SoCal Power Women: 5 Questions With Kilograph's Keely Colcleugh
This limited series profiles SoCal Power Women who have helped shape cities, neighborhoods, businesses and lifestyles in Los Angeles and Orange counties. These women will be honored at Bisnow's SoCal Power Women event Dec. 13.
Designer Keely Colcleugh, Kilograph's founder and CEO, has more than 18 years of experience in architecture, graphic design, film, visualization and animation. She turns that experience and those skills to work for CRE firms that want to make marketing their buildings more engaging, whether through film and animation, virtual and augmented reality, 3D illustration or web and branding efforts. She has worked with leading architecture and design practices around the world, including Rem Koolhaus (OMA) and AMO, Bruce Mau Design, Skidmore Owings & Merrill and Ateliers Jean Nouvel. She founded Kilograph in 2009.
Bisnow: How do you describe your job to people who are not in the industry?
Colcleugh: We are the creative wing for real estate companies who want to make their buildings more enticing to a particular audience.
Bisnow: What is the biggest business problem you have faced and how did you solve it?
Colcleugh: Selling people on the importance of building both creativity and strategy into their marketing package. Many believe that an inexpensive option is enough to accomplish their goals, when in fact, it rarely speaks to their brand, their audience, or the unique selling points they’d like to be known for. An amazing idea will always sell more units.
Bisnow: What is one thing you think companies can do to address wage and gender inequality?
Colcleugh: Keep an eye on diversity, in general. If you aren’t paying attention to it, it won’t be a top priority. As with most changes, you have to design your life (or business) around it for it to really take effect. Instead of just addressing wage and gender inequalities, companies can benefit from striving to balance age, ethnicities and personality types in the workplace, as well. Diversity on [all] levels is important.
Bisnow: What piece of advice do you give others entering the industry?
Colcleugh: It is a complicated mix of artistry, strategy and technology. It is not just about creating artwork. Learn how your work serves different stakeholders and how to tie artistic choices to client goals. Constraints can make you more creative and learning to contextualize your work will help you sell more ideas.
Bisnow: What do you do to unwind when you’re not working?
Colcleugh: Spend time with my family. I have two small kids and a very large dog. They take up most of my free time!
Meet Kilograph founder and CEO Keely Colcleugh at Bisnow's SoCal Power Women event Dec. 13 at the LA Grand Hotel Downtown.
