Freedom and an Inspired Life — The New Rules of Work for a Modern Creative Worker

We started Plein Air with two ideas. One, we wanted to create the kind of work environment that supported what we believe the new class of creative workers are looking for. And second, we wanted to get out of the business of intruding into people’s lives and instead give them experiences they value. Everything else is just a product of those two ideas. Let’s give creative problem solvers the space to make shit that matters, and walk away fulfilled when they do.

We are here to solve complex challenges with solutions that could lead nearly anywhere — from customer management to product design to store environments to events to digital media. These are both human and technical challenges. That requires extreme empathy and creativity. For us, two sides of the same coin.

For a modern creative company, we not only have to optimize for the work that is produced, but also the creativity of those producing it. Brains that are refreshed, inspired and challenged will consistently create better work than even the best brains left to atrophy from monotony.

The conventional wisdom of work-life balance is that there should be a big, bold line between what is work and what is not. We do not think this is true.

Life, productively and fully-lived, is most likely when you are able to weave family, ambition, inspiration and creation together. Living in the segments of work, then life, then sleep, then work, then life, then sleep, then weekend, then work, and so on, is a product of how things had to be. It’s not the way things should be if the goal is to create ideas that make an impact.

We are making the bet that proximity to inspiration is more important to the things we create than proximity to face-to-face collaboration. Or at least that we can re-create enough of the collaboration part through video, tools and processes that when people come together, it has the the greatest effect.

Plein Air is a customer experience consultancy because we believe that the impact of advertising has eroded, so more and more companies will be looking for alternative means of growth. Today, the vast majority of experiences customers endure — from restaurants and grocery stores to retail and even service-based businesses — are at best boring and at worst broken. Fixing that will be our opportunity.

Our goal is to be a home for wildly ambitious ideas that give freedom to the world’s most creative problem solvers. We hope that you’ll join us in shaping the future.

Read our values and principles here.

Who we want

We are looking for collaborators who increase the scope of what is possible for us to accomplish. Here is what we believe to be important.

Inventiveness — Can you make something unique from the same tools as everyone else?

Smarts — Have you proven yourself as one of the most intelligent among your peer group? How?

Curiosity — Are you continuing to learn and add new skills? What have you added and why?

Communication — Can you convey ideas in a way that gets other people excited about them?

Pioneering — Can you talk deeply about the experiences you’ve had in places other than where you are from?

The Roles We’re Looking For

Digital Product Designers — Those who can design visually interesting websites and applications without losing sight of what a user is trying to accomplish.

Experience Designers — A flexible designer who can define a user’s journey and develop new products, services or environments that improve their experience.

Environmental Designers — Those with experience designing for physical spaces, whether that’s inside a store, restaurant, event or a festival.

Engineers — Creative technologists who engage in the design process and guide the team towards platforms that best engage our audiences.

Ethnographer — A leader who can help designers and technologists better learn from and build products for real people.

Data Scientists — Lovers of data big and small who can help media and our products tell richer stories with the data they create.

What You Can Do

For now, we’re building our rolodex of collaborators and potential full-time team members so that as we grow, we can do so quickly and efficiently. If you think this could be a place for you, please email me at paul@itspleinair.com or work@itspleinair.com and let’s start a conversation.