Plaid™

Best of the Plaid tour.

2008-08-13T19:32:00.002-05:00

Missed all the daily wrap up videos from the Plaid summer tour? No worries. Enjoy this compilation of the best moments from PlaidNation 2008. We're already counting down the days till 2009!

Plaid summer tour: experience every moment.

2008-08-04T20:38:00.000-05:00

Phew. Another year on the road has screamed past faster than a Plaid van at 85MPH.

If you haven't had a chance to check in, or missed some key moments, now's a great time to catch up on the most glorious tour ever to hit the highways. PlaidNation 2008.

See all of the daily wrap up videos here. It's the next best thing to being there.

See the interviews and extra footage here. The interviews with Robert Scoble, Biz Stone and Cathy Brooks (coming later this week) are extra remarkable.

Read the Twitter stream. If you're new to Twitter (or just bored at work), this is a great way to see it's value. An entire tour has been documented (and archived) moment by moment, as it was happening. Reading the stream is like re-living the tour.

Watch the 11:40 shows. These vidcasts were recorded live at 11:40, wherever the van happened to be at that moment. You'll see additional discussion about what happened on tour, with extra detail brought to the show by the people on the tour. The most popular episode: Plaid gets kicked out of a popular celebrity cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Check out the Flickr photo stream. Better than your Aunt Lucie's vacation to the Galapagos Islands, you'll see other workplaces, cool locations and Plaid employees mostly avoiding trouble.

We've put all of this and more together for you, on the tour dashboard at PlaidNation.com

Thanks to everyone who wrote about it, talked about it, or became a part of it. We're already in planning mode for next year's tour, and have some incredible surprises. Just wait until 2009!

Plaid tour kicking off week two!

2008-07-27T21:11:00.000-05:00

If you're not already glued to your computer watching every detail, be sure to check in on the second annual Plaid Summer Tour - now in its second week, on the west coast. This week Plaid will be spending time in San Francisco, San Louis Obispo, Los Angeles, San Diego and Las Vegas.

We'll be meeting brands, creative people and interesting characters along the way. Watch it all live on the van cams, video, Twitter stream and more - all on the tour's dashboard at PlaidNation.com

Plaid tour just days away

2008-07-15T07:11:00.004-05:00

Our second annual Plaid summer tour is just days away from kicking into high gear! Be sure to bookmark the tour dashboard and watch the tour live all day, every day starting July 21!

Tell your boss that you're not being unproductive - but that you're busy researching how to put the latest social media tools into action. And then get back to watching the live webcams, as the Plaid van gets pulled over by the California Highway Patrol. Or whatever the crew might be up to.

Sara on CNN!

2008-06-19T15:56:00.003-05:00

Our coworker Sara was featured on CNN today! She's a girl of a million stories - so we're not surprised. She's featured in a piece about tattoos and the workplace. (Plaid is obviously the kind of joint that appreciates good body ink.)

We're fully expecting Anderson Cooper to show up at the front door any day now, asking for Sara. If Larry King understood what a tattoo was, or could stay awake long enough, we're sure he'd be interviewing her too. Donny Deutsch is soooo jealous that he missed this story. Nice job Sara!!!

We're hiring - a Designer!

2008-06-14T16:55:00.000-05:00

Plaid - the greatest agency in all of the land is looking for a new designer! Creative Genius! Lover of the internet! Person who gets paid to make things on a Mac! (We're not much on titles.)

Stuff you'll do:
Work on the most awesome projects and create the most wonderous designs.
Work with really cool clients, and one or two less-than-cool clients
Collaborate with the most talented bunch of creatives ever to grace the earth

Stuff you have:
+ At least 2 years design experience
+ Kick ass portfolio, with especially strong interactive work (you don't have to be a coder)
+ Good grasp on the latest internet tools
+ Good energy. Fun to be with.
+ Awesome sense of humor.

Stuff that would be awesome, but not required:
+ You have a Facebook profile, and/or participate in social media
+ You don't like Celine Dion, as an artist.
+ You enjoy doing stupid things and documenting them on a company blog. (Like Steph, who just ate 10 Pixie Stix at once, in the photo above)

Work at the best agency ever created by humans.
Open office, open books. No politics. For real.
Really fun, collaborative and energetic work environment.
Half day Fridays in the summertime, planning trips to fun places, and an office Segway.
100% paid health benefits, 401(k) plan, and super aggressive profit sharing.

Send resume and a link to some of your work, to darryl AT thinkplaid DOT com, with "designer" in the subject line. (If you've sent a resume in the last 3 months - you're already in consideration. Feel free to confirm that we have it on file.)

Meet David. (the intern)

2008-05-29T14:03:00.001-05:00

We've been remiss in introducing you to our latest new member of Plaid. David (the intern). You probably already know that there's another David in our office, who's been here way longer than David (the intern). So, we've had David (the intern) change his name. Whenever you refer to him, you'll need to add "the intern" to the end of his name. We're sending him to the DMV to change it on his driver's license, too.

