Shameless Marketing

Here is a fun site

And here is the result

The only problem with this project is the sometimes visually-hideous human "templates" that are offered. However, if you can find one you like...

A Thousand More Details

Often, our projects get bogged down in the smallest little details that can cause a project’s timeline to seem like the never-ending story. Clients start calling and the small little things keep piling up.

As I listen to a Client’s frustration over how long a project is taking I am thinking to myself how nice it would be if I could just go down to Home Depot and buy the custom piece I am fabricating right off the self. You know, just go in there and find the model with the same dimensions as the plans I drew show, the same finishes the Client wants etc. Oh but no; Home Depot doesn’t have it and neither does anyone else and that’s when it hits me – you, Client, can’t just go anywhere and get what we make. That is why we are making it and not Ikea or Bed Bath and Beyond right?

Here is just an example of what can cause problems. Let’s say you have designed a cabinet that has metal doors with glass panels in them. The doors are fabricated out of a single piece of steel by plasma-cutting an outer rectangle the dimension of the door and then cutting out the center where the glass panel is. Now, the client has picked a piece of specialized glass that is available only from one company who is located in the east coast and who custom-cuts the glass panels based on your specs. You must send this company a Purchase Order (PO) that specifically details the exact dimensions you want each panel cut to.

Before you can do this however, it is advisable that the door not only be cut so that you can take the dimensions off the exact opening but you also have to figure out how the glass is going to be fixed to the backside of the door frame and how this attachment will affect the final sizing of the glass panel. If you order the glass without checking this detail, you could find that once the fabrication is done, the glass panel won’t work.

You might probably be thinking, “If you drew accurate shop drawings, there shouldn’t be a problem should there because technically, if the shop drawings are right, then the dimensions shouldn’t change”. How not right you are.

How would you affix a glass panel to a steel door? There are probably 10 to 15 ways I could think of right off the top, however you have to choose one. There are probably simpler ways of doing it and there are cheaper ways as well as complex systems and interchangeable vs. not etc.
Your job is to pick the best way for your particular application.

Anyways, once done, the fabricator can look at your method and decide to do it just like you drew it or make recommendations for a better method if he/she is so inclined to do so. You might even think that the fabricator’s method is better and give them the go-ahead to do it their way. Here is where a problem can arise. Every fabricator is different. Even though tape measures and rules are assumed to be accurate and similar (an inch is an inch no matter where you are right…) the process of working with metal is fluid and varies. Dimensions change and so do tolerances. The attachment method you specified on your drawings and then changed by accepting the fabricator’s recommendations are totally different and therefore the sizes are different.

After years of working with glass panels in door assemblies, we made it a rule in our shop to build the actual door first and then take our glass measurements off of the finished piece. We never trusted that the finished fabrication would match perfectly with a pre-ordered glass panel and there were times, early on, where the glass panel was cracked or snapped trying to fit it into a too-tightly fitted assembly. Also, it is much harder to try and fabricate metal to a piece of glass than the other way around. Dimensional steel is always a little different. Angle iron changes. Tubing dimensions are never quite perfect. Fabricators know not to assume that a piece of flat bar is exactly a specified dimension. Steel gets bent, twisted, and smashed while in transit from the mill to the steel yard and that abuse causes steel to stretch (and shrink).

In conclusion, a project takes longer because you can’t just order everything you need for a given project all at once. You have to go in sequence and let one thing follow another. Otherwise, you will be re-ordering things that you shouldn’t have had to re-order. And that costs money.

Now We’re Getting Started

Don’t get me started on the difference between what real designers do and what “interior decorators” do. What’s the difference? Now you’ve got me started. Here we go:

Let’s say you want to open a big {insert project type here}. For the sake of the argument, let’s say it is a restaurant. You do what all owners do and you go looking for an architect to figure out all the details. You need a big, expensive set of construction documents (CDs) to go out and get yourself some permits and certificates of occupancy (COs). Before you get there, you need to hire a general contractor (GC) to build what your expensive architect just drew.

Designers (and Decorators) take note: Although this article is written for the client this time, you are the target audience and it is your job to identify what camp you fall into.

