The following are some lessons that Frank Garrity, who owned and ran Bally Design, taught me – how to have principles in the business of design.

When I was a freshman, I spent hours crafting a resume-package asking… begging to be considered as a design intern. I didn’t want to spend my summer in any other way. I mailed it to a total of 53 companies. 52 of them promptly ignored me or rejected me. Frank, he was open-minded and didn’t systematically reject things. Though he hadn’t hired an intern in over four years, he didn’t outright reject me. He politely said “we haven’t decided to hire an intern this summer”. So I called every week after that, expressing my interest, offering ideas on how I can help. Frank Garrity of Bally Design gave me a chance that summer and hired me. I interned there in the summer of ’01 and ’02. Keep an open mind and give people a chance, regardless of experience. Listen to their story and then decide.

It was my first week, and in my hand was a $20,000 check from a client. It needed to be deposited and everyone was busy working on an RFP. He asked me to take it to the bank and despot it. When you’re a student, $20,000, in your hand, is inconceivable, and he trusted me with it. It empowered me for the rest of the summer. Show trust from the very beginning, and you’ll get it back a hundred fold.

Times were tough after 9-11 and the job market siezed, but Frank still hired me and paid me a good pay. I told him I’d work for free, after all, it was a coveted design internship. I would’ve paid to work with the Oxo and former IDEO designers. In the highly competitive industry, it’s an all-too-common practice to offer unpaid internships. And I told him that, that I’d do this unpaid, but he replied in his soft-spoken, as-a-matter-of-fact-way “You’re doing work. You should be paid”. Smiled. And that was that. Don’t take advantage of anyone. Pay people what they deserve.

There was an opportunity to do some military work. With the economy the way it was, military projects would bring in quite a bit of money to the company. Doing work for the military though would compromise some of the people’s beliefs. Especially Frank. If they didn’t design it, someone else would. He asked everyone how they felt. Did they want to do work for the military, or did they want to each take a paycut instead. They chose the paycut. You don’t have to sacrifice your values in the world of business. You still have a choice.

When a printer-vendor came in to present their capabilities, Frank sensed something. He asked him “Do you enjoy your job?” What a question to ask a total stranger! The truth was, the man hadn’t been enjoying his job, he wanted to be a graphic designer. They continued to talk in his office, and Frank hired him then and there. He came to Bally and created wonderful museum exhibitions. If you see someone not enjoying anything, help them find something they do.

He passed away a few years after my internship. I didn’t even know he was sick. The only way for me to pay him back now is to pay it forward. Do things as he did. I wish I could’ve gotten to know him better, have coffee with him, get to know his other philosophies and ideas. Maybe I’ll contact Alex Bally who ran the firm before him. Maybe I’ll cross paths with his daughters some day. Maybe they can share stories like the ones I shared here.

I thought I’d learn how to be a good designer that summer, but I learned how to be a good human in the design-world instead.