In the blink of an eye, we’re already in the beginning of April—hard to believe. 2017 has gotten off to a great start at Orange Element, and has taken us to some new, exciting places with clients both new and old.

For the second (official) year in a row, it was important to us to identify a theme for the year to carry us forward. In 2016, we focused on building our knowledge of typefaces through research and company events like Font Hour. As we approached the end of the year, it became clear just how inspiring learning can be. How inspiring it still is. After some brainstorming sessions, we uncovered a wealth of potential topics and focus areas to consider, none of which were worthy of shelving for another day. So, we have officially identified 2017 as the Year of Learning.

What does a “year of learning” look like? For us it means many things: sharing, taking risks, trying new things, not being afraid to fail…thinking big. Here are some things we’ve already tackled in the first few months of 2017:

• Through some exciting projects with AIGA Baltimore, we have already developed a more detailed and efficient web development process, learning some new software along the way (but more importantly, refining our process);
• We’ve had full-team sessions on building logos and customizing type thanks to our friends at Skillshare;
• We are examining and strengthening our leadership style with Ideo;
• And, perhaps most importantly, we have deepened our understanding of several new industries and ways to reach customers better than ever before, through some amazing new clients.

As we move into Q2 of 2017, I am personally looking forward sharing the knowledge I have gained over the years with the rest of the team at Orange Element—constantly looking for growth opportunities both personally and in our collective skill set. We look forward to sharing our journey this year with our clients, friends, colleagues and more. Stay tuned…