Notes

Lately though things have gotten strange. A typical e46 model, (99-05 3 series) was a 323i, 325i or 330i. This meant like it should... but in 04 and 05 they eliminated the 323i and replaced it with a 320i. Most people thought this was a 2.0 liter engine but in truth it was a 2.3... so why change the name? No clue.

In 2006 they released the e90 (current 3 series) and the models were again 323i, 325i and 330i. That only lasted for one year for two of these cars though. In 2007 they kept the 323i replaced the 325i with a 328i, and the 330i became a 335i.

This all made sense to me until I started looking a replacing my car with a newer model. Looking more closely at the specs I discovered that the 328i had a 3.0 liter engine AND the 335i also had the 3.0 liter engine only with a twin turbo added... I'm not really sure why they decided to change the numbers that indicate displacement on the 2 cars... my only rationale is what I had always thought, that in order to compete with Infiniti's G35 they renamed the car to make people think it was a 3.5 also... I know that's what I thought.

It will be interesting to see what they do as the current model's lifespan is coming to an end in 2011, perhaps the 337i same 3.0 liter engine though of course.

I mean, in simple terms you have a product or a service that you are providing to a certain group of people and you would target your brand to a certain demographic. What happens though if your demographic isn't what you thought it would be?

While you've spent time researching and coming up with a targeted brand plan it's completely useless if your actual demographic isn't being targeted.

I've seen so many companies cling to the idea that their brand identity is who they are despite who is actually buying their product. In truth, at it's base, a brand is merely a way for your audience to identify with your company. If you don't evolve then there is little chance of anyone identifying with you.

The thing is design in a lot of ways is the same as any other business: Happy employees are more productive and more eager to do good quality work.

So what keeps designers happy? It's actually not that hard with most. Most designers come out of school with great creative ideas and love creating them. Once they are in the workforce for a while they realize that they are creating someone else's ideas and after a while they start to lose the passion in what they are doing. I used to believe that keeping designers away from planning and strategy meetings would allow them to be more focused on their work and that they were more of a nuisance than a help.

I was testing one of my senior designers to see if he could handle an Art Director role and I put him in charge of a project. The result was amazing; I saw a fire in him that I'd never seen before. I then decided to pull designers in my strategy and client meetings and involved them in brainstorm sessions. Almost instantly the quality of their work went up.

As I'm watching I wonder if there is something missing from Canadian politics. There doesn't seem to be the same excitement surrounding elections and candidates as there is in the US. Now of course, this could be due to the fact that we seem to have an election called every 6 months. Even when the English Canadian debate was on I heard more people watching the US Vice-Presidential debate than the Canadian. When I tuned into the Canadian debate I felt it could be better settled in a ring. It seemed very disorganized.

When will Canada have a candidate for Prime Minister that evokes as much spirit as Barack Obama?