From the course: Creative Inspirations: Dale Herigstad & Schematic, Interactive Design Agency

This is Schematic

Dale Herigstad: What's interesting with Schematic too is to see how really kind of combination of the two anchor things, which is certainly work in the web and interface design for the web and then interface design for television. And then how that's moved naturally into some work. For example that we have done some major work with game companies, EA Sports. We are not a game company, but I think we have the sort of thinking out there that's a little bit out of the box, that has direct application and particularly, television navigation which relates directly to a controller where you are, again, you are not touching the screen. So seeing how that's advancing and what those projects are like and those new ways of thinking about devices. Trevor Kaufman: It is very hard for us traditionally to describe what Schematic does, because people think of agencies and services businesses like us in particular categories. Most notably ad agencies, which are about developing campaigns that have some brief life, or production companies that are just sort of following a brief and executing again some very specific set of requirements. What Schematic does is different than both of those things and that's what makes it tough for us to talk about. When we talk about creating branded experiences, but what we are really focused on doing is improving the interface, if you will, between corporate America and people. So there are all these touch points where those two groups intersect. Everything from, of course, digital things like websites and kiosks and mobile applications and often now interactive TV-based applications and trying to make that whole process better. And by better what I mean is we are very, and I don't think people often understand this about us, we are very utility focused. We are trying to create things that actually provide value to the customers that experience them, because we think if we are providing value to customers, if we are improving their experience, then they are going to want to transact business with our clients. And that has proven to be true. The way that manifests itself is not that we make ads that say hey, you should buy a Nokia phone, but we create new services and interfaces that make owning a Nokia phone better and we provide the conduits that enable Nokia customers to talk to each other and other people and to Nokia about their Nokia experience and how negative or positive it is. The manifestation of it is, a lot of digital work that makes great interfaces and great experiences on the web, on TV, on mobile devices and in person. Schematic is now big enough so that a lot of the work that we do-- There is a vanguard of it which is purely about innovation. But then there is a lot of, I like to believe, very good but less revolutionary work that we do day-to-day for companies like Dell and Target to execute against their business. That is a large portion of our business from a revenue perspective that Dale doesn't even really touch. But Dale is really critical in the few great, really innovative, really revolutionary projects that gets Schematic attention, that make people want to come work here and that still serve, even though they might not be tremendously profitable or might not have long durations, they serve that-- Again, it's that innovation and that spirit of invention and great creative and great interface that still drives the -- it's still the heartbeat of Schematic and that very much lives with Dale.

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