A little over 5 years ago, a handful of the current Designology team members were working together at a niche, Pittsburgh-based packaging design studio called Eighty Twenty. We were a rising force in private label branding and design thanks to great clients like Sprouts and Supervalu, and we had strong relationships with iconic CPG brands like Colgate Palmolive and Campbell’s that had us working on some really great projects. We were doing fantastic work and winning awards, and our clients loved us.
So, when the big corporation that owned us decided to shutter Eighty Twenty and consolidate everything we were doing into a larger, more traditional agency model conveniently located in the Midwest where their corporate offices happened to be, we decided enough was enough and the next logical step was to launch our own startup so we could keep doing what we loved.
Even after getting shoved out the door like that, it isn’t easy to tell yourself (or your spouse) that walking away from a traditional job and striking out on your own is a good idea (and to be frank, if we’d seen 2020 coming we might not have done it at all), but something about getting run over by the powers that be tends to be a strong impetus of change. Somehow, the next “typical” job just didn’t materialize and instead, Designology was born.
We launched it over a weekend, but the real evolution of the brand took a lot longer. We like to say Designology is the product of both a single instant of massive inspiration and a 20+ year career of working together, learning from each other and from our clients. In fact, when we founded Designology, we approached several of those clients and asked them one key question: “If you could design the perfect agency partner, starting from scratch and doing whatever you wanted with it, what would it look like?” The answers we received to that question became the building blocks upon which Designology was founded (and a few of those clients liked the idea so much they went on to join the team).
So, in the spirit of nonstop learning that has become our DNA, we’ve put together a few lessons that we think transcend the agency world and really apply to any form of entrepreneurship. So, in celebration of our 5 years as Designology, here’s the top 5 lessons we’ve learned along the way.
Do What You’re Passionate About
If we had to distill it down to just one thing, I think this would be it. After a career filled with too many corporate meetings, sales forecast discussions and business travel seemingly for no other purpose than just business travel itself, it’s abundantly clear that waking up every day to do something you don’t like is a great way to run yourself (and your team) into the ground. Loving what you do (and knowing why you’re doing it) is absolutely Step One towards doing great work. The best thing about Designology is that everyone on the team is working in their wheelhouse, and that’s why we’re successful. We aren’t grinding through the day-to-day, looking for that magic place where, when we get to it, the work will miraculously be fabulous and we’ll all finally enjoy what we do. We’re already there, and we’ve been there since the start, because we’re doing what we love. That passion is either in the journey itself, or it’s not going to be there at all. Every day, day in and day out, we’ve learned that you either love what you’re doing or you’re doing the wrong thing.
Just Start.
Waiting until the plan is perfect before launching it has probably killed more good ideas than any other barrier to entrepreneurship. When we launched Designology, we were in “Minimum Viable Product” territory out of necessity, and that’s why it got off the runway so quickly. But having launched it that way once, we’d never do it any other way. The essence of the MVP process is in getting the engine started and THEN tuning it up.
The success of Designology came from using an accelerated “test & learn” feedback loop with pretty much everything we did, fueling a constant culture of innovation. Now, what began as just a way to get our own company off the ground has become our primary business model and the approach we take when working with client innovation teams and startup brands. It has also fueled the growth of Ology Insights, our dynamic consumer learning platform that has become an invaluable resource to many of our clients and the fastest growing part of our company. Without the MVP model that drives Designology, Ology Insights would never have happened.
Work With a Great Team.
Designology isn’t about 2 people. Leveraging the success of a company only on the expertise or talent of its founders is another major barrier to growth in entrepreneurial companies and one we thankfully knew we had to avoid. The magic at Designology is in the blending of talents, ideas and passions across a diverse and engaged team that all respect what each other brings to the table.
And it goes even further. Not only are we more than the sum of just two people, we’re even more than the sum of the broader group. When a bench full of talented industry experts with vastly different backgrounds and areas of passion gels into one solid team, what develops is something special. The Designology team started small but quickly grew into a resource- and talent-rich group of people that are seriously fun to work with, and after 5 great years we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Believe In Your Clients.
The other side of the “work with a great team” concept extends across the table into the client seats. We’ve been in business long enough to know that we work harder and are more successful when we’re passionate about more than just what we do. When we can say the same thing about what our clients do (and how they do it), work is much more enjoyable and to be honest, the results are far better.
It's no secret that revenue is king when you’re a startup, but it has to be the right kind of revenue. The lesson of a career in the client services industry is, you either need to believe in your clients or you have to find new ones. We’ve learned to resist the temptation of taking on projects just because of the revenue behind them—in the end, it’s never worth it. At Designology, we love every one of our clients, and that’s the way it’s going to stay.
Never Stop ______.
You can fill in that blank with a lot of different words, and over the years, that’s exactly what we’ve done. Some of our faves would be Learning, Trying, Thinking, Imagining, Evolving, and saying “What If”. In five years as Designology, there hasn’t been a single year where we looked substantially the same at the end of the year as we did at the beginning, and we consider that one of our strengths.
There’s also never been a time when a client has said to us, “No thanks. You’re way too agile and adaptable. We’re looking for a studio that isn’t nimble.” I guess we’ll have to reimagine even this idea if that unlikely scenario ever occurs, but for now, we’re sticking with the thought that when it’s time to quit challenging the status quo, it will probably be time to quit, period.
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