Trish Witkowski is one of those people who can command a room, or a video frame, simply by stepping into it. She is authentic, informative, and always printspirational! Her legendary Fold of The Week videos have given her well-deserved print industry celebrity status, and she is the only person I know that could make a barrel fold sound cool!
Although Trish is so much more than just the Folding Fanatic, I wanted to celebrate her 250th Fold of The Week video by introducing her to anyone who isn’t aware she is out there, and point you to the fabulous content she provides on her site. I am proud to be her friend, inspired by everything she does to keep print creative, and honored that we have aligned to share information and resources with the community.
If you are coming to GRAPH EXPO please stop by and meet Trish on Tuesday September 30th at 11am in the Printerverse booth 4267 – you won’t be disappointed! If you can’t make it, mark your calendar anyhow as we will be broadcasting all of our sessions LIVE over the Internet… and you don’t want to miss this one!
OK… OK… here she is…
DC: Who is Trish Witkowski and what does she do?
TW: I would call myself an extroverted introvert. I’m a researcher at heart – I love learning new things and solving problems and simplifying information so that it’s easier to digest and retain. But I’m also a performer. I grew up taking dance lessons and performing in musicals, so I like the “performance” part of my job – the video work and the presentations and the energy of the crowds. I love getting to know my audiences, and seeing and feeling their excitement for the content I’m sharing.
I also collect creative print samples from around the world. I’m a neat freak otherwise, but I’m a selective hoarder of samples. I have thousands of them in storage. Stuff even honest people would steal. No joke. Eventually, I’d love to put the library up online as a resource. Here’s hoping I can make that happen someday (with the help of a large corporate sponsor or two?? wink, wink )
Home base for me these days is in Maryland. I have two kids – a 6 year old boy and a 7 year old girl, and I bake like a crazy person, but only during the holidays. I started CrossFit a few months ago – it’s killer but I’m competitive and I love a challenge.
DC: Why Folding?
TW: It all started with my own curiosity and frustration regarding what my creative format options were. I was working as a designer and putting myself through graduate school at RIT and we used the same 3 or 4 folding styles for every project – tri-fold, roll fold, accordion, four-pager. Then I’d get something in the mail or pick up a cool brochure and say “I didn’t know I could do THAT!” So, I wanted to figure out how many different brochure folds there were. That quest became my master’s thesis and then books, template building software, then videos and content licensing, speaking events, webinars and more. I no longer focus exclusively on folding, however. Folding and format choice is an engagement strategy, and I am heavily researching engagement strategies and the process of creating effective direct marketing communications. Engagement could involve not only format choice, but also envelopes and opening mechanisms, addressing techniques and postage choice, paper and special print effects, visual tricks, technology, dimension and sensory, etc. It’s fascinating stuff.
DC: Congrats on your 250th Fold Of The Week Video! How do you choose the pieces you feature, and can you please share links to a few of your favorites?
TW: Thanks – I can’t believe I’ve been at this for 5 years already. When I started, I was a little worried that I might not be able to continue to feed the beast – it takes a lot of time, energy and effort to find unique and exciting work to share every week. The great news is that it’s out there, and I am grateful to all of the individuals and businesses that send me things all of the time. It’s always a fun surprise to see what I get each week.
There is a bit of an unwritten rule for Fold of the Week (and I guess I’m writing it now). I am always looking for something new, and new doesn’t have to be entirely new. Sometimes new is something I’ve never seen before. Sometimes new is a wonderful modification to a format I’ve shown on a previous episode. Sometimes new is an awesome low-budget trick or a format used in an entirely different context – for example a tulip fold that becomes a record sleeve or a pocket folder with an angled accordion cover. I love to see my viewers get inspired by something they see and then take it to the next level. That’s what makes the show worthwhile. I also like when people are willing and able to share some insight or production information. FOW is meant to be not only inspiring, but also educational. You should be able to get a great idea and some production information out of every episode.
Regarding my favorites – they’re all my babies. I don’t have a favorite 🙂 I will say that I’m really digging visual tricks and creative engagement strategies these days . . .
DC: Let’s focus on your infamous T-Shirts for a moment… If you could ONLY wear three from now on, which would they be? And how do you make them?
TW: That is such a tough question. There are so many good ones. First off, I get them from zazzle.com and I order them in batches of about 10 shirts at a time, which means I always need to have a running list of great shirt ideas. People send me ideas and then I also come up with a lot of them myself. So, let’s see . . . looking at my shirt database, I would wear the following 3 forever if I had to:
1. “Fold That Thought” – being nostalgic on this one, because it’s the shirt that started it all – episode #1.
2. “It’s fold o’clock somewhere” – episode #115 – In my world, it’s always fold o’clock, so I just love this one.
3. “Nobody puts Foldie in the corner” – episode #216 – My Dirty Dancing movie reference. I thought it was so funny, and I still do. I’m not sure anyone else did! It’s ridiculous, and that’s what I love about it. I also think of myself as “Foldie” in this particular reference, and it cracks me up.
DC: You did a fantastic presentation at Dscoop this year about Direct Mail. Rumor has it you will be launching an AMAZING mail focused initiative at Graph Expo, in the Printerverse booth no less! Care to share any details???
Hahaaa! Thanks for asking – yes, I have something big on the horizon. I will be launching an online hub for all things mail, called Rock the Mailbox™, where anyone can find companies from around the globe that offer mail-related products or services across an array of categories. Rock the Mailbox is also a movement. It’s about turning around mail’s image, leveraging its proven power and creating communications that perform. There will be a YouTube channel, a speaking tour, social media, and lots of other great things planned in the coming year. I’m very excited to bring it to PMC at GraphExpo first!
DC: If you were to give the commencement speech at RIT, what would your message be to graduating Graphic Arts students regarding the future of print design?
I love students – it would be great to have the chance to give them some advice. What I would tell them is that there are really no shortcuts to being successful. You should use your youthful energy to put in the hours early, rather than slowly building up to working hard. It’s the only time in your lives when things aren’t as complicated or expensive, and when you can really focus on what you want, or easily travel or relocate for a great opportunity. Take every opportunity you can to learn and grow, but be conscious of the time and resources that a company is investing in you. Don’t be a jerk and hop around too often. It will come back to bite you later – trust me, I used to hire people back in my agency days, and I avoided job-hoppers like the plague. Total lack of loyalty will catch up to you.
I would also share that many of the people who seem like overnight successes have been at it for years, if not a decade or more. Personally, I’ve been at this for almost 18 years, and although I’ve had some smaller wins over the years, it has taken all of 18 years to really pick up momentum and knowledge and build my brand and get onto a path that finally clicked for me. So, I would tell them they may need to reinvent themselves over and over again until they get to the right idea, the right brand positioning, the right team, or the right timing for their product launch. You have to be willing to make tough, even painful decisions, for the sake of the business. You have to know when to walk away from a failure and have the strength and vision to rethink, rebuild and reposition. It takes persistence, focus and flexibility. There are so many variables, but it’s an exciting time to be in the industry. I’ve never been more optimistic about what print can do, and the power of different technologies combined with print to create truly engaging and uniquely valuable communications.
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