The Black Sheep Agency Manifesto

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This technology affects humans, what to know in 2020

Tech updates like “Meat Made Out of Air”, “DNA Warrants” and Other Things

Meat Made Out of Air, DNA Warrants and Other Things 

The Addams Family - Moonbathing

Friday, September 18, 1964. “The Addams Family” makes its debut on network television.

Unapologetically Addams

Condensed

IKEA. It’s infamous here in Houston for long lines, impossible parking, labyrinth-like store layouts, painfully vague instruction booklets and questionable (yet delicious) meatballs. 

Here for the Hygge

When I was visiting The Museum of Fine Arts’ Shooting the Moon: Photographs from the Museum’s Collection 50 years After Apollo 11 this past weekend, I found a small art depiction of a native tribe gathering around outside during an eclipse and supposedly making noise.

Share One, Share All.

When I was visiting The Museum of Fine Arts’ Shooting the Moon: Photographs from the Museum’s Collection 50 years After Apollo 11 this past weekend, I found a small art depiction of a native tribe gathering around outside during an eclipse and supposedly making noise. The exhibit label explained that they believed there was a giant animal in the sky trying to eat the sun—therefore everyone had to go outside and make noise to scare the animal away.

Semi-Condensed

We believe in the power of great design to build creative concepts that push nonprofit communities to the brink of action.

How to use design to activate people for good

For years I’ve been designing logos, brands, and engagement campaigns for a brand strategy and creative agency called Black Sheep. We’re called Black Sheep for all the reasons you might guess: We do things differently. We’re ahead of the curve. We break the rules. Blah, blah, blah, insert predictable design agency phrase here. 

Donating Your Work: Don’t Get Taken for a Ride

Raise your hand if you’ve ever been hit up for free (or deeply discounted) work.

Keep your hand up if you said yes to doing the free (or deeply discounted) work because it was “for a good cause.”

Drop that hand onto your face if you ended up hating everything about the experience of the free (or deeply discounted) work you ended up doing. That’s a facepalm, and it’s the correct response to a whole lot of the donated work designers and marketers end up doing.

Well-behaved is overrated: The silences and gaps that make history

“Well-behaved women seldom make history” — an oft-repeated quote with a surprising history itself.

“Well-behaved women seldom make history” — an oft-repeated quote with a surprising history itself.

Accessibility and Aggression: The Weirdly Harmonic Rules of Krav Maga

I’ve been taking lessons in Krav Maga (Hebrew for “contact combat”) for about eight months now.

Happy National Book Lovers Day. From, The Flock.

Today, The Flock is celebrating National Book Lovers Day.

I had a hard time coming up with something motivational to say on a Monday. I was in charge of finding and posting motivation Monday quotes for social media at a previous job.

Moments Worth Recognition

I had a hard time coming up with something motivational to say on a Monday. I was in charge of finding and posting motivation Monday quotes for social media at a previous job. Every Monday I would wake up thinking, “Shit–what’s a motivational quote I can post that has less than 10 words?” And this morning was, “Shit–what’s a motivational thing I can talk about thats more than ten words?”

At Black Sheep, activating people around things that matter looks different every day.

Make America Dinner Again

At Black Sheep, activating people around things that matter looks different every day. Sometimes we’re rallying big crowds for an event. Sometimes we’re championing our clients’ causes by counting impressions and reach. Lately, we’re sitting down for dinner with a few strangers in our space to talk politics.

If the idea of inviting a bunch of people you don’t know to dinner and immediately bringing up the last election sounds like a twisted nightmare to you, there are a couple of ladies you should meet.

In 2017, following a heated presidential election (you know the one), two women created Make America Dinner Again (MADA), exploring the idea that dinner and thoughtful conversation could bring people together… again.

It’s easy to feel like you don’t belong or like you weren’t meant to be here – as an artist or a creative, as an activist or even just as a person (you’re always welcomed here).

Originality is dead. Let’s steal.

It’s easy to feel like you don’t belong or like you weren’t meant to be here – as an artist or a creative, as an activist or even just as a person (you’re always welcomed here). A lot of the time, we feel like phonies, as Holden Caulfield would say.

