By: Dunja Ivana Ballon
Chris Do is an Emmy award-winning designer, director, strategist, lecturer, consultant and entrepreneur. He is the CEO and Chief Strategist of Blind agency, dedicated to motion-design and branding, and is the founder of the Futur, an online content and education platform.
With such a list of titles and occupations, you can imagine how packed his schedule is, and you get a better picture of what he means when he says: “work like hell, because nothing worth having is easy”.
Still, we managed to catch up with the legendary designer at the Digital Design Days in Geneva, and have a quick chat with him in our mission to learn more about himself, and his life philosophy.
MM: Please introduce yourself… who is Chris Do?
Chris Do: I am a father, husband, entrepreneur, teacher, designer, influencer, writer, producer, serial dreamer and master debater. I’ve run Blind, a brand design consultancy for 23 years, and now The Futur, an education platform with over 450k subscribers on YouTube.
MM: How would you describe yourself in 3 words?
Chris Do: Curious, logical, driven.
MM: You had one of the best lectures at Digital Design Days in Geneva. What did you talk about?
Chris Do: My talk was called the 7 Rules of Innovation—a collection of ideas and strategies I’ve learned while transitioning from a service design business to a product and education platform.
MM: What is the one key takeaway you want people to remember?
Chris Do: An audience made of “true fans” is something worth building and is much more powerful than having customers. Every business has customers. A few have an audience. Customers buy a product or service. The relationship is very transactional. Whereas an audience is a group of people you serve. This relationship is built on empathy, selflessness and ultimately leads to trust. You pay customers to pay attention. An Audience happily gives you their attention.
MM: You have been part of Digital Design Days for several years now – how did the collaboration start?
Chris Do: My relationship began through a mutual friend, Dot Lung. I had expressed an interest in traveling to Europe and Dot, being Dot, knew exactly knew who to introduce me to. I hopped on a video conference call with Filippo and felt an instant connection.
MM: The absolutely favourite project of yours is…?
Chris Do: My favorite project for a client is a music video for the Raveonettes called “Black and White” and was produced in conjunction with the Gap.
MM: Favourite Typeface…?
Chris Do: Helvetica.
MM: Best advice you can give…?
Chris Do: Listen to your heart. It won’t betray you. Then, work like hell because nothing worth having is easy.
