
Lee Lefever, Founder, CommonCraft
Ad Lounge had an opportunity to interview Lee Lefever, Founder of Common Craft, and one of the 20 participating artists of Art from the Unexpected.
Here’s the lowdown on Lee.
Common Craft – producers of the “In Plain English” series of explanatory online videos. Common Craft’s goal is to make complex ideas easy to understand in 3 minutes. Their videos have been viewed over 8 million times and the company’s current focus is educational videos for use in businesses and schools. Lee and his wife Sachi operate Common Craft from their home and have been hired by companies like Google, LinkedIn and Ford to explain their products and services. Lee lives in Seattle, Washington.
adlounge@commoncraft Huge fan of urs, Lee. Thx 4 taking the time to speak with me/ us today #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge Oh, my pleasure. This is a new experience for me. It’ll be fun! #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft Ur an example of an indiv who created success out of virtually nothing. In ur case ,paper &white board… #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft How’d u do it? Where did the spark begin? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge I was a consultant needing better ways to inform my clients about the social web. It started with text blog posts in 2004…
CommonCraft@adlounge In 2006, we made a few old posts into videos. Using the whiteboard as we do now was @sachilefever’s idea.
CommonCraft@adlounge Small correction – The idea was 2006, but the first video was 2007.
adlounge@commoncraft I’m tempted to start up a paper-based business, too. Talk about low start-up!…. #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft What agency hasn’t shown 1 of ur vids to a b’droom full of clients in an attempt 2 explain soc med?… #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft Ur a pioneer in social media. What impact do u think uve created through ur work w #commoncraft? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge I don’t know about the whole pioneer thing.
I think the web has added a lot of complexity (and benefit) to people’s lives…
CommonCraft@adlounge I hope that we’re helping people feel more confident and informed about things that matter…
CommonCraft@adlounge I also hope that we’re inspiring people to think about how they communicate ideas and to look for simple, visual means.
adlounge@commoncraft Well, I for one, can say you absolutely have inspired me… #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft U dont work w/clients anymore. What make u make the decision 2 move away from this? How’s it worked 4 u? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge We’re still doing some client work but it’s not our focus. 2 big reasons: The custom model doesn’t scale well – it’s a service…
CommonCraft@adlounge By licensing videos as educational products, we can scale the business, stay small and make videos we want to make…
CommonCraft@adlounge Second – custom videos are usually promotional. We want Common Craft to = education. We see long term opportunities there.
adlounge@commoncraft What major online community and collaboration trends are you seeing over the past 3 months? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge Obviously Twitter has been a huge story. We get to see an online culture of communication form right before our eyes…
CommonCraft@adlounge It lowered the barriers so everyone has a chance to be social online – many for the first time.
adlounge@commoncraft Anyone ur paying particular attention to besides twitter? Who else is doing innovative things online? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge I love seeing companies with big ideas that make a choice to be small and lightweight. Small is beautiful!
adlounge@commoncraft Our theme this yr is Eureka – big idea/revelation.What’s the most “Eureka” moment you’ve had in 2009? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge The world needs more explainers – people who can make the complex easy to understand. This will be a growth area.
adlounge@commoncraft U created an art piece 4 #artunexpected, http://bit.ly/TFfzF & it’s absolutely stunning & SO Toronto.What’ the story? #adlounge
CommonCraft@adlounge Thanks! I wanted to see if the visual identity of our videos would translate to something static…
CommonCraft@adlounge Art from the Unexpected gave me a chance to experiment and have fun with something new. I’m working on a second piece now.
adlounge@commoncraft That’s amazing! What’s the concept of this now? You depicted TO so well. Is it a setting in Seattle? #adlounge #artunexpected
CommonCraft@adlounge It’s more personal – my family owns a koi farm in North Carolina. http://blueridgekoi.com I’m very connected to those fish.
adlounge@commoncraft Out of 20 participants’ work http://bit.ly/6Gw2E, is there any piece u look fwd 2 seeing? Why? #artunexpected #adlounge
CommonCraft@adlounge Geoffrey Roche seems like someone who would create something interesting.
adlounge@commoncraft And he certainly did..! #artunexpected. #adlounge
adlounge@commoncraft I think that’s all from us, but we’re going to take 1 Q from the audience. Anyone…? #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft via @nixshi what advice would u give orgs creating and selling online content thats so readily avail? #artunexpected #adlounge
CommonCraft@adlounge Create 2 versions – give away one, make the other available in formats and versions that can only come from you. Offer quality.
adlounge@commoncraft Great insight. I think that’s all we have time 4 2day.Thx 4 taking the time 2 speak w/us, Lee. #artunexpected #adlounge
CommonCraft@adlounge This has been awesome. Thanks for inviting me to be a part of it! Cheers! #artunexpected #adlounge
adloungeWe’ll be posting a transcript of this interview w @commoncraft shortly on http://bit.ly/18199a #adlounge #artunexpected
adlounge@commoncraft and followers, this interview marks a temp halt on twitterviews til end of www.artfromtheunexpected.com. More 2 come post-event
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We conducted a live “