Who is Devin Liddell?

Devin Liddell is a Brand Strategist at one of the Northwest’s most respected design firms and has been involved in branding for a decade. He got started working for The Leonhardt Group, then moved to FITCH, and most recently has been working at Phinney Biscoff Design House in Seattle, WA, where he is the Director of Brand Strategy. Devin’s unique perspectives on brand design and strategy have been featured in Brandweek, and Brand Strategy (both great publications for those interested in brand), HOW Magazine, and has been featured frequently in Black Book, where in 2006 he had three features in the top 100 for design collaboration & copywriting. Devin also is a known speaker for the American Marketing Association, and lectures for the University of Washington Design Studies Program. One final thing: He’s a family man and loves to cook in his free time. (free time?)

The Interview

ThisIsInspired
How did you get started, what made you choose brand work in the first place, and what passion keeps you interested in it?

Devin Liddell
When I started at The Leonhardt Group in 1999, I really had no idea what I was doing. I remember gorging on design magazines in the weeks leading up to my start, which I don’t think helped at all, but I enjoyed it. I had almost no sense of what brand strategy really entailed, and that was okay because I had wonderful mentors and the firm valued critical thinking, and I knew I could do that. More than anything, I really had this overwhelming desire to be around designers. That was the inspiration. And that affection and affinity for designers and what they do turned out to be really important for my career, because I essentially made a living for the first few years by being an effective bridge between senior strategists who didn’t interface well with designers, and designers who didn’t know what the hell these strategists were talking about. So being a bridge really helped hone my perspective on both strategic principles as well as how strategy is brought to life through design. That relationship remains fundamental to me, and explains why I would never work for a firm that did not feature designers. I love strategy, but even the best strategy is absolutely meaningless unless a creative team takes that idea and makes it into something that exists in the real world.

“I love strategy, but even the best strategy is absolutely meaningless unless a creative team takes that idea and makes it into something that exists in the real world.”

Strategy without design is just a PowerPoint. And, for the record, I don’t ever present strategy through slides. I use big, oversized sheets of paper. I want to start clients down the path of making these ideas real right away. This passion for taking strategy and using creative to turn it into something meaningful is what keeps me engaged. It’s also why I love being a copywriter. Plus, agency life reminds me of the best parts of college. You don’t like a certain project? Eh, it’ll be over in six weeks and you’ll start something new.

ThisIsInspired
Anyone who knows you knows you like to cook, and creative people don’t take a break from imagination. Can you look at both cooking and brand work and point to similarities, creatively speaking?

Devin Liddell
That’s interesting, and I’ve never considered how they’re similar. But they are. Both are process-driven, which I think is important. Not that you should be shackled to process, but process can effectively organize your thoughts in how to get from start to finish without getting stuck. Plus, the best kind of process actually sets the table for the unexpected, which is what you want. Another important similarity is that both brand work and cooking push you creatively to try new things. To take calculated risks. Neuroscience shows that even doing something simple in a different way—using your left hand if you’re right-handed, for example—stimulates your brain. Think about what cooking a new dish must do. You’re dealing with perhaps unfamiliar ingredients, maybe a different process, and you have yet to achieve the desired outcome. That is creative risk. Plus, there is a pleasure in cooking, and that sensation is similar to what I feel as I move through a brand development process. Finally, and not to get too weird here, but while cooking and brand work can be beautiful, the best outcome is to arrive at the inside of people’s guts. I want food to go there. And I want my clients to take the brand and ingest it into their organization, so that it’s a part of their organizational being. 

ThisIsInspired
Does the type of project you’re working on at work have an effect on what things you cook? (eg: A highly creative project at work means you’ll take a break at home, sort of thing)

Devin Liddell
My wife and I have two young sons, ages 4 and 2. Keeping up with them requires a lot of energy, and occasionally we are so tired after putting them to bed that we will opt for a “cereal night.” For the same reason, if I’m creatively taxed with a big project or lots of small projects, I’m less likely to cook anything adventurous or complex at home. That’s the time for comfort food. One relationship between work and cooking at home that I’ve done for a long time is eating fish the night before a big presentation. Fish is great for your brain, so I always eat fish the night before a big meeting. It’s probably evolved into a bit of a superstition for me.

ThisIsInspired
The Northwest United States is a gorgeous area, for wildlife and the Great Outdoors, but Seattle’s also got a reputation for rainy weather. Does the world around you have any creative impact on what you do at work?

Devin Liddell
It is beautiful here. The rain also keeps everything very clean and green. The only kind of weather here in the Northwest that drives me bonkers is what I call “high altitude gray.” It’s not raining, it’s not foggy—it’s just this high layer of gray clouds that sits there doing nothing. That weather makes me anxious. After 18 years here, though, I’m maybe a bit less affected by the weather than I used to be. Several years ago, we did set a record with something like 99 straight days of rain, and that was the only time I ever thought to myself, “Really? This is where you want to spend your time?” But I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Seattle is rainy and can be somewhat dreary, but is also celebrated for its creative industries. We’re all inside working on something!

ThisIsInspired
There are cliches all over, in any type of creative work: All-caps Helvetica is overused, certain taglines or phrases are just variants of so many others, etc. In a sea of stuff like this, how do you stay on track with originality?

Devin Liddell
I think we all know when we are treading on territory that is well-worn, or even when we’re resorting to a particular “trick.” But, in general, I think most people in the industry don’t struggle with how to come up with original ideas. We’re sort of wired to do that. What I think we struggle with more is getting clients to buy into those original ideas. And here’s the kicker: it’s usually not the client’s fault. Our industry is too absorbed with the notion that we are the magic-makers and clients are the party-poopers. That’s an easy excuse, and it’s not true anyway.

