Teamwork Makes the Best Work

We love doing team projects here at PS. I suppose I shouldn't speak for everyone, but I know at least I love team projects. Whenever we get together to come up with a "promotional solution" there is a similar series of steps we always follow. I admit, this may be a little unconventional and chaotic but being the promotional unicorns that we are, it works for us. With that in mind, lets talk about the steps it took to make our stellar PS holiday card.

Step 1: Brainstorm Session

This first and maybe most important step takes some serious time and creativity. To set aside “serious time” for a project, we schedule a lunch meeting at Rhombus Guys. The best part about going there is that you get crayons to color all over the paper-covered table with.The meeting for our holiday card started out quite the same as most- with spinach dip and kettle chips. Then, after a Christmas tree drawing contest, (Matt’s would better pass as a wedge of Swiss cheese) pizza eating, and a few other distractions, we were able to make some decisions. We decided that we would make our card funny, holiday themed, and an actual card in an envelope instead of a postcard. Yay decisions!

Step 2: Let it Marinate

This second step is usually the longest running step because, everyone knows you have to marinate for plenty of time to get the best flavor. After making such big decisions about our card at lunch we got back to the office and proceeded to consult Google for more inspiration. This was maybe our downfall since we couldn’t get past how awesome this already existing card was [via www.etsy.com]:And then we thought the common creative blocking question, “How are we ever going to be that clever?”This could have been the end, but luckily when all hope and excitement is seemingly lost is when we have our greatest ideas. They usually come from Shannon blurting something random and nonsensical out and this time was no different. She asked, “What if we have a toy animal photo shoot for our card?” Brilliant! Typically, Matt is pretty hesitant about Shannon’s ideas, but in our democratic voting process of girls against boy, we always win.

Step 2.5: Yeah, it’s Still Marinating…

Shannon brought the toy animals the next day after the genius plan was proposed. How we were going to set this up, we still had no clue. So they sat in the office for many cold and lonely nights and waited for inspiration to hit us. If there ever were real life Toy Story adventures, they may have occurred here at PS. Fortunately, we had some plastic foods as well, so at least we could feed the tiger some bacon and the lion a waffle to keep them happy. One Friday afternoon, about 2 weeks before Christmas, we finally decided it was time.

Step 3: Completion

The hardest part of any project is beginning it. So why, you ask, is this step called completion? Well you see, once we actually sit down and start turning those brainstormed and marinated ideas into something tangible, the end is actually very near.When we finally got around to setting up our winter Jurassic Park scene, taking the photos for our card was easy. All it took was a little imagination and trial and error to get the perfect image. Then the Photoshop magic began and the card was officially ready for print the following Monday. Like I said, the beginning was basically the end!By now, you’re probably thinking that our whole project took a bunch of extra time and nonsense to finish and that is true. But, it’s also true that we had a blast in the process and were all extremely excited about the final outcome. If you can’t love what you’re doing, then why do it? The whole team can agree that teamwork makes the best work here at PS.And now, the moment you’ve all been waiting for. The official reveal! (If you didn’t already get one in the mail) Our 2014 holiday card…Happy Holidays from us! If you’re in need of out of the box ideas, we’ll make sure to schedule a meeting at Rhombus!- Shelby Zach