Found in Translation

This week, Stephen and I had the opportunity to present to a group of young Japanese design professionals at the Pacific Northwest College of Art. The group was here in Portland as part of Teruo Kurosaki’s international design-focused tours, and Substance was asked to come and speak to them about what makes us unique, and what makes Portland so special as a creative center.

We presented our understanding and approach to digital brand strategy, and used our own story as a case study on building a digital brand. We explained the importance of having something to say before you delve into building tools to say it. We shared how we don’t see creative and technology as two separate departments, but as equal and vital parts of a whole, and why it’s important for everyone to sit at the long table. We talked about why it was important to us to write a declaration instead of a business plan, and how our goal is to work with clients that share our beliefs and business philosophies. Ultimately, we talked about why it’s important to do work that matters.

Honestly, at first it was intimidating to be there. I wasn’t worried about the language barrier, as we had excellent translation. I was worried that here we were in front of twenty or so young designers looking for inspiration and whether or not the Substance story would resonate across cultures. Fortunately, we found that not only did the Substance story resonate, but that several of the designers shared similar experiences. Many of them worked for large Japanese companies, but a few had recently left to pursue their passions and create smaller companies focused on doing better work instead of growing larger.

It wasn’t completely unexpected, as it seems to happen a lot when talking about Substance, but the conversation eventually turned to a discussion about how maybe it is time to redefine what success means. Teruo explained that most companies in Japan focus on growing larger and having more sales and business, and using those alone as measurements for success. We shared that we defined success by what is important to us: do useful, meaningful work for clients wanting to make meaning. To share a balance and blend between our work and our lives and to look forward to coming to work every day, not just out of a sense of responsibility but as a result of how we feel about what we do and why we do it.

(above: Teruo Kurosaki and Patrick Forster from PNCA)

From a translation and/or culture standpoint, we noticed phrases like, “digital brand strategy,” “long table,” and “do better,” weren’t translated to Japanese, and it was funny to hear these pop out in the Japanese translation. Stephen and I discussed whether or not these things didn’t translate directly into Japanese, or if they just had more value being directly quoted. If there are any native Japanese speakers out there who can shed some light on this, please do.

Thanks to Patrick Forster at PNCA for setting it all up, to Teruo Kurosaki for bringing his students to Portland, and most of all to the students for their attention, energy and interest. We hope that we’ve made some new friends, some believers in how Substance does business, and inspired you to do better. We’ll see you in Tokyo next time.