Mile high ideas ...

It all started in 1999, with a belief in the larger potential of design.

We founded Capsule in a time when the economy was on a .com high — two years pass and the sobering reality of our first recession as founders. We survived, with grit, resolve and an agile team.

Early in our history we believed “The Experience Economy” was on the near horizon and built a special projects team capable of designing memorable, engaging and valued experiences for clients.

We found ourselves in the right place, at the right time – some call this lucky – to impact brands like Red Wing Shoes, Byerly’s and Schwinn Bikes early in our history. We found ourselves getting recruited to write a series of books on our design methods, Design Matters: Packaging and Logos.

Then, we found ourselves facing a 2008 recession of epic proportions as the world got wasted on junk debt – we forged through it. Our relationships and great work with SmartWool, Herman Miller and Sanford Health got us through.

We found ourselves at the edge of twenty years and for some reason large anniversaries often spark self reflection. Our answer was some time in the mile-high city of Denver with our entire team. The reflection and immersion in outdoor activities has energized our team. Here are some of the findings from our time together.

1: We find interesting opportunities in a variety of places; the way we’re structured allows us to work with small, large, old and new brands. We find ourselves focused on the relationships with the potential for the best stories.

2: Working on yourself is hard. While it would be great to have all creative, brand and marketing efforts in-house, an outside perspective is valuable. We have positioned our team as a special projects firm, capable of solving the most challenging problems clients are facing.

3: Our team is amazing; an agile team of researchers, writers, designers and strategists can work on some amazing projects for unexpectedly large brands. We’ve been doing this for enough years to see when we’ve found the optimal team, and the time is now.

Our team found an incredible number of opportunities in our mile high adventure — and a clear perspective on the next twenty years of Capsule.