Like many people who read our blog, I am interested in art as well as design. In fact, I cross back and forth between both worlds on a daily basis. Literally.

When I leave home to come to work in the morning, I pass through my wife’s art studio on my way to the car. And at the end of the day, when I leave the office, I come home to her studio, usually with take-out.

My wife is a kick-ass artist. And I work with a crew of kick-ass designers.

There are many process differences between my wife’s studio and our Peopledesign studio. My wife creates independently. Our designers collaborate. My wife relies on intuition when realizing her personal vision, putting work out into the world and waiting for her audience to respond. Peopledesign starts with audience research, then designs artifacts and systems that address (directly or indirectly) customer needs on behalf of our clients.

Other differences between artists and designers are more about attitude than process. A general antagonism toward business, for example—artists are more likely to carry that one around with them than designers are. But unlike some artists, my wife does not cringe at the thought of considering her art as her brand. If, as we believe, brand is a perception created in the minds of people based on their experiences, isn’t an artist building her brand with every exhibition?

As Kevin recently learned, it depends on whom you ask.

When the Michigan Film Art & Literature Symposium (MFALS) began to promote Kevin as the keynote speaker for its inaugural event in November 2011, the idea of a “business branding guy” talking to “artists” ruffled some feathers—and the dander settled on the symposium’s Facebook page.

One post asked: “If as the keynote speaker for MFALS, Kevin Budelmann, says ‘Branding is all about business retention, leadership and innovation,’ wouldn’t this be the last thing the artistic community wants?”

Another stated, “When you have a Symposium called the Michigan Film, Art & Literature Symposium with a keynote speaker who is about business branding, I as an artist, get concerned.”

Yikes.

I attended the symposium with my artist wife, half expecting to be called upon to usher my boss off stage to keep him from getting pelted by rotten tomatoes.

Here’s one reason why that didn’t happen.

In his talk, Kevin openly acknowledged the concerns expressed by members of the Michigan arts community in the days leading up to the event. In fact, he used the mild controversy his presence ignited to illustrate a point he wanted to make about the impact of communications technology and social media.



Had Kevin not waited to finalize the deck for his talk until the night before, he wouldn’t have known how people were already receiving the fact that he was speaking. So in this era of instantaneous information exchange and social interaction, is procrastination more important than ever?

Not exactly. But the situation demonstrates what happens when we truly embrace change, welcome dialogue, and—most importantly—care.

Did Kevin’s approach completely win over his critics? Well, if it’s any indication, not a single rotten tomato was flung his way at the event. Probably more telling, however, were the thoughtful audience questions that immediately followed his talk, and the more substantive, less aggressive shape taken by the subsequent social media exchanges.