Matthew Manos, Founder and Creative Director of verynice, has developed a new way of doing business. Over the course of the next two articles he will describe the landscape of “free” business, and the new era of pro-bono.
When I was young, I remember a moment in a local grocery store when I saw a coupon for a free toy. I looked to my dad and said, “Look, a free toy!!!” His response to me was: “Matthew… Nothing in this world is free.” I’ve spent the majority of my professional career actually trying to prove that sentiment wrong and, so far, I am not quite sure if I have been able to or not. Over the past 5 years, through the founding and continued work in developing verynice, a design and innovation consultancy that dedicates over 50% of its work toward free services for non-profit organizations, I have been investigating the cultural relevance and promise of pro-bono. As a result, put in a less fancy manner, I’ve become obsessed with “free stuff” and more specifically, the role of “free” in business. The following is a collection of essays written over the past 3 years that reflect upon the meaning of giving half of your work away for free, the role of design in the creation of new models for business, and the importance of alternative economies in our society.
