Cutting through Brand Babble

I began this work as an outline for a lecture to an
Industrial Design Class. The original outline, Product
Design a personal story was created as a reference for the
students. It is also posted here in SlideShare.
I have been encouraged by friends to expand it. I know
that it is rough in its current form and that there is far to much
detailed on who I am, my own experiences. I hope through time that
it will become a valuable witness to a very dynamic period in retail
design/build and a reference for those who strive to bring humane
values, operational efﬁciency and great design to the corporate
world. I promise to make THE PERFORMANCE CHECK LIST a more
robust analytical tool. For now, it is what it is and it is important for
me to share my experiences with you.
Thank you and kind regards,
Peter Craycroft 7/26/2016
Preface

The Cutting Edge
Brand
Truth
at the
Point of
Sale
Retail
Design/
Build
Peter Craycroft

From neighborhood groups/gangs/teams to political parties and cadres,
from chemistry lab to design studio collaboration, high performance teams to

great groups, from great groups to powerful organizations, from national to

globally integrated partnerships, the basic building blocks are:

Retail Design/

Overarching Values

Commitment - Trust
Learning/Study/Research - Truth
Cooperation

Innovation

Open Communication

Collaborative Teaching/Training

Passion to Succeed

Brand Truth

The Keys to success -
1. Understand who you are
2. Have an Open Experimental Approach
3. Establish Collaborative Partnerships
The Cutting Edge
Build
Building Blocks1950
2016
1996

Who am I ?
Building

Your

Brand

Who

am

I working

with ?
What are

we working on?

Identity
TM
@ #
Inspirations

High

Sierra

Learning
in my case
Sailing Ships
Mills
Flumes
Railroads
Cathedrals
Lakes
Dams
Hospitals
Mud/Rock Dams
Frogs & Stream management
Tree & Tunnel Forts
Teamwork
Pack Horse
Wrangling
Building
Cooking
Hiking
Working
my family
myself
@

San Francisco

Understandings
My philosophies, my values, are deeply rooted in my
upbringing and have remained constant throughout the
years. My parents were brilliant Stanford graduates. My
father was a MD/General Practitioner whose breadth of
practice and experimentation were legendary, as was his
compassion and generosity. My mother was a history
scholar. They raised me to question, research,
experiment and roam freely, to test the old and
relentlessly seek the new. My mother was a great
teacher and leader. Feverishly studying the history
surrounding us, she brought the past to life in the
present. Great Grandmothers and Grandfathers, long
gone relatives and their worlds came to life. I was
fortunate to have an illustrious and heroic cast of
characters to follow.

Building dams and forts in my back yard and playing football on my expansive
front lawn, taught me that my friends had vastly different temperaments,
personalities, skills and needs. I learned to encourage and to coach. These
experiences taught me how to behave to hasten the blending of those skills to
achieve the best results. My first Industrial Design project was a radical
interpretation of the Skateboard (see: http://www.slideshare.net/petercraycroft/first-
scate-board-11283186 ). I decided that a short board with a gnarly, non-skid surface
would be easier to turn and control. The results were shared. Our tree fort building
team was impressive. Tinkering with many different materials with a group of
friends, through time, thinking, testing in harmony was both fun and enlightening.
Playing many sports in many different schools and programs outside of schools, I
gained a wealth of experience about different players styles, abilities and methods.
I was also trained by and played for many different coaches with different styles. In
the beginning I saw two primary
styles:
Authoritarians:
Operated by creating an atmosphere of fear. Trump-like strategies prevailed where
team members were under the direction of a leaders whose objective was to win at
any costs. Often empowered by bullying, these volatile personalities had
exceedingly delicate egos and little self awareness.
Egalitarians:
Reached beyond pushing hard for results and installed a sense of confidence and
exceptionalism in their players. Coaches who engage players on their terms.
Listened, recognize their strengths, earn their trust, guide and blend their players
skills to maximize team performance. They decentralized authority, encouraging
self-managed individuals and teams. This kind of style, fosters innovation and
abolishes hierarchy. This style harmonized with my values. I learned how to excel
under both styles but when I could, played under coaches whose styles allowed
freedom. I switched sports often.

