Be A Design Group was born out of my friendship with Bennett. We had enjoyed collaborating on paintings in college, and were curious if we could somehow collaborate on something graphic design related. Being designers, we started to work on a name and logo before we really even knew what exactly we were building. We decided on the name Be A Design Group playing off the first initials in our names. We came up with the idea of collecting photos where the letter combination “BA” is found and using the photos as a constantly changing logo. Armed with a name and a logo, we were ready to figure out exactly what Be A Design Group was.

Although we weren’t opposed to the possibility of Be A Design Group eventually turning into a business, our focus was always about collaboration. We wanted to expand our collaboration beyond B and A and let other people participate as well. Who that was (and how we would do it) remained to be seen.

The answer came in the form of a blog. My first post had a hint of the “group” we would become when I said, “…it is important to recognize the value that all members of the group bring to a project. The group relationship is what will ultimately be responsible for the success or failure of a project.” After a few months of blogging Bennett got on board with his first post, taken from a comment he left on Design Observer. It is kind of funny to look back at those first posts, but everybody has to start somewhere. Undoubtedly, we have come a long way.

We first appeared on the larger design blog radar in September of 2004 with some criticism of Design Observer and their political tendencies. In those days we attracted readers by using the proven blogging strategy of stirring up controversy and speaking as loudly as we could.

In August of 2004 we added ten new authors and transformed into a group blog. Momentum continued to grow thanks to the new authors, and in June of 2005, Bennett and I partnered with HOW and became the official bloggers of the 2005 HOW Conference. We made 45 posts over the weekend and made some valuable connections.

In July of 2005 we were honored to be included on Design Matters with Debbie Millman for a show about graphic design blogs.

In August of 2005 Be A Design Group was featured in STEP in an article about graphic design blogs.

In November of 2005, led by Nate Voss the Be A Design Cast launched and has never looked back.

In January of 2006 we put our reputations where our mouths were and volunteered to design the cover of STEP magazine which we had criticized in the past. The result was six rounds of brutality that we called STEP Off.

Today our blog is in a great place. We have an amazing group of authors and readers (Thank you all!). We have an intimidating amount of monthly visitors. We have a strong reputation in the design community. We regularly meet fascinating designers - from celebrities we have long admired to ordinary people just like us that share our passions and interests. Thanks in part to our retreat in Nebraska, we even have a plan for the future. Stay tuned for an upcoming announcement that will unveil some new features to the site…