Wonderfuel Issue Number 25 – The joy equation

More joy = less shit.

So over the last 11 or so years my life has been the most epic rollercoaster of a ride.

+ Divorce

+ Leaving the first ever business I owned

+ Having cancer and getting better

+ Getting married to a girl I met once 23 years before

+ Setting up a business with joy at it’s heart

+ Doing a 100k ultra marathon

+ Having cancer again and getting better again

+ Rasing a Bernese Mountain Idiot

+ Breaking my back

+ Breaking my pelvis

+ Doing a another 100k ultra marathon, whilst not knowing about above said injuries

+ Having three separate additional cancer scares in six months

+ Setting up another business with joy at it’s heart

Yet I have come out of all of this even more joyful than I started and it got me wondering why?

So while chatting to my new venture business partner Kate ( more on that to come come soon!) the other day, we came up with a reason for this. Adding more joy doesn’t take away the shit, the shit is still there. Joy just makes it less loud, it gives it less air time.

Not sure about the prospect of adding more into your lives? Well fear not. Adding joy to your life doesn’t mean adding a 12 week course that is going to drain your of your last dregs of joy you did still have, it’s as simple as being more aware of the things that make you feel more joy.

So while all the gurus and self help experts out there are telling you less is more. Me and Kate are telling you, more is less.

More joy = Less shit

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// Quote of the fortnight //

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// See you in the joynasium? //

You know those events full of experts?

This isn’t one.

Welcome to THE JOY WORKOUT.

No qualifications.

No presentations.

No gurus.

No PowerPoint.

No experts.

No pitching.

No selling.

No hierarchy.

No right answers.

No wrong answers.

No judgement.

No agenda.

No homework.

No worksheets.

No taking ourselves too seriously.

No knowing everything.

No joy police.

Lots of NOs.

One enormous YES, to joy.

Thursday 15th October. 4pm BST.

Come and joy work out with me.

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// The founder diary //

This year I am celebrating my 30th year in my career as a designer.

Being honest, I have worked everywhere. From husband and wife boutique agencies through to the behemoth Publicis and WPP owned beasts.

I supposed my branding agency Wonderment is me subliminally cherry picking all the best bits from the last 30 years, using what I have seen work and avoiding the shit stuff.

I have had some epic career ups and down but I am lucky to have had some amazing mentors for me who were the right person, in the right place exactly at the right time.

And so one way,  I decided to give back and put myself out there to pass on whatever wisdom and experience I have learned to others.

And one in particular I am extremely fond of. She is an extremely talented up and coming brand creative who, like me runs her own business and struggles with the same things I did. Except she is way ahead of where I was at her age and she is going to go places.

So, once a month we jump on a call and she unleashes her thoughts, worries and questions my way and I try to so my best to unpack them with her.

I am no self confessed guru or business genie, but hearing myself when I talk, I have realised how much I have actually learned over the last 30 years and how having someone there to unload to and steer when needed in whatever guise, is something that I think everyone would benefit from.

Yes Emily Gorham. I am talking about about you. And what you don’t realise is actually how much I get out of talking to you and watching you grow.

Thank you for allowing me to give back.
The pleasure is all mine.

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// The joyful brand – Crocs //

Crocs didn’t make ugly shoes beautiful.

They made ugly shoes something to be proud of.

Because Crocs have never really cared whether everyone likes them. In fact, that might be the whole bloody point. They’re chunky, colourful, slightly ridiculous and instantly recognisable from about fifty metres away.

And somehow, that became their superpower.

Rather than trying to make Crocs more acceptable, they leaned into what made them different.

And now, enter stage left… Niles.

Their new crocodile character, who feels exactly like Crocs should feel. A bit odd. A bit awkward. Lovably uncool and completely comfortable being himself.

Which, when you think about it, is pretty much the Crocs brand in crocodile form.

Because Crocs aren’t really selling footwear anymore. They’re selling permission. Permission to wear something because you like it, rather than because everyone else thinks you should. Even Jibbitz let you cover them in tiny plastic declarations of whatever makes you, you.

And I think there’s something wonderfully joyful in that.

Sometimes joy is simply not giving a Croc.

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// Is fun a strategy for winning in life? //

I’ve been using “Whoever has the most fun, wins” for quite a while now as my motto, usually saying it multiple times with a big grin on my face. But I mean it far more seriously than it probably sounds when I use it.

Read the full article in my Wonderment Joynal.

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// From the archives – Coverwood Lakes //

One estate. Three brands.

A little one now from the archives for Coverwood Lakes, a beautiful Surrey estate that had gradually grown into a number of very different businesses, all living under the same roof.

The challenge was to give each of them their own identity without making them feel like complete strangers.

I created a family crest for Coverwood Farm, built from the things that made the place what it was, then adapted it for each of the businesses. Provenance Cuts for the meat produced on the farm and The Fillet and Bean, their rather brilliantly named café.

Same visual DNA. Different personalities.

I’ve always loved this kind of branding problem because it’s less about designing three logos and more about creating a visual language that can stretch, change and grow without losing where it came from.

Different branches. Same family tree

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// Word of the fortnight – Mojoy™ //

We all know what it feels like to lose our mojo.

That spark, enerjoy and little bit of magic that makes us feel, well a little more like us.

Our instinct is usually to fix it by taking stuff out. Simplify. Streamline. Optimise.

But maybe getting your mojo back isn’t about taking more out. Maybe it’s about putting something back in.

Joy.

Because as I was talking about earlier in this email, adding more joy doesn’t make the shit disappear. It just gives the shit less room to take over. I call that mojo rebirth…

Mojoy™.

Your mojo. Joyfully recharged.

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// I don’t create brands, I give people goosebumps //

Before you design how your brand looks, you need to decide how you want people to feel. That feeling should be the starting point for everything you do.

The words you use. The colours you choose. How you answer the phone, package your product, write an email or deal with someone when something goes wrong. Every little brand touchpoint is an opportunity to to reinforce the same emotional idea. To create what I call a yes touchpoint. One that makes your audience say yes to immediately.

Great branding isn’t just a consistent look. It’s a consistent feeling.

Work out the feeling. Then intentionally design everything to create it.

Don’t just design your brand. Design the goosebumps.

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