Organizing

Teamwork

Training
As the son of a GP, as a Episcopal Acolyte and Boy
Scout, I began to understand the meaning of
selﬂess service, humility and self discipline. Growing
up, working in the high mountains and participating
in the downtown YMCA and public school system in
San Jose gave me a broad understanding of Anglo,
African American and Latin American Societies.
Emersion in individual and team sports taught me
the meaning and exhilaration of excellence and the
exponential power of teamwork. I learned that to
achieve high performance results in team sports, it
is not the task side that is crucial, but the process.
Sharing leadership, encouraging every individual,
learning the patience that it takes to allow the
reluctant to come forward with their valuable
contributions: magniﬁes productivity, maximizes
performance, catalyzes transformation.
Vision: catalyze transformation of mankind

Mission: explore and realize human potential
ORGANIZING TEAMWORK TRAINING SERVING

From the beginning, my engagement has been social,
political and involved working with others. First, with
friends in my neighborhood, building dams, forts,
designing a more effective skateboard, later more
organized groups for political, social causes or
artistic ventures. What was known as Morris’s Studio,
at 37 West 7th Street in Eugene became my studio
and then Graphic 37, Vision Works and Mobius.
Open

Experimental

Collaborative
At the University, I traveled through premed, history,
economics and the social sciences before landing in the
world of visual communication.
TEAMS TECHNOLOGIES LIFE STYLE

As a design, painting and drawing student,
I broadened my experience in graphic
design by working in the Universities
Graphic Design Department, offering a very
broad range of services to departments
throughout the University. I extended the
skill that I learned in screen printing classes
to offer production screen printing to local
businesses and political causes. I worked at
a local newspaper where I picked up
knowledge and skill helping to run offset
and web presses. I applied my graphic
design and drawing skills to illustrate
publications. I had access to large format
cameras and used then to create large scale
prints with painterly intention. My paintings
moved from oil to acrylic to the application
of agricultural gypsum to sand dunes, river
banks and road beds.
Open

Experimental

Collaborative
TEAMS TECHNOLOGIES LIFE STYLE

In the mid-sixties participation in many Encounter
group trainings expanded my self awareness, helped
me to open up to others and increased my
understanding of group dynamics. My experiences
were powerful and positive, they redeﬁned the limits
of open communication. I experienced how exposed
and vulnerable one could become in these settings
and how extra care needed to be exercised by every
participant. I had friends who had taken EST trainings
and others who participated in The Arica Society. EST
demonstrated how charismatic, authoritarian leaders
could abuse their positions to humiliate and to break
participants.
Arica offers an open, egalitarian society with a holistic
system of group work, meditational, nutritional,
physical and political participation: intertwined
ways of life in a supportive community. Arica’s
founder, Oscar Ichazo reﬁnes the ancient concept
that a human soul has components by
approaching the issue through three instinctual
questions that he considers basic to human
existence: "How am I?", "Who am I with?",
"What am I doing?"
Open

Experimental

Collaborative
GROUP TRAININGS COLLABORATION ETHICS
Arica

In 1969, I became closely involved with the
community founding and forging the identity of White
Bird Clinic*. Our vision was modeled after Esalen
(Vision: Catalyze the transformation of mankind (see
the page that follows for details). We incorporated
many of Esalen’s individual and group training
exercises and techniques. Participating in John
Enright’s Good Neighbor Project, in particular,
continued the expansion of my understandings of the
meanings and responsibilities of open and honest
communication.
The dyadic exercises, utilizing continuous eye
contact, were very intense but mutually supportive
and were designed to create self sustaining
friendships/groups/teams/communities. Good
Neighbor Project Families often lasted for years. The
commitment was open and unconditional. While living
in the White Bird community, I continued to pursue my
studies at the University.
Vision

Values

Ethics
*www.whitebirdclinic.org

Vision: catalyze transformation of mankind
Mission: explore and realize human potential
Values:
Human possibilities vastly exceed our imaginations.
Realization of human potential transcends religious and
scientiﬁc dogma.
Mental, physical, emotional, spiritual, and social
dimensions of our beings are inextricably joined.
Transformation and consciousness is based on
transformation of the world, individually, collectively
and in social systems.
All share the potential to love, learn, feel and create.
Esalen explores these possibilities and celebrates unity and
diversity.
Practices:
Growth - support personal growth and development
Service - support the development of all individuals
Responsibility - know and take personal responsibility
Integrity - congruency in all actions
Stewardship - of the land with consideration for all
elements.
Presence - be here now.
Community - recognize, celebrate and respect
interdependence.
Gratitude - recognize and honor the gifts of each
*www.esalen.org

Vision

Values

Ethics
*

The University offered me my ﬁrst formal
setting for teaching. I took what I already knew
and what I had learned about collaborative
process in the arts in the studios, off campus and
at the University and extended it to my
classrooms, to the studios downtown and later to
my business ventures. Teaching assignments
were active, often involved full body movement
and collaboration. The environment was open,
encouraging communication, feedback and
problem solving.Class/team members developed
trust, through self and shared knowledge. Design
studios operated in the same open environment.
One of the key understandings was that it was
essential to create a level playing ﬁeld that
allowed the very best ideas to rise to the surface.
All individuals were required to check their egos
at the door. Those taking the lead must know
when to step aside and embrace the opportunity
to see others shine in the spotlight.
Teaching

