Elixir Combats ‘Design Chicken’ Syndrome

As a company, we try and walk the elusive line of healthy work/life balance. However, when deadlines get tight and projects stack up, a “design chicken” phenomenon can seep in. Cooped at your desk and tasked to keep the work flowing at a steady and consistently high rate can be a challenge.

In a field where we are expected, and in fact hired to, see things from a fresh and differentiated perspective, it’s especially important to step off the daily treadmill and shake up the senses. A certain amount of automaticity is needed day in and day out but the benefits of a change of pace, scenery, or even schedule cannot be denied.

Turning slightly yellow, a little crumpled, we have a 2013 New York Times Sunday Review article pinned to the wall in our conference room, Relax! You’ll Be More Productive! The article was sent to Jen by her mom and still has the sweet motherly advice attached on a post-it, “Keep those vacations coming! No guilt trip!” The article highlights research that’s proving downtime is the best way to stay fresh and productive at work. It may seem counterintuitive but who are we to argue with science? It’s not how long you work but how well that counts after all. The renewal and rejuvenation that comes from time away from your desk and extra sleep is all supporting quality of work and quality of life.

Summer is the perfect season for vacation of course and we did our part at Elixir to renew ourselves this past season. We went to far off places like Barcelona and Ireland and places close to home like Alamos and Yosemite. We got out with family and friends and saw new sights, experienced new things, and collected stories from the road to share. As Fall officially settles in around us, we thought we share a few of our vacation highlights, where we got out to stretch our wings. Some Elixir-made postcards with greetings from the road…