Meet Saint Nick Tassell, Creative Director of Frontier, Ep #63

Episode 63

With Benjamin Johnson and Nick Tassell

A major part of human-centered fundraising is human-centered design. How do you create mass marketing content that feels personal to the reader and accomplishes the goal of inspiring generosity through giving? On this episode, Ben sits down with Frontier OG and Creative Director Nick Tassell to discuss the importance of design, the power of humanity in marketing, and his experience starting at the beginning of Frontier.

You will want to hear this episode if you are interested in...

  • Getting to know Nick Tassell [1:22]

  • Balancing form and function and why design matters [6:05]

  • Nick’s experience on Frontier’s ground floor [12:48]

  • Taking a closer look at Frontier’s team and the benefits of different leadership styles [23:26]

  • Exploring human-centered design and its application in both print and digital marketing [35:08]

  • Understanding the importance of the message in your medium [40:56]

  • Nick’s perspective on the marketing journey of QR codes, the benefits of risk management with new tech, and final thoughts [49:20]

Design makes everything work

Design is the engine that makes marketing work. It doesn’t matter how beautiful the paint job on the car is if you can’t get it to start. Tim describes this as the “in and out” of marketing where content and strategy bring the money in, but a poor user experience drives it away. Of course, there is validity in saying that beauty and form should work together for greater results. And they often do! But donors care far more about how easy it is to give to an organization than the color scheme or fonts. A creative team’s top priority should be designing something that works before they worry about the look and feel.

A merry band of problem solvers

One of the biggest impacts for Nick during his time at Frontier has been the people. Frontier’s leadership boasts a plethora of people from different perspectives and backgrounds, both personal and professional. This is what inspires the unique Frontier culture that Nick loves and champions. At the end of the day, everyone is just a problem solver who wants to solve problems for the organizations that Frontier gets to partner with. Each person brings a unique set of skills to problem solve with, but the team is united by a common goal. Even when someone comes from a totally different perspective, Nick notes that it doesn’t take long for common ground to form and a mutual passion for the work to take over.

The undeniability of humanity

Isn’t it ironic that we often strive for perfection as humans, but our brains know too much of a good thing when they see it? As it turns out, there is such a thing as “too perfect”. Human brains instinctively seek out and recognize patterns. When this happens with fundraising marketing, it’s easy for donors to view your content as inauthentic and begin to tune your organization out. This is why human-centered design is so important to the success of human-centered fundraising. Human-centered design allows your audience to see the hand of the artist and makes them feel as though an actual person took the time to personally write and send them this material. When everything you send your readers is just a little bit different, it breaks the pattern established by corporate marketing that feels like a sales pitch versus a genuine request for support.

Resources & People Mentioned

Connect with Nick Tassell

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Ben Johnson