Collaboration

Experimentation
“
TEACHING LIFE STYLECOLLABORATION

Academic studies, political activities and work were continuously
interactive and mutually supportive. I cut my teeth as a graphic designer
communicating and branding the groups and cadres, shaping identities
on the fly. Cooperation and open communication were paramount. Team,
group and organizational/cause loyalties were critical for success and
sometimes survival. Odd bedfellows were not unusual. Some alliances
would stick and last a lifetime. In this fervent time of self and societal
change, for me, there were two groups that rose above the others, for
their ethical values and for their effective actions and teachings: Esalen
and the more obviously political, Friends Service Committee.
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) is a Quaker
organization working for peace and social justice around the world. It’s
programs are united by, ”the unfaltering belief in the essential worth of
every human being, non-violence as the way to resolve conflict, and the
power of love to overcome oppression, discrimination, and violence.”
Quakers act and “let their lives speak”. Their leaders know when to step
aside, they live the teams values and recognize the additional
responsibilities that leaders have. I am very grateful that my beginnings
gave me a solid foundation that allowed me to cope with these
tumultuous and sometimes violent times. Quick wits, fostered by a calm,
grounded and confident center empowered me to diffuse violent
confrontations. I had master the art of physical non-violence at a very
young age. Understanding the much less obvious but potentially, more
devastating power of psychological violence and the many subtle
dimensions of bullying and its effects would come later.
The Crucible of the

1960 and 70’s

TEACHING LIFE STYLECOLLABORATION
*www.afsc.org

Building

Your

Brand

Success & integrity require the freedom to say the
difﬁcult things without punishment. The ultimate
goal is to create solid grounded, aware beings, able
to function superbly in a group setting and equally
well on their own.

Teaching

Collaboration

Experimentation
COLLABORATION TEACHING TRAINING
As Mobius grew, it offered an expanding platform for
collaborative teaching, the development of great groups
and high performance teams. It also offered a wonderful
playground for experimenting with Brand Identity.
In parallel with the Bauhaus, Raymond Loewy and later,
Paul Rand, had deﬁned
the depths, extent of the
meanings, and responsibilities
of corporate identity. Design in
the 1980’s and 1990’s
merged and married corporate
and individual identity to form
Brand Identity. Ideally, Brand
Identity erases the historic
boundary between companies
and customers. It is critical that
the boundaries between retailers, product manufactures
and their suppliers, also, be erased. The operative focus
is partnership, partnership all around. I start backing
toward the door when I hear the word vendor.

For 20 years Mobius led the retail, exhibit and
showroom design and build industry: Concept
to Finished Product and Beyond. It was then
and remains my mission to stop the money
from falling through the cracks.
Industrial

Collaboration

Experimentation
To increase cooperation, synergy and efﬁciency
we focused on team behavior. The challenge
was unusually broad because we operated full
circle integrating cross functionally: Marketing,
Design, Engineering, Production Installation
and Analysis. We employed Gestalt based
interactive techniques to promote open
communication and bonding and Personality
Type Assessment to balance our teams skill
sets.
COLLABORATION TRAINING LIFE STYLE

Organizing
Teamwork
Training
Team members personalities were assessed and
team composition was based on achieving the
most effective balance of skill sets. These
techniques were very powerful.These tools were
also used in customizing our skill based training
programs to individual needs.Of course, our
teams did not operate in a vacuum. They were
paired with multiple teams in the marketplace.
Alignment with outside partners is critical. It
remains a cutting edge area of experimentation.
Individual character analysis
Group characteristic analysis
See: http://www.hrpersonality.com/Resources/JTPWPersonalityRadar.aspx#_Toc220657857

Who
am
I working
with ?
The key is ﬁnding partners you believe
in, where there is signiﬁcant overlap in
values and intentions and cultivating,
growing and honoring these relationships.

