Process: Creative KickStart
We had our 2nd Annual Creative KickStart Design-A-Thon weekend April 11th-13th with the Glens Falls Youth Center. Never heard of Creative KickStart? In short, it's a weekend-long design sprint where we donate our time and capabilities to a well deserving regional organization — and it's our favorite time of year at Sidekick!
For the second year in a row we're stunned at what we've been able to produce during the weekend. As the only non-designer on the team here at Sidekick, I feel okay about bragging about the quality of work that has come out of both of our Creative KickStart weekends. It's truly amazing.
In order to fully understand why it's so amazing, you have to understand that our normal process is nothing like Creative KickStart weekend. Normally we tackle one thing at a time with our clients, we give ourselves plenty of time to work on a project, we give our clients time to mull things over, and we have a very structured meeting and revisions schedule. To produce the same amount of work we do in 2.5 days during Creative KickStart weekend would take us months with our normal process — crazy.
So how do we do it? We basically flip our normal process upside down and inside out, but here's a rundown of our strategies that make it work:
Weekend Warriors — We dedicate a weekend to doing all the work. So yes, we work all weekend, but it's actually so much fun (and necessary). During the week we are juggling multiple projects, fielding emails and calls, and attending meetings. By doing Creative KickStart over the weekend we are able to focus on one client and it is a refreshing change of pace!
Trusting Your Gut — This is actually something we have to screen applicants for before we choose the winner! We totally respect and understand that some people need time to make decisions, but our Creative KickStart recipients have to be quick on their feet. The Glens Falls Area Youth Center was just that. They trusted us to bring their brand to life and went with their gut.
It Takes a Village — This year we enlisted the help of local copywriter, Tressie Lafay, to help develop content for the web, print and social, and also provided a detailed content strategy. This was such an awesome asset to have and it really leveled up the work. We also have sponsors help out. M&M Digital Printing is kindly donating printing services for the 2nd year in a row!
TBH It's Not ALL Done in One Weekend — There is a lot of prep work that goes into Creative KickStart and this is where the recipients do a lot of the heavy lifting. They work hard gathering content for different pieces, telling us what they're all about, and taking a deep dive to explore where they need their new brand to take them.
Passion Behind the Project — There are many hardworking people in our community doing everything they can do to help. The Glens Falls Area Youth Center is a great example of this. We worked closely with Molly (Executive Director) and Carly (Assistant Director) and were in awe of how hard they work everyday to help kids in our region thrive. And while their work is ALWAYS important — it's especially important right now as kids lives and educations have been so heavily impacted by COVID-19. Learn how you can help here.
The result: A vibrant, fun and just plain cool new brand for Glens Falls Youth Center.
