{"id":11265,"date":"2015-02-11T14:23:46","date_gmt":"2015-02-11T19:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.wework.com\/?p=11265"},"modified":"2020-03-30T18:43:11","modified_gmt":"2020-03-30T22:43:11","slug":"ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","title":{"rendered":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jay Schwartz takes a deep breath when I ask if there\u2019s any difference between working on the East and West Coasts. It\u2019s a topic on which Schwartz has intimate knowledge: his advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork<\/a>, has made moves on both coasts. Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, and New York City are all radically different places with radically different business needs. Santa Barbara is close to Schwartz\u2019s Southern California roots, and it\u2019s where he founded IdeaWork in 1999. Five years later, Schwartz moved to Vegas to get closer to the hospitality industry in the city\u2019s famed hotels and casinos. He got a first-hand look at the new revitalized downtown there, watching and helping the city change. From there, IdeaWork eventually got enough contacts on the East Coast to feel confident pushing out to New York. \u201cIn terms of culture, New Yorkers think people on the West Coast are lazy because we get up at noon. Actually, it\u2019s 9.\u201d<\/p>\n

Schwartz hasn\u2019t built an agency around waking up at noon. Rather, it\u2019s a simple premise that can be found on IdeaWork\u2019s website: cutting through agency \u201cbullshit.\u201d \u201cTraditional agency bullshit is layers,\u201d Schwartz explains. In a big agency, \u201cyou have your principle that\u2019s going to come out for the pitch, you have your senior account staff, and when you get the job as an agency you turn it over to more middle and junior staff. You know, account people who are continually rotating in and out who have to be brought up to speed every six months to a year, and that just eats into the client\u2019s budget.\u201d The IdeaWork differences, are, to be blunt, Schwartz and time. The two are intertwined. Schwartz takes a personal role in each project. This means that IdeaWork can\u2019t take on everything that comes its way, but guarantees a higher quality for the projects it does take on, and \u201callows them to maintain a greater control\u201d over everything.<\/p>\n

One thing IdeaWork specializes in is microsites, discrete entities that can compliment existing web activity. \u201cThe shelf life of a microsite is much lower,\u201d Schwartz says. \u201cIt\u2019s not designed to be there forever. It\u2019s designed to be there for an event or a specific purpose. So, the expectations are higher in a microsite. You have less time to capture something and get your message across.\u201d The pressure generally builds up around a microsite, because there\u2019s a need to showcase how special the event, be it an anniversary or a sale, is. \u201cWhen you have a big flagship site that does a lot of e-commerce, you have a lot of processes. We can try out little modules, we can try out balancing traffic or testing messages. We have more flexibility. Because a microsite\u2019s shelf life is not as long, you have to be right the first time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Having worked with a variety of companies, large and small, the one thing Schwartz has seen happen over and over again is for companies to look at his work and see it as something they could do themselves. It\u2019s a familiar position for creatives, for people outside of their industry to assume that they could come up with ideas as easily as the professionals. \u201cScrimping on getting it right, you\u2019re being pennywise and pound foolish,\u201d says\u00a0Schwartz.<\/p>\n

Is it possible that an unknown road could lead a company straight ahead, towards the right path? Sure, anything\u2019s possible. But the time it takes, and the chances that you\u2019ll just be led on a full circle are high. There\u2019s every reason to believe that you are best focusing on what you\u2019re best at while letting Schwartz focus on what he does. \u201cIt\u2019s just a bad use of your time,\u201d he says with a laugh. \u201cUnless it\u2019s your job.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photographs by Lauren Kallen<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jay Schwartz takes a deep breath when I ask if there\u2019s any difference between working on the East and West Coasts. It\u2019s a topic on which Schwartz has intimate knowledge: his advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, has made moves on both coasts. Santa Barbara, Las Vegas, and New York City are all […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":910,"featured_media":11270,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[43902],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11265","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-professional-development"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Ideas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"663\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"David Grossman\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"David Grossman\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"David Grossman\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/bf95446b9b707b3c8466c5c511af4104\"},\"headline\":\"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\"},\"wordCount\":659,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663\",\"articleSection\":[\"Professional Development\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\",\"name\":\"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663\",\"datePublished\":\"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00\",\"description\":\"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":663},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Professional Development\",\"item\":\"\/ideas\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"name\":\"Ideas\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization\",\"name\":\"WeWork\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55\",\"width\":55,\"height\":55,\"caption\":\"WeWork\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/bf95446b9b707b3c8466c5c511af4104\",\"name\":\"David Grossman\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37b068eaf224cb95c9ae0bb7833f422acdf28634606d52bc69ee9e7c2f395e20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37b068eaf224cb95c9ae0bb7833f422acdf28634606d52bc69ee9e7c2f395e20?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"David Grossman\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/david-grossman\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal","description":"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal","og_description":"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","og_site_name":"Ideas","article_published_time":"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00","article_modified_time":"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":663,"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"David Grossman","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"David Grossman","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal"},"author":{"name":"David Grossman","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/bf95446b9b707b3c8466c5c511af4104"},"headline":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal","datePublished":"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal"},"wordCount":659,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","articleSection":["Professional Development"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal","name":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","datePublished":"2015-02-11T19:23:46+00:00","dateModified":"2020-03-30T22:43:11+00:00","description":"Jay Schwartz, president of advertising, graphic design, and website development firm, IdeaWork, explains how his company reached coast-to-coast success.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","width":1280,"height":663},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/professional-development\/ideawork-way-keep-small-personal#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Professional Development","item":"\/ideas"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"The IdeaWork way: keep it small and personal"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","name":"Ideas","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#organization","name":"WeWork","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2019\/04\/welogo_black_55x55.jpg?fit=55%2C55","width":55,"height":55,"caption":"WeWork"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/bf95446b9b707b3c8466c5c511af4104","name":"David Grossman","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37b068eaf224cb95c9ae0bb7833f422acdf28634606d52bc69ee9e7c2f395e20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/37b068eaf224cb95c9ae0bb7833f422acdf28634606d52bc69ee9e7c2f395e20?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"David Grossman"},"url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/author\/david-grossman"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2015\/02\/Jay-Schwartz-IdeaWork-Studios-.jpg?fit=1280%2C663","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11265","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/910"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11265"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11265\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":51990,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11265\/revisions\/51990"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11265"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11265"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wework.com\/ideas\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11265"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}