Invitations to our annual fall party, Freek in the Creek, have officially gone out. As always, it will be held at Bluestem Stables, an 108 acre ranch located outside of Potomac Illinois. On October 3rd employees, their families, and our local vendors are invited for a night that is sure to be frightfully fun.  The evening of fun-filled events will begin with horseback rides with Betty followed by a Freek Scavenger Hunt. Taylor Studios will provide and prepare burgers and dogs on the grill to be enjoyed around the campfire with the delicious potluck dishes brought by everyone.  Taylor Studios will end the night with campfire stories and yummy smores. Remember, don’t get too caught up in all the fun, the Freek may be lurking nearby.

Posted by: Jessica

How much is a dollar worth?  Seems like a straightforward question at first glance doesn’t it?

Given the times, we’re all looking to stretch our pennies just a bit further.   Everyone wants the best value for their dollar.  Understandably, people seem to want the most ’stuff’ for the lowest price.  Unfortunately, the concept of value sometimes gets overshadowed by the price tag.

As a design-build contractor, we are constantly competing in low-bid environments.  A low-bid scenario occurs when a purchasing agent tries to simplify proposals into nothing but a numbers game in search of the lowest cost and the best ‘perceived’ value.  They try and make it an objective process.  They will take a list of broad specifications, see which proposals somewhat match those, then simply award a contract to the one with the lowest price.

While this approach may work when buying jugs of coffee or office supplies, it doesn’t work particularly well in our industry.  How do you realistically put a price on something that hasn’t even been designed yet?

We propose on jobs that fit us and, for the most part, we have a strong track record of success.  We strive to give our customers the best value for their dollar.  When bidding jobs, we do our best to give an honest assessment of what we think it will take to provide the client what they want - and we don’t necessarily consider price in doing so.  This tends to cause us headaches in the aforementioned low-bid arena.

Oftentimes, in design-build jobs, we may not be given the overall project budget and our proposal simply becomes an educated guess on how much we think it’s going to cost.  However, we are ALWAYS willing to design to ANY budget.  The value we offer is sometimes overlooked behind our price tag.   Here’s a sampling of some of the value you get when selecting Taylor Studios:

- Experience: Nearly 20 years in the industry has given us a strong base of best practices.  We know what works, we know what things cost, we know how long it takes to build them.  Trust us.

- Planning: Good, up front planning leads to increased productivity and efficiency.  We identify potential risks within the first two weeks of every project and begin planning ways to minimize them.  This helps to keep schedules on track and reduces costly change orders in the future.

- Under one Roof:  We have a full staff of designers AND fabricators.  Sometimes as much as 10% of an entire project is tied up in shipping and travel expenses.  As an owner, why pay that 10% to a design firm, then another 10% to a fabrication firm during their work durations?  The client WILL save money by selecting a firm capable of designing and fabricating everything in house.

In many cases, by accepting a low-bid on a job that hasn’t been designed, the client is assuming a significant amount of risk.  Risk that they won’t get quite as much as they expected on their money, risk that the contractor doesn’t fully understand their needs, risk that the job won’t get done on time…and the list goes on.

As an owner, ask yourself, “do I really need that much risk?”

As a contractor, who knows how to do the job well, and do it right the first time, I ask, “how much is your dollar worth to you?”

Posted by: John

Freek in the Creek invitation

Most of May invitation

Last week we were notified that two of our graphic designers, Phil and Samantha, both won American Graphic Design Awards from Graphic Design USA Magazine for some of their work. Phil’s “Freek in the Creek” invitation for Taylor Studios was awarded and Samantha’s “Most of May” freelance invitations were awarded. Way to go designers!

I was going to write about Group Dynamics after listening to a lecture from Pat Murray.  Time has run away from me so I’ve decided to share my coach’s blog on it instead.  I am a member of the Vistage organization and have the opportunity to learn from other CEOs and hear great speakers.  Here is a copy of my coach’s blog:

Pat Murray

Posted by Mike Donahue on August 28, 2009 in Big Thinkers, Big Thoughts

Pat Murray is a big thinker. He makes his living consulting, coaching executives and speaking. He’s an expert on leadership and what makes an effective leader, and he’s equally competent discussing why some teams are effective and the wheels come off others.

Pat’s been a member of the TEC/Vistage family for over 30 years and he’s spoken to groups more than 1000 times. I’ve had Pat speak to my groups three times; my members call him a “quote machine” because of all the thought-provoking things he says.

I invited Pat to speak to my CEO group earlier this month; he gave his talk titled “Group Dynamics: The Inside Story on Teams and Leading Them.” Here are three of the most memorable ideas Pat shared with the group:

1. We carry the groups we’ve been members of in our heads and hearts. This means you hire the groups that dominate the new hire’s awareness. As I reflect on this, it’s clear to me that I carry two groups in my head and heart that had profound effects on me. They still impact how behave and influence what I think is important.
2. Leaders must maximize connectivity and minimize separation. There is a 1:1 correlation between high connectivity and high performance. This is why it’s so important for groups to have a common goal or purpose. I read an article on leadership not long ago that defined leadership as “influencing intentionally.” Is maximizing connectivity a way of influencing intentionally?
3. Only three things matter to groups:

• Purpose: Common purpose means shared fate. The more intensely members share a common fate, the higher the level of the group’s performance.

