Thursday: Day 9
As the end of week two nears, D’Wayne inspired us this morning with a quote from Billie Jean King: “A champion is afraid of losing. Everyone else is afraid of winning.” He followed this one up with Vince Lombardi’s “Once you learn how to quit, it becomes a habit.” And lastly, from the Pensole guru himself: “It’s better to finish last than not to finish at all.” We’ve got one week left before the big presentation at the The Village, so these quotes are keeping us motivated and on track. Today’s book recommendation is “Manage Your Day-to-Day” by Jocelyn K. Glei, which ties into another of Pensole’s mantras of focusing on the day.
Following the morning meeting, D’Wayne presented to the footwear designers the ingredients of a successful resume. As my team’s Color and Material Designer, I spent this time in the color and material side of Pensole, editing colorways and briefing with Suzette. The team is now reviewing its second round of concept sketches, honing in on the three strongest. I met briefly one-on-one with each of my team’s designers, where we developed a material strategy.
Thomas Hardings, footwear designer for Adidas football, met with the crew to share his eight years of experience with the company. He had many stories and great insight, summarized below:
– Soak it all in at the beginning. With time, advice gets clearer and you learn to disseminate the good from the bad
– Giving and getting feedback is crucial. Reach out! If you’re stuck on a project, let it breathe, inspiration comes from unexpected places
– Design and back it up with the consumer. It’s more than your opinion
-You can’t think only what you like is good and you can’t always work on what you want. Sometimes it’s a challenge, but constraints can help you be more clever
– Your designs are made by people – stay connected to them as you design
– The best managers are those who put their teams first, are positive about potential and make sure that everyone feels valued
With that, it’s back to the studio to keep moving forward.
-Sarah Rabeda
CMD, Team
