If you missed FITC, here are the key points:

With over 70 unique and inspiring presenters this year, it was hard to pick just a few. We heard a lot of great advice, interesting stories, successes and lessons learned but one overall message was clear: your company culture will drive you forward; it will make or break your success.

Day 1

Johnny Cupcakes & The Ultimate Branding Toolbox
Don’t overthink your branding strategy. Overthinking will strip your brand of its humanity. If there’s one thing Jonny Cupcakes emphasizes, it’s the importance of being human and being loyal if you want the same respect in return. When customers or clients connect with your brand on a human level they will take risks with you. If you can’t list 12 unique qualities about your brand — it’s lacking in personality. Focus on doing what makes you happy and a personality will develop naturally.

Jason White from Leviathan & The Rise of Experimental Design
Forget everything you thought you knew about media production. Jason White explains how it’s coming off the screen and into dynamic-physical spaces. Be part of the movement with his tips.

Five categories for experimental worth:
1. Exhibition design
2. Environmental graphics — set up a display in public!
3. Entertainment
4. Marketing
5. Placemaking

But don’t get ahead of yourself. Collaboration should still be at the heart of design — you have to distinguish between ambition and reality.

7 Experimental Techniques for your toolkit:
1. Video installations
2. Video mapping
3. Augmented reality
4. Interactive
5. Virtual reality
6. Holographic installation
7. Immersive installation

Ask yourself these 5 questions during product formation:
1. What is the meaning?
2. What is the takeaway message for the audience?
3. What is the impact that you want to have?
4. How is this innovative?
5. Will this project be fun? Or hell…

Like traditional design you still have to consider the players (your clients, creators and consumer) and define a content strategy. This will never change.

Day 2
Catt Small of Soundcloud: Just Make Stuff

Tips for agility at work
· Accept imperfection — it’s going to happen. Your ability to acknowledge and accept imperfection will allow for improvements.
· Stop unhealthy decisions — “I think” is never a solid foundation for decisions. Instead consider the context. The how will arise from the what.

Paul Trani of Adobe: Real World Designing and Prototyping
We were excited to learn that Adobe Experience Design CC is available to use for free with an Adobe ID. This is an amazing program that allows quick UX/UI prototyping and has UI kits for your access.

Start experimenting and build compelling content that stands out.

Day 3
Irene Pereyra & Anton Repponen: From Agency Drones to Design Studio Powerhouse
Irene and Anton were worked for a leading company only to quit in 2014. They redesigned numerous websites including USA Today, Sports Illustrated and Wacom. Here’s what they felt when making the transition:

Disgust
Disgust over making mistakes. Irene and Anton admit when working with Sports Illustrated, they didn’t understand how sports fans like their UX/UI. Out of 215 reviews, only 18 were positive –results that would make any designer cringe.

Anger
Everyone has their own way of doing things. Don’t let other people change your process. For Irene and Anton, this process means:
· Everything should be made within an hour and tested immediately (NO LONGER)
· Things can be solved when creating the layout
· Switching wireframes through production to catch flaws and repeat
· Planning all features before production (they use Google spreadsheets)
· Clients must sign off before they wireframe, which helps them delegate
· Define the look by adding content and once again, getting the client to sign the wireframe

When you have a process and you stick to it, production runs much smoother.

Sadness
Be proactive: find the fun, chase your ideas. Irene and Anton got reactive making videos for the Wacom site. Their projects are like exhibitions.

Joy
Surprise! Low expectations breed high satisfaction. Walk away from anything you are not passionate about.

Fear
If you aren’t scared, you aren’t being ambitious enough. Always perservere through the fear.

Learn from your failures and celebrate your successes. All of them.

Mr. Bingo: How to get the Public to Fund your Daft Ideas
Mr. Bingo took a risk not many are willing to take: he pursued his passion, which just happened to be illustrating and sending hate mail.

And people wanted to buy it. Why? Because it’s different and it’s funny.

Once he started a Kickstarter, his work was featured in papers and magazines as well as exhibits. Determined to stand out, Mr. Bingo took another risk and rapped his pitch to Kickstarter.

Committed to maintain a creative and entertaining culture — Mr. Bingo put in a lot of effort when finding the right team. He remained dedicated to the product, keeping his Kickstarter alive on social media even after achieving his goal (within just hours).

Adam Cutler from IBM
“Be authentic and thoughtful. You aren’t making it for yourself or your business. You’re making it for them.”

You have to be authentically thoughtful or your client will go somewhere else. Design is not the outcome. Design is FOR an outcome with a business or user value. Designers have to appreciate partnership opportunities and must design with the final outcome in mind.

Thanks FITC, from Prelook
It was great to see the different ways company culture influences design and related business. From Irene and Anton who decided a leading company just wasn’t for them to Mr. Bingo, who carefully selected the perfect team to reflect his brand –it’s clear that company culture influences both personal happiness and business success.

Company culture is what matters most to us at Prelook. Things like, where your desk is, what food is served, health benefits, special perks, or dress code. A high pay grade might attract you to a job but it’s the culture that will keep you there.

We are constantly looking for companies with outstanding culture to show off on our website. Our talented videographers can then capture life inside the office to get users and job-seekers behind the scenes. We believe finding a cultural fit is the first step to securing personal happiness and business success.

Find out more or get early access to our interactive platform!