Inspiration. Where does it come from? How do we get it? Creatives are always in search of the next great idea. Often we turn to CA, TheFWA, Smashingmag, the geniuses at Adaptive Path or the insights of Jared Spool and his cohorts. But sometimes it helps to close the laptop, power down the iPad and hit the street. Some of my best creative jumpstarts have come in the most unexpected places. Here is a list of local road trips that have gotten me out of the Aeron chair, on my bike, on my feet or in the car finding inspiration in a less digital format. More…

As a small agency, Malenke | Barnhart has often acted in an ad hoc manner. One area we never addressed specifically was how we dealt with new employees–both full-time and contractors. Without a process in place, each new employee would have a different first-day experience at M|B. Depending on the team they joined and the meeting schedules of their first day, there would be a quick run-down of important points about working at M|B–but often some critical notes went missing. More…