Now, just getting a construction project off the ground and moving forward is easy. What in the world are you going to do on the interior of this brand new place? The architect will tell you what he or she thinks but listening to an architect talk about interior design is a bad idea. Most do not know how to design the interior finishes of a space like you want. Oh, they’ll act like they know and show you all kinds of pretty pictures, samples, and use fancy concept sayings like “synergy” and “sense of place.” But believe me, they are clueless.

Now, you need to figure out things like what kind of barstools you want to get and what colors to paint the walls. Someone recommends a “designer” they know who will help you with all that stuff. Off you go to a meeting with a designer who proceeds to show you all their “awesome” photos of the work they claim to have done. You look at each carefully lit and beautifully appointed shot and think to yourself, “Wow, these folks have worked on some cool stuff. I wonder how expensive they’ll be…”

Here is where I am going to give you some advice and also demystify those fancy photos for you. What you are looking at is probably bullshit. In fact, I’ll be willing to bet that the final image you are studying was probably created over a long period of time by an army of contractors, craftsmen, vendor reps, showroom delivery guys and of course, the photographer who created the image. Of that group, the so-called designer had probably like, 8% of the tasks involved with that final image. The owners probably paid for the photographer to shoot it unless the designer shot it themselves with a digital camera.

Bottom line: If a designer makes drawings and then goes out and “shops” for all the finishes, custom millwork, and lighting then they are not a designer but rather a decorator.

Now, the individuals and firms who work this way will vehemently disagree and wave their stupid “interior design” degrees around and get all ruffled up with this notion because they claim that interior decorators are far inferior to their more advanced “designer” designation. They will say, in no uncertain terms that they are in fact designing and not, as I have claimed, decorating. They will talk about the skill involved in looking through catalogs like Design Within Reach and spending countless hours trolling the internet for items like flooring, lighting, fabric, bathroom fixtures, tile, cabinet handles, vases, artwork, and downloadable CAD blocks to drop into their specs and drawings. Don’t forget that the time clock is running while they access and create user accounts on ridiculous sites like Sexy Chairs, Sleekspaces, TODL, Barstools.com, AmbienteSF, and the hords of other junky web sites dedicated to the lowest common denominator. And they’ll pour over their back-issues of Interior Design, Wallpaper, Metropolis, and, by far the worst, Architectural Digest looking for any clues towards a speck of creative insight or simply outright copying that can be foisted on you, the client.

Think about it. Have you ever seen this barstool anywhere?



The overuse of this crap is rampant. Designers who rely on specifying this type of plastic and ubiquitous schlock are not designing anything! This is not design. Period. Show me where the design element enters the equation.

Another stupid trend that has worn itself right down to the sub-micron level is the bandwagon known as “Color Kinetics”. Here in Denver, every new bar and restaurant in the last year has promulgated the extreme abuse of this product’s use. Every backbar, bar facing, entry way, and wall light that has relied on this concept all share a similar fate: obsolescence. This technology, which the Color Kinetics web site brags was “pioneered in 1997” is the epitome of making a cool thing lame by its constant overuse and simpleton one-liner effect that seems to captivate every goofball decorator, I mean designer, that sees its cornball demo disk. Very Vegas, very cheesy.

We not only walked, but literally ran away from the over-excitable sales rep who was freaking us out with their enthusiasm over putting this passé system into our new project Hush in Lower Downtown last year. We didn’t fall from the line of BS that basically states, “Yea, we know the stuff is used everywhere but its not where it is used by how,” they go on, “because you guys will use it in a more creative way than the other spaces”. I wonder how many of the other suckers heard or thought that line as they bit hook, line, and sinker on this tired effect. We also heard, “You guys will be the only ones we sell this controller to. No one else will have the same effect as your place”. Yea right.

I could go on and on about specific products and I will in future issues. Specifics are not what we are addressing here today.

Remember, you need a unique design that sets you apart, gets you noticed and talked about, and does so for a reasonable budget that works with your business model. Maybe all you need is a decorator to come in and finish what an architect started. Why pay for the designer role if you don’t need to?

Custom finishes, furnishings and the such require a truly more advanced knowledge of things like psychology and design ergonomics, finite element analysis, and engineering to make something work that has not been previously designed and manufactured. If a designer is in fact, designing, then these elements come into play on every object that is a functional part of your final plan. Mostly, designers can not figure things out like fastening systems and engineering mechanics and they rely on the sub-contractors and fabricators to handle that. Thank God for these creatives or else even the real designers would look like foolish dingbats if craftsmen built exactly what designers try and draw and figure out themselves! Nothing would stand up, support anything, or hold itself together.

