Posted by Derek Leavitt on Tue, Jul 27, 2010 @ 09:31 AM
To us here at Modative, modern architecture is really more about a way of thinking than a style. It's about doing things better, even if it means abandoning old traditional rules. We carry this same critical thinking into the occasional graphic design assignment. An example of this recently occurred with our business cards.
Architect's Business Cards
Four years after our initial order, a few of us were running low on business cards. The natural architect instinct is to redesign the entire card; however, since we're still happy with our logo and look, we decided on only a few minor modifications. Subtracting instead of adding - much like we would do in a building design - eliminating the unnecessary.
No changes to the back of our business card. We like the bold simplicity and abundance of orange that screams "pull this business card out of the jar for the random prize drawing".
The front of our old business cards.
The first subtraction was an easy call: nixing the fax number. Honestly, we don't want faxes. We've contemplated eliminating our fax machine altogether. Anything that can be faxed can be scanned and emailed.
We also considered removing our physical address. The physical address on our business cards has actually been the cause of confusion over the years because it listed our mailing address, not our office location. When we originally designed the cards, we did this intentionally, because we knew we'd move our office a few times in those early years. And we did.
Unfortunately, more than one person has shown up at our mailbox for a meeting. Since we don't want two addresses on the card (too much clutter), we narrowed it down to three options:
- Keep the mailing address
- No address, but have "Los Angeles" to give people a sense of our location
- Go with no address or city and rely on people going to our website to find our two addresses.
Variations of the "Los Angeles" Option. We didn't like the way "Los Angeles" looked on the card. It was as if we forgot the rest of the address.
In the end we decided on Option 3: no address. People have much better access to the web than they did even four years ago when we first printed business cards and our website clearly provides both our office location and mailing address.
The new ultra simple business card sans fax and address.
Integrating Graphic Design and Architecture
We enjoy graphic design, especially when it's integrated into the architecture, like the graphics work we did as part of the Fashion Square Car Wash remodel.
New sign graphics designed by Modative.
The old sign
Simplifying the signs at the welcome canopy.
The old cluttered welcome canopy.
For the Fashion Square Car Wash, we designed all of the signs and graphics, including business cards, coupons and staff shirts.
We've found that providing our clients with graphic design as part of our beyond architecture services provides for a strong consistency between the graphics and architecture, making for a successful project.
Contributors to this post include Christian Návar, Michael Scott and Krystal Návar.
Posted by Derek Leavitt on Fri, Jan 22, 2010 @ 08:15 AM
This post is part of the How to Start an Architecture Firm series.
In February 2006, the three of us went to work on forming our own architecture firm. The following is tip number four of seven in our start-up strategy.
Tip 04: Learn From The Bad
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As every aspiring architect leaves school, they are faced with an important decision, "Where should I work?" This is a tough decision. Go work for a big corporate firm and risk getting stuck on one project for several years or go for a small design-oriented firm and miss out on some of the business savvy of a larger firm?
Although this is an obvious over-simplification of architecture firm types, many young professionals fret over this decision.
When I graduated from USC, Michael (fellow Modative partner) and I went to work for a medium-sized (8-15 people) sized firm in Santa Monica, CA called David Jay Flood Architect. My experience at this firm was invaluable. I was given a high level of responsibility managing large projects at a young age. I did a lot of learning on the job.
After three years at that firm, I moved on, working for two more firms before founding Modative with Michael and Christian in 2006. In my time working for other people I learned plenty of good architecture industry practices, but I also learned a lot of what not to do. I call this "learning from the bad."
So while my experience involved working for small- and medium-sized firms, I've come to realize that the type of firm(s) you work for is less relevant than what you gain from the experience. Learning from the bad is a big part of this. Learning what to do and what not to do are inextricably tied. If you never give yourself the opportunity to learn what not to do by watching other people work, you're more likely to make those mistakes when you're running your own firm
Whether you don't like the way your boss manages projects or you made a big mistake on a set of plans, you will no doubt encounter plenty of negative situations working for others. These bad experiences are invaluable when you decide to start your own firm. File them away for when you're the boss and have to decide how to run your firm.
So, when the time comes to start your firm, will you make the same mistakes or will you learn from the bad?
Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we fill in the last three tips of our
7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm.
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04 Learn from the Badposted 01.22.10
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07 ___________________________
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Want to stay up to date as we post the 7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm? Subscribe to this blog by adding your email to the subscribe form on the right.
Posted by Derek Leavitt on Tue, Dec 22, 2009 @ 10:59 AM
This post is part of the How to Start an Architecture Firm series.
In February 2006, the three of us went to work on forming our own architecture firm. The following is tip number three of seven in our start-up strategy.
Tip 03: Get Advice
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After nearly four years in business, I can say with great certainty that we wouldn't have survived more than a year without getting great advice from some key people.
Asking for advice is easy. People love to give advice and share their success stories.
Our advice came from the following four groups:
1. Family
Aside from getting your family on board with the idea of you going out on your own, you should also get their advice. There's a good chance that at least one person in your family has started their own business.