David (the intern) will be with us for the first half of the summer, where he'll be washing employee cars, sharpening pencils, and removing gum from the bottom of sneakers. Important stuff that the rock stars of Plaid don't have time to do themselves.

We believe that the light bulb above his head isn't actually part of our lighting system - but an indication that David (the intern) just had a brilliant idea. Once he's done uncrumpling the paper in recycling, we'll give him some time to realize that brilliance.

Sara gets bobbled.

2008-05-23T07:41:00.004-05:00

Sara's bobble head arrived. We think it looks awesome. Now it's off to be photographed, and get star treatment, before being featured on our Meet the Staff page.

Moments later, her new business cards walked in the door. (With the help of a delivery boy.) She's got the most awesome title on her card: Duchess of Awesome. Sweet.

The only PC that we'll allow in our office.

2008-04-17T10:05:00.001-05:00

We just received our agency's first eeePC. Unboxing video above. Pretty cool.

dream job open at Plaid

2008-03-18T09:57:00.004-05:00

Plaid, the greatest agency in all of the land, is hiring a Project Manager. Producer. Cattle herder. Whateveryoucallit.

Stuff you'll do:
Manage all aspects of projects for design and branding firm.
Interact with (mostly cool) clients, (totally cool) creatives and (awesome) partners from around the country.
Get stuff done.
Get stuff done on time.
Get stuff done on budget.

Stuff you have:
Previous agency experience preferred, interactive experience a bonus. Great communicator, fantastic people skills, and organization/planning skills that will make us look awesome. Understanding of the production process relative to a design and brand firm.

Stuff that would be awesome, but not required:
+ You have a Facebook profile, and participate in social media
+ You've heard of the Beastie Boys
+ Previous experience with Basecamp or other project management software
+ You like conducting experiments like "what does a Segway sound like when riding over bubblewrap?" (answer above)

Work at the best agency ever created by humans.
Open office, open books. No politics. For real.
Really fun, collaborative and energetic work environment.
Half day Fridays in the summertime, planning trips to fun places, and an office Segway.
100% paid health benefits, 401(k) plan, and super aggressive profit sharing.

Send resume to darryl AT thinkplaid DOT com, with "producer" in the subject line.

Sarah Lacy Loves Plaid.

2008-03-11T02:36:00.000-05:00

Maybe you've heard a little something about Sarah. Or her interview with Mark Zuckerberg. We caught up with her at a party while at SXSW, and asked her the most important question of all....does she love Plaid?

Live webcams at Plaid

2008-02-26T09:35:00.003-05:00

Bored at your own office? Watch ours. Check in on the Plaid Bathroom cam, and monitor Plaid employees as they enter and exit the bathroom.

Or visit one of the Plaid brainstorm areas, and see if anything's going on.

If you see anyone in the bathroom area for TOO long, please notify Plaid management. They like to keep an eye on things like that.

2008 tour: officially happening.

2008-02-02T15:13:00.001-05:00

We decided this week that we're officially embarking on a Plaid summer tour. If you missed it last year, we outfit a Plaid van with the latest technology and social media, and fill it with a few agency staffers, and drive. And drive.

Last year, the tour took us from NYC to Dallas. We met some fun and interesting people, brands and agencies along the way. Last year we shared the entire experience on line, with the latest social media tools. This year will be even better.

Our 2008 tour will take place on the west coast. Sometime in July. We're still debating the exact markets where we'll stop, and the route details. One of the routes we're really digging is Vancouver to Vegas. With California in between. Sounds fabulous.

Once we have exact dates arranged, we'll be telling the world. If you're located anywhere on our route - please let us know - we'd love to stop by and say hi!

Once planning gets into full swing, we'll share the details on our tour site, PlaidNation. (Right now, you can see what last year's dashboard looks like.)

See you on the road!

New addition nearly complete!

2008-02-02T15:07:00.000-05:00

If everything goes to plan, we'll be moving internet workers into our new addition next week. They installed our custom paneled wall, and it looks beautious. Better than we ever expected. Some staining (and some more painting) will take place on Monday. Wednesday (fingers crossed) will bring carpet, and then we're in. Once it's all done, we'll share pics of the entire Plaid space, for all to see.

And the plastic wall is down.

2008-01-29T18:30:00.000-05:00

The addition to our space has been separated from our current space with a huge wall of plastic. To protect us from the evils of sheetrock dust. Today, the plastic wall came down. Kind of cool, because the new space now flows into our existing space.

They've finished painting, and the custom wood paneling gets installed on Thursday. And the paneling will need to be stained. Then it's carpet, and lights - and we're in!

We're hiring.

2008-01-22T09:09:00.000-05:00

The world's greatest design and branding firm is seeking a full-time web developer/programmer. Front-end web coding, working directly with our designers.

Skillz you've mastered:
+ Intimately familiar with some of these (more is good): html, javascript, Ajax, Flash, PHP.
+ Ability to write code. The old fashioned way - not just with wysiwyg tools.
+ Great communication skills, with ability to explain any of the above to designers and clients and people who generally won't know what you're talking about.

