96. RULE29
See if you can say this five times fast: To celebrate the firm’s five-year anniversary, Rule29 put together a 5 x 5-inch book in five weeks. “We were trying to think of something that would highlight our uniqueness,” says creative director Justin Ahrens. “People are always asking us where our name came from. And what are the other 28 rules?” This self-promo plays off the firm’s guiding mantra—making creative matter—to answer that question. The book visually presents 29 rules that range from the sincere (#3: Be truthful) to the silly (#10: Call your mother).

As with all self-promo pieces, the firm applied the same process to this project that it does to client work. Ahrens put together a creative brief and sent some of his initial ideas to designer Terry Marks in Seattle. “Terry and I usually bounce ideas off each other, especially when it comes to promoting ourselves,” he says. “He kind of challenges me on my ideas.” Once the list was whittled down to 32 or 33 rules, the layout process started. Final cuts were made based on artwork and pacing. And the tight timeframe? Ahrens needed to hit a window of opportunity with the printer, who was a partner on the project.
Michelle Taute