Goodwin Grooves On the Job
Jazz CD was just the opening act for winning holiday gift idea
By Erik Cagle
Brian Goodwin is a big fan of convenience and multiple features. His brother gave him a Swiss Army Knife--make that a Swiss Army Card (twice as thick as a credit card with toothpick, tweezers, nail file and more).
Given the chance, the vice president of E.U.F., Azusa, Calif., would probably take apart a remote control to figure out ways to add features.
Due to his willingness to tinker and build upon existing products, Goodwin cannot be accused of selling his clients short when it comes to designing. Business Forms, Labels & Systems' 1998 Designer of the Year believes quantity is almost as important as quality.
"I like it to be that way, because my clients really feel like they're getting more bang for their buck," Goodwin said. "It's great to have one really clever thing--that's the philosophy I have. Is there one more type of functionality that I can add that makes it more usable by the client?"
That's not surprising to hear from a designer who once combined 24 forms into one to earn BFL&S' Best of Show in 1996. It's one of 16 awards he's received from the magazine in his 10 years at the former Exec-U-Forms.
It's also not shocking to know that the Platinum award he won last year was for a product that featured its share of functions--a Rolodex card, business card, company advertisement, mailer and Christmas card. Not to mention the compact disc of holiday songs, along with a storable CD jacket.
Best of Both Worlds
The compact disc was a successful merger of the two worlds in which Goodwin has been able to showcase his talents--forms design and music. Working as a musician (he plays five instruments and has written approximately 50 songs) before joining E.U.F., Goodwin learned that making it in music involved a lot of politics--something that didn't always reflect a musician's talents.
That he has become wildly successful in the forms industry, gaining the vice-president's role at E.U.F. in 1991, is a testament to his talents. The same creative pro-cesses involved in his songwriting can also be found in his designs.
"This idea started when I saw the packaging that my CDs came in from the CD club that I belong to," Goodwin said. "It was absolutely terrible. I wasn't sure if they could do it any other way--every one of the CDs has a jewel box and they have to shove an invoice in it and it goes in an envelope that has a sticker on it and it sticks on the outside of the corrugated package to protect it." Goodwin's desire to design a better package was later realized after working with various packages and software.
"I decided to put a Rolodex card on it and have an enclosed flap with a sticker on it," he explained of his CD idea. "I added one flap and thought about the mailers I'd done for clients where they had business cards pop out. There was an extra flap, so I put a business card on it. The CD is customized and has the [client's] name on it. It just evolved from two or three things and contributions from other people in the office."
The idea was quite a success. Of the dozen or so phone calls Goodwin received, all complimentary, at least one client called from his car while playing the CD.
Goodwin is also adept at streamlining a form's function. On occasion he has pared down the functions of a product from six or seven to four or five. His clients' image in their customer's eyes, he feels, is more important than his own image. But quality is still very important to Goodwin. "If you haven't brought a client to the next level, I don't care how many facets you put in your products. It's just spinning wheels and making a lot of noise for nothing," Goodwin said.
- People:
- Erik Cagle Brian Goodwin
- Places:
- Azusa, Calif.