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Big Orange Slide

Sunday, February 5th, 2012

Things I have learned on this blog so far

Culture
September 2, 2010 by Ian Mackenzie

Illustration by Colin Craig

Good news for the Grip blog and its readers: We have a new editor.

Effective now-ish, the lovely and talented Leilah Ambrose will be taking over for me as Editor of Big Orange Slide. Leilah is a Senior Copywriter here at Grip. She has an infectious laugh, razor-sharp wit, and a pen that is mightier than any sword I know. We are in good hands. This transition also coincides with the blog’s first birthday (woot woot).

To mark the occasions, please allow me to ruminate on lessons learned in year one:

1) Start by failing.
This isn’t Grip’s first blog. You probably never heard of the first. It was called “Better Ideas.” And though it was originally slated to be an external blog, it never gained the momentum it needed to get off the ground. It did, however, provide a testing ground for what a Grip blog might be if it pulled up its socks. In the end, “Better Ideas” died to make way for an even better idea.

The lesson: Whether you’re throwing down bad ideas in a brainstorm or creating an ad campaign that’s doomed to mediocrity, failure is an important weigh station on the road to success.

2) Get some muscle.
Big ideas need support. Lots of it. For this blog, that support came in the form of one of Grip’s Partners, Dave Hamilton. He recognized the seed of a good idea. Got behind it. Assembled a team. And then gave it the muscle it needed to power through the rough patches of its inception.

The lesson: Teams are only as strong as their leader. Make sure you’ve got a good one.

3) Make it pretty.
There are more than 120 million blogs on the internet. And despite what the cynics say, a lot of them are good. So what makes this one extra-worth your time? For me, it’s the pictures. Grip’s Associate Partner, Creative, Colin Craig created its playful look and feel – and paired it with an arresting illustrative convention. Of this blog’s 197 posts to date, nearly all of them have been given their own wonderful little illustration. They add richness beyond measure.

The lesson: You can be as wicked smart as you want, but if you’re not presenting well you’ve already lost.

There are more lessons: Always write about StarCraft 2; Posts about Apple cause foaming at the mouth; Sometimes the people you least expect to be able to write are the best writers, and; Our industry is chock-full of witty, passionate, intelligent people.

For my part, I’m excited to see where this blog goes next. Upwards, no doubt. I’m also excited to have a bit more time in my schedule for writing on it. Stay tuned. And welcome Leilah.

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