VALUES

COMMITMENT

COMPASSION
COMPASSION VALUES COMMITMENT ACTIVISM
In the early 80’s Patagonia contacted me to
print banners for them. As a person growing up in
the high mountains, working with Patagonia was
a dream. Patagonia honors and protects both the
environment and its employees.
Patagonia’s Mission Statement
Build the best product, cause no unnecessary
harm, use business to inspire and implement
solutions to the environmental crisis.
In a corporate world driven increasingly by short
term profits, Patagonia remains one of the few
corporations that puts the preservation of the
environment and the well being of it’s team
members squarely and selflessly before profits.
Of all the companies that I have worked with,
Patagonia receives my highest rating. I have
created a BRAND PERFORMANCE CHECKLIST,
Patagonia’s is on the following page. Patagonia
sets the standard by achieving a perfect 10.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-12-09/doug-tompkins-founder-of-north-face-and-esprit-who-chucked-it-all-to-save-the-earth-dies-at-72

My dad was a friend of David Packards
and I sat next to him at Stanford football games.
Even though my dad was long gone I pursued HP
and I worked my way up through the ranks,
I knew and believed in the values of HP and
created an excellent long lasting partnership.
VALUES COMMITMENT PARTNERSHIP TRUTH
Passion for customers 
We put our customers first in everything we do.
Trust and respect for individuals  
We work together to create a culture of inclusion built on trust, respect and
dignity for all.
Achievement and contribution  
We strive for excellence in all we do; each person's contribution is critical
to our success.
Results through teamwork  
We effectively collaborate, always looking for more efficient ways to serve
our customers.
Speed and agility  
We are resourceful and adaptable, and we achieve results faster than our
competitors.
Meaningful innovation  
We are the technology company that invents the useful and the significant.
Uncompromising integrity  
We are open, honest and direct in our dealings.d direct in our dealings.
THE HP WAY

Leveraging

oﬀ of new

materials

and technologies
INNOVATION COMMITMENT PARTNERSHIP TRUTH

As my painting studio turned into a graphic
design and print business we began to
specialize in corporate identity and industrial
design applications. Extensive material research
revealed new materials and experimentation in
new combinations of materials lead us to the
ﬁrst use of sintra and alucobond in retail display.
The lamination of styrene to new rigid foam
boards allowed very strong light weight walls.
We slotted them to form load bearing structures
that would ﬂat pack for shipping. We
incorporated an advanced bicycle shop into our
facility, to fabricate an increasing demand for
our internally shock corded exhibit systems and
also to take advantage of its sophisticated
computer driven engineering capabilities.
Open

Experimental

Approach

Leveraging

oﬀ of new

materials

and technologies
Light weigh, KD engineering, ﬁnding
and inventing new material combinations
were advantages we promoted.

The

Mobius

Box
The Mobius Box
offered material
samples, graphic
illustrations and
a timeline on the
life of our mythic
progenitor, the
astronomical and
mathematical genius
August Mobius
.

Increasingly, we invented new fabrication
techniques. Apple asked other producers to
price this disk holder. They replied that they
could not duplicate our fabrication
techniques. Design driven companies like
Nike and Apple responded to our
passion and our
capabilities.

Open

Experimental

Approach
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY BRANDING
Brand
Truth

This 120 screen video environment for
Nike required completely redesigning
video switching technology. I had to work very
hard to convince Nike that the application would
be visible to the 50,000 people who passed
through the hallways of the exhibit. Would it
justify the 1.2 million dollar investment (Editing
and software only, equipment rented)? It was a
phenomenal success. We extended the
technologies to Niketowns. In the next three
years. Nike leaped from a half billion to a two
and a half billion dollar company.
Open

Experimental

Approach
Gold Medal Award
MULTIMEDIA TECHNOLOGY BRANDING

Researching and intimately understanding
companies histories is essential to
telling Brand stories. I introduced historical case
work to Nike and uncovered the life of their
conceptual progenitor by combing the
Universities Archives and interviewing key
individuals: Bill Hayward was the first track
athlete to wear spikes and the first coach to
employ air cushions to prevent injuries. He
coached in five olympic games. He was Bill
Bowerman’s coach and mentor and Bill refused to
be inducted into the track and field hall of fame
until Bill Hayward was inducted. It is said that
when you were with him, he made you feel like
you were the most important person in the world.
To him you were.
Open

Experimental

Research
RESEARCH TECHNOLOGY BRANDING

FIRSTS:
Introduction of tensioned cable systems into
Branded Environments for hanging graphics
on the new Nike campus buildings
Extensive use of digital printing. Bayer
dithering patterns were just beginning to
be used for full color digital printing. The
width limitation was 30”. We used multiple
bands to ﬁll the employee staircases with
images.
Open

Experimental

Approach

Later I applying and extended these hanging
techniques and technologies in forming the
identity of Benetton Sportsystem. We
created a showroom in New York City with a
hanging grid similar to a fixed grid that we
had designed, engineered and installed for
Nike, This one, however, could be lowered to
the floor and raised as it was loaded. The
added efficiency lead to much more
frequent use. We were also able to fully
integrate the lights into the Benetton grid.
Open