• Investment: This refers not only to the time and talent members invest in the group’s success, but to their emotional investment as well. The higher the collective investment, the higher the performance of the group. You can tell how vested members are by their openness and willingness to confront bad behavior.

• Performance: High performing groups hold themselves accountable for results. What affects the group must be discussed in the group. This inevitably creates anxiety among the members; leaders make that anxiety manageable enough for the team to get through it. When the anxiety level is too high, accountability is ignored and the group accepts stories instead of results.

I’ve already applied some of Pat’s insight in my groups. I’m a better group leader because of Pat and grateful for his support and friendship.

Posted Originally by Mike Donahue

Re-posted by: Betty

A couple weeks ago I began explaining our design-build process in more detail.  This post details the second phase in the process: Design Development.

During Design Development, the project design team continues to build upon the messages and exhibit flow that were developed during Schematic Design. Design Development is when the look of an exhibit really begins to take shape. Conceptual renderings are completed for each area of the exhibit. Designers take into account the project resources that were allocated to each area and are careful to stay within the client’s project budget. Colors and materials are selected and samples are gathered for a materials board that’s put together for client review. Progress is posted frequently to a website established just for the client, and adjustments are made per client comments.

An exhibit’s copy is also further developed as the central theme, subthemes, and storylines become the basis for introduction panels for each area of the exhibit. The project’s interpretive planner works very closely with exhibit and graphic designers during this phase to ensure that interpretation is driving the design.

While all of this is taking place, graphic designers are developing various “looks” for the exhibit graphics. A graphic hierarchy is designed for each level of interpretation. The hierarchy will show what the graphic panels for the various levels of interpretation would look like from broad, introductory panels to very detailed artifact labels.

The conceptual sketches, a first draft of the copy for each of the exhibit area’s introductions, and the graphic options are presented to the client before the next, much more detailed, stage begins.

Next week…Final Design…

Posted by: Renee

Today I read a very insightful entry from Lisa Brochu on the NAI blog called “Contractors, Cover Your Ears.” (http://interpnet.com/interpplan/?p=55) The blog discussed the relationships between contractors and clients — the frustrations both sides can feel and the respect both sides deserve. As someone with experience only on the contractor’s side, this touched on feelings that come up a lot during the design process.

When designing exhibits for a client, we try to get as much input from them as possible to help bring their vision to life. We rely on them to tell us why their resource is so great and to bring their passion and experience to the project. We craft interpretive themes together at the onsite kickoff. We brainstorm exhibit concepts together at the design development workshop. We continually post thumbnails on our client websites to get feedback on different ideas. Every deliverable goes through edit after edit to make sure the client feels happy and involved.

When the client makes a request which we feel may not be the best route, such as creating an exhibit which diverges from established interpretive themes, we are not shy about voicing our opinions and providing guidance. However, in the end we know that the client is in charge and they make the final decision. This is their money, their site, their exhibits that will last for many years, and their resource that they love and want to share with the public.

However, it can be frustrating never to be the decision-maker. The client may hate something that we really love. And since they hold the power, some of our favorite exhibit concepts will never be built. I often think how great it would be to be on the other side, in the client’s shoes. I dream of winning the lottery and building an elaborate exhibit in my basement. But we understand that many clients may only find the funding to go through the design process once every few decades, so of course they are very driven to make these exhibits exactly what they want, not some funky new design for our portfolio. My consolation is that I am privileged to be a part of so many creative projects every year. I get to learn about amazing desert plants one week and aircraft carriers as tall as the Seattle Space Needle the next. So though we are never the decision-makers on any one project, we get to be collaborators on many.

Posted by: Katie

One of my first big projects at Taylor was working the Final Graphic Design phase (basically creating and finalizing all the graphics in the gallery before we print them) for Frying Pan Farm Park Visitor Center.  It was a really cool exhibit showing a lot of old photography and farm artifacts from the 1930s and describing what it was like to live there and work on a farm.  My job in this phase was to locate photos that corresponded to the text written by our interpreter and illustrate graphics based on old photography for the interactives.

Sounds pretty simple in concept right?

I didn’t realize there were so many ways to draw a cow udder. “The tip should be a little more square…” “No, it should taper towards the end…” “Actually they’d be a bit fatter for this breed…”

I grew up in a small farm town.  So small, in fact, that I lived on the 400 block of West Main Street and that was the edge of town.  I remember cows would graze out the back window of my high school and would stare at me in my biology class. I didn’t know anything about cows other than they were good with cheese and a bun. I’ve only milked a cow once, and that was at a fair, and I was holding a cheeseburger in my other hand. So, you could say my bovine knowledge is fairly limited.

Luckily, the Frying Pan staff was extremely helpful in identifying families and even individuals in the old photos and I am eternally grateful to have access to experienced and knowledgeable people who know this stuff.

Posted by: Matt