Rizen Creative Ideas, advertising & design for underdog brands

Good.is held a contest to design a better food pyramid. Andrew Lasky was the winner with this two-column version which incorporates information beyond the standard “this many servings” model we’re used to. We like Lasky’s version. We also like that it’s not pushing for breads and grains as the foundation of your diet considering the [...]

We were lucky enough to get our hand’s on a galley copy (i.e. an early draft) of ad-wonk-turned-blog-guru-turned-cartoonist-turned-author-turned-all-of-the-above Hugh MacLeod’s new book, “Evil Plans.”
Like his first book, “Ignore Everybody,” this is an exceptional personal how- and why-to book about the new economy. Not only is it incredibly inspiring, it is also filled with Hugh’s insightful, [...]

“Paradise is an island. So is hell.”
So begins Judith Schalansky’s “Atlas of Remote Islands.“ Filled with tales of…wait for it…remote islands, this book charms with its simplicity. Hand-illustrated maps. Well-crafted (if not always well-translated) prose. Surprising little stories. This book is a joy for would-be and wanna-be adventures.
Judith has degrees in both History of Art and Communication [...]

The premise of Lisa Gansky’s book is the in sub-title: the future of business is sharing. Gansky delves into the world of Zipcar and Netflix to uncover how they’re profiting by bringing together products and information for customers to share.
It’s a good read. And really the first detailed look at how the internet is empower [...]

We’ve been following the tales of Chris Guillebeau for awhile now on his blog, The Art of Non-Conformity. Well, now his book is out. And as much as we’d like to get our hands on it — we couldn’t find a local bookstore with any left in stock. So we special ordered it from Rediscovered Books [...]

Ok, let me start by saying this is a good book. It may not be as good as Seth Godin’s quote on the cover would lead you to believe, but it is definitely worth a read.
REWORK, written the guys behind the very successful (& very good) software company 37 Signals, basically says don’t listen to [...]

Ideo and Rizen share at least one thing in common: we have the opportunity to use design to improve almost everything. Products, sure. But also customer experiences, proccesses and more.
In “Change By Design,” Ideo (one of the world’s most renown industrial design firms — and much more) CEO Tim Brown walks readers through Ideo’s “design [...]

I know, I know, we’re the last to get around to reading this book. But after being reminded about “A Whole New Mind” by Daniel Pink at Idavation this week, it was a must buy. So we did.
The subtitle pretty much lays out the premise: why right-brainers will rule the future.
For a bunch of right-brainers [...]

As has been well documented, we’ve left the “advertising age” a long time ago. At Rizen, while advertising is still a portion of what we do, it is no longer the major communication–let alone branding–path we utilize.
This book, in a way, is about that. Co-written by Bogusky, considered in many circles to have some sort [...]

It’s a very simple concept: whatever you do, you need to kick ass at it. And by kick ass, we mean treat it like it’s art. Not work. Art.
Beautiful. Meaningful. Fun. Inspiring. Unique. Engaging. Valuable. Art.
Seth Godin’s latest book, “Linchpin,” lays out a very compelling case why we all need to become indispensable. It’s great, [...]