Meet Ian Peterman | Founder, CEO, Author, & Conscious Design Expert

We had the good fortune of connecting with Ian Peterman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Ian, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?

For me, it was a natural next step. I had been contracting on the side for most of my career and had been a managing partner at a design firm for 3-4 years. When that company closed, I decided I really enjoyed having an agency and to strike out on my own. I launched my own firm, the Peterman Design Firm in 2017, offering product development only at first. We quickly added other related design services, including branding, websites, and packaging.

With my experience doing contract work, combined with the experience of building an agency from scratch, starting my second firm on my own was the next evolution in my career. It was also a goal since high school. Building an agency that could help a product and brand go from concept to production. Working for most other companies don’t offer this type of experience going through the entire process, and that was a challenge I loved when working with clients on their projects.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?

I’m really proud of how the business has grown. I’ve build a team up over the last 6 years that has allowed us to take on more and increasingly challenging problems, and really help our clients. We grew from just myself when I opened the firm up in 2017 to having between 5-10 full time people on our team, plus a huge network of hundreds of contractors, vendors, and partners today. At this point, we can take a concept and turn it into a full product and brand, which we do for clients daily. This road hasn’t been without it’s bumps. COVID shut down almost 80% of our clients and their projects, I’ve made some early hiring mistakes that nearly cost some of my clients (be careful who you hire for sales), and taken on clients who had too many red flags, but I took the work anyway (never actually worth it in the end).

Through running the firm, I’ve been able to define our process and strategies, creating our own Peterman Method for product development. Our mission to make the world a better place through sustainable design, lead to me launching the Conscious Design book, along with my wife, and being part of the Nexus Council to help with policy around circular economy.

Conscious Design is our design thinking process, which we apply to our clients projects and has captured attention around the world. As a firm, we apply Conscious Design to projects, and personally, I’m promoting that design thinking process to areas outside products, creating courses, and sharing ideas with other design thinkers around the world.

I have an amazing team backing me and building the firm. The right team means everything to a business, and while it takes time to build the right team and partnerships, it’s absolutely worth it for us and our clients.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?

With a visit to LA, they’d absolutely have to check out the Rose in Venice, amazing dinner. Groundwork Coffee is a favorite coffee and breakfast burrito stop. Venice beach, iconic and always fun, especially weekends with the performers all out. There’s so much great food, but 3 other favorites of mine would be Cafe Gratitude, Würstkuche, and Superba Food + Bread. I’d say Tallula’s, but they’ve closed!

Will Rogers State Park is always great hiking, Hollywood walk, Santa Monica Pier, Beverly Hills shopping, and a visit to the Marina is always nice. And Disney is always close too!

So much to do in LA, endless really. Tons to visit, plus there’s always events, games, shows happening everywhere!

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
As with most people, there is a long list of people who have helped me along the way, from when I first wanted to design things as a child, all the way to people who give me advice today. I’ve read tons of books, listened to podcasts, even taken courses, all which helped me get to where I am. Some of the best help I’ve ever received was from bouncing ideas off people I trusted. A good buddy of mine, Casey Carroll, is one of those people and part of how I was able to launch my agency and get success early on. His sales and marketing background really helped me build my agency quickly and always gave sound advice, whether I liked it at the time or not, which I greatly appreciate. Having someone to bounce ideas off of and give advice is one of the best things for working through problems.

Website: https://www.petermanfirm.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/petermanfirm/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/petermanfirm

Twitter: https://twitter.com/PetermanFirm

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PetermanFirm/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ConsciousDesign/?sub_confirmation=1

Other: My podcast: https://www.petermanfirm.com/conscious-design-podcast/ Conscious Design Book: https://www.consciousdesignbook.com/