Firebrand

Last post I mentioned how passion is the fuel of a brand, and that you don’t need a passion that is wide spread such as cars or fashion. Having a few very passionate people is just as good if not better. I call these niches Pockets of Passion, and you would be amazed of the pockets you find when you look under the surface.

One I was very proud to be a part of is the user community around the program Solidworks. Solidworks is the 3D CAD tool I use to design, visualize and implement designs. In earlier in February, I attended the Solidworks World 2009 convention at the Disney Swan and Dolphin hotel in Orlando. There Solidworks had assembled 4300 of it’s most powerful users. Their passion was clear: people showing off what they had made in Solidworks, new things they had learned, and hanging off every word in seminars. Exhibitors bid high to gain access to these people who were the influencers of the engineering and design industry.

The conference also reminded me of the good you do for the world you do when you assemble like minded people. No other place I have ever been to could you so easily meet people; walking to the general session you just needed to turn to your left and start up a conversation. Very comunal. I met a veriety of people from all over the world, alot of whom I corrispond with now.

The lesson to be learned is that Solidworks does just fine even though 3D CAD doesn’t spark passion in the vast majority of the population. By assembling their teir one users, they get all the passion they need to fuel the development of the product and message.

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By Colin Finkle. Colin Finkle is an award winning industrial designer who works with large brands everyday designing displays for FX Displays in Toronto, Canada. He is the principle designer at Firebrand Creative. He also writes for AMD’s FireUser.com blog.

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