Plaid is the coolest agency in all of the world, sporting clients from entertainment industry to action sports to consumer brands and b2b. Name brands you know, and stuff you've never heard of. No cubicles. Open workplace, open books and open management philosophies.

Extremely relaxed and fun work environment, where you'll never wear khakis. (Unless you're into that sort of thing.) Profit sharing, 401(k), 100% paid health benefits, and a salary lower than you'd get at the big stressful agency. (And you won't have to work 18 hours/day, like at the big agency, either.)

Giuli gets promoted!

2008-01-20T20:40:00.000-05:00

Giuli was just promoted to the position of Producer! She'll now be responsible for managing all projects at our agency. She'll be the point person for clients to get project updates, keep projects on budget, on time, and work with our creatives to get them the tools and information they need. Basically, she'll be making sure that our agency actually delivers on the promises that people like myself make.

We've never had anyone in this position before. In the past, things like this have been handled by designers, by Giuli, or by Diana and myself. Our agency has grown quite a bit over the last year, and we really needed someone to keep all of us on task. Since Giuli's been performing this role at least half the time anyway, we thought it was a good idea to turn this into a full-fledged position. Hopefully it won't go to her head, where she starts wearing that hat and sunglasses around the office.

So - got a question? Ask Giuli. Need something done? Ask Giuli. Not sure who those revisions go to? Ask Giuli. Sounds like maybe she's turned into a search engine.

We're hiring.

2008-01-18T16:21:00.000-05:00

Part-time office assistant
The greatest design and branding agency in all of the land is now seeking a p/t office person.

Vendor coordination, billing and invoicing, purchasing, travel arrangements, and millions of little things that we can't begin to predict. (Things like "purchase a hot dog costume" or "find out what hairspray is best for a mohawk")

Work Monday - Friday, half days. Super bitchin' work environment includes loud music, fun people and collaborative workspace. We promise at least a 25% fun to work ratio. $15/hr. (You won't get rich here, but you'll have a bunch of fun.)

Prior experience should include good internet surfing skills, and Microsoft Office (yech) experience. Quickbooks or basic accounting experience a plus. Facebook profile a super bonus.

Send resume to darryl AT thinkplaid.com

Justus brings down the house.

2008-01-17T18:41:00.001-05:00

They knocked down the wall separating our current space from the new space! Actually...they let us do it.

That is, they took out all of the nails, cut all of the boards, and prepared the wall in just the right manner so that a designer-type person might be physically capable of pulling down the wall. Even someone that works in front of a computer all day, and makes pretty things. Even someone that has never picked up a hammer. You get the picture.

Anyway, you can watch David in the clip above get the satisfaction of his lifetime as he busts through the wall like a fireman. And then Justus brings the house down. Almost literally. Power, internet and all. Oooh boy.

New furniture is arriving!

2008-01-17T09:22:00.000-05:00

Deliveries are arriving on a regular basis here, and have us more stoked than ever. Yesterday, our egg chairs arrived. Our place is going to be awesome, once the construction is done.

The wall is coming down!

2008-01-17T08:41:00.000-05:00

Today they remove the wall that's separating our current space from the new addition. Kind of exciting. That is, if you consider wall knocking demolition exciting. And really, who doesn't??

(And why do video processors always choose the most unflattering time to pick the thumbnail?)

Hammer time.

2008-01-10T17:15:00.000-05:00

Here's what the construction dudes were up to, while they should have been working on our new addition. That's Joe, showing us a little hammer time.

Construction continues. The shell is done!

2007-12-28T15:02:00.000-05:00

They've completed what is essentially the shell to our new addition. The roof is up, and walls complete. Windows have been ordered, and should be here by next week. We've met with the electrician to discuss ethernet drops, power outlets and phones.

So far, it looks like we're on schedule to be complete by end of January/early February. We're getting excited - and our existing space is getting tight. We now have one desk that's shared by THREE part-timers, and we'll have a new hire starting in the next few months, too. We need this space, bad.

Plaid holiday cards are in the mail

2007-12-09T08:22:00.000-05:00

We've prepared our annual Plaid holiday cards, and dropped them at the post office for delivery. The post office hates us.

This year's card is especially special. Like an after school Christmas special. Read whatever you want into that.

If you're on our list, keep an eye on your mailbox this week, and be sure that your mailman is extremely careful with our delicate and important package.

Construction begins on Plaid addition

2007-12-07T21:27:00.000-05:00

They delivered lumber for the first stage of our addition. Because our space is located on the roof of our building, they had to bring everything up on a crane. Kind of exciting for a bunch of creative people. I'm sure we didn't get in the way or annoy the construction dudes at all. They're probably used to people dancing around, with digital and video cameras.

They moved our patio to the other side of our space, and it's going to look great. The framers began laying out the floor joists, and next week (snow permitting), they'll frame out what will become our new account services area!