2. Friends
While we received great business advice from many of our friends, there are two in particular that stand out:
Sam Sam is an entrepreneur. The three of us went to USC with Sam. And while we were drawing and building models over in architecture school, Sam was in business school learning to be an entrepreneur. Actually, Sam had always been an entrepreneur. It's in his blood. There's a rumor that as a child, he outsourced his chores to other kids in the neighborhood, maintaining a cut for himself. When his Mom found out, she was too proud to punish him.
|  Sam will likely kill me for profiling him on our blog.
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By the time we formed Modative, Sam was on his third business start-up. He advised us to be cheap (see Tip 01) and to do much of the start-up work ourselves (see Tip 02), such as forming our own corporation. Sam also got us started on internet advertising years before the bulk of the architecture industry caught on.
The fact that Sam is not an architect was actually an asset. He taught us to question norms within the industry. Sam continues to push us today.
Jon Jon is another good friend from USC. Jon is a lawyer. He lives in Northern California. While in Tip 02: DIY, I recommended to avoid hiring a lawyer, as our business grew, we found ourselves needing legal advice on contracts and other minor items. Instead of hiring an attorney, we've asked Jon for advice. In return for his help, he always has a place to stay when he frequently visits Los Angeles. And when the time comes for Jon to build his own house, he'll cash in all those favors. If you'd like Jon to be your lawyer, he can be found here - Tingley Piontkowski LLP
Jon will probably also be less than pleased that I've profiled him on our blog. Now we'll need a new lawyer friend to defend us in a lawsuit from our first lawyer friend. | 
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3. Network
Guessing and gut instinct are not good business strategies. Finding an expert or someone who's been there before will dramatically increase your rate of success. Beyond your family and close friends, there's a network of people that can help you with just about anything.
Need advice on web design? Chances are you know, or your friends know, someone that is a master web designer.
4. Competitors
Overall, I would say that the architecture industry is pretty amicable. Advice flows freely. We used this to our advantage early on, meeting with established architects that would later become our competitors. The idea was not to steal from them, but to learn from them.
Since then, we've met with numerous younger professionals trying to start their own firms. We share with them (and now you) like other firms shared with us, knowing full well that they might become our competitors in the future. A full circle of idea sharing.
Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we fill in the last four tips of our 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm.
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| 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm |
| Not a tip, but a critical theme in our start-up adventure. posted 12.03.09
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| 03 Get Adviceposted 12.22.09
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posted 03.03.10
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| 06 ___________________________ |
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Want to stay up to date as we post the 7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm? Subscribe to this blog by adding your email to the subscribe form on the right.
Posted by Derek Leavitt on Fri, Dec 18, 2009 @ 11:06 AM
This post is tip number two of seven in our How to Start an Architecture Firm series, a look into Modative's founding in 2006.
Tip 02: DIY (Do It Yourself)
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During our architecture firm start-up, one of the ways were able to be cheap was to do almost everything ourselves. Here are five key things that we did ourselves in order to save money:
1. Filing a CorporationLawyers are expensive. And, unfortunately, many people feel they must hire one in order to start a business. This is simply not true. Setting up a business structure is actually quite easy to do yourself. There are numerous affordable resources to help you avoid hefty legal fees. There's the online legal document service, legal zoomthat can help you set up your firm's business structure for a few hundred dollars. Modative, however, went an even cheaper route and purchased a do-it-yourself book (pictured right) from Nolo at the local book store. The book comes with a CD-ROM that has all of the templates you'll need in MS Word format. | 
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Even if you're not sure which business legal structure is right for you: Corporation, Partnership or LLC, Nolo has books to help you decide. Just remember that every state is a bit different and some states don't permit certain legal structures for architecture firms.
If you have partners, you'll also need to set up a business buyout agreement, also known as a "business prenup".
So now that you know how easy and cheap it is to set up a proper business structure, there are no excuses not to do it. Not going through this simple process is a huge liability, especially in the architecture field.
2. Company GraphicsThis is probably a no-brainer for most architects. We are designers after all. Now is your chance to use those non-architecture design skills to help build your business brand with graphics. Here at Modative, we did, and continue to do all of our own graphics, from business cards to marketing materials. Oh, and yes, we like orange. Though this process, we also learned that we enjoy doing graphics so much that Modative now offers these services to our clients. |  |
3. Website
In line with doing your own graphics, there's never been an easier time to make your own website. We created and maintain our own website without any programming knowledge. Many architects tend to over-complicate their websites with outsourced, fancy flash sites, when a simple do-it-yourself HTML site is easier for potential clients to navigate.
4. Architecture Grunt Work
Anyone with professional experience in the architecture field knows that there's plenty of grunt work to go around. Starting your own firm will place all of this undesirable work at your feet. If you want to keep your firm financially viable at the start, hiring staff should be your last resort.
To minimize architecture-related grunt work, we implemented ArchiCADas our CAD software. Since all three partners had used it before and even owned a few copies, it was the logical choice. Besides, BIM (Building Information Modeling) programs such as ArchiCADenable small teams of experienced users to accomplish a lot of work with much less of the grunt work associated with (old technology) 2D CAD programs.
