Category : KA+A Staff

As a young professional I’m admittedly still green, but lately I’ve found real encouragement and inspiration from the more seasoned colleagues. I wanted to share some of their advice on how to be a bit more successful a bit faster.

Have Passion and Be Curious
If you were lucky to attend Verge this week, you heard Kristian Andersen speak to passion and curiosity. As professional individuals, we sometimes think that we are confined by what is said on paper, and to achieve more we must have more letters to put after our name or more accomplishments to list out. However, we shouldn’t limit ourselves and allow our resume to be the sole indicator of who we are.

“Curiosity is the one determinant for success; it’s

Today’s big soul search seems to be finding the perfect balance of work:life. A debate that, in our circle, has famously included David Heinemeier Hansson vs. Jason Calacanis, discussing the merits of workaholics (fire vs. hire). And continues as the New York Times, harbinger of work/life reasearch, has admonished us for being “hooked on gadgets“, and encouraged us to cultivate daydreaming.

At KA+A we endeavor to make our everyday work our life’s work, by finding roles that require use of our team’s insatiable interests. The work day doesn’t stop at 5pm for us, but that doesn’t mean we’re all trapped behind the desk. Being involved in the community and culture of Indianapolis – whether it’s Verge, IndySpectator, events at the IMA

“Don’t steal, don’t deal drugs, and don’t miss your chance to hear all the inside stories of how this singular dark-comedy made it to the big screen.”

As I was scanning through the SXSW panel picker, the above description more than caught my attention. I couldn’t resist the opportunity to listen in on the SUPER panel to get an inside look at how this underdog movie struggled to be made.

Director and Writer James Gunn brilliantly thought up this movie more than 5 years ago, and had to wait for March 2011 for opening night! One of the biggest struggles to bring this movie to the big screen was funding. Janneane shared some great insights to their challenges in her previous blog.

Last Thursday night, KA+A co-hosted a launch party celebrating TinderBox, a company already enjoying some early success. Guests included the who’s who of Indy’s startup and tech community, investors, clients, families and friends. If you weren’t able to make it out to Broad Ripple to help celebrate, don’t worry. I’ve recapped the entire experience for you right here!

WHO
TinderBox is a technology startup company that developed an extremely useful web-based application, that makes it easy to write, manage, track, and send business proposals electronically. For the past year, TinderBox has quickly been building this concept and already boasts an impressive array of investors, clients, and results.

WHEN
Fresh from Chicago, where TinderBox launched at midVentures…

Todd Henry, the founder of Accidental Creative, interviewed Kristian for his regular podcast. The interview covered everything from staying inspired and dealing with clients to getting moving on what’s important. You can listen to it here

Having been a graphic designer for 11 years, I’ve learned almost all I need to know about design for print, as well as various printing processes and techniques, paper stocks, color systems and software applications. My experience with web and User Experience (UX) design is much less extensive. When I first joined Kristian Andersen + Associates in October last year, I realized there would be a steep learning curve. Harder still would be setting aside the majority of my print knowledge and starting afresh, learning what can and can’t be done with the myriad of programming languages, development platforms and content management systems, which seem to be constantly updating and evolving.

At their basic level, both print and web design are concerned with the clarity and…

It’s not easy to be an intern these days. With everyone from college graduates to high school seniors vying over the same shallow pool of positions, we are left with plenty of fish on the sand. To top it off, many of those who get to swim are having to pay for the opportunity.

Needless to say, when Kristian Andersen + Associate’s extended their summer internship position to me, I was thrilled. The prospect of having a job at all was magical (my hometown had the biggest year-over-year unemployment increase in the nation), but the prospect of having a job that resonated with my personality was sublime.

Last fall, I was fortunate to hear Zappos.com’s CEO, Tony Hsieh, lecture on the importance of measuring…

Touting an investment as tripling on the dollar raises suspicion in a market still smarting from a credit crunch, Madoff scam, and the fall of giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Yet one local Indy nonprofit offers a silver lining with triple returns on the dollar, and backs it with a 20 year track record.

Training, Inc. was founded in 1981 with the purpose of providing career training for those living in poverty in Marion County. Their 12 week training program equips clients with the life-skills, situational training and the
confidence they need to succeed. These men and women develop the marketable skills they need to support themselves and their families, and ultimately give back to the community that gave to them. Equipped for success, Training, Inc. graduates get…

Tomorrow the team from Kristian Andersen + Associates saddles up and heads to Austin, TX for a few days of pixels, podcasts, angry academics, lonely gamers, geeky tech-moguls, mexican food for breakfast, and Shiner. Stay tuned for daily dispatches from the front lines…

This year the staff at Kristian Andersen + Associates traveled from Indianapolis to New York City for our annual Holiday party . It was a whirl-wind 48 hour trip for the KA+A team (excepting Clay and Erin – who decided to prolong their holiday). We started with a little consumer marketing research (aka shopping) and finished with dinner at Nobu. We were blessed with a perfect NYC Christmas experience, including copious amounts of snow, sleet, and the tangy scent of urine on the subway.…