Concentrated. // 12/4/2015
Zach Cohen, designer at Blank Space Strategies, joined us during class today. At Blank Space, Zach works with established brands as well as brands that are just starting up. Zach made it clear that he is here to help add to brands, not take away, and to improve communication, not disrupt it. Zach especially resonated with me when he said, “ You give people a tool, people will use it.” People will always come up with new ways to use a tool that the creators never imagined. Zach also mentioned the importance of knowing who the intended audience is when creating a brand or styling a campaign. Zach always starts with the audience in mind.
While it was a busy week during class and we covered a lot, I felt that the course material exceeded my expectations. I enjoyed all of the guests, and I hope they make it back for future classes; I learned many valuable pieces of information from each one. Since most of the guests were entrepreneurs and had experience in design/branding I learned a great deal from them being as experienced as they are.
Day one, Jake Browne from the Cannabist joined us and spoke to us about his path to becoming a pot critic. Jake taught me that having an exceptional resume will get you into exceptional places. I wasn’t too sure what I would report on, but I created a good selection of topics.
Day two, Jane West and Luke Runyon joined us. Jane West spoke on her path to becoming a mother who endorses cannabis, creates designer products for cannabis products, and started a group called Women Grow. Luke shared his experiences thus far reporting on cannabis and how national views on cannabis have changed dramatically in only a few years. I decided that concentrates would be my topic.
Day three, Rick Bakas from Weedhorn joined us to speak on his road to becoming a branding expert and founder of a cannabis educational platform. Julie Berliner and Jesse Burns from Sweet Grass Kitchen also joined us. While not saying it explicitly, Julie and Jesse keep it simple at Sweet Grass Kitchen, and it works.
Day four, Ricardo Baca spoke to the class on becoming the Denver Post’s cannabis reporter. Ricardo taught us things he’s learned along the way such as over-reporting and maintaining positive relationships with important people. Day four, we also received delicious pizza compliments of Rick Bakas:
My top two tweets were:
My overall takeaway from the class is to keep it simple, and that cannabis is both interesting and growing in many ways. I think that combining topics such as design and concentrates is an area worth exploring after taking this course.