If, however, your designer shows you a picture of a chair that comes from a catalog then that is what it is. No design, just shopping. Shopping requires looking for a great bargain. For every barstool that turns up on the internet or in a catalog, there is always a better price somewhere else. Tell your “designer” to go shopping some more and show you the three best prices for that particular make and model. If they waiver or make a funny face, tell them to go F themselves and get yourself another decorator.

If someone is just a glorified shopper, then make them shop gloriously for you. But don’t give them credit as a designer. Screw that. Take the credit yourself because ultimately you designed the project. You did the smart thing by enlisting a professional shopper to go out and find you some cool stuff that you paid for. That is hard work and you deserve the credit.

The same holds for the contractors, vendors, and craftsmen who pull everything together and actually install and finish the designer’s lofty visions. Give them credit for designing your space because if it were not for them, your restaurant would be like an episode of Trading Spaces where the wide camera shot 10 minutes after the crews pull up the drop cloths and strategically lights the scene almost the design seem plausible, even somewhat “neat”. That is until the crews leave and the crap starts self-destructing because all the tape and staples holding everything together begins failing.

And remember, all those pretty pictures are meant to tell a lie. They are meant to persuade you to think that a designer or a decorator possesses the skills to actually crate the spaces you see. Unless the designer actually built the piece and installed it along with their crew of craftsmen and contractors then they are trying to bullshit you. The art of the oversell.

Pat Ryan Things web site

Nearly every day, there is new information going up on the Pat Ryan web site.

The plan for this site is to go beyond the typical marketing crap for the design business and offer some extras that would usually be considered "a little strange" for a commercial website.

I am doing this for a couple of reasons. The first being that since the site is really a general Pat Ryan website, it need to address the other things I am working on outside of the design business.

It will definitely contain information about Pat Ryan Things LLC, the business entity that I founded, however, since I am also creating links between the straight commercial design projects for client-based work, and my own personal art projects and design research, I feel the site must create those links too.

Therefore, I will be adding and re-working the site continuously as well as looking for unique ways to tie the art of design together with the New Genre work I am presently engaged in.

If you are a new client, you should be aware that the work of my firm is much different than the typical "interior designer" role you have been exposed to. Therefore, check out the section on the website that pretains not only to the scope of work that patryan:things does but also the section on what the firm will not do.

A Thousand Details - The Ball of Confusion

Every project is the same in terms of complexity and detail. Just because one job may entail simply designing and fabricating a straightforward coffee table to the most involved interior build-outs, one thing remains the same: the infinite details that must be identified, tracked, and then implemented.

Much has been written and taught about project management. I use MS Project for larger scale things only to get a "big picture" overview of the project. The program sucks for managing the small, dynamic changes that are part of this business all the time. It is useful however, for creating a timeline that shows large-scale milestones which are particularly useful for the client. I can output visually "stunning" Gantt charts that are all color-coded and informative and give this to the client for what basically amounts to a security blanket throughout the duration of the job. It is also a good exercise for you, the PM (project manager duh) to understand the overall scope of how a project lays out over its duration. What the program will not do and will never do until a direct AI (artificial intelligence duh) engine plugin or module is developed is think like a creative.

Now don't get me wrong. There are plenty of straight arrow PMs out there who swear by the program and live their lives by it accordingly. For tasks and projects that have a proven method of linear workflow, it is the tool to use. Projects of this nature are simple, step one leads to step two kinds of jobs. The PM plugs in the order of operations and MS Project does its thing very well. But for these types of jobs, where there is a direct start and stop to every task, who needs the program? Same as before, the PMs job is to basically make sure the client feels secure. The pretty Gantt Chart is born again.

Now let's talk about creative work. It differs from task-driven linearity at all phases of a project. Details surrounding creative thought are much more slippery, more sublime. It takes a much smarter understanding of a project's implementation to work around these slippery slopes. Creative work is challenging because designers, artists, engineers, and the like do not get up in the morning every day and say, "today I am going to create something." In fact, the problem with the very notion of creativity is that: it is very unreliable. Creatives must produce in an established "work parameter" that has been adopted and in place for hundreds of years. That is, industry and work have traditionally been seen as a means of production for society that takes place during regular "work hours", usually thought of as daily from early morning to early evening; we produce from 9 to 5.

