Ibaziba
I had the opportunity to go on an AIGA sponsored tour of ziba, a portland-based creative agency, last week. Ziba looms in Portland as one of the pre-eminent design firms in stump town. They provide a range of services from product design to interaction design, but they’re mainly in the business of innovation. That’s a great place to be! And while the shadow ziba casts is not quite as large as Wieden + Kennedy‘s, it does more than its share to establish our sleepy little town as a leader in design and creativity.
I think what struck me most about my short time in their downtown space was the minimalist nature of the building. The interior is sparse with little to no wall hanging art save a few collections of images from previous projects. The walls are painted stark white giving the interior a very “medicinal/sterile” feel. Yet, despite its rather THX-1138 inspired surroundings, the space is very open and airy with lots upon lots of windows-a feature I’m sure everyone there loves given the long, rainy winters we commonly experience in this area.
Much of what we saw on the tour was highly confidential, hush hush and concealed before our arrival, but from what they were able to divulge they are generally working 2-3 years ahead of where we are at this point. Amazing. Ziba seems like a fantastic place to work. It’s a little large for where I see myself ending up, but it would be an amazing bit of experience to have in the kiddy.