Bethany’s “third child.” Her concise thoughts about web-based publishing may help your entrance into the blogosphere or further inform your current work in it:

Why did you create a Website of regular entries?
I wanted to start talking to other moms about the issues I had after the birth of my first child. I felt like my identity was hijacked, and thought it worthy of discussion.

What Web-based solution did you select and why?
Squarespace.com for it’s comprehensiveness, widget-based templating, and ease of use for client updates. I prefer not to host or update a site once it’s finished, I train my clients to do the majority of their own changes and updates.

What is your definition of a good blog and what are
three good blogs that you frequently visit?
A good blog has regular original content that’s presented in an engaging way, both visually and verbally. I regularly visit DaMomma, Secret Agent Josephine and The Women’s Colony.

How do you create content for your blog?
I pull most of my content directly from my own life, with about 30% being reactions to things I’ve read or heard in both real life and the blogosphere.

How do you stay organized and motivated
to contribute to your blog?
I publicly commit to daily posting, and occasionally join NaBloPoMo to find my groove when it’s flagging.

For those aspiring to make a Website composed of
regular thoughts and/or images, what is your advice?
You must be passionate about something before you start, or it will be terribly hard to keep going. Also, be comfortable with your voice. Lastly, know your goal before you start.

What is your quest in blogging?
To find fellowship in what I do and how I approach life. To help other moms admit they’re not the only ones questioning and groaning and having issues on a regular basis. To make a corner of the web that reflects me perfectly.

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Photograph courtesy of Bethany Rule Vedder.

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Read more of the Design Feast series Blogger’s Quest(ionnaire).

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Designer Self-Statement: Abigail Uhteg’s Cinema-Charged Manifesto

Printmaker Abigail Uhteg’s statement about herself appears as a dissonant run-on at first, but there’s method to its flow. It builds with each re-read. Each paragraph is treated like a spread in a book. There’s an unfolding of cinematic texture in Uhteg’s prose:

“Preemptive isolation: the reduction of variables (seemingly minor details, nearly always silent and solitary), dangerously romantic sympathetic, intimate. Irrelevant fumbling selves (certain configurations of line and color, or peculiarly-shaped objects) find their particular nostalgia in darkness.

An unabashedly emotional response to catastrophe: distant, distracting, counterfeit details, continually vibrant instead of freezing an instant, as if things should have halted long before, a paragraph before, a page before, faithful whispers confident in spite of their strangeness.

A pervasive fascination with unforgettable things, a quivering conscience, a clumsy counterfeit of inordinate proportions concealed in boundless depths of ambiguous nothingness (anticipating an inexplicable absence). Mumbles unremarkable transient things (a street, a waterbody), irrationally significant, weightless, slips into another language to avoid or invite misunderstanding. (A humble not to Nabokov’s staring fish, a stubborn devotion to the object.)

An overture to a paradigm, searching for honesty, elegance, conviction, parenthetical thoughts enclosed in the appropriate shape, any residual equivocal quivering to be confined therein. Enduring, momentous, italic capitals necessitated by deliberate selves’ longing for authenticity.”

How she writes about herself speaks to her sensibilities with printmaking, where narrative seeps beyond the surface.

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This is the second piece in a series focused on collecting and pointing to “effortless” expressions created by designers who describe themselves. In these pieces, designers reveal something about their attitude toward work, whatever their discipline may be, one “About Me” at a time. In case you missed the first, read how Artist and Musician Scott Hansen, of blog ISO50, writes about himself.

Studio Set & Drift’s Designing and Curating of Interactive Experiences

Space of event Reinventing the Wheel, 2008

With a name that refers to the speed and direction of the current under a sailing ship, studio Set & Drift makes interactive experiences through conceptual events, exhibitions, and collaborations. These events gather people to explore the “many curious expressions of art and design”. Since 2008, the studio’s founders Stacy and Sean Kelley continue to nurture a diverse network of international artists, designers and craftspeople. They share their thoughts about navigating and finding inspiration in unchartered cultural waters.

How did you arrive at the idea of Set & Drift?
As creative professionals experiencing various aspects of art/design/culture, we saw the crossover and intriguing exchange that can occur among the various disciplines. With so much of our time dedicated to professional design and event planning, we decided to use these skills to showcase the work of the creatives around us. The idea is to forge exhibitions and collaborations that bring art and design into the audience’s everyday experience in an unexpected way, through nontraditional formats and venues. This is what drives us—we feel these experiences spark conversations that inspire cultural innovation.

