Brian Collins changed someone’s life by redesigning a uniform

Brian Collins is Chief Creative Officer of COLLINS, an independent strategy and brand experience design company with offices in New York City and San Francisco. Prior to founding COLLINS, he spent a decade as Chairman and Chief Creative Officer of the brand and innovation division of Ogilvy & Mather. Brian's also a teacher—a professor in the Graduate Program of the School of Visual Arts since 2001—and sits on the Board of The One Club. Among many accolades, Collins has been named as: A "Design Master" by Graphis One of five American "Masters of Design" by Fast Company One of the 50 Most Influential Graphic Designers Working Today by Graphic Design USA He was also the first graphic designer invited to participate in the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, which you’ll hear us talk about on this episode. Brian has long held that design and designers have the power to make a positive impact on the world (e.g., this blog post about using design to create a better future), which makes him an obvious choice for this season of the podcast, during which I’ve had many conversations about the social impact of branding. But I was originally put in touch with Brian by one of his employees, Diego Segura, a design apprentice at Collins. Diego reached out to tell me about his own experience and about the internship program at Collins, which focuses on high school students of color. So this is part one of a two-part series. In this episode, you’ll hear my conversation with Brian about the impact of design on the world, the COLLINS internship program, and more. In part two, you’ll hear a little more of my conversation with Brian, plus a full interview with Diego, design apprentice at COLLINS. Diego will share his story and point of view on the future of the design industry. Toward the end of the conversation, Brian offered up some great advice to young, struggling designers: There's no such thing as perfect projects. They don't exist. You’ve got to take the assignments that you’ve got and turn them into something. Focus on excellence." – Brian Collins Then he recommended two books: The Architecture of Happiness, by Alain De Botton ("It's a remarkable book." Siddhartha, by Hermann Hesse ("I would recommend [it] to any young person.") To learn more about COLLINS, visit their website. You can also learn more about Brian at his personal site or on just about any major social media platform (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram). And don’t forget to subscribe so you can hear part two of this conversation, which will feature Brian again, as well as Diego.