When play gets serious and science gets seriously fun

All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.

Embrace the serious science of play to re-connect to the brain boosting power of fun. Your inner child and future self will thank you.

Why are we changing maps?  (from The West Wing)

Last weekend, under a threat from ICE officials of upcoming raids, I gathered with hundreds of other activists to protest the following: immigration detention facilities, separation of families at the border, treatment of asylum seekers at the border, unsafe and inhumane conditions at the facilities at the border and the aforementioned ICE raids.

The World Wasn’t Made with Borders.

Empowerment + Time = Change

Recently, I heard a story of an airport security guard named LaDonna who effectively changed the entire work culture of the airport. I think the reason this story spoke to me, is that contrast to the typical “American Dream” stories we hear, this isn’t a story about a woman who worked her way from the ground up–well, it is, but that’s not the point–it’s a story about one person changing a larger problem through smaller actions.

Compressed

Every day feels so overwhelming. To start, there’s just life.

A Book Report: Everybody Always

3 steps to turn everyday get-togethers into transformative gatherings | Priya Parker

Planning a good party or experience can feel really overwhelming.

More than a Party, for Party’s Sake

Planning a good party or experience can feel really overwhelming. 

I’m riding through the scorching pavements of Louisiana.

Can I Hold the Mic?

I’m riding through the scorching pavements of Louisiana. It’s 2 p.m. I passionately, emotionally and thuggishly listen to Solange as she philosophically elaborates:

“I can’t be a singular expression of myself–there’s too many parts, too many spaces, too many manifestations, too many lines, too many curves, too many troubles, too many journeys, too many mountains, too many rivers, so many.”

I correlate this 5-hour journey with a personal, vulnerable journey. I patiently waited for my touchdown in Houston–directly alluding to my patience during moments where the heavy weight of the world seems to be a strain on my serotonin levels.

Texas Children's Hospital performs Rachel Platten's "Fight Song"

There have been enough think pieces published to know we exist in an attention economy.

This is My Fight Song

There have been enough think pieces published to know we exist in an attention economy. Every one and every thing is fighting for our eyeballs and brain power. And it is EXHAUSTING to try to consume and manage all of the content being pulsed out by the media, brands and the digital social connections in one’s universe. 

Most branding advice assumes one organization with one leader making the final call. Coalitions, networks with local chapters and groups of partners chasing a shared goal don't work that way. They decide together, priorities compete and the smallest partners often have the fewest people to carry the brand once it exists.

We've been working through these dynamics with the Houston Cultural Districts and the institutions and artists around them, building a shared brand for the city's arts scene. Recently, Natalie Wells (Director of Strategy), Jo Skillman (Creative Director) and Ren Mitchell (Director of Growth) walked through that process at the Houston Media Conference in a luncheon keynote called "Undefinable On Purpose." 

Here's what we've learned that applies to any organization whose brand depends on partners it doesn't control.


Who needs to be heard before a shared brand can take shape?

A shared brand needs input from everyone who will be asked to use it, champion it or be represented by it. Those groups overlap less than most leaders expect. Funders and civic partners tend to focus on visibility and economic impact. Practitioners care about credibility and fair representation. Community members want to know whether the story sounds like them.

We layer our research so each group is heard where they'll be most candid:

1:1 interviews draw out honest perspectives from decision-makers.

Focus groups show how people negotiate their differences in real time.

Sitting in on partner board meetings, when we're invited, adds context no interview can.

This phase doubles as early community building. People are far more likely to adopt a brand they helped shape.

Try this: Before any creative work starts, list every group that will use, fund or be represented by the brand. Then decide how you'll hear from each one.


How should research tensions inform brand strategy?

A tension is a place where two things people care about pull in different directions, and both sides are usually true. As Natalie put it, tensions show where people are most invested, which makes them some of the most useful findings research can turn up.

In our work with the Houston Cultural District, nearly every strength came with a risk. Greater visibility for neighborhood arts could accelerate displacement in communities already under pressure. Recognition tends to concentrate around large institutions, leaving midsize organizations and mid-career artists out of the story. And many of the stakeholders who want a stronger collective story are the same ones who resist being summarized.