How did you arrive at the name of Set & Drift?
“Set and Drift” are actually nautical terms for the speed and direction of the current under a sailing ship. For us it represents navigating the cultural landscape and inviting the unforeseen to carry us to sought-after, uncharted territories. With collaborative, experiential projects and exhibitions, it’s always surprising to see where these projects arise, how everyone comes together, and where the project takes us.

Plainly speaking, what is Set & Drift?
Set & Drift is a creative studio that specializes in experience design for social innovation. In “designing experiences”, we create collaborative projects, exhibitions, and events that showcase multi-discipline art and design.


Prints by Josh Higgins at event Conspire, 2009; Photo by Holiday Matinee

From Set & Drift’s mission and history, you “curate
interactive experiences through conceptual events,
exhibitions, and collaborations.” What are these experiences
like and what does curating mean to you?
A major aspect of curating for us is creating the actual scenarios to showcase art and design—identifying opportunities to bring creatives together in a way that introduces an unexpected experience to the audience. For example, with CONSPIRE we acquired 6 rooms of a 1920’s hotel turned apartment building that were not yet occupied. We decided to pair one artist with one musician in each room for a one-night event that would open the building up to the public. We invited artists and musicians to participate and then let them at it. The idea was to forge a sense of community, and bring art and music to a personal scale, showing the opportunities that arise from interdisciplinary exchange and collaboration. It was rewarding to see how this format involved the audience and shifted perspectives on how creative work can be experienced by a diverse audience.

What is the most rewarding part of owning
and managing Set & Drift?
It is rewarding to meet creatives and collaborate. It’s great to be involved in the creative community in San Diego and reach out to creatives and audiences nationally and abroad, to see how all of the projects and approaches are evolving. We are passionate about using our resources to find unexpected ways to unite creatives and afford them opportunities to experiment and share their vision.


Live painting by Artist Tocayo at event Reinventing the Wheel, 2008

Was there a part of keeping the business that was
particularly trying? And how did you deal with it?
It is always a challenge to acquire the resources for the projects we dream up. It’s surprising though how much can be accomplished by giving those involved ownership so we can pool resources and create bigger and better communal opportunities. We investigate opportunities for seed funding, and we always evaluate opportunities in the community to form mutually beneficial partnerships. We have been fortunate to receive support from organizations such as Miriello Grafico, Breadtruck Films, LWP Group, Fat Tire, and so many other generous sponsors.

How do you stay creative? Do you draw? Or keep a journal?
We’re inspired by visits to thrift stores and 99 cent stores, a trip across the border to Mexico, junk yards, farms. We’re constantly searching through our library of vintage books and films, and we keep up with the projects of international artists, designers, and collectives.

What are some of your sources of inspiration?
We find inspiration in the work we see at museums, galleries, and studios, as well as projects that focus on collaboration, the unexpected, and design for social innovation. Some of our local favorites are New Children’s Museum, Merry Karnowsky Gallery, mi-workshop, Subtext Gallery, Quint Gallery, Igloo, Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, Lux Art Institute. We like to keep up with the projects of Toxico Cultura, Fecal Face, Holiday Matinee, and Sezio. We have contributed to projects such as a screening of Gary Hustwit’s Objectified and The Haiti Poster Project—these are creative projects with formats that interest us.


Urban project The Farm Proper

What’s your advice to people who aspire to start and
own a creative business like Set & Drift?
Collaborating with others is rewarding—you receive back what you contribute. Connect with other creatives and give ownership to those you trust—it fuels the exchange of ideas and techniques and allows for shared resources and cross-promotion. Also, seek support from the community—form mutually beneficial partnerships and keep an eye on unused venues, opportunities for shared equipment and spaces. Host workshops and produce events to encourage collaborative networking; we believe a stronger creative community benefits everyone.

Who should come and experience events by Set & Drift?
Plainly speaking, everyone.

For those who can’t attend your events, what’s the best way
to find out about what’s happening at Set & Drift?
Visit SetAndDrift.org and follow if you’d like at Twitter and Facebook. We have a book project in the works—a goal of ours is to create formats like this that can be accessible to a wider audience. We also strive to create projects that are in a sense replicable, so we hope our fellow creatives wherever they may be can find inspiration in our work and bring it to their own communities, inspiring a domino effect of social innovation.

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All photographs courtesy of Set & Drift.

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Read more from Design Feast Series of Interviews
with people who love making things.