Portland Design: A 30-Year Perspective

By Sandy Brown, Hanlon Brown Design

Portland is a city brimming with great design talent. Today Portland is home to leading designers--industrial, graphic, new media, apparel, urban and even green architectural.

Step into a coffee house at 7 a.m., or a Martini bar at 7 p.m., and you will likely overhear a group steeped in conversation about design. The fun part is that the dialogue may involve a Web designer, an urban planner and a shoe designer while the discussion is about designing a better bicycle.

This spotlight on Portland design is a tale about the evolution of the area's key industries. The Portland area is a center for both the high-tech (silicon forest) and sports apparel industries. Companies like adidas, Nike, Columbia Sportswear, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Tektronix and others reside here. These companies are fueled by design and dependant on the growing pool of excellent local design talent. Portland's design industry has grown up supporting this need and now has exploded into a key industry in and of itself.

In parallel, the interest and value for good design across the U.S. also has gained momentum. Design is in. The insurgence of general interest design magazines and television programs has grown dramatically. Both new and long-established retailers of designer products are offering design for the masses. You can now buy products designed by Michael Graves or Victoria Hagen at places like Target. Good design is being immersed into our lives through media, new products and a wide range of visual communications.

As a long-time member of the Portland design community I think about design a lot. For me, design clarifies and organizes the flow of information to achieve successful communications. Good design does this even better.

In Portland, our collective design style is a product of the industries anchored here, our unique culture, and pioneering experience with new media. These are precious assets that give Portland designers an edge and an opportunity to play an even greater role in shaping new design sensibilities.

Sandy Brown is vice President of Hanlon Brown Design. From 1984 to 2005, she served as the studio's creative director. During that time she actively participated in the Portland design community. She has been in inspiration to many young designers and helped to nurture numerous careers in the design field.

Career Opportunity: Interactive Account Executive

General Responsibilities: The Interactive Account Executive (IAE) is a motivated and experienced business professional capable of building trust and maintaining quality relationships with our clients and staff. The IAE will carry out the company's strategic business plan in building our interactive team's ongoing work and profitability. This role is a hands-on position driving diverse creative projects through our agency's interactive department.

Required skills include: excellent presentation skills, attention to detail, solid account management abilities including budget management, billing and job flow/project management. The IAE must be knowledgeable regarding Web technologies and trends, interactive applications and the creative services business. The IAE is the technical liaison between the teams, our clients and the business community. An active role in the business community that will lead to sales is important for the continued growth of this segment of the company.

The candidate for this position will have 7+ years of Web/interactive agency account management experience as well as a solid foundation in the applications used in today’s solutions. The candidate should have the capacity to speak to these capabilities with clients, manage expectations of deliverables within scope and budget and possess ability to work with the creative team to guide the clients to a successful solution. The candidate will also possess the capacity to conduct sales activity, work on new business development and procure existing accounts' business on a day-to-day basis.

This position will report to the Director of Account Management.

Please contact: careers@hbdesign.com