Continuous

Experimentation

The Benetton Showroom was also the site
where I directed the development and
installation of the most cost effective and
user friendly puck system. Later, we
applied for a patent and marketed the
product as Gallery Wall.
Open

Experimental

Approach
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY BRANDING

Benetton Sportsystem was an instant multi-
billion dollar company, composed of a half
dozen smaller companies. We were given the
rare opportunity to be ad agency, design
group, builder, installer, technology company
and grand opening event and party
organizer. We embraced the challenge to
understand, display and promote Benettons
diverse world of values / products.
Open

Experimental

Approach
MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING BRANDING

Benetton values were a close ﬁt. The goal of the
company's advertising strategy for over three decades
has been to promote equality. Photographer Oliviero
Toscani worked closely with Luciano Benetton on its
advertising imagery. The byline became, United Colors of
Benetton. At the recommendation of Toscani, Benetton
agreed to work with Eldorado, a small advertising agency
from Paris. As written in the ofﬁcial site of Benetton, the
process of setting up values and equal standing passed
through three different phases: the cycle of differences,
the cycle of reality and the cycle of free speech and the
right to express it. Gradually groups of children from
different races were replaced by couples, who are
symbols of the new concept for discords between
people: Palestinians and Israeli at one and the same
place, a priest kissing a nun, among others. Timor Kalman
was engaged to create COLORS magazine as a vehicle
for the message. It was a privilege to work in the world of
these very committed, very talented characters, to be
able to contribute something to this heady and very
meaningful, revolutionary mix.
Oliviero had previously been a key player in the creation
of Doug and Susie Tompkins wildly successful Brand,
ESPRIT (more later).
Open

Experimental

Approach
MULTIMEDIA ADVERTISING

I developed these horizontally tensioned traveling
sculptural installations for Apple to display prints
produced by their first graphic programs. We called them
the Harp Walls. There was no precedent. After inserting
stopped cables in key holes in the upright sculptural end
pieces, we backed the horizontal bars away from their
resting place though the use of threaded bolts and
cranks. The cables tensioned to 400 lbs of pressure,
leaving no visible deflection when the graphics were
hung. I did the very first test and installation at the Puck
Building in NYC, It was a leap of faith in engineering
calculations.
In creating the Harp Wall, Mobius once again lived to
Apples values to innovate and “Think Different”. In
driving these values Steve followed in the footsteps of
his mentor David Packard.
See “Think Different” -https://twitter.com/jh_healthjoy/
status/664702465082851328 &
“Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish - https://vimeo.com/7976699.
Open

Experimental

Approach
ENGINEERING TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH BRANDING

VALUES

COMMITMENT

COMPASSION
vs
FBI
“You can’t connect the dots

looking forward; you can

only connect them looking

backwards.”
What Apple lacked, under Steve’s leadership is best
revealed by connecting the dots, tracing back in time.
Since taking over as CEO following Jobs' death in 2011,
Tim Cook has differentiated himself from his famous
predecessor by staking out moral ground on issues
ranging from diversity to renewable energy to
philanthropy. Jobs focused on the power of
technology and innovation. He was not particularly
outspoken on social issues, nor was he an active
philanthropist in public. Cook, in contrast, appears to be
pushing Apple's towards an image of charity and
compassion. Tim Cook has quickly established himself
as a moral leader in Silicon Valley, speaking up on
numerous issues like LGBT rights and philanthropy that
his predecessor would never have touched.
See: http://mashable.com/2015/06/08/tim-cook-moral-
leader/#xAhrcoW6zuqJ

After HP and Nike, the partners streamed
through the door. On this page:
1) The ﬁrst ﬁxture system to display Jordan
products in retail.
2) An experimental product launch for Reebok:
First extensive use of paper materials in a high
end point of purchase system.
3) Roland electronics ballroom at the giant
music electronics show in LA. The exhibit was
a challenging mix of light show, light and video
projected images, simultaneous live music,
with demos at a dozen pods and on stage
speaker presentations. It was a fascinating
challenge.
4) The 16 thousand square foot traveling history
of the NFL. This was part of a the 350 thousand
sq. ft NFL Experience, which I co-directed.
Open

Experimental

Approach

Open

Experimental

Approach
New partners offered new challenges:
New products to explore, understand,
position, re-position, enhance and
advance in the marketplace

As we continued to be sought after for our
ability to conceive and build the impossible, we
also became the inline manufacturer for our
partners multiple environments: stores and
shop in shops.

