Rule29

09/01/2026

AI is making creative production abundant.

That does not make creativity less valuable. It changes where the value lives.

The advantage is no longer simply making more, faster. It is paying closer attention. Noticing tensions others miss. Listening long enough to uncover the real problem. Staying curious before rushing toward an answer.

Technology can help us generate. But meaning still depends on human perception, empathy, and judgment.

In our latest post, we explore why attention may be the most valuable creative skill in an AI-driven world, and why protecting it matters for creators, leaders, and organizations.

The future will not only belong to those with the best tools. It will belong to those who notice.

Read “Creative Presence: Rediscovering Meaning in the Work Itself”: https://www.rule29.com/stories/creative-presence-rediscovering-meaning-in-the-work-itself

08/26/2026

A brand should do more than look good at launch. It should keep helping an organization show up clearly wherever its mission comes to life.

A few years ago, Rule29 had the opportunity to rebrand the California Friday Night Live Partnership. Now, we are grateful to work with them again, helping promote the Leadership Training Institute Conference and apply the brand throughout the event experience.

LTI brings together youth leaders, advisors, and coordinators to learn, connect, strengthen youth-adult partnerships, and turn ideas into community action.
These young people are not simply attending a conference. They are learning how to use their voices, lead with confidence, and help build healthier communities across California.

That is why we love working with CFNLP. They make a real investment in young people. We get to help make that mission more visible, memorable, and meaningful.

A good brand should never sit still in a guide. It should grow, adapt, and help create impact.

That is Making Creative Matter®.

08/22/2026

AI started as a pretty big question for us: What is this going to do to a creative agency like Rule29?

Now, 26 years into building brands, AI has become one of the most interesting shifts we’ve experienced.

Recently, our Andy Sauder and Justin Ahrens had the chance to share how we’re using Chip and AI to rethink parts of how Rule29 works. We started small. We tested. We built. We broke a few things. We learned. Then we kept going.

Today, we’re creating connected systems that help us research opportunities, audit brands and websites, develop proposals, manage client knowledge, proof work, and uncover ideas we may not have found before.

But the goal has never been to replace creative thinking. It’s to create more room for it.

The research is deeper. Our process is stronger. And our team has more time to ask better questions, think strategically, design thoughtfully, and focus on the human parts of the work that matter most.

We’re especially grateful to Chip, Scott, the leadership team, and the broader community for creating a space where people can openly share what they’re building, learning, and figuring out along the way.

Our biggest takeaway so far? Start building.

Pick one real problem. Make something useful. Learn from it. Then build the next thing. That’s what we’re doing at Rule29.

Working smarter. Staying human. And continuing to Make Creative Matter.

And if you’re wondering where to start, we’d love to help.

If you’re an agency or creative team, check out what we built here to start building your own: https://optimizehq.on.chipp.ai/

If you’re a non-creative business, reach out to us. We’re building AI tools, knowledge systems, and custom experiences that can help teams across sales, marketing, operations, finance, HR, and more work smarter without losing the human side of the work.

You don’t need to have an AI strategy figured out. You just need a good first problem to solve.

08/19/2026

A remodel should do more than change a room. It should make life at home work better.

That idea became the foundation of the new Hendy Remodeling brand.

Rule29 partnered with the Hendy team to create its brand, story, messaging, and website. Every part of the experience reflects the care they bring to their work, from high-touch communication and professional worksites to spaces designed around each family’s real life.

Built with Heart. Designed for Life.

It is more than a tagline. It is a clear expression of the Hendy Standard and the promise behind every project.

We love helping organizations turn what makes them different into a brand people can see, understand, and trust.

Explore the new Hendy Remodeling experience:
https://www.hendyremodeling.com/

08/16/2026

Good work rarely happens alone.

As part of the O’Neil Companies, Rule29 gets to work alongside a talented group of people who care deeply about the work, the clients, and one another.

Our recent Town Hall gave us a chance to step away from the deadlines, look at what we have built together, and recognize the people making it happen.

There was progress to celebrate.

Proud to be part of an employee-owned family that believes meaningful work starts with people.

Now, let’s finish the year by Making Creative Matter.

