At Smart Creative, we never stop chasing Awesome. It's the word we like to hear most from our clients and colleagues, and it's the standard we set for every project we tackle. The best part is, Awesome doesn't cost a bajillion dollars. In fact, it's more often the clever use of limited resources that generates an idea worthy of the A-word.
Here are a couple of quick examples.
First, check out this super-cool design for a fishing lure using a Coca Cola bottle cap. Bottle caps are cool, cheap, and iconic. This design is also super-effective because it has all of the necessary characteristics of the classic lure known as a spoon. So, it will not only do it's job (catch fish) but it looks cool too. The best part is, if you lose it, you just crack open another icy cold bottle of Awesome. 
Next up is our recently departed summer intern, Olivia Howard. She was definitely "BEST INTERN EVER" and as a going away gift she made all of us T-shirts using a sharpie and puffy paint. We wore them out and about on her last day and told everyone we were famous rock stars. Not sure if anyone believed us, but we got lots of looks and great service at the restaurant. We also used the occasion to snap this team photo. The moral of the story is that we grew as a team, gained a little street cred, and had a bunch of laughs for a very low investment.
Have you effectively leveraged your Awesome lately?
We all work. A lot. There's some work we do for the money and some that we do for the love. In our little world at Smart Creative, we encourage a balance between the two and we get totally psyched when we see our team members doing cool things outside of the office. Because somewhere in that balance, brilliant ideas emerge.
Here are a couple of links worth checking out from the Smart Creative team:
Jason runs a mile in like four minutes. He's insane.
Magnificent Applesauce
This is Chad's band. They're very musical.
Hillbilly Lottery
Chad & his buddy Rob created this iphone game and apparently had a really good time doing it.
Pixel Shavings
Fred blogs with other illustrators. He's sure he'll be famous one day.
Okay, I'll admit it. I actually tried to talk us out of working on this project. The client had no money, a journalism background rather than our preferred client-side marketing expertise, and I think maybe I even ended up paying for lunch. (Maybe not, but it makes the story that much better.)