Creative work as we all know, is not necessarily effective nor efficient at a given time or place. This is what makes managing creativity an almost impossible task. As a manager, I can not simply order my design team to "Get those ideas done before lunch!" as would say, a manager at an insurance agency who would change the above phrase slightly by substituting the word "invoices" for "ideas".

I am now faced with a situation whereby I am working on five or six projects that all demand a large amount of detail tracking in order to complete them. My clients all believe that I am only working on one project: theirs. The hard part about this situation is that, as a client, I too would feel that the fees I have paid for my project are in fact, being used for my project and that the time I have paid for, in terms of design time, PM, fabrication, on-site installation is being dedicated to my project and not some other, less significant job. Right?

Herein lies the ever-present quandary that designers, creatives, construction dudes, whatever get caught in on a regular basis. Our job is to produce ideas and goods that satisfy a particular contract obligation. We generate business and income from this ideology. In order to survive in this business, it is imperative that multiple projects are concurrently on the table. This pisses the individual clients off in a certain way. They intrinsically know that we are working on other projects, yet choose to create a reality where that is not the case at all. Their desire is to be treated as unique and distinct entities.

What to do?

Clients are your lifeblood don't forget. They pay for and deserve special treatment. The question becomes not, "How do I deal with this?", but rather, "Who do I deal with?" The PM's role is to juggle and create the illusion that a client is the only project the firm is handling. Am I saying lie? Kind of. The object is to place that client into a position of feeling trust and confidence. To do this, a PM has to be adept at creating not only a structure of project management that works, but also an arena of slippery rules and regulations regarding a project's schedule. We used to identify this concept as "the ball of confusion". What the BofC does is allows the PM to shift and shuffle a project's timeline, individual tasks, and resources to allow for the accomplishment of many projects simultaneously while keeping a particular client in the loop and feeling special. This is just basic survival tactics for the design/build business.

Now before I hear all the self-righteous diatribe from all the principles and PMs who like to blab about customer satisfaction and 100% guarantees and client collaboration and all the other marketing and business theory babble, let me say this: get the project done, make the client happy and move on. If your firm is truly busy, you will have to work around your crazy, unpredictable schedules. Clients do not care if your best fabricator's car won't start or your plotter is out of paper. They don't want to hear about your kids, wife, skin cancer, dentist, refinancing, plumbing, or whatever. What they want to hear is that everything, and I mean everything is under control. Am I right?

So quit worrying about following the "rules" of project management to their theoretical best-practices outcome. In this business, you will fail if you try. Instead, let your creativity work and be ready to readjust on a moment's notice. Employ the "Ball of Confusion" when it is time. Instead of worrying about how to tell the client you need to go to a meeting this afternoon instead of showing up at their jobsite, tell them that the fabric or whatever is still in transit and everything is fine. Go to your meeting and concentrate on new-business development knowing full well your client has been treated fairly and will end up with a better project if you are not stressed to the max trying to be everywhere at once. It is a matter of shifting your ever-changing rules and making projects work for you first, then the client second. Because if you can't function, what does that tell the client?

Why we charge so much...

People and students who are just getting out of school often ask me how I charge for doing what I do. Let's look at one aspect of the job that is usually underestimated and overlooked in terms of complexity and ass-pain: The Install. The "Install" as we call it is the part of the job whereby the finished product is delivered to the client site and put into place. This can take the form of permanantly attaching, hanging, setting, or building the custom piece that the client has contracted for.

The install has many facets and details that most people who do not do this type of work would never even consider as "part of the job". What the client is usually paying the most for in a custom project is, in fact, the Install.