“Our industry is too absorbed with the notion that we are the magic-makers and clients are the party-poopers. That’s an easy excuse, and it’s not true anyway.”

If you’re dedicated to originality, then you have to be dedicated to evangelizing how that originality will drive someone’s business forward. Those are usually easy arguments to make, just look at the competitive landscape, but a lot of people are not comfortable arguing with their clients, or at least really pushing them hard. I tell my clients all the time, “If you are really uncomfortable, that means we are doing something right.” Radical differentiation should not feel comfortable. Why would we expect radical differentiation—which is a necessity for the success of a brand—to feel comfortable? In fact, I tell our clients during the pitch process that we expect to argue and push each other. The other thing is that we need to invite clients into the creative process. Involving them in the creative process helps them take ownership of original ideas. Originality can’t be a bomb we drop on them. They have to be invested in originality, and that means they have to be integral to the process.

ThisIsInspired
What do you do for inspiration? In your opinion, why does your muse work for you when it might not work for someone else?

Devin Liddell
I’m a big fan on Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Studies.” In this essay, he says that reading makes you full, conversation makes you ready, and writing makes you exact. So, if you want to be a real live wire, you should read a lot, have a lot of interesting conversations, and write a lot. It might sound corny for me to say this, but those are truly words to live by. I think those three really constitute most everyone’s “muse” in some form or another. As for my muse, and why it only works for me, it comes down to an employer-employee relationship. I’ve told my muse before, “I love you, and I think we have a good thing going on. But don’t forget you work for me, not someone down the hall. If you ever leave me, I’ll kill you.” Luckily, my muse does not take me very seriously. 

ThisIsInspired
Imagine you have a free day to yourself. No jobs on the table, no calls, no email. How would you live that one day to rejuvenate your mind and be ready again tomorrow?

Devin Liddell
Wow, now I’m panting. I’d probably watch soccer. There is something hypnotic to me about really fantastic soccer. There is a lot of geometry and angles in the game. And the attacking side is all about constantly probing, trying to find its way to the goal. I’d say you’re more likely to hear the word “creative” while watching soccer than any other sport. Soccer is wonderful to watch, and it’s a running clock, so you get completely absorbed in the action. I’m also a huge fan of going to movies by yourself, especially during the day. That can be very rejuvenating, because it’s only the story in front of you. You’re not thinking about anything else. But if I’m being really honest with myself, that kind of day may not be very helpful to me. I need a little bit of activity to keep me on my toes. One of the side effects of agency life is that it’s made me almost completely worthless in the absence of deadlines. At home, I have to create arbitrary deadlines just to get things done. 

ThisIsInspired
It’s funny how good design can work at any level. A business card, for example, can be completely minimal and bare-bones but carry a very distinct sense of place and brand whereas an equally minimal card that’s poorly designed just flops. What’s the key attribute, to you, that underlies why some designs succeed?

Devin Liddell
Well, a great designer. I know that sounds blunt, but a great designer is what separates a sublime minimalist card from a crappy one. We’d like to think there is some formal distinction, but really it’s a distinction of talent, of intuitive know-how. I think it also generally has to do with how successfully a single attribute is exaggerated. Total intentionality, with as few compromises as possible, is what stands out. When you consider that we’re subjected to more than 30,000 marketing messages per day, the question across every touchpoint becomes, “Why should anyone notice this?” For me, the more exaggerated presence a design has, the more it commands that notice.  

ThisIsInspired
The internet is “instant!” in the minds of so many people. How, would you say, has this “instantaneousness” [sic] changed brand design or at least people’s perception of brand, if at all?

Devin Liddell
One interesting effect is that it has created this sense of fluidity. Before, brand identities were primarily designed for the sides of big buildings and retail environments and the like. So, fairly inflexible applications. If you hoisted a big logo onto the side of the building, you wouldn’t want to change it anytime soon. Same goes for retail applications. But the Web is never finished. It’s always changing. Look at how Google treats its logo on its homepage every day. Ten years ago, just the idea of that would’ve given night sweats to the brand police inside every organization. So that’s the big one for me. Brands now are treated a bit more fluidly. The best web sites are never “finished” or “launched.” They change every day, certainly with content, but maybe even a bit in look and feel. A smaller effect is that the Web is generally supposed to be a friendly and welcoming place, so brand identities are reflecting that. The use of type to communicate “serious business” is giving way to a more warm and human presence. Look at the old Walmart logo compared to the new one. 

ThisIsInspired
Designers have the ability to look at a given design and get an idea of the process that went into making that design what it is. Removing the tangible, calculable process, can you look at a design and get a feel for the inspiration of the designer? (kind of like working the design process in reverse, if that makes sense..)

Devin Liddell
Almost never. There’s part of me that wishes otherwise, but outside of having direct exposure to the designer’s thinking, mostly I see a design as an embodiment all its own, separate from the designer. Writers have a sense for this as well, the idea that the text takes on a life all its own that is separate from the writer. This is actually the goal, I think. When I see a design that is the perfect embodiment or reflection or expression of a brand, that is what is should be—not a reflection of the designer. To me, the designer is an outsider that has a very specific gift for illuminating precisely what the brand aspires to be.

“To me, the designer is an outsider that has a very specific gift for illuminating precisely what the brand aspires to be.”

When I’m copywriting for a brand, I don’t write in my voice. I write in the voice of the brand, which is separate from my own, but facilitated through me. Similarly, the designer works to reveal the brand’s true self.

We can’t inject ourselves into the brand. That would be virus-like.

…

I’d like to thank Devin for his time and attention for the interview. He’s not only busy at work but at home as well. Devin, thank you. :)

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