Project-related, long-term trends at Fusion have always included a love of typography, and an obsession with the small details of each piece. We continue to believe in labouring over elements of the design that the general audience probably wouldn’t ever notice, but makes the work work better as a communication tool. The balance of words, imagery and white space on a page. Proper and consistent formatting. And properly built files. Steve Jobs said it best, that “when you focus on the inside, it reflects on the outside, even if no one else sees it.” We’ve always seen our work as a craft, every dot, dash and detail matters.

From a cultural aspect, having fun has been part of Fusion for all of its 30 years. And I don’t see that changing. Not with me still involved, anyway. We’ve always celebrated birthdays with an outing, had Fusion Days for inspiration and breaks from the day-to-day, Fusion Trips (including Vegas and Vancouver) for team building, and enjoyed food and wine with all of the above.

And I can’t leave out the famous Fusion Christmas video, now past its 18th iteration. The production quality has increased year over year, but what has remained consistent is my willingness to be dressed up in whatever outfit the team’s imagination can muster. Can professional silliness be a brand? If so, I think we have that locked down. Having fun is no fun unless it can be shared with other design-loving characters, and our team has always had people that have flamed the fires of my lunacy. Plus we’ve had a lot of fun individuals over the years…