08/12/2026

For eleven seasons, we have had the privilege of sitting down with Olympians, artists, authors, entrepreneurs, Oscar winners, musicians, leaders, and everyday people doing extraordinary things.

But Design Of has never really been about fame. It is about the choices, relationships, setbacks, and moments of courage that shape who we become.

Every conversation brings us back to one question: How do we design a meaningful life?

Not just a successful one. Not just a productive one. A meaningful one. Because every life has a design. Every decision shapes it. Every relationship influences it. Every setback refines it. And every act of courage moves it forward.

Here is a look at what Design Of has become, and what has kept us endlessly curious for more than a decade.

Listen to the stories that may change how you see your own: https://www.rule29.com/podcast

08/10/2026

Design can do more than make a space look better. It can help a child feel safer, calmer, and more hopeful.

We are grateful to Bradley University for sharing the story behind our collaboration with CURE International, Bradley design students, and Kent State University graduate students to reimagine the patient experience at Beit-CURE Children’s Hospital in Malawi.

Research shaped the strategy. Cultural understanding guided the work. And the students brought fresh thinking that influenced the final environmental graphics and wayfinding system, including the hand-carved animal figures now helping children and families navigate the hospital.

This is what Making Creative Matter means to us. It means listening first. Designing with empathy. And using creativity to support people when they need it most.

And this is only part of the story. We can’t wait to share more of the project in the coming months.

Read the full story: https://www.bradley.edu/news-articles/designing-spaces-for-healing/

Working alongside professional designers on a real-world, pro bono project, Bradley students applied research, creativity, and cultural understanding to reimagine the patient experience at a children's hospital in Southeast Africa.

08/08/2026

AI isn't replacing great brands. It's exposing the ones that never had clarity to begin with.

For years, organizations have invested in creating better content. Today, the challenge is different.

As AI becomes part of how people research, compare, and make decisions, brands aren't just being experienced by people anymore. They're being interpreted by the systems helping people decide.

That doesn't make branding less important. It makes clarity, consistency, and trust more important than ever.

The organizations that thrive won't be the ones producing the most content. They'll be the ones that are easiest to understand, hardest to imitate, and most consistent wherever people encounter them.

In our latest article, we explore why the future of branding isn't artificial, and why AI isn't changing what a brand is. It's changing how often a brand has to explain itself.

If AI is becoming another touchpoint between your organization and your audience, what story is it telling?

Read the full article: https://www.rule29.com/stories/the-future-of-branding-isn-t-artificial

08/05/2026

The best AI technology should not make us less human. It should help us become more human.

For the past two years, Rule29 has used Chipp as one of the platforms helping us build custom AI tools for our team and our clients. Recently, Andy and Justin had the privilege of speaking at Chipp’s conference.

What stood out most was not simply the technology. It was the focus on human connection. And Andy and Justin worked with a cohort of builders to talk about what is next over the two days.

The conversations centered on building meaningful relationships, openly sharing what we are learning, and supporting one another as we use AI to strengthen what makes each person, organization, service, and idea distinct and valuable.

That is why we love Chipp. They understand that AI is not the point. The point is what people can create, improve, and accomplish with it.

We are excited to keep exploring how custom AI can enhance great thinking, meaningful collaboration, and the work that already makes an organization excellent.

👉 https://chipp.ai/

07/31/2026

I've been thinking a lot about leadership lately. Not the kind measured by titles, org charts, or performance reviews. The kind measured by people.

Who helped you become more confident?
Who challenged you when you needed it?
Who told you the truth when it would've been easier to stay quiet?

When I look back, the leaders who changed my life weren't the smartest people in the room. They were the people who saw something in me before I saw it in myself. That's one of the reasons I enjoyed my recent conversation with Jon Houghton, CEO of Holy Post Media, on The Design Of Podcast.

We talked about leadership, growth, community, and the responsibility we have to help others become who they're capable of becoming. Because at the end of the day, people rarely remember the goals you hit.

They remember how you helped them grow. https://www.rule29.com/podcast/the-design-of-leadership-beyond-yourself-meet-jon-houghton

After twenty years building leaders at Young Life, Jon Houghton walked away from work he loved to start over as CEO of Holy Post Media. In this episode, he unpacks what it means to lead from identity rather than performance — and asks the question that's followed him for years: "Am I lovable if I'...