Most complex nonprofits carry their own versions: headquarters versus chapters, legacy programs versus emerging ones, a national message versus local identity. Naming them explicitly gives the creative team something real to design around. It also moves the hard conversations to the start of the process, where they cost the least.

Try this: Write your biggest tensions into the research findings as plain either/or statements. Then decide together how the brand will handle each one before design begins.


How can a brand reflect real complexity without losing clarity?

A brand can hold complexity only when it commits to a clear point of view. When research keeps concluding that a community is everything at once, creative teams stall and strategy drifts toward language that feels safe and says very little. Jo named this risk directly in the creative brief:

"We've all heard it said: Houston is a little bit of a lot of things. Diverse, a tapestry rich with culture. However, trying to be everything to everyone will water down our visual and written creative. The brand directions we propose must contain a strong point of view on who we are and why. It's difficult but necessary."

The shared brands that hold up best work as a frame. They hold many stories at once while making a clear claim about what connects them. That gives participants room to see themselves in the brand without diluting the whole.

Try this: Test every brand direction with one question: could another city or coalition say this about itself? If the answer is yes, it isn't specific enough yet.


How do you keep a coalition aligned through creative decisions?

Alignment depends on agreeing to the goal in writing before anyone sees creative. We view the creative brief as the document that nails everything to the wall. Keep it short and candid, and use it to surface likely friction before hours go into design.

The brief earns its keep later, when feedback drifts toward personal preference. The group doesn't need to agree on the shade of blue. It needs to agree the work is reaching the larger goal. With many decision-makers, holding that line keeps reviews productive and protects the timeline.

When stakeholders are creatives themselves, start with a session reviewing a wide range of visual references. The value is in the reasoning behind each reaction, which gives the group a shared vocabulary for every review that follows.

Try this: Open every creative review by rereading the brief's goal out loud. Ask reviewers to tie each piece of feedback back to it.


How does a shared brand stay recognizable across very different organizations?

Consistency in a distributed brand comes from a small set of elements that never change. A system that has to work on a neighborhood mural and a museum banner needs a recognizable thread, whether a color, a mark, a pattern or a phrase. Protect those elements and let everything around them flex to fit the partner and the setting. 

Adoption also depends on capacity. Many coalition partners have no designer or communications staff, so participation has to be easy. Toolkits, templates, co-branding guidance and ready-to-post assets lower the barrier and help smaller organizations stay visible within the brand.

Try this: Choose the few elements partners can never change. Then build a starter kit that a partner with no designer could use in an afternoon.


When should rollout planning begin for a multi-stakeholder brand?

Rollout planning should begin while the brand is still in development. A shared brand gains value only through use, so partner onboarding, distribution and digital activation need to be designed alongside the identity. Each partner should see a role that matches its capacity, from a large institution running a full campaign to a small organization sharing a single post. Planning early also surfaces practical questions, especially around funding, while there's still time to solve them.

Try this: Ask each partner now what they could realistically do in the first month after launch, and build the plan and budget around those answers.


What makes a shared brand worth the effort?

A brand built across many organizations takes more listening and more deliberate facilitation than one built for a single institution. The return is a story more people feel ownership of and will carry into their own work.

If you're leading a coalition, network or multi-partner effort and the brand keeps stalling, we can help. 

Coalitions and multi-partner networks need a brand everyone can carry. Lessons from building a shared Houston arts brand with the Houston Cultural Districts, with steps to try.

How to Build One Brand for Many Organizations | Black Sheep

What building a shared Houston arts brand with the Houston Cultural Districts taught us about building one brand for many organizations

Coalitions don’t get one decision-maker or one story. Here’s what we learned building a shared arts brand with the Houston Cultural Districts.

The Black Sheep blog is turning up the volume on community engagement, social media strategy, Houston happenings and what it means to lead a purpose-driven life.

The Black Sheep Agency | Social impact and nonprofit blog

We like to type as much as we like to listen.

We're not shy.

How Can a Coalition Share One Brand?