Brian Collins

Trying to synthesize the accomplishments of Brian Collins is no easy task – though he would probably do it with ease. That’s because Brian has made a successful career out of boiling brands down to their essences. In 2005, Fast Company magazine named him as one of five American “Masters of Design.” And now, Brian runs his own strategic branding firm – COLLINS: – which he started after spending time as Chief Creative Officer at Ogilvy & Mather’s Brand Innovation Group. He’s developed engaging communications, experiences, products, and environments for brands like CNN, Motorola, and Sprite. Brian and his team even designed the branding and strategy for Al Gore’s Alliance for Climate Protection. Learn more about this endlessly curious designer in his 10 ANSWERS below.

1. How would you describe your work in three words?
Hope made visible.

2. Who is your creative role model?
I have different ones every day. This Monday it was Kings of Leon as I listened to them on the way to work. Awesome. Tuesday, Coco Chanel. Wednesday, the writer James Baldwin. Thursday, Howard Gossage. Friday it was Ben Thompson from Design Research. Saturday, Frederick Law Olmstead as I was in Central Park. On Sunday it was my seven year old niece Kayla as I spent a day with her.

An interesting twist to that question might be, WHAT is your creative role model? And hands down it would be the Black Mountain College of Art. America’s Bauhaus that ran from 1933 to 1957.

3. If you had an extra hour each day what would you do with it?
What I’d really want to do to is bum around the city on my bike. But I’d probably end up reading.

4. What place in the world most inspires you and why?
La Place des Vosges, Paris. Man made beauty doesn’t get much better. Victor Hugo wrote the majority of Les Misérables here, before he went into exile. It’s my favorite story from one of my favorite writers so this place resonates on a number of different levels.

I have a small house on Cape Cod. I designed a big, wrap-around porch that looks out over the bay. Nothing is better than sitting there with my family on a Sunday morning and having breakfast before the kids and everyone run down to the beach. The place becomes a mad, noisy explosion of towels, food, beach books, sand – and blobs of flying sun block. (We’re Irish. We burn.) It’s mad, but everyone is really happy.

5. If you could do a different job for a day what would it be and why?
I’d go back in time and work – do anything – for Buckminster Fuller.

6. What is your favorite homemade gift to give?
I’m not a ‘homemade’ guy, exactly, but I just made Muppets of my partners here. Real ones. Foam, felt & fabric. Liz McDaniel was thrilled as I put her in Pucci. That was fun. They’re trippy. Everyone deserves a doppelgänger version of themselves from the Muppet Universe.

7. What is your favorite object in your home?
I’d have to imagine what I would run for if anything…happened. So, first I’d grab my first edition of Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass, then a drawing by Alexander Calder and finally my grandfather’s leather jacket he brought with him from Ireland.

8. What is the best advice you’ve ever received?
Act on anger the next day.

9. What websites do you use for inspiration?
Why use websites for inspiration when Manhattan is outside my front door? But I do enjoy the New York Times, Core 77, idsgn.org, treehugger.com, acontinuouslean.com, architectureforhumanity.org, designobserver.com –  and I’m liking the “What you missed” updates from a site called timetosignoff.com. Oddly, some emerging patterns out of Twitter are turning into a good source for inspiration.

10. When do you consider a piece of your work complete?
Five minutes before the deadline. But people will tell you it’s more like five seconds.