The Perseverance of Pixar

When the word Pixar is mentioned, I think of a bunch of wonderful animated movies. Pixar seems like a fairy tale where everything ends 'Happily ever after.'

The Pixar we know of almost didn't happen, though. In his book, The Pixar Touch, David A. Price tells of Pixar founder Ed Catmull, a pioneer in computer animation who dreamed of working for Disney, but Disney wasn't interested. Undeterred, he started a college animation program in New York in 1974. When Lucasfilm lured him away in 1979 he thought he caught his big break, except Lucas wanted digital film editing, not animation.

George Lucas determined that Catmull and Lassiter's group wasn't a good fit, so he sought a buyer for $15 million. Deals with several medical companies, and even GM fell though. Steve Jobs took it off Lucas' hands in 1986 for $5 million.

Steve Jobs wasn't all that interested in animation. Jobs came out with a Pixar computer, which was a bust. They introduced rendering software that wasn't profitable. Layoff's ensued, and tired of the financial losses, Jobs looked into selling Pixar. Finally, in the early 90's Disney approached Pixar about partnering to produce an animated film, Toy Story, which hit theaters in 1995. Pixar's dominance in animated entertainment later convinced Disney to buy Pixar for $3.4 billion in 2006.

Pixar's story offer lessons for organizations:

1. Understand your purpose.

The folks at Pixar were capable of making editing software, product renderings, commercials and even computers. But from the beginning, the founder of Pixar understood his purpose was to make animated films - and nothing took him off course.

2. Don't give up.

20 years of struggle happened before Toy Story changed everything. There were false starts, and ventures in random directions, but the folks at Pixar never gave up.

3. Make it great.

Creative head John Lassiter was offered the opportunity to come back to Disney. He thought about the money, but he stayed at Pixar because of the potential to do something great.

4. Innovate.

Even with success, Pixar refused to get into a pattern of doing things the same way every time. The reviews for Toy Story 2 eclipsed Toy Story - they actually did it better the second time. Pixar seeks to innovate and push the envelope with each new project.

Church Logo Gallery doesn't pretend to be Pixar, but we understand our purpose - to design logos and identity related design for churches. We're determined to do what we do as well, or better than anyone else. A commitment to excellence, creativity, and to our clients are core values for us. The Pixar story is a healthy reminder to remain faithful to our calling.