Tell us a little about yourself. What do you do at Imulus?
I am one of the graphic designers here at Imulus (although I may be changing my title to “Reflection Master”). My main focus is the design of web sites but now and then I get to do print and logo design.

How did you become interested in working for Imulus?
When I came back to Colorado after graduating from college, I underwent a mass application process trying to find a job straight out of college. I had no real world experience to speak of and Imulus was hiring for a design internship. So I figured what better way to gain experience? After 6 months of being an intern, I was offered a full time job at Imulus that I was happy to accept.

I have to admit I was hesitant to work for a web design company because the focus of the graphic design program at Fort Hays State was primarily packaging. It turned out to be a happy accident because I really feel like I’ve found my niche in web design. I never really had that feeling with packaging design.

When did you first become involved in graphic design?
Junior year of high school. I had a Photoshop class and I fell in love with it.

What designers have been most influential in your own work?
I suppose that depends on what I’m working on. I guess the one that sticks out in my head is Stephan Sagmeister. I have always admired his non-conformist attitude towards design and the use of hand drawn type and illustrations in his work.

What is your favorite part of working on a new project?
The newness of it. I love the limitless possibilities and potential of a new project. I love throwing myself into it.

What is your least favorite part?
The newness of it. Sometimes staring at a new Photoshop document drives me crazy. Once I get going, however, it becomes my favorite part. (Threw you off there, didn’t I?)

If Imulus were a person, what kind of personality would (s)he have?
That person that walks in a room with a great story to tell and everyone is always eager to hear it. Definitely not someone who is politically correct, but knows how to make it funny rather than inappropriate. Someone who is energetic and enthusiastic about life.

What Photoshop tool would best help you survive in the wilderness?
The clone stamp tool. If I ever find food or resources I would never run out.

What do you want to see more of in the design world?
Bacon.

What do you want to see less of?
Bad reflections that have no sense of perspective.

If you were a Photoshop filter, what would you be and why?
I would say the Smart Blur. I try to make things more polished but I like to keep some crisp edges.

Describe one of your favorite projects you’ve worked on at Imulus.
Usually our internal projects. It really nice to have complete creative control over a project and I love to really delve into the conceptual side of design.

Where do you get your inspiration?
Bacon.

What’s the best part about working in Boulder?
The view, the restaurants, and the people.

What’s the best part about working for Imulus?
Definitely the people. Doing what I love is a very close second. Very close. Actually, I would say they’re tied.

For us, Flash has it’s place. It’s not a tool which we here at Imulus use with indiscretion. There certainly is an audience for fully Flash-based sites, those which cater to rich-media, highly-interactive content and animation. Examples include movie, music, educational and television based sites.

I personally get angered by sites which use Flash to achieve a certain “look” at the expense of usability. While I’m not going to attack any particular site, I think you all know what I’m talking about, and you’ve seen it before. I’m talking about sites which take over your browser and go fullscreen without your permission. Sites in which the navigation is so much of a artistic element that it no longer becomes obvious to the end user. In most cases, when I see sites which could have been built using AJAX rather then Flash I tend to think the agency was more concerned for awards then actually building a site which is functional and user-friendly.

That’s my two-cents.

Tell us a little about yourself. What do you do at Imulus?
I make myself obsolete. Everyday I try to start things up, get things going and then find someone better then me to get the job done. I’m always reinventing my job and I’m often critical of my own performance; most times I really wish I had a mentor to point me in the right direction. That would save a lot of time.

If you were a smell, what would you be and why?
I think the opinion of the office is different then mine. I would say I’d like to be Ammonia. It really wakes up the senses.

Where do you see Imulus going in 5 years?
I see us with several small web-products, a strong client base, a team of 20 or so people and a work environment and methodology which is emulated by others.

What do you love more than anything?
My baby girl Jillian. I thought I loved when I got married; but there really isn’t any love which is even close to the love of a parent for their kids. It’s way momma bear will always take on any foe which threatens her cubs, it’s hard wired love.

But if we are looking for something work related, I’d say I love change. I really enjoy adapting to the new challenges of the current economic crisis, shifting technologies and ideologies. It keeps my mind fresh and alive.

We all know that Kat is the best. What I want to know is, why do you think that? Please don’t be afraid to go into detail.
Well, she is. We struck gold when we found her and you’d have to pry her out of our cold-dead-hands before we’d give her up.

What kind of strange habits do you have?
I’m not a habit guy, sometime I really wish I had a few. But I honestly can’t think of any habits, maybe others have some opinion here.

How did you bag that foxy lady of a wife?
Roofies. I drugged her back in ‘96 and the effects haven’t worn off yet. Actually, I’m REALLY not sure. I certainly gave her plenty of reasons to go elsewhere but she stuck around and I decided to keep her. She is pretty awesome and I’m thankful to spend my life with her.

Tell me 10 ways to use a pencil other than writing.
1. A Weapon
2. Lever
3. Catapult
4. Dart
5. A deadfall trap
6. Eating Utensil
7. Post for tying back indoor plants
8. Support brace for a broken finger
9. Add stiff wire to make stick figures
10. To hold the jaws of an attacking beast open

How do you feel about hot pants?
If I wore them I would look like a Perdue Chicken reject.

What kind of qualities do you look for in a client?
1. Decisiveness
2. Good Communication
3. Mutual Respect and Honest Feedback
4. Actual money to pay us.

With your eyes closed, tell me step-by-step how to tie my shoes.
Pull the fuzzy Velcro strap across the harder side. You do wear Velcro right?

