In this episode of Horse Power we talk with Kit Hinrichs, AIGA Medalist and Partner at Pentagram Design, about creativity, branding and the American flag in the Founders room at the Nevada Museum of Art in downtown Reno.

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How about that: the last two podcasts have both been done on location! Let’s hope that becomes a trend. We were going to record the podcast Thursday evening, but Kit’s flight from San Fransisco had been canceled and he had to drive over the hill with his son Chris through yet another Tahoe snow storm. They made it just in time for the biggest audience the Reno Tahoe Chapter of the AIGA has hosted to date with 105 people in the NMA’s Theater.

We caught up with Kit on Friday back at the museum after he was done meeting with David Walker, NMA’s new Director, about displaying his flag collection in the museum next fall.

“I’m very confident in what I do; I’ve never met a piece of blank paper that ever scared me.”

Though he can always come up with a solution, he says his only worry is coming up with the best solution for the problem. Since the fastest and cheapest solution is often the favored one, that seems like an unusual way of looking at things. Kit’s insights, in light of the challenges that we as a web development, messaging and marketing company face every day, should inspire us all to think about how we go about solving our client’s problems. Or at least the particular ones in which they involve us…

“There’s an economic aspect of their brand not functioning any more.”

Kit spoke a bit about his work re-branding the company Muzak to change the way it and it’s products were perceived by their potential customers. A non-functioning brand describes, in this case, a company that had changed, but had not changed visually yet. It is amazing how visuals can affect the perception of a company who’s product is sound.

“I think the way in which people understand information is by telling a story.“

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-Mike