Sara Ramirez

the first thought that comes to mind when i reflect on this past year of epd is that a version of this class should exist starting in year 2. i think it’s clear to many uic design students that they want to be design entrepreneurs from an early stage and if not, it becomes clear as we progress through the program and learn more about the world of design irl. this class has taught me more real world appropriate skills than all other design classes i’ve taken combined. its like how everyone wishes that they had learned about taxes and investing money instead of useless theoretical math in high school. but! this time! we actually got the useful skills! and we got to put them to use. super cool.

it was totally valuable to frame the learnings around the kickstarter model: it’s super simple, takes very little to get started, and requires commitment and follow through. the involvement of real people is also invaluable. it also provides the validation that people out in the world actually want what you’re making and want to help you do it. i’ll definitely be returning to it soon.

im thankful that meeting people in the indie design world was such a large part of the class. i was already really into that world and had explored a lot of it on my own, but chatting with a person and getting to ask them questions directly is completely different. you learn a lot more when people have more than 140 characters to tell you their story. no shade, twitter. plus, to put it plainly, i got to (skype) meet a lot of my favorite designers and learn stuff about them that not a lot of other people know lol

kip kotzen of neo-utility - week 14

our last guest speaker of the year! last week we got to hear from kip kotzen, founder of neo-utility. he’s not a designer but he’s always worked in the design world and i would argue that creating and curating a brand that relies on finding other peoples’ good design is totally design management. like when we visited Unison, it was interesting to hear more from a business-oriented figure in the design world. 

kip provided a lot of insight into the financial aspect of the designer-retailer relationship. main takeaway: put some real thought into your margins, because that’s all you’re getting. also, you gotta sell direct, even if you’ve got retailers.

he also spoke about the role of tradeshows in advancing designers’ careers. you have to do shows strategically depending on what your goals and business needs are. some shows tend to be more for networking and advertising, others tend to be more about making sales and getting retailers. i personally have to do more research on this - i always sensed it but it makes sense when someone like kip says it. i would imagine that its tempting to want to show at every show but that’s an expensive habit and can contribute to a negative view of tradeshows (i’ve seen it with some of the people i’ve interned for). so yeah, lots to learn about that piece of the design world!

bryce roberts - week 12

last week we skyped with bryce roberts of oatv, a seed stage vc investment company. to prep for his talk, we did some research and cramming about the basics of vc and i got a look into a world i had never been interested before. im not necessarily super interested now, but i can say that i learned a lot about how it could affect me and designers like me.

a lot of what bryce talked about was the basics of what his company does and their decision making process - who they fund, why they fund them, when in their evolution they start funding, etc. it’s scary how a wrong step in the vc world can result in pretty major losses for everyone involved (but mostly the people who sought vc funding/the owners of the original idea). that’s why, as bryce said, not everything has to be a start up and not everything has to scale. i think it surprised us all to hear that coming from a vc guy, but i was in total agreement. a true start up is meant to eventually grow into a big scale, international, multi-investor, shared stock sort of dealio. not every idea is meant to live a life like that and not every idea is meant to get tied up in multi million dollar debts to investors. it’s okay to be a weekend warrior and grow your business slowly on your own. after this talk, i know for sure that that’s what i’m gonna do.

I have gotten most of the surveys back - I still need to synthesize and itemize so I can prepare my orders.

From there, I will coordinated with my fabric cutter in Pewaukee to ensure proper delivery of the felt from London.

On a weekend some time soon, I will be driving up to Wisconsin to take photographs inside the manufacturing facility, pictured below.

Once all the pieces are cut, they come back to me in Chicago where I will hand-assemble the rivets. I’ll also package everything up, apply stickers and stamps, and mail out!

talk about true hustle - it’s the only thing Boneyard Chicago knows. he runs his shop singlehandedly and is quickly bringing his brand to new heights. he’s a pretty private guy, but i’ll just say i know him personally and i know he does really good work as a creative entrepreneur. in his words, the game is to be sold, not told.

he’s been doing this for a while and he definitely knows his stuff. check out his instagram, shop, and new blog section he just started - there’s a hidden goodie at the end so read all the way through. if you like hip hop, rare finds, deadstock gear, or anything that has to do with the 80s/90s, you’ll like those links.