We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Chad Martin. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Chad below.

Chad , looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Alright, so you had your idea and then what happened? Can you walk us through the story of how you went from just an idea to executing on the idea

Taking ideas to execution doesn’t always happen the same each time. I lean on the “Design Thinking” process in most cases. It starts with getting an understanding what what’s important to your client. Then you define your design direction and ask a lot of questions. Through this discovery process you find ways to inspire and engage in open collaboration with your client and the design team. You present an idea and ask more questions. Then you challenge the ideas – guess what? all the while asking more questions. Once you’ve gone through this cycle a few times you should be able to present the final idea and deliver. These components are always a part of the process, the number of times the target moves can’t be predicted but it is our job as designers to remind our clients why they hire us. That’s to guide them all the while educating them as to the why behind our decisions.

Chad , love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started out a brand designer that slowly earned the trust from my clients to take on more. Working in the multi-family space my circle of responsibility quickly grew into what became property branding. Now I work closely with the land planners, architects, interior designers and landscape architects to create the design layers inside and outside the buildings. The professionals mentioned all create unique places through several collaborations as the project takes shape. Recently this process of weaving these parties together has grown into full town developments. As our transect moves outward from main street, our civic buildings, townhomes and single family are all connected by walkability, axis views, storefronts and amenity spaces that provide interest and a third place for the community. What makes me proud of this journey of learning is that what was once a single property branding effort is now grown into creating the multiple special layers of fabric that create much larger memorable places.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

I started more or less as in-house design support for Nequette Architecture in Birmingham, AL. I was there to keep everything graphically presentable. It was about awards submissions, ads, website design, presentations, signage design, renderings and whatever new challenges that may fall my way. Once I could handle that load with ease, I began to call on smaller businesses for new or rebranding efforts. After a lot of cold calls and rejections I still kept after it. I didn’t give up easy. I soon found a path to expand my design opportunities when I began to work closely with Capstone Development and Nequette’s in-house interior design team. Our student development work began to make some waves in a good way. My collaborations with interiors and the architects worked seamlessly as we all began to get into a rhythm. That positive press got noticed and a few multi-family developers asked if I could provide the same design solutions for them. That work quickly replaced the student development efforts and now it’s grown into applying that same design process into full town centers and traditional neighborhood designs through our in-house branding company Weave. If you tirelessly pursue inspiration and stay curious – your work will show it and there’s no better business development than the potential client’s calling you. Over time design excellence is what keeps you in front. As best you can protect it, it’s why they hire us.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

One lesson I had to learn is I had a habit of getting the surface information from my clients and running with a design. Sometimes this worked but other times I found myself in a cycle of revisions that seemed to be never ending. The lesson is to ask more questions and put yourself in your client’s shoes, what are they trying to solve? It seems simple but I’ve found the more questions I ask the earlier that demonstrates I’ve listened, the quicker I have the needed information that leads me to the right design solution.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.weavebranding.com
• Instagram: @weavebranding
• Facebook: @weavebranding.com
• Linkedin: Chad Martin

Image Credits

Chris Luker