To even begin to talk about what goes into a custom installation, we could begin with the night before the scheduled job is to take place and think, for a moment, about the tools we will need for a complicated railing installation that involves putting up railing sections in an outdoor setting at a location that is far enough away from our shop to be considered "out of reach" - meaning - too far away to drive back and get something we forgot. Getting all the tools together that one would need for such a project would eventually lead to a list that looks like the one below. Keep in mind that these are tools that usually get taken on EVERY job, not just the super-involved ones. A good installation crew would need the following tools for every custom job. The job-specific tools are tools that are going to be used on the project for sure. They have to be on the truck because the design calls for some technique that incorporates that particular tool's use. Here we go:

Take on every install:

Cordless Drill, Bit Set and Driver Bits
Sawzall and blades
2’ Level
Hand Tools
Screwdrivers (Phillips and Straight)
Hammer
Rubber Mallet
Adjustable wrench
Vice Grips
½” Drive socket set
Pliers
Dykes
Lineman pliers
Utility knife
Combo square
Hex wrench set
Chisel
Punch
File
Pry bar
Uni-bit
Tin snips
Tape Measure
Vinyl gloves
Clean wipes
Sharpies (2)
Pencil
Stud finder
Extension cord
Door stops
Wood shims
Liquid Nails
5 Min Epoxy
Sandpaper and 3M pad


These tools are usually needed for specific techniques related to a job but are nevertheless used constantly in this type of work.

Electric Drill (in case the cordless drill F's up or is not strong enough)
Drill Bit Set
Driver Bits
Hammer Drill
Grinder
Stones and collets
Sanding disks and collets
Extension cord (25’ and 100’)
Metal Saw with extra blade
Chop Saw
Chop Saw blades (3)
Clamps
Bar Clamps
Air compressor
Air Hose with correct connectors
Die grinder and grinding burrs
Cut-off tool
Cut-off disks
Hydro tool oil
Impact driver
Impact sockets
Belt Sander with 2 extra belts
Palm Sander with box of 60 grit disks
Drill Press (electromagnetic - not used too often but when its needed, oh yea)
Miller Welder with 220 and 110 plugs (this is our portable job-site workhorse)
Argon gas
Stainless welding rod
Steel welding rod
Chipping Hammer
Stainless Cup Brush
Stainless Brush
Saw Horses
Rope
Chain
4’ and 6’ Levels
String line
Laser level
Fan bits and Hole saws
Wood filler
Caulk
Caulk gun
Clear silicone sealer
Big Hammer
Crowbar
Work Lights
Flashlight
Calculator and Shop Guide
Leather work gloves
Latex gloves
Shop towels




Personal Gear (Job-Specific - In this case, we were in Breckenridge in the middle of winter)

Long Underwear
Thermal socks
Insulated gloves
Hat
Safety glasses
Earplugs
Welding Hood
Respirator
Lip Balm w/ sunblock
Sunblock lotion (spf 30)
Snow boots
Sunglasses
Scarf

If we were working outside in the middle of summer that list above would be

Big hat
Sunglasses
Sunblock lotion (spf 30)
Lip stuff
Long sleeve T shirt
Bug repellant
Water, Water, Water

and also,

Cold Medicine
Asprin
Pepto or Tums
Energy snacks
More Water bottles
Coffee thermos
Insulated cup
Extra pair of socks
Safety harness
First-Aid kit
Bandaids
Tape
Eyewash
Burn ointment
Bandage
Tweezers
Knife

Seem excessive? Well junior, after 15 years of doing this crap I will be the first to tell you that every crew I have watched leave the shop without something in that list is the crew that either called to get something delivered to the job or just couldn't finish and came back early because they didn't have the right tools. Excessive yes. Also effective and efficient.

True story: I once went to a job my crew was working on downtown to check up on the progress. The job involved hanging a bunch of shelving and other components. What I found was my crew of 5 or 6 people were doing this work without a level. They had all forgotten to bring it. Imagine my reaction to this scenario. Here was a bunch of trained (so-to-speak) "experts" trying to eyeball the horizon and set shelving level to the floor. After blowing my head gasket I basically just laughed at their stupidity and how rediculous they looked on a big jobsite with one dufus standing back from the shelves and telling the other dufuses, "Bring the left side down a smidge."

