Ben Spear Consultant at Benjamin Spear

Ben is a communicator, a problem solver, and an expert designer. As one of my mentors, he emphasized design as a means of conveyance, and not simply decoration. He shared strategies to clearly distinguish a client's position, to think critically, and to conceptualize around a client's needs. Ben's insightful process demonstrated how to effectively translate concepts into articulate branding strategies. Additionally, having worked with Ben on several Brand Hacks, I have seen him as both a leader and as a valuable team player.

It was a pleasure to work with Ben on the Brand Hack. He was able to quickly distill our product and value proposition into simple, clear terms. It was impressive to watch him coordinate the creation of an impressive list of deliverables in a short timeframe, while having fun at the same time. Ben is an expert in his craft and I'd highly recommend working with him.

Ben managed the seemingly impossible deliverable of a new brand identity for our ill-defined start-up in under eight hours. From start to finish he was professional, ambitious, collaborative, thorough, insightful, and—most of all—inspired. Ben and his all-star team gave us a new identity: from logo and business cards to copy and initial marketing strategy. Not only was he sympathetic to the ambiguity presented by our stage of development, he helped us clarify our mission and values, and expand the ways we were thinking about our offering. Ben continues to push boundaries with his ideas and approach, which is great news for all of us.

Ben is a talented designer and entrepreneur. He is also confident enough in his own skills that he can focus attention on the needs of everyone else in the room, without you even realizing that's what he's doing. I'd definitely work with him again.

Ben is a courageous design thinker. He rapidly distills the client's problem into a functional (and elegant) visual story by asking the right questions. He excels at motivating clients to think deeper about their position in the marketplace in order to showcase their differentiaters. Oh yeah, and Ben's a pretty darn good guy too.

Not only is Ben a brilliant designer, he is able to clearly articulate to our clients his thought process and the choices he makes during the Brand Hack. I have worked alongside Ben since 2009, and value both his professional insights and his friendship.

I hired Thinkside to work with Quilted on the print part of a total identity, web, and print materials overhaul for an innovative philanthropic organization. Thinkside executed the print work flawlessly, but it was Ben's incisive thinking about brand and thoughtfulness about creating an identity system that works across media that was most valuable to Quilted and the client.

Ben is perhaps the most passionate guy about design and the creation of brands I’ve ever met. Besides an eye for good work and typography, he’s good with creating a narrative and applying that narrative to his design and branding works. He’s an artist. He’s worked with all sorts of clients. And he gets business. Understands market analysis, positioning, and how a brand, well-positioned, is successfully released into the wild.

We have worked with Ben for years, and he continually impresses us and our clients. He is not only skilled in graphic design, but also has the intelligence and rapport to go along with that! I would certainly recommend him to anyone.

Ben came up with our logo and design for the 2008 Boston Heart Ball for the American Heart Association. He was so creative and really thinks outside the box. We are thrilled to have him do the creative work for our 2009 materials and can't wait to see what he comes up with!