MISTAKE 3. DON'T USE A CHEAP RECORDING DEVICE, OR THE TRANSCRIBER WILL HATE YOU, MAKE CHOPPED LIVER OF YOUR TEXT, AND YOU WON'T KNOW WHAT THE HELL YOU SAID IN THE FIRST PLACE WHEN THEY SEND THE TRANSCRIPT BACK TO YOU.

For instance:

AB:I have to say there is something about saying I'm a graphic designer. I just can't do it. I'm not sure what the claudications [?] are without this. But there is a funny association without that.

EH: That's why I left our ____ [?] because there is such a wide to walk of you know ____ [?] that feed into it and you know that's the reason that me and fast company and it was just so great like the two sort of graphic designers that were represented there was like Bruce Mau on one end and Brian Collins over at the other end.

Does this make any sense to you? It doesn't to us either. Still.

The packaging for this CD visualizes the sunny exteriors of the music that are countered by the dark interiors of the lyrics.

EH: We're not hardcore formalists in the spirit of [name omitted for legal and friendship reasons] and [name omitted for legal and friendship reasons] . They do wonderful work and I love it, but that's not what we're in graphic design for completely. We want to make things that have graphic appeal, but we are not doing it in the service of that form alone.

That probably also includes referring negatively to the branding people.

EH: Well, we don't use brand strategy in our pitch. Or at least call it that. Try to find the word brand on our website. I'll bet you can't.

AB: The B word.

EH: We're not against the concept of branding-haven't we been doing some form of this since graphic design came about?-just the word and how it has been co-opted by everyone from corporate marketing departments to the guy selling stuff on the street. The thrust of what we do has always gone back to telling stories that speak to people, through whatever combination of words, images, sounds we feel works best. But why not just call it that, since that's what it is?

AB: It's the core of this trying to define the heart of the subject matter. I don't think it's anything new or unique. We just try to do it well.

MISTAKE 5. DON'T FORGET TO PLUG YOUR LATEST PROJECTS. WE WERE BOTH A LITTLE FOOD-WOOZY FROM THE BIG BOWL OF VIETNAMESE PHO WE EACH ATE BEFORE THE INTERVIEW AND THIS COMPLETELY SLIPPED OUR MINDS. SECOND LESSION: HOLD THE INTERVIEW BEFORE LUNCH.

That said, here's what we're doing right now:

-We just finished designing a book for ReadyMade magazine being published in December.
- We're art directing the next issue of CHOW magazine.
- We're creating a new catalog for Heath Ceramics.
- We're just about to start a website for The Bridge Fund.
- We're making a film for Adobe.
- We're doing a bunch of "look and feel" studies for a variety of conferences.
- We're designing a book cover for Chronicle Books.

MISTAKE 6. ACTUALLY HAVE AN "ELEVATOR PITCH"- BUSINESS PEOPLE LIKE THIS TERM.

Instead of:

AB: There is something about saying "I'm a graphic designer." I avoid it. I have issues with titles. I find that people outside of graphic design have certain ideas about what this title means. We're thinkers, storytellers, collaborators ... I have a different elevator pitch for every day of the week.

What we really say in the elevator is:

"Everyday life is complex and often overwhelming. Empty space, mental and physical, is at a premium. Design can be reductive as well as additive, quiet as well as loud, prohibitive as well as promotional. Design can create "white space" in our lives as well as on the page. Design can foster precision, clarity, and commerce, but it can also enable imagination, philanthropy, and the chance to take a deep breath. There are different volume levels for everyone, and however quiet or loud, our work is always intelligent, memorable, and appropriate."