Maybe you shouldn't try to disrupt your category after all

I work in advertising. For almost 20 years, I've been telling clients they need to stand out in the sea of sameness. Zig when the market zags. And so on.

When I started publishing the Owl & Raccoon series, I took my own advice. I looked at the covers of competitive police procedurals and flipped everything on its head. Instead of moody photos, I went with bright colors. Instead of modern type, I went with hand drawn titles. I asked for metaphorical illustrations instead of clear depictions of starring characters.

The authors I know told me I was making a huge mistake. They said my covers looked like they were meant for children's stories. And that crime readers are more likely to buy books if they are clearly marked as a series.

But I stuck to my guns. And I have to admit, when I put paid advertising behind my giveaways, the covers do pop off Amazon's Top 100 Free page. But the Owl & Raccoon books aren't making money. The Single Staircase has sold about 300 copies, WDYG half that. (Yes, I still give all proceeds from The Single Staircase to charity.) Compare those sales figures to Sin Walks Into The Desert, which has sold more than 9,000 copies. True, Sin Walks Into The Desert has that big fancy award, but most readers review the Owl & Raccoon novellas just as highly. What's more, Owl & Raccoon have actual fans. People tweet and email me to ask when their next case is coming out. I feel like The Single Staircase should be just as successful as Sin Walks Into The Desert.

Maybe it's not the covers' fault. But I want to try something. So yesterday I republished the cover art on the books' Kindle pages. If I see a sales bump, I'll finesse the layouts and apply the change to the print covers too, as well as the upcoming third Owl & Raccoon novella. In the meantime, if you have thoughts, let me know.

Don't Let Smart Be Dumb: my talk at 99U

Here's a video of my speech at the Denver 99U Local event a couple months ago. We already had a lot of creatives on stage that night. So I spent my time talking about big data and how it can help you craft a better brief.

Thanks to Studio C3 for the video production, Chip Kalback for the headshot, and Jen for bringing 99u to the Mile High City.

I need feedback on the design of my next book

I'm intent on releasing Regret Things soon. I haven’t touched the manuscript in months, except to insert links into the Kindle file. But I have been messing with my cover.

The image on the left was my first stab at it. I designed it to feel anonymous, choosing a common font and stripping identifying information. I wanted to play into the book’s themes of infidelity, ego and desperation. But a few things have made me reconsider my concept.

First of all, Sin Walks Into the Desert has been a consistent critical hit and a mild commercial success. While Regret Things isn’t exactly a prequel, Nicki and her little brother Sin show up in both books. It seems wise to let fans know the stories are related.

Secondly, I got some pointed advice (from Ty, among others) about selling books on Amazon. Readers want to identify the author and genre at a glance. Subtlety equals death.

And last, while the book takes place in locations across America, three of the chapters are set in turn-of-the-century Manhattan and they're the best writing I've ever done. When I saw a glorious photo of the city on Unsplash, I fell in love and wanted to see what it'd look like as a cover.

What do you think? Which design would make you want to pick up the book? If you're a guy, would you even consider buying a book with a hotel bed on the cover? Help.

The new karshhagan.com launches

I was always a little odded-out when people told me they liked the old karsh.com. It was missing most of the work we've done in the past two years. And it provided only a snapshot of the 60-something people that make our agency what it is.

On Friday we launched the new karshhagan.com. Besides a much broader array of work, it has a spiderweb navigation system that lets you browse the site by exploring our connections to campaigns, clients and each other. Check it out. Rachael has a more in-depth look at the site on the Karsh Hagan blog.

Students inspire, amaze and scare the hell out of me

For more than a month, I have had Autumn Wallace's resume on my desk. She handed it to me at the NDAC's student job fair in March and I got the chance to talk with her briefly. Our conversation began like this:

Her: I want to use human-centered design to address the flaws in complex systems that have been overlooked by the modern world.

Me: Huh?

She took me through her book. It was unlike any book I've ever seen. And I've seen a kazillion. Autumn redesigned an ambulance ride from the patient's point of view. She redesigned shopping technology from a blind person's point of view. She redesigned a fruit brand from a community's point of view. By the end of our talk, two facts were blindingly obviously to me:

1. Autumn was doing what agencies in America ought to be doing. She was finding places where brands and consumers intersect and making them beautiful and efficient.

