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17.01.2023
#bayernkreativPORTRAIT: Jo Breidenbach wanted to be an inventor as a child. In our bayernkreativPORTRAIT, Jo explains why he now sees his career aspirations realized with his design office. He also takes us behind the scenes at jo's büro. The motto there is "everyone for everyone" - Jo tells us how this manifests itself in day-to-day project work and why he is in favor of the four-day week. And also: What's the Sendung mit der Maus effect all about? Find out more in the portrait.
Dear Jo, you have already won a number of awards with jo's büro. What does good design mean to you?
Good design fulfills its purpose. In the past, our work was also referred to as "commercial art". That sounds very unemotional at first, but our work and our results are anything but.
Design communicates and visualizes a wide variety of content - if we do it right, design creates value and our goal is to generate unique selling points for our clients in an ever-growing market. Good design is also individually knitted - generally but above all reduced to the key messages.
Advertising agency, design office or communications office: what do you identify with? What makes jo's büro special, what do you do better than others?
We are all of the above :)
I started out as a freelancer after my apprenticeship and while studying to become a communication designer. I wanted an agency name that sounded like "more" than the one person in their shared room, but still personal and likeable. The term "advertising agency" was too broad for me and would also have been wrong in terms of content; in my opinion, I lacked a few skills (writing content, etc.) for a communications agency. The term design agency was simply 100% in line with the core of our work. Today we have outgrown that somewhat.
Why don't you take us behind the scenes at jo's büro? What does your day-to-day project work look like?
Let's go behind the scenes at jo's büro. A few key figures: We are currently around 10 people at the core, ranging in age from 18 to 39. We work on all projects ourselves and have a strong and solid network to expand our design expertise with text, images, code and animation. We are starting this year with 52 active projects (and counting). We have been transforming our project work significantly for around 2 years. Basically, we are moving away from package deals and towards agile project processes with long-term collaboration based on partnership. We are increasingly becoming a consulting expert who can implement the right solution at a very high level at the end of a process.
In concrete terms, we work together for the most part (again) in our office in Juliuspromenade in the heart of Würzburg - but also very flexibly in our home office. We all see each other every day for a daily and once a week we go through all the project statuses in our weekly - no one should be alone with their project, everyone for everyone. We've been working a four-day week for over two years now, the concept works very well and should give us personally more flexibility in our everyday lives.
It all started in your shared room. Can you still remember your first job? What motivated you to continue?
My first job as jo's büro was the brand "timmies:" and the design concept for a suitable shop window, parallel to skateboard designs :)
https://jos-buero.de/portfolios/holiday-skateboards/
https://jos-buero.de/portfolios/timmies-branding-ladengestaltung/
What I've always liked best about the profession of media designer, communication designer or consultant etc. is the "show-with-the-mouse effect": every project is new and no two challenges are the same. It's great fun to take a look behind the scenes and into areas that are otherwise hidden in the production halls of a wide variety of customers. In the end, the design results show our appreciation for the newly acquired knowledge.
You decided to become self-employed. What was the deciding factor for you to take the plunge? Or, to put it the other way round: why did you decide against being an employee?
I received very good training. In retrospect, I came into contact with many different aspects of the profession and was able to experience a lot and try things out for myself. However, I also quickly realized what I would do differently. Even as a child, I always wanted to be an inventor. I think I live out this passion through my profession, by creating things myself. But with jo's büro, I'm also inventing my own type of agency and employer. I never wanted to work alone, but I wanted to lead the way because I had and still have ideas and visions, some of which I didn't have to explain or discuss, but simply do. I sometimes say (more ironically) that I wouldn't dare take the step of self-employment again if I knew what it would mean in terms of strength, overcoming and also hardship to end up here again. On the other hand, I don't know where I would be happier.
What do you wish for the future of jo's büro?
I see very big changes for the future of society. I think that better and better tools, the democratization of professional work equipment and the increasing competence of the general public to create beautiful content themselves are incredibly good - but of course I also see this as a threat to our industry at times of weakness. But when I think about it, I believe that this is exactly where we can take advantage of great opportunities thanks to our expertise: we understand people, we get people and therefore also companies to recognize their values and work together on ways to present these and thus reach the target groups and satisfy their needs.
My wish for us as a team and for the office is that we make the right use of these opportunities so that we can fulfill our purpose of shaping the world in a positive way even better, especially with the new and upcoming technologies. Then we will be able to do even more of what we enjoy: understanding people and their needs and designing solutions.
The Bavarian cultural and creative industries are vital, cooperative, polyphonic and relevant to the future. We introduce you to Bavarian players. What is their business model? What drives them?
Would you also like to answer a few questions and be part of our "bayernkreativPORTRAIT" campaign? Then send us an email to kontakt(at)bayern-kreativ.de with the keyword "bayernkreativPORTRAIT".