Open

Experimental

Approach

We co-leased a building with our long term partner
Levi Strauss & Company that incorporated a design
studio, office and showroom for Mobius, office
space for Levi and the latest iteration of every Levi
shop. Advertising agencies, competing design and
manufacturing organizations came together with
every description of Mobius and Levi employee to
meet, work, tweak and experiment in this
marvelous, experimental laboratory. As far as I
know, it was and remains an unprecedented and,
an unequaled example of open collaboration in a
otherwise fiercely competitive, divisive industry. I
am very proud to have suggested and fostered this
experiment.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Over a period of 12 years we produced
thousands of Levi and Dockers shops. It
was a heady mix of material,
engineering, brand and product
experimentation. We funded, designed
and produced the wavy wall to the right
to demonstrate to the values of close
partnership and long term collaboration.
We installed it at GlobalShop in 1996
and later in our New York facility.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

I had the great pleasure and privilege to meet and to
experience the dynamic power of Bob Hass on
several occasions. He walked the talk.
“If the people on the front line really are the keys to
our success, then the manager’s job is to help those
people and the people that they serve. That goes
against the traditional assumption that the manager
is in control. In the past, a manager was expected to
know everything that was going on and to be deeply
involved in subordinates’ activities.
I can speak from experience. It has been difficult for
me to accept the fact that I don’t have to be the
smartest guy on the block—reading every memo and
signing off on every decision. In reality, the more you
establish parameters and encourage people to take
initiatives within those boundaries, the more you
multiply your own effectiveness by the effectiveness
of other people.”

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
Rober D. Hass

Chairman Emeritus Levi Strauss and Company .

“We all want a Company that our people are proud of and
committed to, where all employees have an opportunity to
contribute, learn, grow and advance based on merit, not politics
or background. We want our people to feel respected, treated
fairly, listened to and involved. Above all, we want satisfaction
from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and
professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.”
Bob Haas redefined the company’s business strategy; created a
flatter organization, including the painful step of cutting the work
force by one-third; and invested heavily in new-product
development, marketing, and technology. In 1985, he and his
team took the company private in one of the most successful
management-led LBOs of the 1980s. And in 1987, he oversaw the
development of the Levi Strauss Aspirations Statement, a major
initiative to define the shared values that will guide both
management and the work force. (See the insert “Aspirations
Statement.”) Many CEOs talk about values, but few have gone to
the lengths Haas did to bring them to the very center of how he
ran the business. The Aspirations Statement continues to shape
how the company defines occupational roles and responsibilities,
conducts performance evaluations, trains new employees,
organizes work, and makes business decisions.
See: VALUES MAKE THE COMPANY - An interview with Bob Haas
https://hbr.org/1990/09/values-make-the-company-an-interview-
with-robert-haas .
VALUES

COMMITMENT

COMPASSION
Bruce Kasanoff
Ghostwriter
Every company should have a
kindfulness program.

Levi was simply the ideal partner. They
were my dream, my goal and my
inspiration. They conspired with mobs in
a marriage of cooperation that has left
me using the word partnership to deﬁne
the best in all relationships.
Our partnership had been working so
well for several years that we decided to
co-leased a building to house Levi Labs.
The arrangement worked perfectly for
many years.
Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Levi’s exceptional commitment to
community, it’s soulful recognition and
honoring of its employees, customers and
humanity in general was once again
demonstrated by its PHOTO workshops in
2012-14. They provided free photographic
resources including camera rentals (they
had a fantastic selection of both digital and
vintage ﬁlm cameras available), the use of
studio space and professional lighting
equipment, and photo printers ranging
from small and large format inkjet to an
apparel printer. Experts were on hand to
offer guidance and advice in each area.
Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
Collaboration with great design groups,
like Sandstrom Design on Starter and
great partners like REI have made my
work a pleasure.
REI cycles through periods where they
allow their product partners to install
their displays and ﬁxtures. Through
those cycles this double bag display for
Sierra Designs outlasted them all.

More Sandstrom collaboration. Drawings by
mobius/sandstorm/thrive.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Pushing the limits of what a kitchen can be:
Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
kitchen centered
The collaboration/teamwork on this project
was inspirational.
Joe Clifford, John Jones, Bill Roach &
Taking a break from the often insane pace of retail.

Two pages from a booklet presented to
the Museum Design Team at Intel to win
a redesign, update and expansion project. Intel had
an amazing founder in Robert Noise. The Intel team
exercised by tossing a koosh ball, built high
performance teams, whats not to love? Much
learned.

Research

Collaboration

Experimentation
Nike combined great collaboration with a
very high level of performance and a passionate,
ferocious appetite for winning. Botton line, Nike
honors great athletes, Nike honors great athletics.
Side effects: Be prepared for the members on your team to
change, often.
1) The members on your team will change, very often.
2) Winning is everything.
3) Your opponent is your enemy.
Maintaining a longterm relationship with Nike was a
challenge. As a designer, I was constantly working to keep
Nike true to their core values and as a director, constant
adjusting team behaviors and composition to best
compliment our partners.
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
________________________
1) In the current idiom, be ready for the players on the teams to change.
2) 2) Winning is everything.
3) Your opponent is your enemy.

