The opportunity

We launched Think.BigChief in September 2006 as a space for discovering design, illustration, street art and emerging creative talent. It gave our new studio a public voice while offering readers something worth returning to: original articles, interviews, creative discoveries and opportunities to participate.

The project grew at the intersection of independent design blogging, urban visual culture and the playful DIY physical-digital practices of the early social web.

From publication to participation

Alongside editorial coverage and a newsletter, we developed freely downloadable paper-toy templates that people could print, cut, fold and build at home. Digital graphics became physical objects; readers could make something themselves and share photographs and videos through a Flickr community.

The creative experience extended across the blog, readers' own making, international collaborations and Milan Design Week activity. This connected publishing and distribution with hands-on participation, giving the audience ways to engage beyond reading.

Cultural and commercial outcomes

• 2010 snapshot: reached approximately 40K monthly users, and 300,000 page views

• Built a newsletter distribution list of approximately 4,000 contacts

• Extended readership into participation through thousands of paper-toy downloads and community photographs and videos (>50K DIY template downloaded in 2010)

• Developed international creative connections and collaborations

• The project and its creative work appeared in three design books and received coverage in design publications and websites.

• Generated ads and sponsored-activity revenue, including non-traditional brand campaigns involving Mindshare, Nike and Tudor.

• Supported agency client acquisition and repeat business

Think.BigChief became both a cultural project and a platform for business development and partnerships.

Continuing connections

The studio’s international blogging network led to a meeting with Tina Roth Eisenberg, founder of Swissmiss and CreativeMornings. The connection grew into the launch and co-organisation of CreativeMornings Milan in 2011 during its first year.

Related project: CreativeMornings Milan.