Another true story: Mike Stroh, of Metal Planet, my friend and partner in many installs once was doing a project for the Parade of Homes - a big hoop-de-do of builders and designers as many of you know. He was on site at a project way out east from his shop, probably 25 miles or more away. Far enough. It was cruch time and everyone was in a fury frenzy trying to finish the house in time for the opening. Mike was working with some newby who was just learning the biz. At one point, Mike, who usually never misses a beat on an installation, was missing some very critical hardware that he needed in order to finish the project. He instructed Newby to go to Home Depot which was located at blah blah road and whatever ave. Get the screws and get back here. Mike gave the kid some money and sent him on his way. He jumped into his truck and off he went on an errand that should probably take no more than 45 min. After two hours, Mike can't get the guy on his cell phone and proceeds to get into his truck, go to the Depot, get the screws, get back to the jobsite and finish the final detail. The next day, the kid shows up for work and Mike is like, What Up Dingbat? The kid said he got lost and couldn't find his way back to the job so he drove home. Did he at least get the screws (not that it mattered now)? No, he got lost on the way to Home Depot. Of course the moral of this story is having an employee like this idiot is like having no tools at all.

Anyways, when clients get worked up about how much it costs to do this special kind of work, I just shrug my shoulders and ask myself, "Can you imagine what would happen if the client tried to do this himself"?

Pay up sucker.

Where'd you go?

Every once and awhile you get into those wondering moods where you think about the years that are so long gone but you can't stop yourself from thinking about all the special people who, for some reason or another, walked into and through your life and left the indelible mark that forever haunts your innermost psyche. What up with that dude?

Ok, think about this. Do you think about someone from your past every single day even though you have had no contact with this person for say, 10, 15, or even 20 years? The times you spent together were maybe inspiring. Or maybe they were annoying. Challenged or ethereal. Enlightened or a big long drag. Whatever the emotions, they return and invade your daily grind, forever casting you backwards into the bliss that was your past. A past that didn't include the daily stress you now seem to carry. The harder life. More complex. That past was there for a reason. It made you tougher. Harder. It's reason was to give you strength to face your days now.

In my business - design and fabrication - I admit that I really am not the most important individual making gears turn here on earth. Building beautiful things for people who really don't need them is not what scientists deem a "mission-critical" application. Doctors and nurses come to mind as people you need around when the shit hits the fan. Besides, you can't swing the dead cat without knocking over a effen designer these days. However, even given the fact that the design business is much about nothing sometimes, the stress can and is overwhelming on certain days. The whole business sucks. Clients can be your friend or your enemy depending on how they feel. You have nothing to do with it. I hate having to rely on their emotions to drive my business. It stresses me out. Usually, when I am feeling that type of stress, I raise my prices and charge for the little things. Stress me out? Pay up sucker.

I digress; business and life being what it is, I can't help but wonder what those forks in the road meant back then. I remember some of them well. Left turn here - go to New York. Right turn and its off to San Francisco. The past was a long road full of these exits an on ramps. Some of my friends just happen to merge onto the highway as I was passing that particular exit that day. We drove the highway together for a long time, stopping for late night coffee and dinners at weird little places I see in dreams. Eventually, one of us would have to take that exit, stop for gas, get our car fixed. As my friend drove on and we waved at each other through open windows, I pretended to know that I would see them again down the road. We would catch up soon.

Now, after all that traveling and wandering I am in a place I created that pushes me everywhere. I signed up for the everyday feeling of work, stress, ups, and downs. Who hasn't right? But I really would like to see where my friend ended up. I want one afternoon of drinks on a deck by the sea just to ask,



"Where'd you go"?

Art Dots

Art Dots is a new project that is focused on distributing colored, fuzzy dots to various locations on the web. Another stupid conceptual art project. Oh yea.




Listen to that...

It's the sound of nobody caring.

Art Dots represents the simplified act of digital grafitti that is simply the marketing tool of the new genre digital artist who, in a desparate attempt to cross-link his identity with the network of global memes and virtual DNA, loves the notion of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of graphic image permeating the globe. Alright that is a simple and straightforward synopsis of Art Dots. But, like artificial life rules that are based on basic pattern elements and the changes to those patterns as a function of time, Art Dots seeks to emerge as a cellular automata in a very real world electronic host. We'll see. For now, the Art Dots will be released over a large expansive URL environment and the rules that dictate how the Art Dots will behave will be developed based on geographic parameters and the actual amount of dots that are in the wild. Stay tuned...

Just looking around the country...

Here is a summary of where I've been:



create your own personalized map of the USA

I am looking for a new location for the showroom: but I am leaning west.