For Adidas the challenge was
differentiating the brand from Nike. As with
Nike, be careful what shoe you are
wearing.
For House of Blues it was such a unique
style with distressed and wild ﬁnishes.
The Sony store was a mammoth technical
challenge

ENGINEERING MANUFACTURING RESEARCH BRANDI
Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Ultimately the most important ingredient
is the people. We learned so much about
and beneﬁted so demonstrably from
integrated high performance teams.
VALUES TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH BRANDING
Teamwork

Collaboration

Experimentation
d
For 25 years Mobius developed
great high performance teams.
We stressed commitment to personal
development long term. Loyalty was at
the center of our beliefs.

We designed this Nike Shop, for Nike, to be
the hearth in Finish Line Big Box Stores. The
leap forward here is the clear story telling, the
deﬁnition of point of view both physically and
conceptually on the boards. It integrates
perfectly with the Brand in broad stroke and
technically. It pushes the Brand forward, as it
challenges both the Big Box and the Brand to
have a heart, to be a dynamic gathering place.
Three out of the twenty two pages are
presented here.

Teamwork

Collaboration

Experimentation
VALUES TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH BRANDING

The Productz Design Group created this
Jordan Store for Nike. The research on this
project was extensive and the design process
went on for six months. Three design studies/
books were presented. One is presented
completely here. Some pages from the others
are also presented.
.
Brand

Study &

Interpretation
PATH PLACE IDENTITY

Poured in place concrete and the use of
a exotic concrete curtain are among the
key material features of this store.
.

This project worked through so many
aspects of one of the most carefully and
thoroughly deﬁned brands. Direction from
Nike swung from traditional Jordan Black
and Red to North Carolina Blue and White
, from dark with spot lighting to bright
natural light.
.

We started with the playground.
.

This project for Diesel was one of the first projects I
brought in during the five years that I spent
consulting with EYELEVEL, now a global design/build
company. My role was that of Global Strategist. This
custom lighting fixture was part of a shop system for
Macy’s. Also pictured is the portal designed to
facilitate reporting and ordering of the fixture system.
The Diesel account justified opening a New York
office. During my consultancy, EYELEVEL grew from
25 people in the Prague office to 250 people globally
with offices in Prague, Moscow, Portland, New York,
Sydney, Curitiba, Shanghai, Hong Kong, and
Amsterdam.
Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
STRATEGY MARKETING RESEARCH SALES
@

EYELEVELS projects were very similar to
those of Mobius, Thrive and Productz, only
on a more global scale. Productz projects
had taken me to China and I had worked and
traveled extensively in Europe. Those
experiences helped me in my various roles
on with EYELEVEL's management teams.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
The most critical behavior in EYELEVEL’s
mix is it’s sentient team trainings. The constant
trainings, combining written exercises, team
competitions (both physical and mental) bring teams
together globally in dynamic ways unparalleled in
retail. These trainings and the strategic rotation of
team members between ofﬁces (something I have
advocated and coached clients to do for many
years) leads to very efﬁcient, high performance
teamwork. My commitment to team process as a
teaching method to maximize learning and
innovation has been strengthened and deepened by
Boudwĳn Castelĳn masterfully direction of team
and leadership trainings.

http://www.bottomlinecoaching.nl.
Boudwijn Castelijn

High Performance

Team and Leadership

Training
COOPERATION TRUTH COMMITMENT PASSION
EYELEVEL Team members lived by these values globally. EYELEVEL
Directors did not. Leaders must also share and live the team values and
have serious additional obligations to team members that are often
overlooked. Beyond pushing hard for results. Great leaders must instill a
sense of confidence and exceptionalism in their people. They must
engage with employees on their terms. They need to listen and earn their
trust. They need to learn to let people fail in order to learn. The bottom
line is simple: recognize your strengths and use them to help people
better themselves. In the long run, helping them will also help you.
Quality - keep promises - be professional - check and control
Open Communication - be open minded - be honest, be truthful,
be direct - express your feelings
Development - ask and give feedback - learn from mistakes - get
out of your comfort zone
Team Spirit - encourage each other - shared responsibility - accept
and use differences to your benefit
Result Driven - “failure is not an option” - see the whole picture-end goal
- define the goal as a team - Be committed to the outcome goal
Initiative - be proactive - plan before acting - take responsibility
EYELEVEL COMPANY VALUES
Key to creating great teams is the establishment of company values.
This is a creative, team process. Total buy in is essential. EYELEVEL
shares those values openly. You can find them on their website.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
High Performance Team Life is very powerful, it opens you
up and you form strong, interdependent, yet sustaining,
empowering relationships. If these relationships are not
nurtured and longterm commitment is not an honored core
value, individuals will be seriously damaged and teams,
groups and organizations will collapse from the inside out.
I am very happy and proud to have been associated with
EYELEVEL. To have been a key team member in the
process of getting EYELEVEL off the ground and helping
to deﬁne and communicate its meaning to a very broad
audience has been one of the great experiences and
accomplishments of my career. Once that we had deﬁned
EYELEVEL’s sales and marketing efforts as a Global Team
effort and EYELEVEL became part of InnerWorkings vast
network and resources, it was time for me to focus the
work of Productz on other projects and partners. I miss my
teammates at EYELEVEL.
Thank you