2. It would be a gamble to hire Autumn based on her book, because after looking at it I wasn't sure she was passionate about doing the tasks that junior designers are expected to do - logos, packaging, websites, and, frequently, shelf talkers and counter cards.

My usual gripe about junior designers and art directors is that their books lack ideas and inspiration. But Autumn's book had the opposite situation. (I can't bring myself to call it a problem.) It was nothing but vision. So at some point in the conversation, I said something like this:

Me: I don't want to kill the dream here. You are doing something wonderful at a high level. But at most agencies, your first assignment will probably be something like, "Design a website." If you're lucky. It might be, "Design a mirror cling." Are you sure you're ready for that, both skill-wise and emotionally?

She assured me she was raring to get going in the real world. And if I had an open job, I would like to think I'd have the courage to hire her. But I keep looking at her resume and feeling confused. And then inspired. And then sad. And then just sort of confused again.

Welcome to my homepage. Now get going.

I can't think of a single personal or brand website that I visit on a regular basis. (Maybe The New York Times.) Instead I grab feeds that interest me (Like ColoradoPols, Noah Brier, Reach for the Wall, Selectism, Pitchfork and Sometimes Daily). I integrate interesting people into my news stream (Such as Alan Wolk, Barack Obama, Andrew Hyde, Universal Sports and Redhead Writing.) I subscribe to video channels on YouTube and look through my friend's photos on Facebook.

Like Jaffe said:

Today, consumers' digital homes are their Facebook profiles, their blogs, their custom-created communities. That's where they "live" in the digital world and that's where we need to hope they invite us to come and hang out from time to time, not the other way around.

My favorite personal websites right now are single-page designs that encourage visitors to connect on social platforms. Sites that are portals into larger stories. Sites that encourage you to leave them. (Such as Adelle Charles, Bud Caddell and Zach Klein.) My home page, Ingwalson.com, works the same way.

Brands could think of their websites as hubs, with links to content, connections and on- or off-site storefronts. Help people get where they're going. And don't bog down the pace of their lives.

What to read when you're not reading the One Show Annual

Tom Morello once said that his musical inspiration was a horse. Not sure what that means. My inspiration is Wonderpets. But I digress.

Seeking influences from outside your industry is a good thing. It prevents reflexivity and tunnel vision. It's not that you shouldn't be reading The Denver Egotist and AdFreak. You should. And here are a few other publications that might influence your work in ways you can't predict:

infosthetics.com: In modern communication, Information design is as creative and important as graphic design or art direction. This blog highlights some of the coolest and most creative ways to visualize the data points that make up our world.

Various style blogs: Working on American Crew, most of us at Karsh\Hagan try to keep up with fashion. The Sartorialist, Streetpeeper, Selectism and Street Etiquette are a few blogs that have developed a following. Trendsetters reveal themselves through their clothing, and seeing their styles gives us insight on how to speak their language.

wired.com/underwire: According to Gareth, more Americans played a video game in the last six month than went to the movies. The Underwire is Wired's blog about both games and movies, plus everything else that influences geek-pop culture.

creativesocialblog.com: Increasingly, and especially in digital, the power of an idea isn't defined by how many consumers might see it, but by how many consumers pass it around, mash it up, and make it their own. Creative Social is a survey of that type of work.

wallpaper.com: Architecture one of the loudest and most lasting expressions of culture. This blog puts it in the context of design and fashion, linking humanity with the spaces we build ourselves.

[Ed. - Matt Ingwalson wrote this post for Karsh Connect and cross-posted it to his blog.

It's just this simple

1. Identify a niche. Two years ago, inspiring, visionary leaders were in short supply.

2. Have a great product. Barack Obama had a compelling life story, a good grasp of policy, and a talent for politics.

3. Build your product into a brand. Obama could have been beaten. Change could not. And a killer logo didn't hurt.

4. Create a relationship. Obama's campaign encouraged user-generated content, experimented with new strategies, optimized social networks, and did anything else it could think of to capture data - along with hearts and minds.

Of course, for most brands, the journey ends here. For Barack Obama - and the USA - it is just beginning.