When you no longer want any more clients…
Our 2008 self-promo, None Of Your Business Cards, is an in-genious set of faux business cards, which upon close inspection contain fake names and numbers and a special hidden message: never call me again.
Some years ago there were one or two web design companies who prided themselves on being able to choose their clients, rather than have clients choose them.
If I remember rightly, I think Joshua Davis once worked for one such place (leave a comment with the company names if you happen to know them).
I’ve always wondered how, if you were working for such a place, you would fob off a would-be client should you meet one at a conference or party or something. It could be “None Of Your Business Cards” were the answer.
the company was Kioken… the staff was only 16 people at it’s height… and during the dotcom heyday we didn’t have enough people to do the amount of work coming in… so we picked and choose the projects we wanted to work on.
but interestingly enough… my current staff… 4 people - and the same is true for my studio today we pick and choose the projects we want to work on. This was also something that my friend and peer Stefan Sagmeister said he learned from Tiber Kalman.
keep the staff small, the quality of work high, and pick and choose the projects you want to work on that both challenge you as the designer and elevate the client.
Thanks for your comments Joshua, now I remember Kioken :)
It seems to me quite a few design companies could have taken a cue from Kioken’s approach, and also possibly fared a little better in the wake of the dot-com crash, but the attitude, among some at least, was that it was preferable to have staff on hand “in anticipation” of work instead.
true… where are most of those companies today? I remember so many companies bleeding financially during the dot-com crash… and myself and some other smaller studios had a steady amount of work when other friends of mine where getting pink-slipped left and right.
interestingly enough most of these smaller studios are still in business today. So while it was sad to see some of my friends lose their jobs… I also think the dot com crash was an essential cleaning of house in our industry.