Are you hungry?
For food no. For work, yes.

If you were an animal, what would you be and why?
A Raven. They are key to so many stories across cultures and throughout time, yet they aren’t colorful and they aren’t song birds. They work well in groups but are just as often seen alone. They can survive in almost any condition and they aren’t hunted.

Where is my shaker of salt?
You used it up this morning on that Margarita.

If Imulus was a person, what kind of personality would he/she have?
An easy going, friendly, somewhat social 26 year old. Certainly opinionated, passionate and honest. It would look fairly fit but still carry a bit of a belly from all the partying.

Over the past year we’ve worked with a lot of good people to put together some awesome results. We strive to be thorough but also efficient when it comes to building a great piece of work. And while our approach is leaps and bounds ahead of our competition we still recognize that we need to refine our process. I.E. we want to be better at what we already do well.

With that I have compiled a list of Imulus’ New Years Resolutions. And while I’m sure each individual of our team has their own take I think this about summarizes our goals.

1. Refine and expand our internal review process
   Here at Imulus we’ve got a group of very talented people. However, sometimes we don’t utilize this to our fullest. In 09′ we’ll strive to include everyone in our internal usability and design processes. Making sure that our approach to a client solution is the absolute best it can be.
2. Have an impact on our community
   Denver and Boulder are great cities with lots to offer. Great scenery, a hip tech movement, and engaging cultural opportunities. We think it’s important to offer something back to these places. In 2009 we’d love to be more involved in the education sector. This means everything from guest lecturing to hosting students at our office for the day. We’d also like to provide our support to worthwhile local causes. Green initiatives, cool industry meetups, and cultural events.
3. Define our identity. Who is Imulus?
   We’re a group of passionate, creative, driven people. And while internally on a day to day basis we have an identity — we haven’t worked hard enough at expressing it outward. In 2009 look for us to:
   • Be more vocal about our thoughts on the industry.
   • Push the boundaries of what a small time agency can do to change the way people work.
   • Expand ourselves as people not just a company. Each employee at Imulus makes us who we are as a company. We want the world to know each one of us better and see why Imulus is who it is.
4. Stay a family, not a company.
   We love what we do and we love who we do it with. Imulus is a family. No matter how stressful the project, how stringent the deadline, or how tough the personal problem is, we are there for each other. This is why we’re not a normal company and this is something we don’t want to change.

We’d love to hear your New Years resolutions or your thoughts on ours. Please feel free to hit us up via the comments, follow us on twitter, or join us in person. Happy New Year to you!

Back in August I had the pleasure off hearing Jason Fried of 37Signals discuss 37Signal’s philosophies and methods. The presentation essentially followed the same script & theme which you can see here.

For those unfamiliar with 37Signals’ software and design principals here are a few examples to give you a flavor of their thinking:

• Less is more.
• Meetings are useless.
• Working remotely and collaborating is better then being in an office and interrupting each other.
• Chunk large projects into smaller bits which can be completed quickly.
• Focus on speed rather then perfection.
• Don’t do specification, wireframing or usability studies. They are a waste of time.
• Personas are bullshit.
• Invest in what doesn’t change like speed and customer service.
• Roadmaps and planning are useless.
• Morale feeds off progress.

Now, I’m a big fan of 37Signals and what they have done; however it’s a mistake for interactive agencies, web designers and developers to wholeheartedly adopt 37Signals’ ways of working without establishing a strong reputation first. It is key to point out that 37Signals is a product development company, not an agency focused on developing marketing sites or building custom client applications. 37Signals builds for 37Signals!

I asked Jason, “Why don’t you do consulting work or client work any longer?” His response was “it isn’t profitable compared to product development.” I’m sure he is 100% correct. The 12 person team at 37Signals is raking in millions of dollars in revenue each year. By contrast client work is time consuming, labor intensive and involves lots of education between both sides of the project. We are a company of 9 people and we haven’t even crossed the million dollar revenue mark yet.

Jason’s presentation did address several audience questions about client work. Which can be summed up as follows:

• Select your client’s carefully. Not every client is a good match.
• Train your clients on how you work, rather then how they expect you to work.
• RFPs and scope-of-work project estimations should be avoided at all cost because the written description can be interpreted differently depending on the reader.

37Signals originally started as a web design company and then they morphed into a product development company because the product work was far more profitable. Therefore I have to be critical of how their recommendations apply to us interactive agencies. Their advice doesn’t come from success in the client services area!

The ONLY way a client is going to be willing to accept those 3 points is if they know your agency’s record, and they RESPECT your abilities above all other agencies. Let’s use an example. If Widget Corp is looking for an agency to redesign their aging ecommerce site, and two other equal agencies are willing to bend to the desires of Widget Corp’s RFP, then good luck getting that project.

There is something to be said about standing your ground and holding true to your principles however at the end of the day if you don’t have revenue, then you don’t have a business. I’m not interested in being a martyr for the cause.

I’ve always admired the work of IDEO. They are a company which solves problems for their clients in a very fluid and evolving manner. They have put themselves in a position of respect, they do amazing work and I’m pretty sure they are VERY profitable. Any web company doing client related work would be well served to study the success of IDEO while blending in the philosophies of 37Signal’s product development methodologies.

At Imulus we plan on doing things differently. We’ll be proof that a interactive agency can develop great products while doing extraordinary client work. We don’t believe the two are mutually exclusive. Our position is the our brand of doing great client work and great product development will put us in a position of respect. This position will allow us to negotiate using the 3 points above.

This is our position and what makes Imulus unique in the realm of interactive agencies.