The above example shows how our software enables us to efficiently generate easy-to-read 3D drawings and technical 2D drawings within the same program. This leads to more time for design, less time on grunt work.
5. Office Improvements
Since our founding office in Michael's basement, we've moved our office several times (more on this in Tip 06). In a few of these moves, we've had to improve less-than-desirable spaces to make them usable for us and presentable to our clients. Without funds to hire a construction crew, we were left to do the labor ourselves.
In our third office space, we took a break from architecture to do a little construction and painting. The image above (left) is of me in full gear, ready for some paint spray gun action. Above right is a feature wall that Michael and Christian constructed in that same office.
Although the do-it-yourself approach can be testing at times, it allowed us to acquire new skills and learn from these often rewarding experiences.
Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we fill in the last five tips of our 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm.
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| 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm |
| Not a tip, but a critical theme in our start-up adventure. posted 12.03.09
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| posted 12.08.09
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| 02 DIY (Do It Yourself)posted 12.18.09
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posted 01.22.10 |
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posted 03.03.10
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posted 04.05.10 |
| 07 ___________________________ |
Want to stay up to date as we post the 7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm? Subscribe to this blog by adding your email to the subscribe form on the right.
Posted by Derek Leavitt on Tue, Dec 08, 2009 @ 11:19 AM
This post is part of the How to Start an Architecture Firm series.
In February 2006, three guys in their late 20's quit their day jobs and went to work on forming their own architecture firm. The following is tip number one of seven in their start-up strategy.
Tip 01: Be Cheap
photo credit
How much money do you think it requires to start an architecture firm?
Most people would probably guess in the tens of thousands of dollars or more. This certainly was not the case with Modative. We began with $500 per partner: $500 that was more of a formality to purchase our company stock.
So how is this possible?
For starters, our first office wasn't really an office, but Michael's basement in suburban Pasadena, CA. Needless to say, it was rent-free. And although it was a 16-step commute for Michael, Christian and I had long traffic-filled drives from Los Angeles's west side.
As you can see, we had some decent equipment. But we didn't buy anything except for a few ikea desks, chairs and some minimal office supplies. We used the computers, printers and software we already used personally or could scrounge up from relatives (Thanks Dad).
Our goal was to never spend money we didn't have. Although we had a few (low-limit) company credit cards, we kept expenses light. This was especially critical because we started the firm without any projects or other sources of revenue.
After a few months, Modative's first project came about as an independent consultanting job for a friend's father's architecture firm.
The project (above) was a ground-up office and warehouse for a tile manufacturer. It wasn't the most glamorous project, but it was essential to helping us build some momentum as a real business.
One of the other ways we were able to be cheap will be revealed in the forthcoming Tip 02.
Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we fill in the blanks on our 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm.
Want to stay up to date as we post the 7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm? Subscribe to this blog by adding your email to the subscribe form on the right. We never spam our fine followers and if later on discover you're completely over us, you can easily unsubscribe.
Posted by Derek Leavitt on Thu, Dec 03, 2009 @ 10:56 AM
As many architects continue to struggle to find employment, some are deciding that the only way to get back into the game is to start their own firms. For this reason, I thought it'd be an appropriate time to share the story of how Michael, Christian and I founded Modative back in 2006.
Modative's founders, February 2006, at the Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles celebrating at the end of our last day working for other people.
In the last few years, we've lectured a few times at USC's School of Architecture and the Urban Land Institute (ULI)on how to start an architecture firm. The lecture has improved a bit with each iteration, to the point where I feel it's now worth posting. Enjoy.
What is Entrepreneurship, Really?
Starting your own firm is really more about being a good entrepreneur than being a good architect. And since most architects have little education or experience with entrepreneurship, they often make the following false assumptions about what it will be like to have their own firm.
Our goal is to tell our start-up story - the unglamorous version. And while it won't apply to everyone looking to start their own firm, there are some key lessons for inexperienced entrepreneurs (like we were) looking to make their move.
BootstrappingEven though we didn't know it at the time, our approach to starting our firm was very much in line with what is known in the business community as bootstrapping. You may be familiar with the saying, "Pull yourself up by your bootstraps". As it refers to business, bootstrapping is starting a business venture without external help and/or money. Our seven tips for starting an architecture firm will cover how we bootstrapped our way from being three inexperienced entrepreneurs to three owners of a (nearly) four-year-old architecture firm. |  image source
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7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm
Following this introduction post, our story will be organized into seven key tips for starting an architecture (or any other creative) firm. See the graphic below for hints as to what each of those seven tips will be.
Stay tuned over the next several weeks as we fill in the blanks on our 7 Tips for Starting an Architecture Firm.
Side Note: As an experiment, the images for each tip above were selected by typing the tip phrase (e.g., bootstrapping) into google images and selecting the most appropriate image from the first page. I think the experiment garnered some interesting results.
Want to stay up to date as we post the 7 Tips to Starting an Architecture Firm? Subscribe to this blog by adding your email to the subscribe form on the right. We never spam our fine followers and if later on you discover you hate our guts, you can always unsubscribe.