#visualdiary8

My second entry also relates to my time with the hockey club at Kansas where in my senior year when I was President, our arena sold sponsorship rights to a local bar for our annual rivalry game versus Mizzou without our permission. As a collegiate team/organization, like many teams/clubs/organizations at colleges across the United States, we have very strict rules when it comes to associating with drugs and alcohol. A handful of years before I began at KU, our club got in trouble by hazing underage players with alcohol and we were removed from campus for a period of time, so when I found out that our home arena, who we’re in constant contact with throughout any given season, sold title sponsorship rights to a local bar without our permission, I was forced to withdraw our team from the game and find a new arena to host the game. It took weeks, many passionate conversations with the opposing team’s coaches and staff over the eventual outcome so that both sides were pleased, we settled on a home and home rivalry series with each team hosting the other at their campus instead of just a single event in Kansas City. The event proved to be very beneficial to both clubs both from a PR and financial standpoint. I was very proud of my staff for working tirelessly to help find a new venue, work out solutions, and still create a can’t miss event at a much less desirable arena.

Both of my entries for this week’s visual diary are going to be from when I was in undergrad at the University of Kansas. While at KU, I volunteered with the club hockey team designing merchandise and uniforms. Before I got to KU and joined the growing staff, no one had spearheaded selling merchandise. I was willing to reach out to vendors and build a website if needed to get our fans merchandise, knowing it could be our primary source of revenue each season given we didn’t charge for admission and concession stand revenue went to the arena, not us. My first year I was able to get stores set up with numerous vendors for a variety of items and we were consistently selling 100s of items each season, then COVID-19 gripped the world and canceled a season and a half of ours, and many other teams around the nation. We, like many, didn’t know how we’d turn a profit and be able to play the following season if we didn’t make money to support our operating costs due to not having a season. So although the pandemic was awful in many ways for so many people all over, it forced my team and I to find new ways to market and sell to our current fans, and reach new ones all over the country. After my four years at KU, we sold over $45,000 worth of merchandise, more than quadrupling the amount of money the University aids us with each season. Upon graduation, our coaching staff and university representatives told my team and I that without the massive amounts of sales over the years, especially during the off-seasons from COVID-19, the future of the club was seriously in doubt.

Babbel is an excellent example of design leadership with consideration of cultural parameters. This one obviously pertains to language. I think this app has really made some substantial strides as of late and they are even offering learning Spanish for free for 3 months which is really cool! They have done a good job with their marketing strategy. For example, they have a commercial that shows someone learning a new language while making their commute to and from work. They offer a way to speak the language as part of the learning process or mainly by reading. I recently got this app to learn Italian for when I travel to Italy this summer. I haven’t been able to dive into yet, but so far I’m really impressed with Babbel and think they have definitely put a stake in the ground when it comes to learning languages! I’m looking forward to using it and seeing how seamless the process is!

Design leadership can take many things into consideration. But how about design that deflects the bounds of cultural parameters. I’m sure most people have seen the “love has no labels” display campaign video. It’s amazing to me and I love watching it because it just reminds me over and over that we are all the same at our cores. This design and idea overall was just genius to me! This is design leadership that directly relates to cultural parameters and how labels mustn’t define us. In a world that can seem so divided, a lot of the time the answer is to all come together and make the world a better place!

Thomas Edison had to have known the revolutionary impact the lightbulb would have on society. Where people once depended on the sun in the daytime and candles at night, they know had access to artificial lighting at all times. It also affected the economy by increasing the length of the workday. Because there was a better light source, workers no longer had to stop before the sun went down. Today, most of us could not imagine living without the lightbulb, including me. At this very moment, I have 3 on.

I really love seeing images where nature and art meet. It’s a great example of design leadership because it makes use of design parameters such as space, and anticipation of the future. In the example above, the more the tree grows, the bigger the afro gets!

The EMPR Coat - This coat alleviated parameters by creating a jacket that transforms into a tent. The constant is to help the homeless population in Chicago. This coat goes beyond the regular boundaries of design to make it adhere to giving. https://www.empowermentplan.org/the-coat

The EMPR Coat - This coat alleviated parameters by creating a jacket that transforms into a tent. The constant is to help the homeless population in Chicago. This coat goes beyond the regular boundaries of design to make it adhere to giving. https://www.empowermentplan.org/the-coat