Featured work

Breakthrough Cincinnati is one of my favorite local non-profits. Beyond their incredible work with teenagers, I love that they're willing to spend time upfront on discovery processes before jumping hastily into design. We began our partnership two years ago with a workshop, and each year, we try different approaches to finding inspiration for design and communications. This year, we began by interviewing donors to better understand what inspires them to invest.

What’s the matter with branding?

For several years, I've wanted to start a podcast about the design process. The name has always been "Process Out Loud." The conversations are with people who have a perspective on design and are willing to process out loud with me (about the good, the bad, and the ugly). In the spirit of starting small, I decided to take baby steps toward my dream podcast by recording interviews and transcribing the conversations here on the Trischler Design Co. blog.

For the first installment of Process Out Loud, I interviewed my friend Emily Hill. Emily recently earned her Ph.D. from the University of Aberdeen, where she wrote her dissertation on the perils of marketing as it relates to the Church. Emily and I often find ourselves in conversations related to theology, branding, marketing, research, and design. I felt the desire to share the ideas of our discussions because, as you will read, most people are totally unaware of how brands influence them. Likewise, designers, like me, are often unaware of the influence we have on others through the brands we create. While I'm still left with questions after chatting with Emily, I think those questions will influence my approach to design and branding for the better. I hope you enjoy our conversation.

Extra

I've benefited from the following thoughts and matter this month, and I think you will too:

Nothing Changes: Art for Hank's Sake - Documentary
Everybody. Please watch this movie (on Amazon). It’s about an 87 year old artist (mostly unheard of in the art world) who still commutes by foot and train from Queens to Manhattan, six days a week, to work in his Union Square studio.

Vertical Forest - Project (architecture)
No, it’s not a prototype, or a rendering. It’s a real skyscraper covered in vegetation. Can we get one of these in downtown Cincinnati?

Revisionist History, Season 4, Episodes 5 - 7 - Podcast
Malcolm Gladwell explores the 500 year old philosophical techniques pioneered by St. Ignatius (Jesuit) to help better understand modern day dilemmas.

Chinese Artist Creates Images Of Slothful Animals To Parody How Lazy This Generation Is Becoming - Article (photos)
The name says it all. Which animal are you? It’s made in the same vein as this book (Stop Looking at Your Phone) that I recently picked up at the local St. Vincent DePaul.

Want more?
+ Here’s a list of design resources that I recently made. It’s always evolving.
+ Here’s three things that I wish I would have learned in design school.
+ Here’s my complete collection of bookmarks. All of them. Without curation.