The Movement

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The Movement

A Change Agency devoted to betterment, working in the areas of communication design, interactive platforms, and strategy.

After completing design school then working in the advertising industry, I knew that the my education could be applied to broader questions. I had started a business doing web design in high school, and I figured I could do it again. My passion was heightened by conversation with a classmate. Together we created a vision, identity, and strategy for a design studio focused on social change. Over the years our focus would refine to encompass social innovation through web platforms, communication design, and market strategy.

Like any business, the first part was tough. A lot of our work came through referrals. Our most important marketing was doing good, insightful, and powerful work for our clients. The important work was to create an environment where excellent and innovative work could be done. Rather than having design as the end to a product development process, my focus was to build design thinking into the upfront work of a product or experience. The challenge before us was no less than to envision and implement a new type of design agency, one that makes use of new technologies and new possibilities surrounding the evolution of work.

Over the coming months, we developed a brand and a client base through hustling. From website, to business card, to brand voice, The Movement was becoming a known player in the design world. Over the coming years we would move from a studio, to a product company, then finally a network of professionals focused on human betterment. Expanding across design disciplines, I gradually found and refined our process into seven steps: Research, Envision, Plan, Invent, Develop, Refine, Complete.

My work through The Movement has been a pillar for my life. I have learned so much from my clients, my employees, and my colleagues. To this day, the overlap of product development and marketing excites me. I continue to work for betterment through start-ups and apply the lessons learned over those years. Over that time we inspired a new community in Toronto, expanded to 3 global cities, gained new contracts with betterment and innovation focused organizations.
The flexibility of the studio gave me a chance to explore new models of work. In our last year we applied some lessons from one of our clients and model a new type of business in the design industry. This would be a network for like-minded professionals. We would form teams around projects that mattered. This network would be decentralized but share a brand. All of the benefits of a large organization with the nimbleness of a small studio

Though I didn't have the words at the time, I knew that our company had to continually evolve. What I didn't focus on enough was the business thinking I gained in Oxford. There is a special blend between design(i.e. possibility) and business(i.e. decisions). This is where I am happiest.