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
A serious shoutout to Michael Bradley as Director of
EYELEVEL’s great North Face Team and to The North Faces
internal team for the brilliant work that they have done over the
last four years.
A shoutout as well to The North Face early years and a wild
howl into the wind to Doug Tompkins who with his wife Susie
Tompkins started The North Face, Inc. in 1964. Doug died
recently (December 8, 2015) of hypothermia when his kayak
capsized on General Carrera Lake in Patagonia. He was on a
trip with friends, including Yvon Chouinard and Rick Ridgeway.
I met the amazingly energetic and charismatic Mr, Tompkins in
this ofﬁce at ESPRIT headquarters in 1992. Doug was in his
entrepreneurial phase, ESPRIT was surging. Since Doug’s
death, the press has focused on his deep and passionate
environmentalism and the legacy and great gifts he has given
to life on planet earth, well deserved praise.
Lets, also take a minute to recognize that none of this would
have been possible without ESPRIT (thank you, also Susie).
Between Doug’s environmentalism and the new and much less
illustrious shadow of ESPRIT a wonderful, vibrant, world
leading and world changing Brand has been
lost to the public.

Partnership

Collaboration

Experimentation
Ettore Sottsass

Oliviero Toscani

Doug Tompkins had a passion for great design. He was a great leader
and a smart director who gave his team freedom to express themselves
within a broad stroke, defining the expanding parentheses that described
the changing wonder ESPRIT. He hired the very best graphic designers,
industrial designers, packaging designers and architects in the world to
create the most integrated Brand presentation, heart and soul, ever, bar
none. The stores we exquisite and the showrooms, ground breaking
architecturally. Susie and her team created the perfect product compliment.
A stunning series of books were produced to document the history and
evolution of this work
The financial history of ESPRIT is a long and dramatic rollercoaster ride.
Some facts: From 1979 to 1985 the company's sales grew from $120 million
to $700 million." During this time, Esprit was innovative in many areas.
ESPRIT became the first clothing company to convince department stores to
relegate a part of their sportswear section specifically for use as a "shop
within a shop." Catalogs also served as an important marketing strategy in
the early 1980s. featuring employees and professionals modeling Esprit
clothes, alongside written personal statements. ESPRIT opened several retail
stores, the first of which was award winning superstore in Los Angeles that
showcased Doug Tompkins's design taste. The store cost about $15 million
to build. By 1987 there were 14 Esprit retail stores nationwide. Many more
stores and showrooms were built around the world. ESPRIT was renowned
for its commitment to its employees and its social and environmental
responsibility. Ultimately the company struggled, Doug and Susie divorced
and eventually departed, leaving Doug with enough capital to establish the
spectacular 726,000-acre Corcovado National Park. In Argentina, Doug
played a key role in establishing Monte León National Park, protecting 25
miles of Atlantic coastline and 155,000-acres in the country’s first coastal
continental park. Doug was a gem. Working with ESPRIT was a pleasure.

Inspirations

Combing the world for
design brilliance.

Every three years EuroShop focuses brilliant lights on the very best of display design and product
presentation and engineering.

My very best teachers

and my ﬁnest students,

my children: Jacob,

Anna and Alija.

Inspirations - Soulmates

http://www.alijacraycroft.com/

http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/306168/Jacob-Craycroft
http://www.nytimes.com/movies/person/306168/Jacob-Craycroft
http://www.agencyoforphan.com/
http://annacraycroft.com/
alijacraycroft.com
http://www.hufﬁngtonpost.com/mutualart/portland-institute-for-contemporary-art_b_3804093.html

Material
Palette
at hand
Since this piece began

as an outline and a

leave behind presentation

to an industrial design

class, I have left these

reference pages which were

included to assist them.

Cutting through Brand Babble

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