From all of my highlights and dog ears I will share these two thoughts from the book:

“On straightforward choices, deliberate analysis is best. When questions of analysis and personal choice start to get complicated – when we have to juggle many different variables – then our unconscious thought processes may be superior.”

AND Gladwell quoting Gavin de Becker author of the Gift of Fear,

“When you remove time you are subject to the lowest-quality intuitive reaction.”

It turns out intuition needs a little breathing room. So listen to that voice inside your head, especially if you’ve given it ample time to figure out what it wants to say. That’s all folks.

- @BBrosAdam

How do you judge a contest? You must have criteria, or a criterion. I figured judging a competition for my friends The Butler Bros would be simple: I’d pick the Instagram photos that suggested stories that looked the least like fiction. Photos that were honest, truthful, authentic. Using that criterion, I immediately became skeptical of photos that looked too good. Photos that looked like they were taken by expensive DSLRs and later posted from the phone were out. No easy matter, indeed. In the end, I went with another (way less ambitious) criterion:
I picked the photos I liked.

click images to enlarge

@mdenton3016

If all photos are posed, this was
the least-posed in the November #instabros batch: a mosh pit at Fun
Fun Fun Fest. It’s rare to find Instagram shots with so much energy—for one thing, something has to be happening, and a lot of times when we Instagram, nothing
is really happening: think of all the lattes and sleeping dogs in your feed…

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@toppbrocales

Captioned “lonely guy.” What’s his story? Who took the photo? (You never know, the photographer could’ve been dining *with* him, instead of behind him. Wouldn’t that be interesting…) Would I feel the same way about the photo without the caption? Once I read the caption, it’s impossible to know.

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@Vanchocstraw

@Vanchocstraw’s bio is accurate:
“a lot of walking the dogs in Austin, Texas,” but I just couldn’t get away from this photo of the Top Notch sign against an Austin sunset. Does it suggest a story? No. Sometimes a photo just looks pretty… and that’s enough.

Congratulations to this month’s winners. Each receives a Butler Bros t-shirt. Keep tagging #Instabros on your Instagrams to enter.

oday Marty and I stopped in to visit David Shields, the overseer/educator/historian extraordinare at the Rob Roy Kelly Wood Type Collection in UT’s Design Department.
I was seriously excited to see this, as it’s the largest public collection of wood type in the country, and it’s right in my backyard. I have over 6,000 digital typefaces at the studio to choose from, but to get away from the endless digital choices I make all day and to touch the artifacts; learn a sliver of design history, is really a treat.

The Rob Roy Kelly Wood Type Collection is a comprehensive collection of wood type manufactured and used for printing in America during the nineteenth century. It is comprised
of nearly 150 faces of various sizes and styles, including examples of the most popular printing types in use between 1828 and 1900, and represents a period of history marked by a rapid transition to new printing technologies…Rob Roy Kelly’s research and education about his collection helped fuel a revival of interest in nineteenth-century American printing types, and
in doing so, helped save a valuable facet of American history.

Maintaining a collection such as this is a labor of love and oh-so necessary for our future. Back when technologies began to shift, some may have burnt these type blocks to keep them warm. I bet David Shields would rather freeze to death. Bravo sir, keep on keepin’ on.

-@BBrosLindsay

This giant tent greeted me when I walked into their studio. I could hear the students laughing inside. We immediately agreed that I should present inside this work of sheets created by student Christina Moser. Her intent was to create a “space within a space” that caused an interruption but also extended an invitation to think and perhaps act differently. Being in the tent was indeed very intimate and removed all of the physical space that would have existed between myself and the class. Ironically, my intent in speaking was to create a space in which the seniors could look within themselves; absent the noise of fear and constant “am I good enough?” chatter that graduation day specializes in megaphoning in your skull. So the tent was a universal assist.

I wanted to attempt to inoculate them from the mindset that the “perfect job” would define them as successful designers and people. In the process of sharing stories I referenced a wide range of people – from my mentors, my former teachers, our newest collaborators to Steve Jobs and a few former Butler Bros interns. Sure everyone knows Steve. But you may not know that Cesar Torres, a former intern of ours, started one of the first co-working spaces in Austin. Or that Jay B Sauceda and Cody Haltom both former Butler Bros interns founded Public School. We see all of this as success. People following their hunches, their passions, their bliss, et. al. They had to do it their way. Bravo.

The work I proposed the students do borrows from Steven Tomlinson and his mentor inherited concept of “Don’t discard.” The notion that your unique skills and strong passions meet the unique needs of the universe in unique ways. I believe that. I added a dash of Tom Campbell, a decorated US Marine and  former UT management professor of mine who, after a semester of teaching us Bennis, Machiavelli and Sun Tzu, tearfully implored, on the last day of class, “Find yourself a road.” And I used the great Steve Jobs quote above for those who needed a more modern invocation. And I reminded them that a calligraphy class Jobs took at a Reed College has a lot to do with what differentiated Apple right out of the gates. Skills plus passions.

Halfway through I asked abruptly, “Are any of you buying any of this? Do you believe that your passions and your skills mashed up are what make you unique?” I could sense the nascent belief in intrinsic value stirring so I kept going. I told them about our journey as a company. I talked about letting belief in what you work on take the lead. I kept it real. There is no such thing as a perfectly executed vision but setting the bar for yourself is critical. Don’t let someone else set it for you.

I shared personal stories about how this method, if it is one, has keep our company vibrant despite the flagging economy and general sense of forbding everyone packs in their bag these days. Mostly I talked about our collaborators and how banding together on shared values trumps the idea of merely banding together around complimentary skill sets. You have to do both. But where does the primary energy go? For Butler Bros it’s in seeking people and organizations who inspire us with their missions and personal visions. It’s that simple. And they can’t be jackasses either, no matter how visionary or talented.

So, again I asked, “Tell me what you think? Is this crazy talk?” And then it happened, a student named Wu said that she loved working with wood and with her sister, even though her sister was still in high school, and that she wanted to figure out a way to do both, maybe. Maybe is good enough. Maybe is the start. One person was brave enough to show her cards in the small space of a sheet tent on the eve of graduation into the great big oyster.

Thanks for inviting me in.

Adam

Marty created this beautiful memorial video as a legacy for our dad. Travis from our office edited the piece. In the parlance of film people, “It holds up.” Take a few minutes to watch it. It’s for everybody that has a family, not just us. If it shifts your perspective and inspires you to accept the foibles of your earthly parents well then so be it. Acceptance goes a long way towards creating profit from loss. Thanks dad for teaching us this and so many other lessons.

Click here to view the embedded video.

BEST BRAND FORCE FOR GOOD  Critics Picks/Services

“It’s difficult to meet the team at Butler Bros without feeling as though you’ve already known them forever. Accountable, honorable, advocates for positivity — these are words not often attributed to folks in the ad biz. They’re apt descriptors of this team, not just for the widely recognized and lauded branding work, but also for the humility and heart they put into everything they touch. Whether it’s a branding campaign or
the annual bring-your-own-chair neighborhood event, if the Butlers are involved, count your blessings.”

link to article

Yesterday was Worldwide Instameet Day where groups in cities all over the world meet their fellow Instagrammers (IGers). We hosted the Austin-wide Instameet which turned out to be tons of fun! We got to put faces to usernames and document it all in our favorite filtered format. Check out our #instameetaustin album and be on the lookout for more activities if you’d like to come out next time.

Don’t forget you still get your instagrams on our homepage by tagging #instabros. Each month we choose a few lucky winners for a coveted BBros Tee. This month is being judged by Jay B Sauceda. Get to grammin’!

Click the images above to learn more about the photographers.